Author Description

Best Remembered For His Role As The Scarecrow In The 1939 Mgm Musical The Wizard Of Oz, Ray Bolger Led A Rich And Extraordinary Career In The Decade Before And More Than Four Decades After The Creation Of The Film. Ray Bolger: More Than A Scarecrow Is The First Biography Of This Classic American Entertainer, Covering The Luminous And Forgotten Career Of The Eccentric Dancer Outside Of His Burlap Mask. The Product Of A Fragmented, Working-class Boston Irish Family, Bolger Learned Tap And Eccentric Dance Steps As Solace For A Difficult Life Before Running Away To Repertory Theater And Vaudeville. From There, He Would Go On To Become A Broadway Star, A Contract Player At Hollywood's Major Studios, One Of The First Performers To Tour The South Pacific For The Uso, A Tony Award Winner, An Early Sitcom Star, And The Opening Headliner Of The Sahara Hotel In Las Vegas. Using Unprecedented Access To Bolger's Papers And Many Never-before-published Photographs, Ray Bolger: More Than A Scarecrow Pieces Together The Lost Story Of An Itinerant Hoofer Who Survived And Thrived During The Major Media Changes Of The Twentieth Century And Established Himself As A Staple Of American Pop Culture.