RARE! "Where's Charley?" Ray Bolger Hand Signed Playbill Cover Todd Mueller COA

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Up for auction a
RARE! "Where's Charley?" Ray Bolger Hand Signed Playbill Cover.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-1097
Raymond Wallace Bolger
(January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American film and television actor, vaudevillian, singer, dancer (particularly of
tap
) and stage performer (particularly musical theatre) who started in the silent film era. He was a major Broadway performer in the 1930s and beyond (see below). He is best known for his role as the
Scarecrow
and his Kansas counterpart farm worker "Hunk" in MGM's classic
The Wizard of Oz
(1939) and the villainous Barnaby in
Walt Disney
's holiday musical fantasy
Babes in Toyland
. He was also the host of his eponymous television show,
The Ray Bolger Show
.
Bolger was born at 598 Second St., South Boston, Massachusetts into a
Catholic
family of
Irish
descent, the son of James Edward Bolger and Anne C. Wallace.
His father James was first-generation Irish, and was born in Fall River, Massachusetts; his mother "Annie" who had a large family, was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
He grew up and attended school in the
Codman Sqaure
section of
Dorchester
neighborhood of
Boston
,
Massachusetts
.
After graduating high school he worked for a peanut company, as a bank messenger, and for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, before finding his way to vaudeville by gaining a role on Broadway in “The Passing Show of 1926." His entertainment aspirations evolved from the
vaudeville
shows of his youth. He began his career in a vaudeville tap show, creating the act "Sanford & Bolger" with his dance partner. In 1926, he danced at New York City's legendary
Palace Theatre
, the premier vaudeville theatre in the United States. His limber body and improvisational dance movement won him many leading roles on Broadway in the 1930s. Eventually, his career would also encompass film, television and nightclub work.
In 1932 he was elected to the theater club,
The Lambs
and performed on opening night at
Radio City Music Hall
in December 1932.
Bolger signed his first cinema contract with
MGM
in 1936, and although
The Wizard of Oz
was early in his film career, he appeared in other movies of note. His best known pre-Oz appearance was
The Great Ziegfeld
(1936), in which he portrayed himself. He also appeared in
Sweethearts
(1938), the first MGM film in
Technicolor
, starring
Nelson Eddy
,
Jeanette MacDonald
. He also appeared in the
Eleanor Powell
vehicle
Rosalie
(1937), which also starred Eddy and Frank Morgan. Bolger's MGM contract stipulated that he would play any part the studio chose. However, he was unhappy when he was originally cast as the
Tin Woodman
in the studio's 1939 feature film adaptation of
The Wizard of Oz
. The role of the
Scarecrow
had already been assigned to another dancing studio contract player,
Buddy Ebsen
. In time, the roles were shuffled around. Bolger's face was permanently lined by wearing the Scarecrow's makeup.