New book alleges munchkins sexually molested Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland
Brad Hunter
More from Brad Hunter
Published:
April 5, 2018
Updated:
April 5, 2018 12:23 PM EDT
Judy Garland in the iconic Wizard of Oz. Her late husband claims in a re-released book that she was sexually molested by "drunk" Munchkins. MGM
The Munchkins were no friends of Dorothy.
In the re-released autobiography of tragic Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland’s late husband Sid Luft, he claims the iconic Kansas farm girl was allegedly molested by the pint-sized perverts.
Just 16 when she starred in the 1939 blockbuster, whispers about on-set antics by the lurid little people have been rife for years.
In Luft’s book (due out in September), Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland, he claims the tiny terrors made life a living hell for the Somewhere Over the Rainbow singer.
ABC Australian reached out to the last living Munchkin, Jerry Maren, centre, to find out if the sex allegations were true. MGM
“They’d make Judy’s life miserable on set by putting their hands under her dress … The men were 40 or more years old. They thought they could get away with anything because they were so small,” Luft wrote.
Australia’s ABC News tried to track down the last living Munchkin to get his side of what really happened on the set of the family classic.
Jerry Maren, 98, is now in failing health and lives in a retirement home.
A member of the “Lollipop Guild” — he famously gave the discombobulated Dorothy a sucker after she obliterated the Wicked Witch of the East — Maren was implicated in the molestation.
Garland always claimed the half-pint hellraisers were boozehounds who would party through the night. Cops rounded them up with butterfly nets.
The stars of the beloved Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, front. MGM
Years ago, Maren noted that the drinking shouldn’t shock anyone: Toto was paid more than the Munchkins.
“He has refuted these accusations in the past and I am sure he’d do the same now if he were able to,” Mark Povinelli, president of the Little People of America, told ABC.
“I appreciate your sincerity in trying to give a voice to the actors being referenced in the book but I was told that Jerry would rather not bring any more attention to it.”
Others close to the elderly dwarf also denied any concise carnal capers and Maren claimed Garland — who tragically died in 1969 — was “wonderful” to work with.
“We expected her to be a snobby movie star. She was more excited at meeting us than we were at meeting her,” he said, adding that for the Munchkins it was the first time in their lives they had met other little people.
bhunter@postmedia.com
New book alleges munchkins sexually molested Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland | Toronto Sun