Karl Becker (November 24, 1887 – December 28, 1968), billed as Charlie Becker, was a

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

actor. He was 3'9" in height, and is probably best known for appearing as the

Munchkinland Munchkin Country or Munchkinland, as it is referred to in the famous MGM musical film version, is the fictional eastern region of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). Munchkin Cou ...

Mayor in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939).

Billy Bletcher William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disn ...

dubbed the Mayor's vocals in the film.

Biography

Becker was born near

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in the town of Muschenheim. As a teenager, he worked as a

butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

, but often struggled to use the knives and other equipment, and was ridiculed by his fellow workers. When he was about 19, he began performing in travelling "

midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

shows", and eventually joined the Singer Midgets, a famous troupe led by

Leo Singer __NOTOC__ Leopold von Singer (May 3, 1877 – March 5, 1951) was an Austrian-born American manager of an entertainment troupe called Singer's Midgets, that were a popular vaudeville group in the first half of the twentieth century. He was re ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The Singer Midgets moved to the United States during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and became popular on the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

circuits. Becker became friends with

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahom ...

, and other stars of the time. Becker appeared in a few films during the 1920s and 1930s. These included '' Spangles'' (1926), ''

The Terror of Tiny Town ''The Terror of Tiny Town'' is a 1938 American musical Western film produced by Jed Buell, directed by Sam Newfield and starring Billy Curtis. The film was shot at a sound studio in Hollywood and partly at Placeritos Ranch in Placerita Canyon, C ...

'' (1938), and, most notably, '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939), in which he played the Mayor of Munchkinland. He was chosen for the role because of his large belly, round face, and facial hair, which were thought to be mayoral features. Because of his thick German accent, however, his voice had to be dubbed. On the set of ''The Wizard of Oz'', Becker met his future wife, Jessie Kelley, who played another Munchkin. She was originally from

Mahaska, Kansas Mahaska is a city in Washington County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 46. It is located 1 mile south of the Nebraska state line. History Mahaska was founded in 1887 by L. Bonham. It was likely ...

. The two married in 1940, moved to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

for a short time and later settled in California, where they sometimes worked as

stand-in A stand-in for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting and camera setup. Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of film and television production. Stand-ins ...

s for child actors. Later in his life, Becker opened his own sausage business.Cox, 171-173. Becker died of a stroke in California at the end of 1968. His interment (and his wife's) was in Lone Tree Cemetery in Fairview, near Hayward. Some controversy emerged in 1984 when obituaries for the actor Prince Denis stated that he had played the Mayor of Munchkinland. In reality, Denis had played the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Honours

In 2007, all 124 Munchkin actors in Oz were honored with a Star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...

. For Becker this was a posthumous honor. Seven surviving Munchkin actors attended the ceremony: Mickey Carroll,

Ruth Duccini Ruth Leone Duccini ( Robinson; July 23, 1918 – January 16, 2014) was an American actress. Biography Ruth is best known as the penultimate surviving Munchkin from the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz''. Her role in the film as a Munchkin villager ...

Jerry Maren Jerry Maren (born Gerard Marenghi; January 24, 1920 – May 24, 2018) was an American actor who played a Munchkin member of the Lollipop Guild in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film '' The Wizard of Oz.'' He became the last surviving adult Munchkin ...

, Margaret Pellegrini,

Meinhardt Raabe Meinhardt Frank Raabe (; September 2, 1915 – April 9, 2010) was an American actor. He was one of the last surviving Munchkin-actors in '' The Wizard of Oz'', and was also the last surviving cast member with any dialogue in the film. He po ...

Karl Slover Karl Slover (September 21, 1918 – November 15, 2011) was a Slovakian-born American actor best known as one of the Munchkins in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). Only three other adult Munchkin performers remained alive at the time of Slover's ...

and Clarence Swensen."Munchkins of 'Oz' get a star on Walk of Fame". USA Today. 11/21/2007. Retrieved 08/08/2013.

Filmography

His performances in ''All Over Town'' and ''The Wizard of Oz'' were uncredited.

Notes

References

* Stephen Cox. ''The Munchkins of Oz''. Cumberland House Publishing. 2002. *

and Stephen Cox. ''Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin''. Cumberland House Publishing, 2006. *

and Daniel Kinske. ''Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road''. Back Stage Books, 2005.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Charlie 1887 births 1968 deaths Actors with dwarfism German emigrants to the United States Actors from Hesse Vaudeville performers 20th-century American male actors People from Washington County, Kansas Burials at Lone Tree Cemetery (Fairview, California)