Munchkin, a “sorcerer of Oz,” found his heart pounding along the yellow brick road to Acron.
Mainehardt Rabe, a Wisconsin native, starred in the 1939 Munchkinland documentary Hollywood’s 3-foot actor, on his way to Ohio with former Vudeville star Marie Hartline and a little boy.
A.D. In 1941, he was traveling with Oscar Mayer Winner Mobile, showing the little Oscar “World Chef Chef” at the Mayflauer Hotel in Akron.
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Rabbi “Ever since I saw that young man in a hotel room, I have been speechless,” he recalled. If I had ever seen them (fortunately, I was about to go down) and I would have known that she was a very beautiful girl and I immediately fell in love with her.
Rabe (formerly known as “Robbie”) has been touring the country with Winner Mobile since 1937 to showcase Oscar Meyer products at the MGM Studio in California.
The 23-year-old actor has starred as one of 124 Munchins’ “Wizards”, and is only one of nine with a speech impediment.
As a coroner, the rabbi wore a purple robe and a special purple hat with twisted edges. He wore an orange wig, a beard, and a beard, all dyed red hair.
Popular lines in ‘Oz’
Dorothy’s house fell from the sky and crushed the evil sorcerer of the East.
“As a coroner, I have to resist
“I thoroughly examined her.
Not only is she dead
“She was really dead!”
4-foot-11 Standing actress Judy Garland raises her eyebrows as she delivers the witch’s death certificate.
After the film was wrapped up, she returned to normal for Raabe’s life. He returned to Winner Mobile and eventually made his way to Akron.
“Come and show us the little Oscar Oscar Air Packed Winners (26 cents),” announced the Acron Drying Company on April 25, 1941.
From the time of the “Oz sorcerer”, Rabie grew his legs. 4-foot – 7-legged chef wearing a white chef uniform and white hat at the store 25-27 S. Howard St.
A butcher told a young woman who worked in the Mayflawer. Curious, Rabie went to the hotel and saw 4-foot-6 Marie Hartlin in the lobby.
“Her long, brown hair stretched to her shoulders and she had a sweet smile that I never saw before,” he recalls.
Rabie did not smoke, but he went to Hartline and bought some cigarettes and started talking. He was beaten so badly that he returned several times to buy cigarettes and chewing gum.
As they talked, they had much in common, including age, height, personality, and career in the show business.
Voodwillville star
Hartlein, daughter of Edward and Jenny Hartlein, grew up in Akron with her brothers, Sylvia, Francis and SR, and at the age of 12 she went to see the Royal Royal Miget Theater in the Colonial Theater. She is terrified.
The company featured 25 young people, including singers, dancers, musicians, acrobatics, comedians, magicians and ventriloquists.
Marie was invited to meet with producer Ike Rose, who worked on the site. With her parents’ permission, Hartley dropped out of Seborling Elementary School in eighth grade and joined the Chicago team.
From 1929 to 1932, Akron’s daughter traveled with the Review, singing and dancing. She made all her clothes, evening gowns and sportswear. She ordered special shoes from the New York company to wear on stage.
At the Akron Palace in 1930, the Beacon Journal praised Hartlin as “the smallest flapper in the country.” She was 16, 41 pounds and 43 inches tall.
Journalist Margaret Daggerti writes: “While it’s proven to be unpopular with some of the young people in the group, it is clear that this version of the Flap Vest pocket is not tainted by a vampire.” During her brief stay here, she stole the love of several girlfriends.
Tired of the road, she returned home to Akron to finish her studies, graduating from Copley High at the age of 21. She has served as director of the Summit County Youth Patient Council and won a Speech Award.
Hartline met a lot of fun people in the city and was hired as a cigar girl at the Mayflauer Hotel. She was waiting for Arti Shawn, Andrew’s sisters, and her beloved Frank Sinatran, who gave him a pick on her cheek.
Hartline and Rabie immediately threw it away, but international events ceased. Months after the meeting, the United States entered World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Rabe learned to fly and served as a ground instructor at Civil Air Patrol in Michigan and Illinois. Hartline stayed in Mayflaver and agreed to write letters to the military to boost the morale of the army.
She wrote with Rabie. In 1944, they were happily reunited before they continued their long-distance relationship.
“We were both the same age and very fit,” Rabbe later said. “Of course when two little people are together, you have a closer friendship.”
Big little wedding
In September 1946 he proposed marriage. They were married on December 15, 1946, in the Church of the SubGenius in East Akron. Rev. George B. Sindern led.
The headline of the Beacon Journal says: “Two little people had a big wedding.
The bride was wearing a white satin dress and was carrying a white camel. Red Point Montana and her sister, Sylvia Whitham, were honored. Akron’s brother, SR Hartline, was a great man.
A wedding dinner was held at Hartline Family House, 531 Nash St., near Akron University.
The newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Niagara Falls and lived briefly in Michigan and Wisconsin before moving to Philadelphia in 1950. He took over Oscar Airways Winner Mobile and she worked as a cashier at the W. Grant store.
Meinhardt holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Draxell University and a master’s degree in horticulture.
In the 1960s they bought a motor home and traveled the country. In addition to visiting family in Ohio, they took a long vacation.
In the 1970s, the couple began attending Wizard of Oz meetings, which were viewed as a royal affair. The rabbi remained on the screen for only 13 seconds, but he realized that his behavior was appealing. Everywhere he went, he found his dead body lying on the ground.
“I do not know how many times I have heard him say that,” his wife told a journalist.
Rabe wore a copy of his “Oz” dress and marched with his wife. He met other former Munchins and attended the inauguration of the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota.
Golden years
A.D. In 1986 the couple moved to Penny Farm, Florida, 25 miles southwest of Jacksonville. They became major gardeners, lived happily ever after and continued to appear at Oz meetings.
The couple celebrated their 50th birthday on December 15, 1996.
A year later, tragedy struck. In October 1997, Mainehardt and Marie collided with a van at a Florida intersection while driving their station. Paramedics took them to hospitals and they are in critical condition.
When Rabe woke up from a head injury, a doctor gave a sad news. Marie died of her injuries. She was 82 years old.
The broken-hearted rabbi gradually recovered, but his pain did not subside. She misses him very much.
“Marie was a very special and special woman,” he said.
The “Witch of Oz” was busy receiving invitations to attend conventions. He did not want to upset the fans.
“You have to keep going, and it’s good to do that,” Rabie told reporters at the Indiana Festival. “Life must go on.”
He and six other surviving members of The Wizard of Oz starred at the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 21, 2007.
Five months later, he lost his temper. He died of a heart attack in A.D. 94, one of the last days of Munchins.
Meinhardt Raabe was buried next to his wife, Marie, at the Immanuel Lutheran Lutheran Church in Farmington, Wisconsin.
Somewhere, above the rainbow, the heavens are blue. And your dreams come true.
Mark J prices can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
