Best remembered for his role as the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz, Ray Bolger led a rich and extraordinary career in the decade before and more than four decades after the creation of the film. Ray Bolger: More Than a Scarecrow is the first biography of this classic American entertainer, covering the luminous and forgotten career of the eccentric dancer outside of his burlap mask. The product of a fragmented, working-class Boston Irish family, Bolger learned tap and eccentric dance steps as solace for a difficult life before running away to repertory theater and Vaudeville. From there, he would go on to become a Broadway star, a contract player at Hollywood's major studios, one of the first performers to tour the South Pacific for the USO, a Tony Award winner, an early sitcom star, and the opening headliner of the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. Using unprecedented access to Bolger's papers and many never-before-published photographs, Ray Bolger: More Than a Scarecrow pieces together the lost story of an itinerant hoofer who survived and thrived during the major media changes of the twentieth century and established himself as a staple of American pop culture.

Ray Bolger: More Than a Scarecrow is the first biography of the dancer best known for the 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz. This in-depth look at Bolger's career brings forgotten highlights to life, including his service in the nascent USO and his Tony Award-winning turn in Where's Charley?

Holly Van Leuven has written an outstanding book about Ray Bolger, which tells the compelling story of his career at the same time as it powerfully places him in the greater narrative of American show business in the 20th century. The tales of Bolger's legendary career are filled with fascinating, meticulously researched details, and simultaneously feel personal and emotionally engaging.