A few things everyone should know when reading today's #1 news item...Oscar Crashes Into Home.
#1 The Weinermobile was designed by THE industrial designer of the 20th century, Milwaukee's own Brooks Stevens (more here).
#2 The first person to play the role of "Little Oscar" and the first to drive the first Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was rural Watertown's Meinhardt Raabe, better known as the Coroner of Munchkintown from the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" (more here).
#3 The Oscar Meyer plant in Madison's east side is a symbol of that city's nearly forgotten past as somewhat of a blue collar town. But that was long ago.
#4 Todays big news from Wisconsin....Oscar Meyer Weinermobile Crashes into Home.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Oscar Meyer Weinermobile Crashes Into Home Fun Facts
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7 comments:
AWESOME! THANKS FOR PUTTING WI ON THE MAP!
Hey! You need to spell the man's name correctly: It's MAYER!
The Wienermobile (which is the correct spelling) actually was NOT designed by Brooke Stevens, but by the original Oscar Mayer's nephew, Carl Mayer in Chicago in 1936. Brooke Stevens designed the 1952 version which is presently in a museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Some more background for the fun of it:
Date: Friday, July 20, 2007
Section: FRONT
Edition: ALL
Page: A1
Byline: By GEORGE HESSELBERG ghesselberg@madison.com 608-252-6140
One of the world's most famous and welcome couriers of death, Wisconsin native Meinhardt Raabe, will share a crowded spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year when he and 123 other Munchkins finally get their star.
Raabe delivered the memorable, poetic confirmation of the Wicked Witch of the East's demise by a twister-driven Kansas farmhouse in the 1939 movie, "The Wizard of Oz."
Holding an oversized scroll on which is printed, "Certificate of Death," Raabe declares: "As coroner, I must aver I thoroughly examined her And she's not only merely dead She's really, most sincerely dead!"
Thereupon the ruby slippers disappear from the witch's striped-stockinged feet, which shrivel up to the alarm of children everywhere, and end up on the feet of Dorothy Gale, better known as Judy Garland. Celebration ensues in Munchkinland (she was, after all, a wicked witch) and the yellow brick road beckons Dorothy. She acquires sidekicks, repels the bad-dream flying monkeys and endures such snippets of legendary dialogue as "How about a little fire, Scarecrow?"
Now 91, Raabe, a native of Watertown and the first "Little Oscar," mascot for Oscar Mayer, is among a handful of remaining "midgets," as they were known before "little people" became the politically correct designation, from the original cast of 124 assembled for the movie. He took a leave from his job to head to California for the movie job, which paid $50 a week.
"We don't really know how many are still living," Raabe said Thursday from his home in Florida. "After all, when the work for the movie was finished, we all scattered to our hometowns. The only ones we know of now are the ones who gather at various Oz film festivals around the country."
The Munchkins' join 2,342 other "stars" on the walk. There are few stars shared by groups, including the "Dead End Kid," the "3 Stooges," "The Brothers Ritz" (a dance group) and "The Watson family." (Mysteriously, Snow White has a star, but the Seven Dwarfs do not.) Raabe was most recently in Wisconsin two years ago to attend a family funeral. His sister, Marion Ziegelmann, still lives in Watertown, he said.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame nomination was the successful end to a campaign started by Hollywood Boulevard Theater in Woodridge, Ill., which raised the $25,000 sponsorship fee and led the effort to assemble recommendations from movie companies and well-known film industry people.
The nomination was supported by film critic Roger Ebert, who suggested the pavement beneath their star be yellow bricks; the Little People of America (which was started in part by former Munchkins); Oz author L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, Roger; a congressman from Kansas; and Steven Spielberg, who wrote that the Munchkins "for me represent a large part of that iconic period and spectacular time in film history."
One of the criteria to receive a star is that the recipient must attend the dedication ceremony. Raabe, one of a dozen living Munchkins named by the sponsors, said he hopes to attend.
Though he has two college degrees, a longtime promotional connection with Oscar Mayer, a pilot's license and a Master Gardener certificate earned four years ago at age 87, Raabe said he never tires of the Munchkin attention.
He has never read any of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books, but the movie "has obviously been a major part of my life," he said, adding most sincerely: "It is something the public is interested in, and you should never snub the public."
Thank you for providing a link to this story. Steve
Sorry. I tried to get a link but had to copy from the archives, which are not accessible, so I just pasted the whole thamnn ding.
GHess.
Did the real story of WHY the chick driving was in a residential neighborhood trying to turn around the gi-normous wiener ever come out?
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