The Boy in the Robot Suit

 

Well, here's a treat! I had known for many years that the performer inside Tik-Tok in Disney's Return to Oz was an adorably cute guy named Michael Sundin. I also knew that Michael died of AIDS in 1989. He was only twenty-eight.

It was quite a job being strapped into the Tik-Tok costume. Sundin had to fold himself in half, curled up inside Tik-Tok's spherical body. He then had to walk backwards to make Tik-Tok move forward. Sundin's only view of where he was going was a small video monitor.

I had later discovered that Michael Sundin was also connected with a BBC children's television show called Blue Peter. This info has been rattling around in my brain for years and I had never thought to look up the show online . . . until now! And what a nice few treats I found!

First up is an episode of Blue Peter from 1985. And what do you know, it's an Oz episode! Sundin, delightfully cute in a Christmas sweater and yellow slacks, introduces a group of seven kids who have put together a Wizard of Oz dance - performed to the Meco disco album! After the dance Sundin talks to them about their costumes and tells a bit about his time on Return to Oz. Followed by a segment on the cut "Jitterbug" number from the MGM film, complete with Harold Arlen's 1939 home movies. Have a look!

And I can't resist sharing one more sample. Michael Sundin's Blue Peter interview with Elton John. Michael begins the interview climbing out of Elton John's swimming pool wearing a Speedo! What more need be said!

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!

The Return of RETURN TO OZ

This fine French Return to Oz picture book was discovered a few months ago by my Ozzy friend Freddy. I had never seen one before and it wasn't listed in the published Return to Oz bibliography.

Given my fondness for Return to Oz and my interest in learning French, I had to have one! Knowing what to look for, my Ozzy friend Freddy pointed me toward a second copy - and voila! - I immediately ordered it from a fellow named Jordan in France. It took quite a few e-mails, some in my mediocre French and some in the seller's much better English, but finally the deal was done, the book was shipped. Then one day a few weeks later I go to the mailbox and the postman greets me saying he has a damaged package for me. Indeed, he ONLY has the damaged package for me - the large envelope covered in French stamps is ripped open and empty. The book is missing.

I scold the post office. I sob a little. I call the dead letter office, describe the missing book, and leave my cell phone number, then sob a little. I call Freddy and sob a little. And then Eric and I take off for our holiday trip.

One day out on the road I get a call from a nice woman named Roseanne at the dead letter office. She has found my book! I explain I am on the road for the holidays and will be back on January fourth. She says she will hold it and mail it to me to arrive on the fifth. It arrives. My book and I are happily united and my faith in the U.S. Post Office is greatly renewed. Thanks to Freddy, Jordan, and Roseanne for helping me get such a nice copy of Oz un Monde Extraordinaire!

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!  

RETURN TO OZ Babies

These cute little guys from Walt Disney Studio's Return to Oz were produced by Hart á Hart as part of the Japanese merchandising for the 1985 film. They each stand about four inches high, except for Tik-Tok who clocks in at about three inches. These little guys are not quite as hard to find as the big Return to Oz  "plushies," like the Tik-Tok and Scarecrow I have previously blogged about. But these little guys are still quite uncommon.

They are really well molded and the attention to the costumes for figures so small is striking.  The figures are minimally articulated, too. Their heads rotate and their arms can be posed. The Tin Woodman's legs are articulated as well. Back in the old MySpace days I made an animated GIF of Tik-Tok waving his arms and blinking. You can see it here if you like.

I got my first Tik-Tok and Scarecrow at the Winkie Con in 1987, not too long after the toys were released. I finally found the other two at a Disney Collectibles Convention in one of the Disneyland Hotels in 1989. I had to buy a set of the four to get them. So I had two duplicates. Don't ask! The two extras have been long sold off.

I've always wanted to make a Gump for them to hang out in - perhaps one day I shall!

I am Tik-Tok. I am De-lic-i-ous!

This last week I wanted to make a surprise birthday cake for a friend named Freddy. There was little doubt what the theme would be - Freddy is an avid Return to Oz fan who adores a certain Tik-Tok. So the subject matter wasn't what was troubling me. It was how to do it! These things must be done delicately!

I had already decided on a fairly fancy dinner of Beef Wellington, so I wanted a special dessert. I remembered a cake developed by Julia Child called le bombe aux trois chocolats. When I thought of that cake, which is molded in a round mixing bowl, I knew what had to be done. It would become Tik-Tok's face. Here he is!

As I mentioned, Julia Child's recipe bombe au trois chocolates is a molded cake. The outer layer is brownie-like, carefully fitted into the bowl, and filled with a very dark, rich chocolate mousse. Then melted chocolate is poured over the whole thing. Those are the three chocolates (trois chocolats) in the name of the recipe.

My first step was to select a bowl the size I wanted the finished cake to be. Then I made a paper pattern to be used to cut out the assorted shapes of cake needed to line the bowl. I cut a small circle for the bottom of the bowl and a large one for the top. I then divided the side of the bowl into eight wedge-shaped pieces. I spent a lot of time on the side-pieces. You could do it much sloppier and it would probably work fine. But I have a perfectionist streak.

Next I made the mousse (shown at left). After folding in the egg whites it looks a lot like ice cream! There was almost a pound of chocolate in the mousse. I used Trader Joe's 72% Dark Belgian Chocolate, supplemented with a couple squares of unsweetened chocolate. This mousse also contains a pack of gelatin to give it a bit more body to keep it stiff.

Next up was making the sheet of Brownie Fudge Cake. After it cooled about ten minutes I removed it from the pan and flipped it over. It was baked with a layer of wax paper under it to facilitate the flipping.

I then laid out the paper pattern pieces on the cake and carefully cut them out. I made a small circle for the bottom of the bowl, a big circle for the top, and eight angled side-pieces. Note how each edge of the angled pieces is slightly curved to make a good fit!

Here are all the cake pieces cut out. I then lined the molding bowl with plastic wrap for easy unmolding and arranged the pieces in the bowl pretty-side out. I found that despite my careful patterning of the eight sides I still had a half-inch gap to fill. So I simply cut a little wedge out of the cake scraps to fill the gap and made a mental note to hide the patch under the chocolate drizzle.

Here I began filling the cake-lined bowl with the chilled mousse. For a bit of additional support I added a layer of cake scraps when the bowl was half filled with mousse.

When the bowl was almost full, I topped it all with the big circle of cake, pulled plastic wrap over the whole thing, and refrigerated it overnight, still in the bowl, with a weighted saucer on top.

Now to turn the cake into the Return to Oz Tik-Tok. I looked at photos and decided what details to use and whether anything could be done with preexisting materials. I knew I'd have to make/mold several parts, but the mustache seemed like it would be difficult to make from scratch.

I recalled that Godiva made some chocolate shells that I thought might work for the mustache. But they were made of milk chocolate and that dictated that his head be drizzled in milk, rather than dark, chocolate. So be it! I then thought, "Gosh, Tik-Tok's nose looks an awful lot like a Rolo!" So that's what I used. His eye sockets and ears were created by pouring the melted chocolate on wax paper until it was about an 1/8" thick. I used some circular cookie cutters to cut the shapes while the chocolate was still a bit soft. The inner cut-outs from the eyes became Tik-Tok's ears. The trickiest part was making his hat. In the photo above you can see I've positioned a piece of paper to get the curve around the head correct. I then drew another curve to create the outer brim which gave me a pattern. I cut the hat shape out of a piece of thin foam core and used the resulting hole as a mold. I taped the foam mold to the countertop over some wax paper, poured in melted chocolate, and scraped off the excess. When it was cool I popped the chocolate hat brim out of the foam core. Voila!

Here is the cake soon after I poured on the melted chocolate and began positioning the facial elements. I made rivets for the hat by using an exacto-knife to saw the points off chocolate chips. I made six facial rivets the same way. I attached the rivets by using melted chocolate for glue. Once all the chocolate work was done I chilled him to firm everything up.

The last step was the eyes. I squirted blue glitter cake gel and green cake gel into his eye sockets, mixed them a bit, and smoothed the mixture with a spatula. Then with my (incredibly clean) finger dipped in water I smoothed it out more. And then Tik Tok was ready. He was a big hit at the birthday dinner. He was very tasty, too!

Oz, un mundo fantástico!

I recently got a very interesting and quite pretty Return to Oz book.  

Oz, un mundo fantástico is a Spanish picture book published by Everest in 1987. The hardback book measures approximately 8 1/2" x 11". What makes the book so interesting is that it is illustrated with drawings - not just photos from the film like most of the foreign Return to Oz books feature. And the illustrator has borrowed (or ripped off) character designs for many other Disney films to create the illustrations. It's kind of neat actually.

On the cover you can see that Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Scarecrow are all based on their RTO film likenesses. The Dorothy does not look like Fairuza Balk but she looks very familiar. Alas I haven't been able to place her. Note that Billina is green! I have no idea why, but the ultra-rare Japanese stuffed Billina was green, too.

Ok, now the fun starts! Notice that Toto is actually Tramp from Disney's Lady and the Tramp. Aunt Em looks a bit like the wife in that film, too. But I could be wrong. Anyone recognize Uncle Henry? Note too how much that copper lamp on the table resembles Tik-Tok. As always, you may click on an image to enlarge it.

Look who the illustrator picked to play the blonde girl from Dr. Worley's hospital! Can you identify the character filling in for Nurse Wilson. I really like the way the illustrator has made each spread work as both a double-page illustration as well as two "single" pages - a trick created by having one background serve for both pages.

Here we get a Nome King created by "petrifying" one of the Kings from Sleeping Beauty. This double-page spread isnt quite as successful as the others.

So where did this Lion come from? He too looks familiar and he doesn't appear to be very based on the RTO lion. These were only a few of the pages - it's a handsome volume and very atypical of the foreign RTO books. This hardcover also features a second story, El patito feo (The Ungly Duckling).

There is also a much smaller paperback version of this Return to Oz book. It does not have a second story and it lacks one page of Return to Oz artwork included in the hardcover edition.

And a special thanks to Sam of Oz - he knows why :)

Stuffed with Pins!

Not a long post tonight but I thought I would share the news that my Return to Oz Tik-Tok pin just got a friend.

I really rather like these pins now - which is odd, because I never much cared for them in the mid-late 80s when they were a lot easier to find.

Longer blogging will return soon - convention season has just taken its toll on my blogging time.

Return to Oz - Return to the '80s

A friend from England just sent me this charming little record. I've known about it for a while; I even have an mp3 recording of the song. But until now I didn't have the actual 45 rpm disc. Now I do.

The song is wonderfully mid 80s and extremely Ozzy in its lyrics. I'm not sure why Victoria Wood recorded it. It was not used in the film in any way. Wood is best known in the UK for writing humorous songs. This one is fairly atypical. But I actually really like it.

So, click the video below to hear Victoria Wood's Return to Oz!

Tik-Tok Pin!

It's always nice to add a new Return to Oz item to the collection - and today's mail brought this little guy. He missing some gold paint but he's still cute. He has a pin on his back so you can attach him to your shirt and he stands about 2 1/2" high. He was distributed in the United Kingdom and in Japan at Tokyo Disneyland.

I tweaked the photo a bit to make the gold-loss areas a bit more visible. I wonder how hard it would be to re-gild him.

You can check out our previous Return to Oz blog posts by clicking here.

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.

More Ozma in Japan

 Today we continue exploring foreign translations of L. Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz.

This full-length translation was published by Popura Shabunko in 1986 - no doubt the publication was inspired by the success of Disney's Return to Oz film in Japan. This book is part of a series of Baum Oz books similar to the better known Hayakawa series. These book are a bit taller - closer in size to mass-market paperbacks. This edition is illustrated in black and white. While it is a paperback, it does come in a full-color dust jacket.

Below you can see a sample of the fairly cute illustrations. I really like the detail visible in the lunch pail.

Below you can see the highly robotic Tik-Tok from the back cover of the dust wrapper. More Ozma of Oz next Saturday!

Tiny Tik-Tok Time!

The little guy at right is the 3" tall plastic Tik-Tok toy from Disney's Return to Oz film. He was made by Hart á Hart for sale in Tokyo Disneyland in 1985.

Several years ago I made an animated gif of him. In fact, he used to have a mySpace page of his very own! He's been living on my computer for quite a while and he wanted to come out and play. While his arms are articulated, and he will rotate at the waist, these little Tik-Toks do not actually move by themselves (except at night when you aren't looking)

The same toy company made little versions of the Scarecrow, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Tin Woodman as well - in addition to a number of much bigger Return to Oz toys.

Click on either of the two links that follow to check out the large-size Tik Tok and Scarecrow in these older blog posts. I'll try to post a report on little Tik-Tok's three friends in the coming weeks.

Ozma in Japan

This weekend I bring you another post focusing on L. Frank Baum's third Oz book, Ozma of Oz. Many of you are following Eric Shanower and Skottie Young's adaptation of that book from Marvel Comics and I thought you might like a look at Ozma through foreign eyes.

This weekend's Ozma post focuses on a charming Japanese picture book published by Popura Shabunko, of Tokyo, in 1987. The book's title is a bit unusual, Ozu no Mahoutsukai to Ozuma Hime which translates as "the Wizard of Oz and Princess Ozma". Other Japanese editions of Ozma translate the title more traditionally as Ozu no Ozuma Hime "Princess Ozma of Oz". There are picture book editions of The Wizard of Oz and The Land of Oz as well. I suspect that the popularity of Disney's Return to Oz film that motivated the publication of these three titles. There is similar set with different illustrations by another Japanese publisher, also published in 1987.

The edition was published in hardcover with a dustjacket and has 44 pages. Below you can see several of the more interesting illustrations. At right, Dorothy gale enjoys a meal from the Lunch Pail Tree while Billina looks on. The way these lunches grow you can sort of see what you're getting - they're more like cafeteria trees - you just pick a couple sandwiches, a piece of fruit, and a doughnut and you're all set!

I think the design for Tik-Tok is pretty cute.I'd love a toy version! The wind-up key at the front is a bit odd as it seems like Tik-Tok might be able to wind himself. I've always assumed Tik-Tok's manufacturers placed his wind-up keys on his back and under his two arms so that Tik-Tok couldn't be self-winding, thus preventing their robot from attaining true autonomy. The inability of the traditional Tik-Tok to wind himself is one of the things that helps define him as "non-living."

The Japanese illustrator did follow Baum's text and hang Tik-Tok's "operating instructions" from a clunky cardboard sign around Tik-Tok's neck. It seems like it could easily get lost, IMHO. Below you can see Tik-Tok giving the Wheelers a hard time.

The arrival at the entrance to the Nome King's caverns is striking and very different. We also get a nice view of the Nomes slaving away in the jewel mines. Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

 

Every spread of the picture book contains one full page color illustration and one page of text with a small illustration echoing the larger image. Below you can see a sample showing Dorothy giving the Nome King what-for. The book is really cute!

Ozma and the Royal Historian

We've had very comical Wednesdays recently as two fine Oz comic books hit the stands! First up is Marvel's Ozma of Oz #3 from Skottie Young and Eric Shanower, which went on sale yesterday. It's a genuine treat as we get to see this Oz book favorite come to new life.

The issue begins with Tik-tok subduing the Wheelers and the short journey to the Palace of Ev. Skottie's ultra-zaftig Princess Langwidere, sitting in her mirrored hall, playing her mandolin, is especially cool! The images immediately made me think of Disney's Return to Oz, but it is straight out of Baum's text. The hundreds of framed round mirrors on walls, ceiling, and floor are great! This issue ends with the arrival of Princess Ozma and company on the magic carpet. Click here for a preview

Also out recently was Tommy Kovac's and Andy Hirsch's Royal Historian of Oz #3 from SLG. You'll be getting a full blog on this series in the next week or so - and writer Tommy Kovac will be a guest of honor at this year's Winkie Con! Here's a link to order directly from the publisher.

Remember, the best way to keep cool Oz comics coming out is to buy them and let your local comic store know you want them!

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 Our Sale of the Week continues with The Living House of Oz  being offered at 25% off the cover price. Also, illustrator Eric Shanower will be happy to autograph any copy sold this week. You can request such in the "Special Instructions" field during check out. 

Stormwinds

A few weeks ago I posted about meeting Fairuza Balk at a screening of Return to Oz in Santa Monica.

That got me into a Fairuza mood and I immediately ordered her new Limited Edition CD single, Stormwinds, by her group Armed Love Militia. My CD just arrived! The four and a half minute song was written by Fairuza, and she provides the vocals and plays guitar on it as well.

The single is very enjoyable, well produced, and Fairuza sounds great. One can imagine the title Stormwinds might refer to Dorothy's Kansas tornado but there is nothing in the lyrics to indicate such.

The album's cover art (above) is from a painting by Fairuza in her "Rust" series. The CD came with a signed print of the painting as well. The CD single was limited to only 500 copies and is nearly sold-out at this point.

However, you can also get a download of the song: just check out Fairuza's website.

So, congratulations, Fairuza on a great CD debut!

Visiting Forest Lawn

Eric Shanower at L. Frank Baum's grave.

A few days ago I mentioned that last Sunday, Eric Shanower and I drove up to Los Angeles to see a double feature of MGM's 1939 Wizard of Oz and Disney's 1985 Return to Oz. On the way we stopped in Glendale to visit the grave of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and many other books, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

The main stone marks the graves of L. Frank and his wife Maud. But all four of their sons and their sons' wives and a few of the grandchildren are buried there, too, each marked by a flat headstone.

I'd seen photographs of the Baum headstone before, but had never seen the back, which has only the name "Baum" on it. I decided to take a photograph of it, and all of a sudden the sunlight broke through the trees and my iPhone turned the shafts of light a pretty lilac color. It seemed very Ozzy. It was a nice visit with the original Royal Historian of Oz.

If you'd like to see the grave on a visit to Forest Lawn, it's in section G. Obtain a map of the grounds from the kiosk at the entrance to find your way to section G. The Baum stone is visible from the roadway, just east of the Great Mausoleum.

Return to Oz on the Silver Screen

This last Sunday, November 28, 2010, Eric Shanower and I had a marvelously Ozzy day!

First we made a visit to L. Frank Baum's grave in Forest Lawn. This was the first time we had been there. It was really nice and I'll talk a bit about that in a blog later this week.

The reason for our day out was to attend an Ozzy double feature. Both the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz and the 1985 Disney Return to Oz were being shown at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. And if that wasn't draw enough, Return to Oz Director Walter Murch was scheduled to be on hand for a Q&A session after the screenings. However, Sunday morning it was announced that the star of the film, Fairuza Balk, would also be appearing!

It was very interesting to see the two films back-to-back. And I liked Return to Oz better than I ever have before, too. Maybe I'm just so aware of its few shortcomings that I'm just not as bugged by them anymore. It was a great day, a great evening, and several other Ozzy friends joined us for the fun.

Of course Eric and I dug a few things out to be signed by Fairuza and Mr. Murch.

Walter Murch and Fairuza Balk on set during Return to Oz

I was happy to find the photo (above) among my Return to Oz images. It shows Murch directing Fairuza on set during the shooting of the film - so it seemed perfect! As you can see they both signed it! Hah!

David Maxine & Fairuza Balk

In the Q&A Murch showed a surprisingly thorough knowledge of Baum's life and career. He also told of reading The Tin Woodman of Oz when he was a kid and how strongly he was affected by the scene where the Tin Woodman has a conversation with his old "meat" head.

Fairuza told of her audition process for the film, and of reading the Oz books as a kid, too, and most interestingly told of a dream she had just before shooting on the film began, where Judy Garland was scolding her and demanding the return of her shoes! Fairuza also told of a day she'd been tired and frustrated and ran away from the set. She went and hid on the back lot at Elstree Studios. She was very generous with her fans afterward, too.

It was a great evening.

Return to Oz - Putting the Pieces Together

So many of our readers have a fondness for Walt Disney Studios 1985 film, Return to Oz, that I thought I'd share another cool RTO item today. This is one of the British jigsaw puzzles produced by the Falcon Company. They are really cool! Mainly because they feature original artwork - not movie stills or the Drew Struzan poster art. If you click on the image below it will enlarge and you can see tons more detail!

And for all the Return to Oz fans in southern California there will be a screening of a 35mm print of Return to Oz at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on November 28, 2010 at 7:30 PM. Of special interest is a Q&A after the screening with the film's Director, Walter Murch. And for the MGMers among you, the 1939 Wizard of Oz film will have a screening the same day at 4:00 PM. Here's a link.

Tik-Tok Gets a Friend!

You may remember one of my first blog posts was about my little stuffed Tik-Tok from Walt Disney's 1985 film Return to Oz.

Well, now Tik-Tok has a friend! I just got a Scarecrow for him to play with! These toys were produced by Heart á Heart for sale only in Japan at Disneyland-Tokyo. All of the Heart á Heart Return to Oz toys are super rare - but none are so rare as the big stuffed figures.

This Scarecrow is a bit sun-faded and he's missing his collar-piece but who cares! He's mine, mine, mine!

Now to find Jack Pumpkinhead and the Tin Woodman to complete the set!