Created by L. Frank Baum | ||
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First appearance The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) | ||
The Munchkins are the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. They first appear in the classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). They are described as only wearing shades of blue clothing, as blue is the Munchkins' favorite color, and the predominating color that officially represents the eastern quadrant in the Land of Oz. They and the non-Munchkin Witch, the Good Witch of the North who accompanies them upon Dorothy Gale's first arrival to Oz, are described as being the same height as Dorothy, who is hinted to be no older than twelve-years-old.
Contents
Appearance
The following is an excerpt from chapter two of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, titled The Council with the Munchkins, in which Dorothy first meets three Munchkins and the Good Witch of the North:
she noticed coming down toward her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been used to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about as tall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, so far as looks go, many years older.
Baum apparently did not mean that only Munchkins are short in stature (as depicted in the iconic 1939 film), but that this is the norm for all of the adult humans of Oz. In a scene later in the book, the Guardian of the Gates, the first inhabitant of the Emerald City met by Dorothy and apparently representative of its citizens, is "a little man about the same size as the Munchkins." Still later, the Quadlings of the southern land are described as "short and fat." The Tin Woodman is also of Munchkin descent but is of average adult height.
In W. W. Denslow's illustrations for The Wonderful Wizard (approved by Baum), the only Oz humans depicted as remarkably taller than Dorothy are the Soldier with the Green Whiskers and Glinda.
Baum rarely refers to Ozites as small of stature in the Oz books that follow. (One notable exception is the Munchkin wrestler that Zeb challenges in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz).
Origin of the term
Baum never explained where the term came from, but Baum researcher Brian Attebery has hypothesized that there might be a connection to the Münchner Kindl, the emblem of the Bavarian city of Munich (spelled München in German). The symbol was originally a 13th-century statue of a monk, looking down from the town hall in Munich. Over the years, the image was reproduced many times, for instance as a figure on beer steins, and eventually evolved into a child wearing a pointed hood. Baum's family had German origins, suggesting that Baum could have seen one such reproduction in his childhood.
It is also possible that "Munchkin" came from the German word "Männchen", which means "mannikin" or "little figure". In 1900, Baum published a book about window displays in which he stressed the importance of mannequins in attracting customers.
It is also possible that the term came from the Romanian word for laborer, "muncitor", replacing the Romanian suffix of agency, "-itor", with the English suffix of (kind, sort, and) class identification, "-kin". "Munci" is the Romanian verb "to labor" and is pronounced /MOOHN-chee/.
Known Munchkins
The following is a list of Munchkins named in the Oz books:
In The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The classic 1939 musical movie The Wizard of Oz loosely based upon Baum's novel, the Munchkins are portrayed by children and adults with dwarfism. Unlike the book, their country is called Munchkinland and they all wear colorful garments and outfits instead of all blue attire.
On November 20, 2007, the Munchkins were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Seven of the surviving Munchkins actors from the film were present. As a result of the popularity of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the word "munchkin" has entered the English language as a reference to small children, persons with dwarfism, or anything of diminutive stature.
Actors and actresses
The following is a list of actors who portrayed the Munchkins in the 1939 film. Most of the 124 dwarfs hired were acquired for MGM by Leo Singer, the proprietor of Singer's Midgets. An additional dozen or so child actresses of average size were hired to make up for the shortage of little people that the studio found to appear in the film. These actors – including those with speaking parts – were credited on-screen collectively, as "The Munchkins."
In 1989, author Stephen Cox researched, found, and wrote about the surviving Munchkin actors fifty years after they made the film. He wrote about them in his book, The Munchkins Remember (1989, E.P. Dutton) which was later revised as The Munchkins of Oz (Cumberland House), and his book remained in print for nearly two decades. When he wrote the book, 33 of the dwarfs who acted in the film were surviving and were interviewed. Today, Jerry Maren who played the green "lollipop guild" member is the last living munchkin actor.
Note: Social security information was hard to come by prior to the mid twentieth century. As a result, things such as birth or death years may be incomplete due to lack of records.Child actresses
Four child actresses are still living that appeared in the film.