Betty Ann Bruno telling the truth

After 25 years in television on Oakland’s KTVU, Sonoma resident Betty Ann Bruno has probably seen all a TV show can offer. She is used to bright lights, make up and wardrobe people, and pesky production assistants. But an experience she had in May of 2021 opened her eyes to a whole different world.

Bruno keeps very busy now with irons in many fires, performing and teaching hula, and still enjoys the honor bestowed upon her in 2020 when she was named Sonoma Treasure Artist. But

Bruno has a story to tell that is most unusual.

While just 7 years old, Bruno was a munchkin, an actual munchkin in the “Wizard of Oz.” Much has been written about her experience on set with Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Burt Lahr and all those wicked witches. Bruno loves to share those very short but vivid memories.

Bruno was one of about a dozen children of average height who were hired to augment the 120 or so adult little people cast to fill the screen with the diminutive inhabitants of Oz. She is one of only four munchkins who are still living. As part of the greater population of the United States, this makes Bruno a one-in-80 million individual, perfect for an appearance on the ABC television show “To Tell the Truth.”

Bruno was invited to appear on TTTT out of the blue. She traveled with her husband, retired KTVU employee Craig Scheiner, to Los Angeles for the top-secret taping. They were to tell nobody about the show. The trip south allowed them to visit their children, providing a perfect cover and reason to leave the Valley of the Moon.

A 5:30 a.m. pickup at the hotel, and they were off to the studio. “We didn’t tape until noon. We were five or six hours of just waiting. It was make-up, hair, coaching, breakfast, walk-throughs…. There were probably 30 people in the studio itself. We were overwhelmed by the size of the crew, there were cameras all around, all the money that it must take.” This is in comparison to the six or seven people Bruno worked with in the studio during her heyday.

“It’s been 30 years since I retired,’ Bruno said. “It is not my world anymore. It was good to be back in the studio.”

The show itself has been on the air since 1956. The idea for the show is there is one contestant with an unusual occupation or experience to boast of, and two others who pretend to be that same person. A celebrity panel must ask a series of probing questions of the group to determine who is the real person. Somebody is lying.

The celebrity panelists of the golden days of the show included Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Orson Bean and Kitty Carlisle. Later celebrities were Betty White, Polly Bergen, Dick VanDyke and Don Ameche.

Bruno said, “We (the contestants) were told to look impassive at all times. Look neutral.”

No spilling the beans by a stray look askance. The job of the contestants is to hoodwink the panel, and allow them to have fun during the process.

The show featuring Bruno was aired last week as the finale of the current show’s sixth season. Bruno’s episode, Season 6, Episode 28 is available for viewing at ABC.com. Bruno tells of two questions asked of her that were edited out of the final segment. One was about her age, and one referred to her Pacific Islander heritage. Bruno said, “It stunned me that anything was cut. There is stuff of other episodes that I would consider…oooh, yeah, no…marginal…but they cut those two out, and I would give a cookie to know why.”

Without giving anything away, Bruno survived the show. The other two contestants were convincing in their lying, and Bruno was steely with her answers. After all these months, she can finally talk about her experience. A silent munchkin no more.