The Yellow Brick Road Leads to Sonoma

Sonoma Index-Tribune-28 January 2021

Andy Warhol is credited with coining the phrase about everyone having 15 minutes of fame. Sonoma’s Betty Ann Bruno, one of the last surviving Munchkins, has had more than her share. She writes about it in “The Munchkin Diary,” a memoir detailing her journey from “The Wizard of Oz,” to Stanford University, to working for the CIA, to being a civil activist in Oakland, to a career in television.

“I never intended to write about my life,” Bruno, 89, told the Index-Tribune. “Then I thought my kids would like to hear about being on the set with Judy Garland, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and a whole bunch of little people. That story led to many more.”

Bruno was born in Hawaii to a Hawaiian mother, her father from Texas. The family moved to Hollywood when she was quite young. Living across the street from the Twentieth Century Fox studios, it seemed only natural that Bruno would go into show business. And the timing was perfect.

“Hollywood was in love with everything Polynesian,” Bruno said. “Being Hawaiian helped me get roles.” She took singing and dancing lessons, and appeared in several movies. The big opportunity came when a call went out seeking girls less than 4-and-a-half feet tall, who could sing and dance and look terrified. Her mother took her to the audition. She made the cut and was cast as a Munchkin, joining 124 adults and a dozen young girls playing the inhabitants of Munchkinland. READ MORE.