travsd

Jackie Gerlich: Member of the Guild

Jakob “Jackie” Gerlich (1925-1960) is best remembered today as a member of the “Lollipop Guild” in The Wizard of Oz (1939) alongside Jerry Maren and Harry Doll. Gerlich was born in Vienna and moved to the U.S. with his family in 1936. He was only 14 when he joined the Singer Midgets in The Wizard of Oz. His other films include The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) and East Side of Heaven (1939). The rest of the time he performed with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. He was wintering in Sarasota when he died mysteriously at age of 35. His official cause of death was given as “natural causes”. At 35?

For more on performing little people please check out Rose’s Royal Midgets and Other Little People in Vaudeville. 

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.