Okay ILOSM fam’ here’s an Old School fun fact for you that you probably couldn’t have called in a million years…at least I know I couldn’t have.

The film the Wiz was one of the greatest films ever created in my opinion and the entire cast did an amazing job with bringing the film to life but get this: Michael Jackson was the SECOND CHOICE for the role of the “Scarecrow.” Can you believe that? There was actually a very popular actor who was supposed to play the character at first and let’s just say he is probably the last person many of us would have expected.

HE Was Supposed To Be The “Scarecrow?!!

It is Jimmie Walker! Was he your first guess? Yeah that’s what I thought, he wasn’t our’s either, but it’s a fact, Jimmie Walker was originally supposed to play the role of the “Scarecrow”…he explained how the director for The Wiz (who was also Lena Horne’s son-in-law) tried to get him for the role. Jimmie talked about this in his book…here’s an excerpt from it:

Jimmie also went on to say why he’s glad he didn’t do the film.
Hmmm….can’t quite say i agree with Jimmie’s “biggest bombs in movie history” statement. While I understand he’s referring to the dollars that The Wiz lost at the box office, it was by far a “bomb” to the millions of us Old Schoolers who loved the film…and still do. The Wiz has become an old school cult classic, so I wouldn’t necessarily say it was “bomb” because sometimes there are certain elements that are bigger than just a dollar amount.

The Wiz helped to immortalize many of those actors and their careers, as a result of their work on that film: Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, Tedd Ross, Lena Horne, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Mabel King, the list goes on. Not saying that this film shouldn’t have done much better at the box office, I’m just saying that this is definitely not a film that tarnished any of those actors’ resume’…in fact, it helped them.

On the other hand, many us would probably agree that there wasn’t a better actor to play “J.J.” on Good Times, other than Jimmie Walker. He owned that role all the way, but maybe that character was so dominate, that it makes it harder to imagine him not saying “Dy-no-mite!” in the role as “Scarecrow.” This is all just my humble opinion though.

So tell us ILOSM family, do you think Jimmie Walker would have played a great “Scarecrow” in The Wiz?

By the way, check out this classic “Scarecrow” scene, turn the page and reminisce…