By Chelsa Ballard (c) Glendale Star 2007

Margaret Pelligrini (the Wizard of Oz Munchkin)

By Chelsa Ballard (c) Glendale Star 2007

Margaret Pellegrini will be following her own yellow brick road all the way to Hollywood Nov. 20.

Pellegrini, also known as the “Flowerpot Munchkin” to “The Wizard of Oz” enthusiasts, is making her mark on Hollywood Boulevard when a star for the Munchkins will be installed, honoring their achievements inside the film industry.

Pellegrini said Ted Bulthaup, who owns a theater in Woodridge, Ill., and hosts an annual event that brings the Munchkins to the state to sign autographs at a showing of the movie, has been petitioning the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (which is in charge of the Walk of Fame) to lay down a star in the actors’ names.

“We wanted them to get it (the star) down as soon as possible because we’re getting old,” Pellegrini, 83 and a Glendale resident, said. “If they keep putting it off, they won’t have many Munchkins left.”

There are less than 10 Munchkins still alive, she said.

“I was surprised that they (the Munchkins) didn’t have a star, seeing that Donald Trump, Ryan Seacrest, The Rugrats and Woody Woodpecker all have one” Bulthaup said.

The petition for the star took two years – it was originally rejected in 2005, but accepted the next time around. The Munchkins were supported through letters from Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ted Turner and the state of Kansas endorsed it to name a few.

Universal Studios, MGM and Warner Bros. all supported them as well.

“We had a bit of a letter campaign from those whose opinion counted and it worked,” Bulthaup said. “It was all very helpful.”

The star will be placed in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, where the movie premiered in 1339, and during the event, it will be under a rainbow arch and the Munchkins will be brought in by a horse of different colors, just like in the movie. The Munchkins will also be singing “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”

Following the dedication ceremony, there will be a reception in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel where the first Academy Awards were held.

“I can’t wait – I think it is wonderful,” Pellegrini said.

Getting the role

Pellegrini was born in 1924 in Alabama, moved to Illinois and landed in the Glendale area in 1961.

She was visiting relatives in Alabama in1937 she when to the state fair to help her family pass out samples of potato chips. While she was there, a group of little people came over to her, spoke with her for a little while and ultimately offered her the chance to join up with the group and be in a show. Pellegrini, then 13 years old, declined their offer, but gave them her name and address.

Two years later, she received a letter in the mail from an agent in California offering her a role in “The Wizard of Oz.” On Nov. 8, 1937, she boarded a train bound for Hollywood by herself.

Pellegrini remembers that she had a layover in Memphis, where some of her family lived.

“I was so excited that I didn’t even call to stay with them,” she said. “I just stayed at the train station.”

Pellegrini said her parents “thought it was neat” that she moved across the country to act in a movie at 15 years old.

Filming Munchkin Land

Once she began filming, Pellegrini began her day in a make-up chair. After making her way through 12 make-up chairs (an assembly line of blush, mascara and curlers), she made her way to costumes to get dressed and hit the set.

It took eight weeks to film Munchkin Land, Pellegrini said, and she was paid $50 per week – a small amount in comparison to Toto’s $125.

“To me, it was like rehearsing onstage,” Pellegrini said. “It was fun – I was around 124 little people – but it was also work.”

Pellegrini also made a debut as a “Sleepyhead Munchkin” in a different scene from where she played the “Flower Pot Munchkin.”

However, between filming, she met some of the key players in the movie. Pellegrini said Billie Burke, Judy Garland, the Tin Man and the Straw Man were all as nice off-set as they were on.

Garland was just a year older than Pellegrini when they were filming the movie.

“She (Garland) was a typical teenager,” Pellegrini said. “She would just sit on our set and talk to us. She was as sweet as she could be and she was excited to be working with little people.”

However, Pellegrini said that on their noon lunch break, you could always see Garland walking away with Mickey Rooney, who came over from a different set where he was filming “Huckleberry Finn.” Pellegrini said Rooney was “a little sweet on Garland.”

Life after Oz

Pellegrini saw the premier of “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time Aug. 15, 1939, in San Francisco at Fox Theater.

“When I saw myself on the screen for the first time, I screamed, ‘That’s me, that’s me, that’s me,’” Pellegrini said. “Everyone turned around because they thought someone was getting killed.”

Even after the movie premiered, the Oz chapter of Pellegrini’s life wasn’t closed. Althought immediately following the movie’s premier she found work at Treasure Island’s World Fair and at a night club in Chicago waitressing, she has been traveling to Oz festivals all over the country until this year. Pellegrini suffered a stroke May 31 and hasn’t traveled on doctor’s orders.

Pellegrini said she still watches the movie occasionally with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Reach the reporter at cballard@star-times.com, or call (623) 842-6000.

 Teenagers beat downtown shopkeeper

By Elizabeth Jackman Staff Writer Glendale Star

Roy Liggett, owner of Pals Forever at 7003 N. 58th Ave. , sports a black eye after a confrontation with teenagers in his shop last Sunday afternoon. Photo by Elizabeth Jackman

A group of teenagers blackened the eye of a downtown shopkeeper last Sunday afternoon, breaking his glasses and smashing his cell phone.

Roy Liggett, owner of ‘Pals Forever’ on 58th Avenue across the street from the Velma Teague Branch Library, had just opened his shop two Sundays ago, when a group of six teenagers - four boys and two girls - entered the store.

It was just after 11 a.m. Oct. 14 when the boisterous group entered the shop.

“They were being disruptive, but not malicious,” Liggett said. “There were about six to eight other customers in the store at the time. The boys were trying on jewelry and the girls were laughing.”

After about 15 minutes, the teens left on their own. But about 45 minutes later, two boys and a girl returned.

“One of the boys who came back was not with the original group from earlier,” Liggett said. “The first thing, two of them headed straight for the jewelry counter, while the other boy sat in an antique rocking chair near the front entrance of the store and began rocking.”

Liggett warned him it was a $250 chair and unless he wanted to buy it he had better get out of it.

“His response was, ‘I wouldn’t give you $20 for this crappy chair,’” Liggett said. “At this point, I came out from behind the counter and said, ‘partner you’d better leave’ and he said ‘you can’t throw me out.’”

As Liggett continued to ask the boy to leave, the boy began to argue and become more and more abusive. There were four shoppers in the store at the time.

The confrontation began moving closer to the door and the boy began swearing and cussing, Liggett said.

“Then, he pushed me in the chest and when we got outside to the edge of the sidewalk, he pushed me again,” Liggett said. “A lot of shoppers and people in the area were yelling and someone called 911. Then I heard girls screaming and two more teenage girls and two more teenage boys came running at me, started scratching and poking. As I turned around to get away, the kid punched me in the eye, breaking my glasses and sending my cell phone shattering all over the sidewalk. The girls were doing most of the beating except the one punch. All of the people on the sidewalk began screaming and all the kids took off.”

About 10 minutes later, Liggett said, the police arrived and he advised them he wanted to press charges against the teens if they were caught.

“Parents need to understand their children’s behavior, they probably don’t have a clue they are acting like that,” Liggett said.

He said he recognized two of the boys because they are always skateboarding in the breezeway midway down the street and on the roof of his shop.

“They have been thrown out of other places. Joanne Glass Creations threw them out just before they came to our store,” Liggett said. “They are down here quite often on weekends. Lois Loveables said she threw them out two to three months ago when they were messing around with her jewelry cases. I think the girls got away with some of my jewelry while my attention was diverted.”

Liggett and his wife, Pat, who been in business on the street for the past eight years, said it was a lot safer when the bicycle cops patrolled the area.

“They kept things under control. Their presence was so nice and everyone felt more relaxed,” Pat said. “We loved it when they were here. They were all great guys and girls and responded rapidly.”

Liggett said since they’ve been gone, there has been more shoplifting and bad bills circulating.

Most of the bicycle officers were reassigned in 2005, and last August, Police Chief Steve Conrad reassigned the remaining few bicycle officers to create NRSs (Neighborhood Response Squads) who are cross trained in plain clothes, patrol cars, bicycles or whatever best fits the need to weed out crime.

Glendale Police spokesperson Sgt. Jim Toomey said that Oct. 1, two ‘safety team officers’ were hired, Tim Biesel and Garry Soderlund, who will be patrolling the downtown area on foot Monday through Saturday. They are in addition to a full-time downtown NRS.

“They completed their training Oct. 12 and began working the 15th and attended ‘That Thursday Thing’ on the 18th,” Toomey said. “They have spent a week-and-a-half going around meeting merchants and will attend downtown merchant meetings. They are a set of eyes and ears to watch out for suspicious activity and are equipped with police radios to contact police. They will wear black pants and light blue shirts. Although they are currently on foot we are contemplating getting them bicycle certified.”

Toomey said he checked calls for juvenile disturbances in the downtown area for 2007 and found a relatively small number and they were neither up nor down from last year.

“We are continuing our efforts to identify the individuals involved in the assault on Roy Liggett,” Toomey said.

Liggett offered the following descriptions of the teenagers involved in last Sunday’s incident: Boy number one is described as white, 5-feet-7-inches tall, 130 to 140 pounds, kind of stocky build, short dark hair, wearing a blue T-shirt and blue shorts. Girl number one was white with waist-length straight blonde hair. She was 5-feet-2-inches to 5-feet-3-inches tall, a little stocky. Girl number two was white, 5-feet-10-inches, slender with short, very black hair that looked dyed and shaped like a bowl around her head.

“Both girls have been in the shop before,” Liggett said.

Anyone with information should call the Glendale Police tipline at (623) 930-3399, or Silent Witness at (480) WITNESS (948-6377).

Reach the reporter at ejackman@star-times.com or (623) 847-4615.