Old Radio

Born on this day in 1904, Ray Bolger may be best known as the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz .  But this is a radio blog!  Let's talk old time radio .  The curious Ray Bolger, who'd have parts in Little House on the Prairie, Rich Man, Poor Man, and Babes in Toyland (the 1961 re-make), also has a chapter in the history of classic radio. Remember those Summer replacement shows? Ray's was The Ray Bolger Show , a stand-in for Jimmy Durante and Gary Moore in 1945. Later, the quixotic song and dance man would record a children's record called Churkendoose, about a fowl that was a hybrid of--guess which--animals.  Add to this the fact that he was originally up for the part of the Tin Man role in Wizard but coveted the Scarecrow instead, and you have a very colorful, odd addition to the pantheon of character actors in radio 's grand history.