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Jack Haley
Born	John Joseph Haley Jr. (1898-08-10)August 10, 1898 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	June 6, 1979(1979-06-06) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California
Occupations	Actor comedian dancer radio host singer vaudevillian
Years active	1923–1977
Known for	The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Spouse	Florence McFadden ​(m. 1921)​
Children	2, including Jack Haley Jr.

John Joseph Haley Jr. (August 10, 1898 – June 6, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, radio host, singer, drummer and vaudevillian. He was best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and his farmhand counterpart Hickory in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz.

Early life

Haley was born in Boston Massachusetts on August 10, 1898.

His father John Joseph Haley Sr. was a waiter by trade, and later a ship's steward. He died in the wreck of the schooner Charles A. Briggs at Nahant, Massachusetts on February 1, 1898, aged 31, when Jack wasn't born yet. He had one older brother, William Anthony "Bill" Haley, a musician, who developed pneumonia which caused tuberculosis, and he died in 1915 at the age of twenty.

Career

Haley headlined in vaudeville as a song-and-dance comedian. One of his closest friends was Fred Allen, who would frequently mention "Mr. Jacob Haley of Newton Highlands, Massachusetts" on the air. Haley made a few phonograph records in 1923, and in the early 1930s starred in comedy shorts for Vitaphone in Brooklyn, New York. His wide-eyed, good-natured expression gained him supporting roles in musical feature films, including Poor Little Rich Girl with Shirley Temple, Higher and Higher with Frank Sinatra and the Irving Berlin musical Alexander's Ragtime Band. Both Poor Little Rich Girl and Alexander's Ragtime Band were released by Twentieth Century-Fox. Haley was under contract to them and appeared in the Fox films Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Pigskin Parade, marking his first appearance with Judy Garland. Haley hosted a radio show from 1937 to 1939 known to many as The Jack Haley Show. The first season (1937–1938), the show was sponsored by Log Cabin Syrup and was known as The Log Cabin Jamboree. The next season (1938–1939), the show was sponsored by Wonder Bread and was known as The Wonder Show. During the second season the show featured Gale Gordon and Lucille Ball as regular radio performers.

Haley returned to musical comedies in the 1940s. Most of his '40s work was for RKO Radio Pictures. He left the studio in 1947 when he refused to appear in a remake of RKO's Seven Keys to Baldpate. Phillip Terry took the role. He subsequently went into real estate, taking guest roles in television series over the next couple of decades.

"The Tin Man" in The Wizard of Oz

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired Haley for the part of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. He replaced song-and-dance comedian Buddy Ebsen, who had suffered a severe allergic reaction after inhaling aluminum powder from his silver face makeup, which triggered a congenital bronchial condition; the dust settled in Ebsen's lungs and, within a few days of principal photographic testing, he found himself struggling to breathe. For Haley, to avoid the same problem, the dust was converted into a paste—even so, the paste caused an eye infection that sidelined Haley for four shooting days. Surgical treatment averted serious or permanent damage to Haley's eyes. Haley also portrayed the Tin Man's Kansas counterpart, Hickory Twicker, one of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry's farmhands.

Haley did not remember the makeup or the costume fondly. Interviewed about the film years later by Tom Snyder, he related that many fans assumed making the film was a fun experience. Haley said, "Like hell it was. It was work!" For his role as the Tin Woodman, Haley spoke in the same soft tone he used when reading bedtime stories to his children. Oz was one of only three films Haley made for MGM. The others were Pick a Star, a 1937 Hal Roach production distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Mr. Cinderella in 1936.

Personal life

Haley was raised Roman Catholic. He was a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California. His nephew Bob Dornan served as a Republican congressman for California.

Final years and death

On June 1, 1979, Haley suffered a heart attack. He died on June 6, 1979, at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 80. His funeral was held at the Church of the Good Shepherd and the eulogy was given by Ray Bolger who concluded it by saying, "It's going to be awfully lonely on that Yellow Brick Road now, Jack."

Haley is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

Haley's autobiography, Heart of the Tin Man, was published in 2000.

Film

Short films

Broadway

References

1. "At sea since boyhood". The Boston Globe. February 3, 1898. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com. John Haley of South Boston, age 31, was the steward.
2. Haley, Jack (March 1, 2001). Heart of the Tin Man: The Collected Writings of Jack Haley. Seven Locks Press. ISBN 978-0970387202. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
3. Reinehr, Robert; Swartz, Jon (2007). Historical Dictionary of Old Time Radio. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-0810857803.
4. "Wizard of Oz and Buddy Ebsen". Snopes.com. July 26, 1997. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
5. "Mister Cinderella (1936) – Overview". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
6. Thomas, Bob (June 12, 1979). "Jack Haley, Screen's Tin Woodsman, Is Buried". The Lewiston Daily Sun. Associated Press. p. 9. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
7. "Our History". Church of the Good Shepherd. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
8. Kotkin, Joel. "Hollywood's Great Right Hope". washingtonpost.com. WP, LLC. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
9. Pace, Eric (June 7, 1979). "Jack Haley, Actor, 79, Dead; Was Tin Woodman in 'Oz'". The New York Times.
10. ^ Smith, J. Y. (June 7, 1979). "Jack Haley Dies, Was Tin Man in 'The Wizard of Oz'". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2017. Jack Haley, 79, who played the shy and diffident Tin Woodman in the film classic "The Wizard of Oz," died yesterday at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after a heart attack.
11. Leuven, Holly Van (2019). "Epilogue: No Sad Songs". Ray Bolger: More than a Scarecrow. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-19-063906-8.
12. "Cemetery of the Week #110: Holy Cross Cemetery". cemeterytravel.com. Loren Rhoads & Cemetery Travel. October 3, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
13. Haley, Jack (2000). Heart of the Tin Man: The Collected Writings of Jack Haley. Tinman Publishing. ISBN 0970387202.

14.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/435/jack-haley/ Haley Real birth year found on image of gravestone also shown above

External links

• Jack Haley at IMDb
• Jack Haley at the Internet Broadway Database

• 1897 births
• 1979 deaths
• 20th Century Studios contract players
• 20th-century American male actors
• 20th-century American male singers
• 20th-century American singers
• American male comedians
• American male film actors
• American male musical theatre actors
• American male stage actors
• American people of Canadian descent
• American vaudeville performers
• Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
• Catholics from New Jersey
• Comedians from Boston
• Comedians from New Jersey
• Male actors from Boston
• Male actors from New Jersey
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
• Musicians from Atlantic City, New Jersey
• Paramount Pictures contract players
• RKO Pictures contract players