Wizard of Oz characters' post mortem cartoon?

August 9, 2007 12:23 AM

The scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, Ray Bolger's, Wikipedia article: "At the time of his death, he was the last surviving member of the main Oz cast. An editorial cartoon the day after his death featured the Oz cast dancing off into the setting sun, with the Scarecrow running to catch up." Does anyone have this cartoon?
posted by Anoxs to media & arts (12 comments total)

You will probably have to find the newspaper (definitely not the NYT) and get a microfiche copy. I think it wouldn't be too hard to find an illustrator to recreate the cartoon from the description. But, given the day of death and the newspapers of the period, you could probably pin it to LAT, NYP, NYW, NYH, NYTribune, or the ChiSun.
posted by parmanparman at 12:38 AM on August 9, 2007

Wow, that visual image made me sad... I've searched through google and was unable to find it. I would second the Newspaper microfiche route.
posted by crewshell at 5:05 AM on August 9, 2007

I did a quick search but could not locate the cartoon you seek. I did however find reference to editorial cartoons following the deaths of the principal cast (including Bolger) appearing in a book called The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History. Lawrance M. Bernabo's detailed review of this book on Amazon mentions these editorial cartoons. It seems you can get a second-hand copy of the book quite cheaply. Alternatively you could enquire at the following website dedicated to The Wizard of Oz to see if anyone has this book and it they could email you a scan of the cartoon. There is a forum on that site and it is very likely than any dedicated fan will have this highly regarded book in their library.
posted by wannalol at 5:49 AM on August 9, 2007

Let us know when you find it... I'd like to see it too.
posted by devilsbrigade at 6:54 AM on August 9, 2007

On the Wikipedia page there is a history tab which lists all of the edits made to pages, maybe try and find the user that made the change and then try the forums.

I don't really know the ins and outs of wikipedia but it sounds good in theory....
posted by MarvinJ at 7:40 AM on August 9, 2007

urgh too much time on my hands

here's the edit
posted by MarvinJ at 7:55 AM on August 9, 2007

I have a feeling that it might have been drawn by Bill Day. I remember when Mel Blanc died, Day did a cartoon showing Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, et al, standing together with heads bowed and tears running.

Also, many years ago I remember there had been a devestating fire (might've been in Detroit, can't remember for sure), but something like half a dozen firefighters were killed when the building collapsed. Day drew the most poignant cartoon the next day - a Dalmatian with his head bowed, looking at a fireman's helmet on the ground, a huge tear falling from his eye.

There's an email address at the link, perhaps you can ask the cartoonist if the Bolger cartoon was his.
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:13 AM on August 9, 2007

I have it - but at home in a book - if no one else comes up with it by tonight, check back then.
posted by DandyRandy at 11:30 AM on August 9, 2007

Here you go! Drawn by Dick Locher and and published in the Chicago Tribune on Jan. 19 1987.
posted by DandyRandy at 7:10 PM on August 9, 2007

no thanks or best answer? shame. good job, DandyRandy!
posted by mr.marx at 11:01 AM on August 11, 2007

Aw, shucks, 'tweren't nuthin...apparently.
posted by DandyRandy at 10:52 PM on August 11, 2007

Wow, thats such a sad image... its amazing how much emotion is connected with it, within my head.
posted by crewshell at 10:23 PM on September 9, 2007