The Wicked Witch does Sondheim

I always find it interesting when my various passions intersect. Such things always pack a little extra fun or satisfaction, despite the difficulties in deciding which collection the thing goes into. The latest cross-pollination is between my Oz collection and my Stephen Sondheim collection.

I have been a Sondheim fan since my early teens. My first exposure to Sondheim was the 1977 film version of A Little Night Music. It is a flawed film, but no where near as awful as legend states. Anyway back to today's blog - I just got a copy of the lovely souvenir program from the National tour of the original Broadway production of the show.

A Little Night Music Souvenir program featuring Boris Aronson's set design.

The handsome program is large and packed with photographs. The Oz connection is that Margaret Hamilton played Madame Armfeldt. It was her final stage role. The tour began February 26, 1974 in Philadelphia and closed February 15, 1975 in Boston.

Incidentally, Hamilton was performing in the tour of Night Music in Los Angeles when she was interviewed by Aljean Harmetz for The Making of The Wizard of Oz (1977).

Madame Armfeldt is an aged demimondaine, a high-end courtesan, (now retired). If you've seen the film Gigi, it was the "occupation" Gigi was being groomed for: a cultured, educated, and lovely woman who would be "kept" in style by an upper-class gentleman - for,.  uhm . . . "favors."

I'm not going to go into the whole plot of A Little Night Music, but you sort of need to know at least that much to understand the song Hamilton sings in the sound clip below.

This is Margaret Hamilton's solo in the show, a song called "Liaisons," in which she recounts her triumphs and losses in love and luxury - and the seeming decline of style, culture, and civilization.

On the one hand, Margaret Hamilton may seem an odd choice for a musical. She does not have a beautiful voice. And in this song she shifts between speaking and singing. But it's a great performance nonetheless. Hamilton did play in at at least two other musicals over the years: as Aunt Eller in Oklahoma! and as Parthy Ann Hawks in Showboat - neither big singing parts.

Below are a few more photos of Hamilton in A Little Night Music.

Munchkins by Marriage

What do you think the chances are that David Maxine and Eric Shanower are both related to a Munchkin actor from the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz? If you answered 100%, then you're right. Click here to read the full story of this surprising and heretofore unknown relationship:

The Over-the-Rainbow Connection

Happy Holidays!

I suppose folks have noticed that I've been blogging a lot less than I used to. There are many reasons - I have been busier at work, I became irritated over a handful of obnoxious people who were leaving obnoxious comments on the blog (I deleted them), and I must admit I felt a little bit of blogger burn-out - a quite common disease! I sincerely hope to begin blogging more regularly again and will do my best to do so.

Today I am sharing an assortment of Ozzy news, but wanted to add a personal touch as the more personal blog posts have always been the more enjoyable to write. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my first exposure to Oz was my watching the MGM film on our black-and-white television when I was four years old. I enjoyed it a lot, but it certainly didn't turn me into a mega-Oz fan. However, not long after seeing the film, my mom and I were walking through the Lobo Bookstore near the University of New Mexico campus, and on an end-cap I saw a copy of The Wizard of Oz - the edition pictured below.

I don't remember if I saw the cover and knew what it was or whether my mom pointed it out. In any case, we bought it and I think it was read to me. However, the main thing I remember was how much the cover illustration fascinated me. I'm still not sure why. Perhaps it was because the characters looked quite different from the way they did in the MGM film? I think it was partly the heavy blue/green tonality of the image. I don't know what happened to the original copy of the book we bought, but when I found this copy about fifteen years ago, I saw the cover illustration and instantly was taken back to being four years old. It was quite a powerful sensation!

The book has proved quite interesting to examine with my adult eyes. The book was published by Avon Books, and this copy says "First Camelot Printing, November 1967." I suspect I encountered the book right after it came out. The interior is an unabridged Wizard text featuring all of the illustrations from the early 1960s Reilly & Lee "white edition." The little book even has a collage of Denslow images printed on the inside covers and fly-leaves, creating an "endpaper" effect. I am sure, in retrospect, that one thing that drew me to want the book when I was little was the fact that it was profusely illustrated. 

So this was my first ever Oz book. I wasn't really hooked until my second grade teacher started reading us the later Baum Oz titles, but I'm really happy to have found a copy of the first Oz book I ever remember seeing or owning.

OK, now that I have made you read this far, I will toss a few bits of Ozzy news into the blog. First, we have posted our December Tiger Tale on the website and I hope you'll take a moment to check it out. It is L. Frank Baum's short story "Aunt 'Phroney's Boy," first published exactly a hundred years ago in the December 1912 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine.

I am also pleased to announce that a new issue of Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze has just been published. Copies can be ordered from our website or found in your local comic book store. Click here to order.

That's about it for today - I'll do my best to not make you wait too long for another blog post.

Happy Holidays!

Big Little Judy

I'm not much of a Judy collector. While I am a fan,  the Garland/Oz connection is too weak for me to think of that stuff as Oz material. My Garland LPs are just in with the records - the DVDs are just in the shelf in alphabetical order. But a very few things have made it into the Oz collection, including this - another neat find on the great summer road trip!

As you see, it's a "Big Little Book" just like Frank J. Baum's The Laughing Dragon of Oz (1934). Thus the book is tiny - measuring only 3 3/4" x 4 1/2". You may have noted, too, that the book is actually called a "Better Little Book" on the cover, reflecting Whitman's renaming of the series in 1938.

I'm unsure what the actual title of the book is. On the front cover it just says Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. On the spine it says Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and how they got into the Movies. And on the title page we get the even bigger mouthful Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, The Story of their Rise to Fame and Fortune in the Movies.

Whatever the actual title is, the book was written by Edward J. Gruskin and published in 1941. Like other BLBs it is profusely illustrated. At least a third of its 425 pages contains illustrations. The illustrator is uncredited, but at least one BLB checklist credits the illustrations to Henry E. Vallely. The pictures are quite handsome, and most seem to be based on actual photos of Judy and Mickey.

I have only skimmed the book thus far. The narrative is divided into four sections. The first few chapters are about Judy and Mickey together, their friendship and working on the MGM lot. Then we get a long section on Judy's life, another long section on Mickey's life, and finally another section about them together and life at MGM. And in that section, beginning on page 378, we get:

"The biggest thrill of her life, however, was the day Mervyn LeRoy, the famous producer, called her on the 'phone. "Judy," Mr. LeRoy asked, "Have you read 'Wizard of Oz?'"

"Oh yes," Judy said. "Often. It's one of my favorite stories."

"Well, we've just bought it for a Technicolor picture."

"Gee! You mean you're going to make it just as it's written with the Land of Oz and the Emerald City and the Munchkins and - and everything?"

"Everything, Judy. Just as Frank Baum wrote the book. And who do you think is going to play the part of Dorothy?"

Judy held her breath, hardly able to wish for what she hoped he would tell her.

"You - You tell ME, Mr. LeRoy."

"You, Judy. You're going to play Dorothy."

To this day, to anybody who will listen, Judy will sit for hours to relate the wonderful experiences she had making the picture; of the thrill she received each morning when she came to the set and found a real "land of make believe."

For her sensational performance in this picture, she won a special Academy Award.

The next chapter is all about Judy and Mickey planning for the premiere of The Wizard of Oz at the Capital Theatre in New York. But I'm gonna save it for a future blog-post.

It's a very neat little book. I mean a Big Little Book, uhh . . . a Better Little Book . . . it's Ozzy!

I am also just happy to have another BLB to keep my Laughing Dragon of Oz company along with my other Oz-related BLB Little Miss Muffet. If you don't know why Little Miss Muffet is Oz-related you can read about that in this previous blog-post by clicking here.

The three Oz-related "Big Little Books."

Winkie Con Collectibles

This week the Winkie Con has been auctioning off a couple dozen Oz collectibles on eBay. all of the proceeds from the auctions will go to the Winkie Con Programming Fund.

Isn't that neat? Here's a chance to add something cool to your collection and support the the Winkie COn at the same time. Click here to see a list of the items being offered. The auctions end on Sunday afternoon at 5:30 PM Pacific time.

All of the items were donated by the family of the late Rik Thompson - a long-time Winkie who passed away earlier this year. Our thanks go out to his wife Haven, and daughter Melissa for their thoughtful generosity.

The many items date from the mid 1970s through the mid 1990s. There are many Ozzy Christmas ornaments, little dolls, stuffed Oz figures, Ozzy Russian nesting dolls - items celebrating the MGM Wizard of Oz film as well as Disney's Return to Oz.

So come on - go check out the auctions and show your support for the Winkie Con! If these auctions are successful we'll do our best to do this kind of thing again!

Click here to see all the Oz goodies up for bid!

Where There's a Will There's a Fred

Billie Burke, Fred Stone, and Will Rogers

The American stage humorist Will Rogers, who never met a man he didn't like, was a good buddy of Fred Stone, the superstar originator of the Scarecrow role in the 1903 Broadway Wizard of Oz. In fact, they were so close that Will named one of his sons Fred Stone Rogers. So it's no surprise that an early episode of Will Rogers's radio show featured Fred as a guest. You can listen to that broadcast on Emerald City Radio. During the program Fred and Will sing "Travel, Travel, Little Star," a tune Fred recorded years earlier with his stage partner David Montgomery, who originated the Tin Woodman role in Broadway's Wizard. You can hear the Montgomery and Stone recording of "Travel, Travel, Little Star" on Emerald City Radio, too, and it's included on the Hungry Tiger Press CD Vintage Songs from the 1903 Broadway Wizard of Oz (see the sidebar of this blog to click on the link to order your copy).

The photo above is from 1935 during the production of the movie Doubting Thomas, starring Will Rogers and Billie Burke, who later played Glinda in the 1939 M-G-M film version of The Wizard of Oz. Fred Stone visited Will Rogers on the Doubting Thomas movie set and they both dropped in to see Billie Burke and submit to the obvious photo op.

The Fred Stone episode of the Will Rogers show plays about twice a day for the next week or so on Emerald City Radio. You can also hear the Montgomery and Stone recording of "Travel, Travel, Little Star" as part of our regular playlist.

It's easy to listen to Emerald City Radio on Live365. Just click here to go to Live365 and click "Sign Up" in the upper right hand corner and join for free for access to thousands of internet radio stations. Then "Log In" and make a search for Emerald City Radio. When the Emerald City Radio logo shows up in your search results, just click on the logo to start listening right away! Listening is free.

So give Emerald City Radio a listen. Our current playlist is over 13 hours long with such a wide variety of Oz songs and music that you're sure to hear some old friends and some new delights.

Emerald City Radio - all great, all powerful - all the time! 

Emerald City Radio

We in the Tiger Den are delighted to announce that Hungry Tiger Press has its own internet radio station. And it's available free to all listeners! Our current playlist includes music from almost every Oz musical and Oz film - songs from the 1903 Wizard of Oz on up to the latest Oz hit by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It's easy to listen to Emerald City Radio on Live365. Just click here to go to Live365 and click "Sign Up" in the upper right hand corner and join for free for access to thousands of internet radio stations. Then "Log In" and make a search for Emerald City Radio. When the Emerald City Radio logo shows up in your search results, just click on the logo to start listening right away! Listening is free.

If you don't want to hear any ads, you can become a Live365 VIP listener. Just click on the banner ad at the bottom of today's blog. It costs a few bucks a month to be a Live365 VIP, but as a VIP you can listen to a wider range of internet radio stations and you'll skip the advertisements.

Emerald City Radio allows a limited number of free non-VIP listeners. So in the slim chance you're kicked off the station or can't connect as a free listener, try again later when there may be fewer listeners. Or convert your account to VIP and you'll never have to leave Live365 unless you want to.

So come on and give Emerald City Radio a try. Our current playlist is over 7 1/2 hours long with such a wide variety of Oz songs and music that you're sure to hear some old friends and some new delights.

Emerald City Radio - all great, all powerful - all the time!  

MGM on Parade!

I was just sent a super cool link from my Ozzy friend, John Kennedy, of some home movies from the 1939 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

At time marker 1:07 the huge and wonderful Tin Woodman helium balloon goes past. Then there is a short break for a marching band (possibly playing Oz music?). And then comes along a great Scarecrow float! A Scarecrow falls up and down his hay stack and there are quite a few men in Ray Bolger Scarecrow costumes walking the street - presumably shaking hands with the crowd.

It's pretty great! And totally unknown to me until now. I only recently saw the Tin Woodman balloon for the first time a couple weeks ago - to see him in action and in color is a real treat! It's available below from both Vimeo and YouTube.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - New York, 1939 from standard on Vimeo.

Ruby Slipper Adventure

Last Tuesday I set out on an unexpected journey to Los Angeles to see the Ruby Slippers for the first time. This wasn't just any pair of Ruby Slippers - these were the "Witch's Shoes," the best preserved pair, the pair used in close-ups, the pair worn by the dead Wicked Witch of the East, and the pair worn by Dorothy when she clicks her heels three times to go home.

I arrived at the Solange Azagury-Partidge jewelry gallery on Rodeo Drive. I spotted the slippers in a four-sided glass case at the back of the small gallery and approached them, these magical icons of Hollywood and Oz, and, well, they were just shoes.

I sensed no magic, my heart didn't race, they were just shoes. I felt an Ozzy exhilaration when I met Margaret Hamilton. I felt excited the first time I got to see the rotting remains of a flying monkey miniature from the film. But why nothing special for the shoes? Maybe I'm just not into feet. Or perhaps the idea of the Ruby Slippers is just so magical that the real thing can't help but disappoint with the loose sequins, the splitting seams, scratches on the orange paint on the bottoms. These aren't magical shoes - they didn't go to Oz. They're a half pound of leather, cloth, and cardboard, a pocket full of glass geegaws, and they're gonna sell for over two million dollars in a few weeks.

They also looked really old and not nearly as pristine as legend would report. I wondered if there was a protective layer of cloth or plastic over the sequins, as they looked so faded and gray. There wasn't. But they sure looked like they needed a good dusting!

Interestingly, the shoes have come out much redder in my photographs than they looked in person. And, of course, they were designed to be photographed, not to be studied with a magnifying glass. Who am I to complain of sloppy sequin work on the heels when the shoes were never meant to be seen up close from the back? And when I got home and looked at my photographs, I started to feel some rush of magic - the shoes sparkle and the color deepens, they start to work their enchantment.

I really had a wonderful time and I can think of no better way to see the slippers. The gallery set up a very attractive display so the shoes could be viewed from any angle. The store was empty the entire time I was there, so I could look and study and take pictures to my heart's content. The store itself with its bright red interior, carpeted in a rainbow of stars, couldn't have provided a more lovely setting.

When the staff saw how interested I was they started talking to me. They couldn't believe I'd driven up from San Diego only to see the shoes. The publicist came out and talked with me for a while. They brought me a Coke and a chilled glass, and we chatted a bit more. The gallery even took a few additional photos for me with their good digital camera (mine in this blog were taken with my iPhone). As I was leaving, the store offered me a few parting gifts - a handsome hardcover gallery catalog and a 2012 Solange datebook.

It was a magical afternoon!

Toto Tomb

A couple weekends ago Eric Shanower and I were in Los Angeles to see the latest preview of Debbie Reynolds's Hollywood costume auction. Two friends joined us, and after breakfast and a proper perusal of Debbie's old clothes, we set out on an Ozzy adventure to go find the grave of Toto from the MGM Wizard of Oz film.

Me and Toto's Tomb

It seems that Toto's original grave was paved over when they built the Ventura Freeway in 1958. Since then there has been no way to visit or pay tribute to Dorothy's little dog. But a few months ago someone rectified the situation. JP Myers created a Facebook page and publicity drive to get Toto a proper memorial, and on June 18, 2011, it was unveiled at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Alas, Toto's remains are still under the Ventura Freeway, but there is a nice bronze version to commemorate the canine hero. It was a bit of a chore to find the little dickens. We walked around for a long while looking for him, but had no luck.  After we found no help at the cemetery office or in the flower shop we finally brought up a video of the dedication ceremony on my iPhone and saw it was near a high wall. Once we knew that, we set out walking the perimeter of the cemetery and we eventually found him. He is just in front and to the right of the huge Douglas Fairbanks grave and not too far from Johnny Ramone.

The marker is very handsome and I'm sure Toto would be very pleased. This was a very spur of the minute visit and I really had no idea what this cemetery was, but many movie stars, composers, and artists are buried there. Take a look at the website link above and plan to spend some time walking around after you visit Toto. And remember Toto prefers dog biscuits over flowers!

The Winkie Convention 2012

The 48th Annual Winkie Convention

Celebrating the World of Oz and L. Frank Baum

Chaired by David Maxine & Judy Bieber

Hungry Tiger Talk is happy to announce that registration is now open for the 2012 Winkie Convention to be held July 27-29, 2012, in Pacific Grove, California. We are proud to be the longest-running Wizard of Oz Convention in the world! You may download registration materials by clicking here.

Hold tight to your Magic Umbrella! Fly next July to the lovely Pacific coast of California where the annual Winkie Convention celebrates Oz and its creator, L. Frank Baum, at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, nestled among the redwoods and pines. 

The theme for 2012 is Sky Island, the book L. Frank Baum thought his personal best. This borderland of Oz book, starring Trot, Cap’n Bill, Button Bright, and Polychrome the Rainbow’s daughter, is the favorite of many Oz fans, too. The tribes of Sky Island, the Blues and the Pinks, will lend their colors to the rainbow of events awaiting you.

We’ll also celebrate Oz-author Ruth Plumly Thompson’s 121st birthday—July 27—and the royal Pumperdink purple of her beloved books: Kabumpo in Oz, which turns ninety, and The Purple Prince of Oz, which turns eighty. It’s sure to be the most colorful Winkie Con ever!

Double Dorothy!

We’re delighted to announce we have two real-life “Dorothys” joining us this year as our special guests.  

Susan Morse was twelve years old when she provided the singing voice for Dorothy in the 1964 Rankin-Bass animated feature Return to Oz where she sang "Moon Beams" and "Oz Just Can't Continue Without Me."  Susan’s fascinating acting and singing career includes the role of Brigitta in the first National Tour of The Sound of Music and appearing in the original Roxy cast of The Rocky Horror Show.

And the Winkie Con is being honored with a visit from the wonderful Caren Marsh-Doll who was Judy Garland’s stand-in during the filming of the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz. Come hear Caren’s memories of being on set, hanging out with Judy at the commissary, and going through MGM’s wig, make-up, and wardrobe departments. Her other credits include appearing as an extra in Gone with the Wind and dancing and acting in a plethora of films such as Rosalie, Best Foot Forward, and The Adventures of Don Juan with Errol Flynn.


Other convention features include a presentation by Oz-cartoonist Eric Shanower, a talk on Ruth Plumly Thompson's Land of Oz by Jared Davis, and much more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Of course we will have our traditional Winkie Costume Contest, Treasure Hunt, and Winkie Quizzes—not to mention the fabulous Winkie Auction of rare Oz and Baum material. All attendees receive the Winkie Con Program Book, over 130 pages of Oz essays, artwork, interviews, and everything you need to help you have a great Winkie Con. We’re sure to have a few surprises, too!

A Few Words About Our Convention Site

We meet each year at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in beautiful Pacific Grove, California. It is located a few minutes from Monterey, about five hours north of Los Angeles, and two-and-a-half hours south of San Francisco. The Asilomar grounds are heavily wooded, beautiful and atmospheric, situated directly on the Pacific coast. Please note that our base convention rates are per person in a shared room with two beds. We do have a few single rooms available. The rates cover all programming costs, your lodging at Asilomar, and dinner Friday, three meals on Saturday, breakfast and lunch on Sunday, and all taxes and gratuities. All this is included in one price! The food is better than ever, the rooms are great, and many have fireplaces.

Please Register Early!

Registration is open until May 20, 2012, after which registrations will be handled on a space-available basis. But we would greatly appreciate receiving your registration and payment to guarantee your room by December 1, 2011. Over the course of the year the Winkie Con must make several substantial downpayments to Asilomar for the convention. If everyone waits till the last minute to register this can be a problem, so please register as early as possible. As the registration deadline approaches, the Winkie Con tends to run out of rooms on the Asilomar grounds. We always do our best to accommodate late registrants, but early registration will guarantee your Winkie Con accommodations and help us with our cash flow. Click here for PDF Registration Forms

The Winkie Convention has a Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, come check us out at www.facebook.winkies.org We also issue a monthly Winkie Con e-mail newsletter which contains updates and much other helpful and interesting information to enrich your Winkie Con experience:

http://winkies.oogaboo.org/news.html

The Un-Curious Cottabus

Well, boys and girls, this round of Oz Connection proved either incredibly boring or so stymied you that you didn't even hazard a guess. I will thank Scott O. for his entry connecting Groucho to Mervyn LeRoy through the film At the Circus (1939), the only answer or guess that was posted. Shall we abandon the silly game in the future or shall the next list of names include the likes of Mickey Carroll, Pink Floyd, and Kristin Chenoweth?

OK, enough grumping from me . . . So what are the Baum or Oz connections for Groucho Marx, John Keats, and Farrah Fawcett-Majors?

Let's begin with Groucho Marx. I am sure there are many ways one could make Oz connections for Groucho via his many films and TV shows, but there is one very strong Oz Connection. In 1960 Groucho was to have starred in an NBC television special of L. Frank Baum's The Magical Monarch of Mo. The teleplay was written specifically for Groucho by novelist and historian Gore Vidal (a long time lover of Oz and Baum himself).

Vidal subtitled the Mo teleplay as "A Fairy Tale for Adults." Alas, the show was never produced, though publicity art and Vidal's script both survive. I assumed Groucho would be pretty easy.

I knew romantic poet John Keats would be a lot harder. The clue is in the name Keats. The poet's great great grandniece was named Emma Keats Speed. In 1896 Miss Speed married a man named Henry Aylett Sampson. He was sports editor for The New York Times, and himself a great great grandson of Patrick Henry. Anyway, Emma Speed Sampson became a writer of children's books, including the continuation of L. Frank Baum's Mary Louise series after Baum's death. The Mary Louise books were all published under Baum's pseudonym, Edith Van Dyne.

I threw in Farrah Fawcett-Majors as a random name. I had no special plan for how to connect her to Oz. Here are a few that come to mind:  The red swimsuit she wore in her best-selling poster from 1976 is now at the Smithsonian near a pair of famous red shoes; she also did a voice in The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998), which was written by Oz collector Willard Carroll; but I'm going to play connect the Oz connections and mention that Farrah also played Mary Ann Pringle in the film version of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge (1970). As you may have heard, Gore Vidal is a Baum enthusiast who published several important essays on Oz in addition to his many novels and histories. He also wrote the teleplay of Baum's Magical Monarch of Mo back in 1960.

That Hamilton Woman

When I was in my mid-teens and just starting to seriously build my Oz collection, I went on a jag trying to get as many of my books autographed as possible. A few of the folks I contacted became good friends: Dick Martin, Elosie Jarvis McGraw, Rachel Cosgrove;  and a few politely agreed to autograph books by mail, they signed the books, and that was that: Russell MacFall, Edward Wagenknecht, Donald Wollheim, etc.

I had met Aljean Harmetz the year before her landmark Making of the Wizard of Oz was published, and I got a signed copy from her the next year. But that book also had a foreword by Margaret Hamilton and I really wanted to get the foreword signed, too. So I wrote Hamilton a letter asking if I might send my copy of the book to her for an autograph (with return postage of course) and I didn't hear back . . . and didn't hear back . . . and then finally a letter from Margaret Hamilton! It was postmarked July 28, 1980, seven months after I had first written her.

She wrote in quite a scrawl, up the side of the page and then back across the top where she signed it, "Maggie H." (upside-down above the words New York in her printed address). Here's what she wrote:

Dear Mr. Maxine - I just can't believe it! Dec. '79? Please accept my guiltful!!?! apologies! I hate to have people mail anything you want back! We have lost books mailed - never to turn up. Our NYC mail is the worst in the nation!If you do not care why send it and we'll both pray. If you do care - let me suggest you tape this card with my greetings or a nice smaller one. I would not suggest the U.S. mails, nor trust them. I was so sad not to make the convention - next year I hope! So you do as you wish and I'll do all you ask at this end. Let's hope for good luck!

Very best to you - Maggie H.
PS - Do you know my friends the Hibbens?

Well, as it turned out I received her letter about a week before the 1980 Munchkin Convention for which she was to be a special guest. I took my book with me, and she signed it there, in person. The first thing that struck me was how very tiny she was. True, I was six feet tall, but my mom was 5'- 3" and even she was surprised by how tiny Margaret Hamilton was!  At lunch I was able to sit at her table and I remember looking at her hands, wondering if I could see any scars from her accident while filming in Munchkinland. I couldn't - they just looked like spotty old lady hands.

Somehow no one much discussed The Wizard of Oz. The main story I recall Hamilton telling at the lunch table involved a film called These Three (1936), the first film version of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour, in which they turned the child's lie about lesbianism into a lie about heterosexual adultery. It's actually a good film, despite the meddling.

There is a scene where the child, played by Bonita Granville, admits the lie after it has destroyed three lives, and Margaret Hamilton (playing a maid) has to slap Granville very hard. They shot the scene several times, Hamilton kept pulling back on the slap, and Granville wasn't making the slap believable with her acting. Finally, director William Wyler had had enough, and he got rather angry. They were wasting time, money, and film. He told Hamilton to really slap her, slap her good, so they could get the shot in the can and move on. As I recall the story, Wyler told Hamilton in private so Granville would react properly. Action! Hamilton hauled back and slapped Bonita Granville hard across the cheek. In the film Granville looks stunned, pauses for a moment, begins to shake slightly, and the tears pour out and she runs up the stairs. It's great! Hamilton was very upset over it. She said after Wyler called cut, she could still see her hand-print on Bonita Granville's face. She went out and bought Bonita a gift. Some Wicked Witch!

I was very glad I got to meet Margaret Hamilton.

I Got You, My Pretties!

One of the interesting Oz goodies I snagged at Comic Con this year was this Wicked Witch of the West and Flying Monkey POP! vinyl figurines produced by Funko.

These two were available as a Comic Con exclusive, with metallic green paint on the Witch, and metallic blue paint on the monkey.

They have many other Wizard of Oz items: plushies, more realistic figures, etc.  But I thought the little POP! vinyl ones were very cute - and in any case, they only had the "exclusives" at the Comic Con booth.

There is a Dorothy and Toto in this set - but not with metallic paint.

Crossover Collectibles

While my interest in Baum and Oz has always been book-focused, I do have a certain fondness for Oz memorabilia from the many stage and screen adaptations. I also like the weird, unusual, and unique sort of Ozzy collectible. The document shown at left is such a thing.

It is a contract between Louis F. Gottschalk and Sam Goldwyn, enlisting the services of Gottschalk to write the score for the 1926 film version of Stella Dallas.

Gottschalk is best known to Oz folk for writing the music for L. Frank Baum's musical comedy The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (1913), the scores to accompany the various Oz Film Manufacturing Company movies, and the music for the abandoned Patchwork Girl of Oz "Children's Theatre" musical. Gottschalk was also a close friend of Baum's during the Hollywood years - both men were instrumental in forming "The Uplifters," a social and theatrical enterprise associated with the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Sam Goldwyn is the man who bought the film rights to The Wizard of Oz from the Baum family, beginning the process of developing a certain film starring Judy Garland. Goldwyn is also the "G" of MGM.

I really like that this piece of paper connects to otherwise disparate Oz-related names. It's just kind of neat. While the 1926 Stella Dallas film survives, Gottschalk's score seems to have been lost. This film just barely predates sound on film and the score would have been played live in the theatre by either orchestra or organ, depending on the venue.

On a side note, Gottschalk's daughter, Gloria Gottschalk, had a small part in the film. She played one of the Bridesmaids.

If you'd like to hear some of Gottschalk's music you might consider our CD Before the Rainbow - The Original Music of Oz. You can listen to two different suites from The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, as well as all of the themes from the silent film version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

Below is a video clip of the marriage scene from the film. I can not tell which Bride's maid Gloria might have been and I do not think the humdrum organ accompaniment is Gottschalk's original score. Still, give it a watch.

Another Novel Idea

Yesterday I posted about an unusual Italian "novelization" of the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. Today you get to read about an unusual Japanese "novelization" of Disney's 1985 Return to Oz.

Perhaps this book isn't really a "novelization" but, at 97 pages of text, the story is much more substantial than a picture book. This dust-jacketed hardcover was published in 1986 by Kodansha. It measures approximately 6"x 9" and has a photo from the film on almost every page - some are in color, most are in black and white.

 The book also features very nice illustrated endpapers showing characters from the film (see below). There is, in fact a real Japanese "novelization" of Return to Oz - a tiny paperback translation of the Joan D. Vinge American Return to Oz novel. But I'm saving that for another blog.

Bellissimo!

I recently acquired an Ozzy foreign edition I had wanted for a long time. It is the 1948 Italian "movie" edition published in Rome by Societa Apostolato Stampa. This publisher had first released a translation of Baum's Wizard of Oz in 1944, under the title Nel Regno di Oz.

But in 1948 the publisher released the volume seen at left - Il Mago di Oz - profusely illustrated with stills from the MGM Wizard of Oz film. I had come close to getting the book when I was a late teenager, but the dealer wouldn't part with it for some unexplained reason. Back then I had flipped through the book, so I knew it was handsome and that I wanted it. So when the chance arose to finally get one recently, I was most pleased.

When the book arrived in the mail last week, I was surprised by two things. First, the book was even more heavily illustrated with photos form the MGM film than I had remembered. It has thirty tipped in black and white images, as well as a color frontispiece showing Judy Garland as Dorothy. Some of the images are from well-known stills, some are from publicity shots, but a few are seemingly taken directly from the film. They are very handsome and clearly reproduced, such as the one below showing Dorothy in the Wash and Brush Up Co.

The other big surprise was that the book is not a translation of Baum's story but a "novelization" of the film by Maria Rosaria Berardi. Thus, Miss Gulch and Professor Marvel and the Horse of a Different Color are all featured in the text. I think this is probably the first-ever "novelization" of the MGM film.

The book must have done well, as later in 1948 they issued lovely oversize translations of the first five Baum Oz books. I'll tell you a bit more about them in a future blog. Ciao!

Debbie Does Dollars

Eric and Dorothy and Me.

Last weekend Eric and I drove up to Beverly Hills to see the preview for Debbie Reynolds's auction of her vast - and utterly amazing - collection of Hollywood costumes and memorabilia.

The highlight for Oz folk is a chance to see the legendary - if unusual - pair of Ruby Slippers owned by Reynolds. The so-called "Arabian Test Pair" one of several unused slipper designs. Also on display is Dorothy's plain non-gingham dress, as well as a jacket worn by one of the Emerald Citizens. This dress was used during the first two weeks of filming under Director Richard Thorpe. When Thorpe was replaced by George Cukor, all that footage was scrapped and Dorothy (and her dress) got a make-over.

If you like old movies and can get to the preview, do! It's a walk through Hollywood history. You can see Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat, Harpo Marx's wig, Marilyn Monroe's subway-blow dress from The Seven Year Itch, costumes and props from Ben Hur, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Planet of the Apes, Casablanca . . . and more and more and more.

You can download the sumptuous catalog for free - it's a real treat!

Eric Shanower and Shirley Temple's dress from LITTLEST REBEL and the Oz Costumes.

Ozzy Mug Shot

One of the perks of writing this blog is that on occasion folks send me nice things. These two mugs arrived in the mail recently. They're very handsome. The artwork wraps nearly the entire mug, and each mug comes with a cork-bottomed yellow brick road coaster.

The artwork is by Don Peters who has exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the National Pastel Society of New York. He began his career in Hollywood in 1953, where he worked with Walt Disney, MGM, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia, and Filmation. In 1964 Don won the Venice Film Festival award for his screenplay, The Soldier. Also, in 1966 Don received the Academy Award Nomination for the original screenplay and story Naked Prey. But of special interest to Oz fans is that Don was a Background Artist for Journey Back to Oz.  Don Peters passed away in Hollywood Beach, California, on October 4, 2002, at the age of eighty-one.

These two mugs (and another still), as well as a limited-edition lithograph, are available on-line from Diane Steele.com. Click here to check them out!  Diane will also be attending the Winkie Convention next month and, of course, she will have these great mugs available at the convention, too.

So, that's the blog for today - I'm off to have a cup of tea in my Ozzy new mug!

Sis Sez Sunday - 41

It's June 1939, and Sis is doing the Jitterbug! I wonder what Sis would have thought if MGM had left "The Jitterbug" in The Wizard of Oz film. For that matter, I wonder what Glinda  would think of Sis wearing a snood?

This installment of Marge and Ruth Plumly Thompson's SIS SEZ page first appeared in King Comics, No. 39, in June, 1939. If you love Marge's Little Lulu you're sure to get a kick out of Sis!

Please note that if you click on the image it will expand to a full-size version which will make it much easier to read! All of the other blog images will similarly enlarge.