The midgets arrived at MGM in mid-November. There was 124 of them, and everyone was overwhelmed. Mervyn LeRoy said that they were always in some kind of trouble. They had police on every floor in the hotel. The screenwriter Noel Langley says that they were very raunchy people. Judy Garland called them drunks and said that they got smashed every night. It got so bad that the police had to pick them up in butterfly nets. The midgets ranged from 2'3" to 4'8". They had high-pitched voices, beardless faces, and prematurely wrinkled skin, the little people were hardly ordinary. The munchkins didn't actually start filming until the second week in December. Their first four weeks at the studio were spent being measured for costumes, having molds made for false ears and pug noses, and being taught the intricacies of the dances they would perform. Ken Darby's job was to teach the munchkins how to mouth the words of their songs. Although they had to learn the words in orderto mouth them, they did not sing in the film.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |