Sonoma ‘Munchkin’ Betty Ann Bruno featured at world’s largest ‘Wizard of Oz’ festival

Some 30,000 people crowded the streets of Chittenango, New York — the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wizard of Oz”— this month to watch a parade featuring characters from the book and film as well as floats, animals, marching units and special guests.

Riding prominently in a bright yellow VW Bug, dressed in an outfit resembling those that small characters known as Munchkins wore in the film, was none other than Sonoma’s Betty Ann Bruno. She was invited to participate in the parade and other activities during Oz-Stravaganza 2023, held from Friday, June 2 to Sunday, June 4, because she played the part of a Munchkin as a child in the 1939 film.

“Three or four of us child Munchkins are still living, but I understand the others are quite frail and that I’m the only one who is still standing and can travel,” said Bruno, who is 91 years old, but you’d never guess it based on her spirited personality and love of hula dancing.

Oz-Stravaganza is an annual event that began in 1978 to celebrate “all things Oz,” including the book and film. Bruno attended the event in 2022, and was lured back this year by the promise that she would be able to teach a hula class.

Bruno was accompanied by her husband — retired KTVU-TV cameraman, producer and editor Craig Scheiner — as well as Sonoma residents Gail Ford and Becky Zyskowski, students from Hula Mai, a dance company that Bruno founded in Sonoma. It offers modern and ancient hula classes as well as performances that inspire a love for hula and Hawaiian culture in general. Bruno was born in Hawaii to a Chinese Hawaiian mother and a Dutch-Irish father.

The three women taught festival participants two dances, with the Wicked Witch of the West, Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion and other Oz characters happily dancing behind them on the stage.

“That meant they learned the hula backward!” Bruno said. “I don’t think it mattered one bit: They still had fun.”

Bruno also was interviewed on a radio show, television show and stage, and autographed copies of her book, “The Munchkin Diary: My Personal Yellow Brick Road,” and other Oz-related items throughout the weekend.

The highlight for Bruno came at the last event of the weekend, when the Veterans of Foreign Wars provided a spaghetti dinner to thank all the volunteers who helped at the festival.

“They caught me totally by surprise when they made me an honorary member of The International L. Frank Baum and All Things Oz Historical Foundation,” she said. “I was truly humbled by that because the room was filled with people who work hard on the festival throughout the year. I feel that all I do is go there one weekend and have a lot of fun, so how could I deserve the high honor bestowed upon me?”

She also feels humbled by other attention she has received for her role in the iconic film.

“I am still processing the fact that all these accolades, all the fan mail, all the fuss, really have nothing to do with me personally,” she said. “They aren’t about the life I have had or the things I have accomplished. I just happen to be the icon, if you will, of the most beloved picture on the planet.”

Bruno is known for much more than her Oz appearance and hula offerings. After graduating from Stanford University, she worked for the CIA, was a community activist in Oakland and spent 25 years as a host and reporter for KTVU-TV in Oakland, where she won an Emmy Award.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.