Maren began to cultivate his performance talents by creating a persona as a thirteen-year-old during school vacations. He began attending singing and dancing lessons in his early teens, and enjoyed them so much that he opted to team up with his teacher in an act known as "Three Steps and a Hop." The idea was a success on stage, and the group toured the New England circuit for a considerable length of time. In the same year as "The Wizard of Oz", Maren appeared in an Our Gang short "Tiny Troubles" as the criminal "Light-Fingered Lester", and was an extra in the Western film "The Terror of Tiny Town".