<P> The reason behind his talents for performing stemmed from a persona he had built up years earlier as a thirteen - year - old during school vacations . He began attending lessons for singing and dancing in his early teens and enjoyed them so much that he opted to band together with his teacher in order to create an act known as "Three Steps and a hop ." This idea proved to be a small success on stage that toured the New England circuit for a considerable length of time thereafter . In the same year as The Wizard of Oz, Maren also appeared in an Our Gang feature, Tiny Troubles, playing criminal' Light - Fingered Lester' . </P> <P> After The Wizard of Oz Maren continued acting and appeared in many movies and television shows . Some of these appearances were in the Our Gang comedy shorts, in the Marx Brothers' At The Circus (1939), and as an ape in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). He is also featured, along with fellow Munchkin Billy Curtis, in American International Pictures' release Little Cigars (1973), about a gang of "midgets" on a crime spree . </P> <P> In the 1950s Maren worked as a Little Oscar for the Oscar Mayer Company and as Buster Brown in television and radio commercials . Later he joined his friend Billy Barty in organizing Little People of America . Maren has also portrayed Mayor McCheese and The Hamburglar in commercials for McDonald's . </P> <P> In the late 1970s he was the dapper little man on The Gong Show, heralding each show's big finish with an onslaught of confetti as Milton DeLugg's band played "Hoop Dee Doo". He made a notable appearance in the episode "Felix the Horseplayer" of The Odd Couple as Harry Tallman, a racehorse exerciser who gives Oscar tips on winning horses . In 1982 he played Morris the bellboy, a regular character in the ABC sitcom No Soap, Radio . </P>

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