Wizard of Oz is a classic movie, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't seen at least part of the movie.
Judy Garland quickly became the nation's sweetheart as she sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," and we all have tried tapping our shoes together to get home.
Garland was just 16 years old when she starred in Wizard of Oz, but now her ex-husband Sid Luft is revealing she experienced some terrible treatment at the hands of some of the munchkin actors on set.
There has been no lack of coverage regarding the treatment of the actors playing the munchkins on set. Poor conditions, abuse, limited pay, etc. There were also many allegations of inappropriate behavior on behalf of the munchkin actors, most notably due to excessive drinking.
However, according to the last surviving Munchkin, Jerry Maren, this simply wasn't true.
"How could you get drunk on $50 a week?" he asked. "There were a couple of kids from Germany who liked to drink beer. They drank beer morning, noon and night, and got in a little trouble. They wanted to meet the girls, but they were the only ones."
Sid Luft, ex-husband of Judy Garland, disagrees. And his new memoir sheds some light on the terrible treatment Garland received while on set.
Continue to the next page to read what Luft had to say about Garland's experience.
Sid Luft was married to Garland from 1952-1965, and has posthumously released a memoir called Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland. In the book, he describes how Judy Garland was sexually assaulted by many of the munchkin actors.
"They would make Judy's life miserable on set by putting their hands under her dress ... The men were 40 or more years old," he wrote. "They thought they could get away with anything because they were so small."
Garland was not silent about her dislike of these actors, who in 1969 she described as "little drunks."
"They got smashed every night, and they picked them up in butterfly nets," she said in an interview.
The allegations really can't be confirmed or denied at this point, with everyone involved having since passed away. However, there is always room for speculation.
