Scarecrow (Oz)
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Image:Scarecrow of oz cover.jpg
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He lacks a brain and desires to have one.
The classic books
In Baum's classic 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the living scarecrow encounters Dorothy Gale in a field in the Munchkin Country while she is on her way to the Emerald City. The "mindless" Scarecrow joins Dorothy in the hope that The Wizard will give him a brain. They are later joined by the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. The Scarecrow also appears in other Oz books.
The 1939 movie
In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, The Scarecrow was played by Ray Bolger. The actor was a very good dancer so The Scarecrow was given an extended dance sequence in the movie. However, to shorten the movie, much of this sequence was edited out. Other actors who have played The Scarecrow in movies over the years include Mickey Rooney and Michael Jackson.
Modern works
The Scarecrow is also a minor character in author Gregory Maguire's revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and its Broadway musical adaptation Wicked. The Scarecrow features more prominently in Son of a Witch, Maguire's sequel to Wicked. In that novel, the Scarecrow helps the Witch's (possible) son Liir avoid political turmoil in the Emerald City after the Wizard's departure.
In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Kermit the Frog plays the role of the Scarecrow.
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