A posthumous release of Sid Luft’s memoirs claims his second wife, judy garland, was molested by actors who played Munchkins on the set of “The Wizard of Oz.”
The memoirs will be published this March
Luft, who was married to Garland from 1952 to 1965, and was her third husband, wrote about the incident in the recently published, “Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland.” According to the memoirs, some of the men who portrayed the Munchkins would put their hands under her dress. Many of these actors were at least in their forties, and would have been targeting a 16-year old Garland.
He believed that the actors were able to get away with such inappropriate behavior due to their stature.
The book is based on notes Luft drafted for an autobiography that was never published. The current version of the book is aimed for release early this March. As mentioned, this will be a posthumous release, as Luft passed away in 2005.
This is not the first time there has been a scandal concerning the Munchkin actors
This is not the first time that there have been scandals concerning the actors playing the Munchkins on the set of the film. Garland herself once said in a released statement in a 1967 interview with Jack Paar that some of the actors had problems with alcohol. Garland also claimed that one of the actors had hit on her for a date in another statement.
When she tried to avoid his advances by claiming her mother would not approve, with the actor being 40 years of age, he replied that she should bring her mother along, so that there would be“two broads for the price of one.”
Bert Lahr, the actor who played the Cowardly Lion, once said in a statement that many of the Munchkin actors were known for “panhandling, pimping, and whoring” in their private lives.
Jerry Maren, who is believed to be the last surviving actor to play one of the Munchkins, also once described similar behavior from the other actors, but singled out two anonymous performers from Germany, saying they would drink and get themselves into trouble, but “were the only ones” to do so.
