The last of the Munchkins led lifelong battle for dignity
LOS ANGELES— Jerry Maren, who danced into pop culture in 1939 as the tartan-costumed, candytoting Munchkin leader of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz, a role that overshadowed a lifetime of quiet off-screen work to bring dignity to little people, died May 24 in San Diego. He was 98.
Maren was the last survivor of the more than 100 little people who performed as Munchkins in numbers such as “We’re Off to See the Wizard” and “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” according to Stephen Cox, the author of The Munchkins of Oz.
“In many ways, with his humble charm, he became the most beloved of all of them,” Cox said in a telephone interview.
Most of the munchkins went on to lead non-Hollywood lives, returning to the spotlight only occasionally for studio-organized publicity stunts and fan events.
But Maren spent his life as a performer, including doing stunt work for child actors such as Jodie Foster and Ron Howard. He appeared in more than 60 films and television series.
“It wasn’t much, but it was steady,” he wrote of that experience in his 2006 memoir, Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin.
With friend and fellow actor, Billy Barty, Maren in 1957 founded Little People of America, a non-profit advocacy organization that has roughly 6,000 members.
“He took it as his responsibili- ty to show, through a strong sense of self and speaking out and personal example, that little people are just people,” Cox said. “All of the other Munchkins had a great deal of respect for Jerry.”
Maren, who liked to chomp cigars and wear porkpie hats, was “happily patient” at fan events, even when attendees asked derogatory questions about his stature, said John Fricke, a historian of all things Oz and co-author of 100 Years of Oz: A Century of Classic Images (1999).
Fiske said Maren had worked to debunk the “demeaning legends” that sprung up around the Munchkins, in particular that they were more interested in alcohol and wild sex than in making a movie.