Mae West: Mickey Carroll

A very special actor who worked with MAE WEST has met his final curtain.
• • Word comes that Mickey Carroll, one of the last surviving Munchkins from the iconic 1939 screen classic "The Wizard of Oz" died recently at age 89. It was his only motion picture but his brief cameos were most memorable. .
• • Born in St. Louis on 8 July 1919, Mickey Carroll's birthname was Michael Finocchiaro. The son of Italian immigrants who carved marble cemetery monuments, he grew up with a twin sister and four older siblings, all of whom are deceased.
• • It was a pituitary condition that caused Carroll's height to stop at 4-foot-3.
• • What he lacked in stature he made up for with an abundance of appeal, personality, and comedic timing. When presidential hopeful Franklin D. Roosevelt was campaigning in New York City, Mickey Carroll helped warm up the voters. He was also hired as a crowd-getter during Harry Truman's whistlestop campaign.
• • In St. Louis, Carroll tripped the light fantastic at the Muny Theater when he was still an elementary school pupil. Afterwards, he appeared in Chicago clubs and on the Orpheum Theater vaudeville circuit.
• • Expanding his specialties, Mickey Carroll also did Phillip Morris live radio ads — — "Call for Philip Morris!" — — and appeared in shows with Mae West. He followed up those successes with radio shows with George Burns, Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, and Al Jolson.
• • In November 2007, Mickey Carroll received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with six other surviving Munchkins: Ruth Duccini, Jerry Maren, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Slover, and Clarence Swensen.
• • Until January of this year, the pint-size performer enjoyed living in his own home in Bel-Nor. After he got a pacemaker, however, he began boarding with a caretaker, who told the press that he died in his sleep, very peacefully, and perhaps dreaming of following the yellow brick road in the wonderful land of Oz.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Who's Who

Who's Who, that venerable volume established in 1899 and updated once a year, celebrated its 110th birthday with a toast to MAE WEST.
• • Their boring press release is far too tedious and self-congratulatory to be reprinted here in its entirety — — but the gist is that their editors "compiled a collection of facts, letters, and other interesting documents providing a fascinating view of the history and cultural impact of Who's Who in America(R)" — — to give added value to the 2009 edition.
• • Looking back on its own historical quip-cream and snippets for the past century, their commemorative edition documents the flattery they received from noteworthy individuals.
• • According to the publisher, "This historical retrospective, appearing as a 16-page color section in the front of the new edition, includes: advertisements and published cartoons featuring Who's Who in America(R), such as a Cuban cigar advertisement from 1955, Beetle Bailey, and Doonesbury; quotes about the book from such famous Americans as Mae West; a letter to the editor from former President Harry Truman, as well as one from magician Harry Houdini; and editorial reviews of the first edition from 1899. Also included are biographies of interesting, one-time listees William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, explorer Hiram Bingham, and the author of The King and I, Anna Leonowens. ...
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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