Clarence Swensen - 91 - Oz Munchkin
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motion picture “The Wizard of Oz,” died Wednesday at 91.
He had been in ill health since suffering a a stroke in 2005.
Swensen was one of nine surviving members of the 125 Munchkins in the
movie classic who were feted at a ceremony in November 2007 when a
star in their honor was installed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“I feel very honored,,” Swensen told the Austin American- Statesman in
2007 prior to boarding a flight to Los Angeles for the ceremony. “I
never thought we’d get a star.”
Swensen, who became an electronics technician after his entertainment
career grew up in Austin.
Swensen said it never occurred to him when he was a boy living near
Ridgetop School in what was then North Austin during the 1920s that he
would enter show business. He was not allowed to attend Austin public
schools until he was 9 years old because of his size. Eventually, he
reached the height of 4 feet 6¾ inches.
But in the late 1930s he joined a troupe called The Stanley R. Graham
All Midget Circus, which performed at the Texas State Fairgrounds in
Dallas. His job with the circus eventually led to an offer from Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer officials to be a Munchkin at a salary of $700.
In his 2007 Statesman interview, Swensen said the most astonishing
experience he could recall was walking onto the enormous, colorful,
and multi-tiered set the studio had erected to depict “Munchkin Land.”
“It was huge,” Swensen said. “And we worked hard - 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. -
but it was fun.”
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/a