Honestly, when you think of the Scarecrow, you think of those floppy, rubbery legs and that wide, goofy grin. You've seen the movie a thousand times. But the story of Ray Bolger in Wizard of Oz is actually way more intense than just a guy in a burlap suit dancing down a yellow road. It’s a tale of backstage drama, literal physical scarring, and a casting swap that changed cinema history.
He wasn't even supposed to be the Scarecrow.
Can you imagine?
At first, MGM executives had a completely different plan. They signed Bolger and told him he’d be playing the Tin Man. Now, Ray Bolger was a vaudeville legend. He was "the" eccentric dancer of his time. He was fluid. He was loose. Telling a guy who can move like water that he has to play a rigid, stiff robot is like telling a world-class sprinter they have to compete in a potato sack race.
The Great Casting Swap
Bolger was miserable about the Tin Man role. He knew in his bones—and he’d later say this in interviews—that his style was built for the Scarecrow. He grew up idolizing Fred Stone, who played the Scarecrow in the 1902 stage version. To Bolger, the Scarecrow wasn't just a part; it was the part.
So, he fought for it.
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He went to the studio heads and basically begged. Eventually, he convinced Buddy Ebsen (who was originally cast as the Scarecrow) to trade roles. Ebsen didn't mind. He figured, hey, a job's a job.
History shows this was a blessing for Bolger but a total nightmare for Ebsen. As many fans know, Ebsen ended up in an oxygen tent because the aluminum dust in the Tin Man makeup coated his lungs. He nearly died. Bolger, meanwhile, got the role of his life, though it came with its own price.
That Makeup Left Permanent Scars
If you look closely at Bolger's face in his later years, you might notice lines that don't quite look like normal wrinkles. That’s because the prosthetic mask he wore as the Scarecrow was a beast.
They used a rubber mask to create the "burlap" texture on his face. To keep it on for hours under the blistering heat of 1930s studio lights, they used intense adhesives. By the time filming wrapped, the pattern of the mask was literally etched into his skin around his mouth and chin. It took a year for those marks to fade, and even then, they never truly vanished. He literally gave his face to that movie.
Why the Dancing Still Looks Impossible
There's a reason nobody has ever quite matched the Scarecrow’s movement. Bolger didn't just "act" like he had no bones; he used a technique called eccentric dancing.
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It’s a mix of contortion, tap, and pure improvisation.
In his first big solo, where he falls off the pole and tries to find his legs, Bolger is doing things with his center of gravity that would snap a normal person's ankles. He was 5'10" and weighed about 135 pounds—basically a human noodle.
- The inspiration: He watched crows in the field to mimic their jerky movements.
- The training: He actually started out as a bank clerk who got fired for dancing in the hallways.
- The pay: Bolger was one of the highest-paid actors on set, making $3,000 a week. That’s roughly $65,000 a week in today’s money. For comparison, Judy Garland was making about $500.
The "Lost" Dance Sequence
Most people don't realize there’s a massive chunk of Bolger’s performance that didn't make the final cut. There was an extended dance sequence during "If I Only Had a Brain" that involved Bolger doing some incredible, gravity-defying leaps and flying through the air.
Why was it cut?
The movie was too long. Simple as that. The studio thought the plot needed to move faster once they got on the Yellow Brick Road. For decades, people thought the footage was gone forever, but it eventually resurfaced in the 1985 documentary That’s Dancing! If you haven't seen it, go find it on YouTube. It shows Bolger at the peak of his physical powers, doing things that make modern CGI look lazy.
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Life After the Yellow Brick Road
Bolger didn't stop at Oz. He was a Broadway powerhouse. He won a Tony Award in 1949 for Where's Charley? and had a hit song, "Once in Love with Amy," that people made him sing for the rest of his life.
But he knew.
He knew that no matter how many awards he won, he’d always be the man of straw. He famously said he didn't get residuals for the movie, but he got "immortality." When he died in 1987, he was the last surviving member of the main "quartet" (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion).
How to Appreciate His Work Today
If you want to really "see" Bolger’s genius, don't just watch the movie as a whole. Do this:
- Watch the "re-inflation" scene: When the Tin Man is being oiled, look at Bolger’s background acting. He’s never still. His body reacts to every sound.
- Look for the facial tics: Even through the heavy rubber mask, Bolger used his eyes and mouth to convey a sort of fragile, desperate kindness.
- Check out his earlier work: Search for his performance in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). You'll see the "raw" version of the Scarecrow's movement before the burlap was added.
Ray Bolger wasn't just a guy in a costume. He was a technician of movement who fought a studio system to play the role he knew he was born for. He took the physical pain of the makeup and the exhaustion of the dance and turned it into something that feels just as fresh today as it did in 1939.
Next time you're watching, look for those faint lines on his face during the "Hunk" scenes in Kansas. That’s the real Ray Bolger—the man who literally wore the Scarecrow until it became a part of him.
To dive deeper into the technical side of the film, you should look into the original Technicolor dye processes used for the costumes; the "straw" in Bolger's suit had to be specifically treated to keep it from catching fire under the hot lights.