Some Tra-La-Las for "The Road to Oz"

Next year will be 2019, the 80th anniversary of that much-heralded year for movies, 1939. (In just that year, the world was given Babes in Arms, Dark Victory, Destry Rides Again, Drums Along the Mohawk, Gone with the Wind, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Gunga Din, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Stagecoach, The Women, Wuthering Heights and even more!) A chief film of 1939 which will be celebrating its 80th birthday is The Wizard of Oz, a movie beloved by countless throngs of fans worldwide. And marking the occasion is a new book called "The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece" by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman.

These particular authors, incredibly devoted fans of the film, have already put forth three books pertaining to The Wizard of Oz including one on the many pieces of memorabilia and collectibles, one on the special effects magic of the movie and a 75th anniversary companion to the film, loaded down with beautiful photos and tidbits of information regarding the treasured classic. This time, they've put together an exhaustive, almost textbook-like account of how a series of children's books segued to the stage then to silent film and finally - after a long, rocky, yellow brick road - to a high-profile, highly-anticipated feature, the likes of which will never be seen again.

We do not write much about The Wizard of Oz here because generally our interest lies in digging up lesser-known people and properties to muse about, but there have occasionally been times we've grazed the subject. There was our brief, early tribute to the marvelous Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West to a fare thee well, an in-depth look at movie dogs which included the beloved Terry (who portrayed Toto) and a profile of Frank Morgan, who deftly played the title character (and a couple of others!)

It's not because we don't love and adore the movie that it doesn't get written about much here. It's because there are plenty of sites, books, docu- mentaries and so on that have already covered it in-depth, so there isn't much need for me to throw my tin hat in the ring. I absolutely love the film. Just when you think that there isn't anything that could possibly be dug up about it, though, the authors of "The Road to Oz" have done just that. Scarfone and Stillman have painstakingly gone through stacks and stacks of documentation, archival material and photos and transformed their findings into a dense, meticulously-researched telling of all the things that went into making the movie. (Also, persistent rumors and myths are addressed along the way!)

That's one Oliver Hardy of Laurel & Hardy as The Tin Man

Diehard fans know (or, in some cases, think they know) practically everything about Oz. I never claimed to be one of those, but I like to think I am up on a lot of the trivia. However, I was certainly not up to snuff on much of the pre-1939 information, such as the stage and radio adaptations or the silent rendition of the story. One thing I didn't know was that a 1955 Best Actress nominee had once played Dorothy Gale in a radio series of the tale. All of this is provided in detail and how certain parts of each project found their way into the MGM feature.

Cantor with Billie Burke, who played Glinda the Good Witch.

Speaking of, MGM only got hold of the property after Samuel Goldwyn had tried for a time to launch his own production. Eddie Cantor, a major 1930s film comedian, would have starred in that rendition had it seen the light of day. I also didn't realize at all how closely associated Walt Disney's Snow White was to the film, at least in the minds of moviegoers. Disney had his eye on the material for a time as well and his 1937 animated stunner Snow White was the benchmark for fantasy escapism. It never dawned on me that viewers might compare and contrast the two movies.

The elegant Queen from Snow White (based on the features of Miss Joan Crawford) even inspired the first look chosen for The Wicked Witch when she was to be played by Gale Sondergaard, but ultimately it was determined to go scary and craggy instead. When this happened, Sondergaard took a hike, not wanting to appear horrid and ugly, something she clearly got over by the time of 1976's The Return of a Man Called Horse, in which she played a heavily-wrinkled Indian woman!

Garland with her initial blonde locks.

Some movies are planned out to the last detail and filmed with barely a hitch. Some others are a harried, discombobulated mess all during filming and then turn out startlingly well (the 1942 classic Casablanca comes to mind.) For as polished and gloriously resplendent as Oz is, you'd hardly know just how much turmoil went on behind the scenes, particularly at the start. There were injuries, effects challenges (which brought about great innovation) and even a director change and the scrapping of some completed scenes (in order to completely overhaul the way Judy Garland looked as Dorothy!) This apart from sequences that were filmed, but later cut from the movie for either time or to avoid future anachronism (such as an entire musical number "The Jitterbug.")

Jitterbug, anyone? This sequence has never been rediscovered after cutting, only appearing in some grainy "home movie" type footage.

Was the floor of this set inspired by an earlier project?

It's a fascinating read and, while there are indeed photos included, some rarely if ever seen, this is not in any way a "coffee table" book. It's a very intensive look at the people and production components of one of the world's favorite movies. Thus, it may not be for the casual fan. However, for those who have a cinematic obsession, there can never be too much trivia or too much information. We want to know it all.

Also, at least as of this writing, the book has the rather considerable distinction of having nearly a dozen reviews on Amazon.com and they are ALL five-star rated! (On a personal note, I was excited that the authors included recognition of the Mego figures that came out in the early-1970s as I positively loved those toys!) Anyone wanting more information on this brand new book may find it right here.

Be Our Guest: Volume One

Sometimes here in The Underworld, I come off a bit like they used to in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s in that I treat actors’ careers as if appearing in feature films is king and television is a come down. It’s not really intentional. I guess I sometimes seem to absorb that attitude from looking into people’s career paths and seeing that it was, in most cases (and is perhaps still now!) most desirable to be a movie star versus one from TV. But I LOVE vintage television and one of the chief reasons I do is the opportunity to see the work of guest stars. It’s fun to see favorite acting personalities in unusual roles (and surely one of the benefits of being the star of a regular series was that one could meet a parade of other famous names over the course of the run.)

I’ve been occupied for several months with watching a lot of older shows on DVD. I’ve mentioned before here my lifelong obsession with the opening credits of television shows and how my favorite ones involve the faces of the guest stars along with his or her name either being displayed or spoken. (See my beloved Dack Rambo, shown here from an episode of Cannon.) I love seeing these personalities pop up on screen (and what a disappointment if the episode contains a bunch of nobodies!) Conversely, when I’m watching an old show that doesn’t immediately identify the guests, I don’t like to know who they will be in advance. I like to sit back and wait for the stars to appear, surprising me with their arrival.

Today, I’m going to share a few guest shots with you. There’s nothing amazing about any of it, really. I just thought it would be neat for people to see some of these folks in their various guises as they worked on these shows. (At right is Geoffrey Scott in the credits of Barnaby Jones, a few years before he grew a much-welcome mustache and became one of the handsome men of Dynasty.) Half the fun of vintage television, especially ones that took place in the present, is the chance to see some of the hair and clothing choices. Due to the overwhelming amount of options for this, I will likely return to this subject in the future, thus the “Volume One.”

One of the shows I’ve been seeing a fair amount of lately is the long-running (twenty seasons!) Gunsmoke. I’ve never been as fond of Gunsmoke as a lot of western fans are (to me, the color episodes are always blurry and blah looking), but over time I’ve become a tad more interested in it. One episode, from 1965, gave viewers the chance to see one actor who killed his own fledgling career through his actions and one who almost did as well, but who eventually made it after a pretty long and tumultuous journey. First is John Barrymore Jr, the son of the legendary stage and film actor of the same name. After about eight years in the business, he began going by John Drew Barrymore. What talent he had as an actor (and there was some) was eventually decimated by his personal demons and extensive drug use. By the late-60s, his career was virtually over, though he lived almost as a hermit until 2004. In 1975, his daughter Drew Barrymore was born and, though she had an awfully rough time with drugs herself, she went on to a highly successful career and what seems to be a far more grounded life in general. In 1980, he and his son unearthed the corpse of his father in order to follow his wishes of cremation. The gruesome story can be found on John Drew Barrymore’s imdb.com bio page.

In that same episode was Dennis Hopper. As a youth, Hopper appeared in now-legendary films like Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. However, after the crushing loss of his friend/idol James Dean, he began to experience a reliance on alcohol and suffer from depression. This, paired with his aspirations to do things that were, perhaps, a bit beyond his means led to a set-to with Louis B. Mayer. Then there was the major league clash with director Henry Hathaway during 1958’s From Hell to Texas. Before all was said and done, he was lucky to get any sort of work and turned to TV for income. Absent from films of any distinction for a while, it was John Wayne, a friend of his late mother-in-law Margaret Sullavan, who gave him work in The Sons of Katie Elder in 1965. Still, there would be many ups and downs in the coming decade or so. It wasn’t until 1986’s Blue Velvet that he began to emerge as a significant screen actor, allowing him to work regularly (and memorably in Speed and other movies.)

A less depressing story was that of Leonard Nimoy who, of course, parlayed his role of Mr. Spock on Star Trek into a nearly lifelong source of employment. He at first resented the famousness of the role and the typecasting it created, penning a book called “I Am Not Spock,” but many years later wrote one called “I Am Spock.” In 1966, he played an Indian in a Gunsmoke episode. Though it might have seemed light years away from the science-fiction of Trek, it was nevertheless another stoic, introspective characterization.

Later in 1966, Gunsmoke turned to color filming. One of the guests that year was a biggie. Miss Bette Davis came on board as the vengeful matriarch of a passel of bad boys (Bruce Dern being among them.) She kidnaps Miss Kitty in order to draw the object of her ire, Marshal Dillon, to her ranch where she has a special revenge in the works.

One of the most startling aspects of the episode is how unbelievably stained and disgusting Miss D’s teeth are! The camera zooms in for a close-up on a set of yellowed, weathered, nicotine-tinged choppers that are equal in their scariness to anything her character does on the screen. Co-star Dern (who’d been given a small role in her Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte two years prior) later commented on how devastating to him it was to see an actress of Davis’ stature reduced to working as a guest on a western TV series. Despite a couple of middling recent successes, Davis was about to enter a pretty rough dry spell that lasted close to a decade.

Back to Star Trek for a second, one of the original series’ best-remembered guest stars was Ricardo Montalban as the super-strong, maniacal Khan. In fact, when the second (and far, far better received) feature film was made starring the original cast, Montalban was pegged to return as the character, now an older, but no less furious man. In 1970, he guested on Gunsmoke as an Indian, just as Nimoy had. He showed off a physique that was impressive for a man of fifty (especially for that time.) Twelve years later, during Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he still was impressively fit (now sixty-two!) to show off his chest in his character’s revealing costume, but naysayers had trouble believing that it was all really him. Unfounded and inaccurate rumors began to surface that he’d worn a prosthetic chest plate during filming! Perhaps the ever-present necklace he wore helped lend credibility to this legend. While there was some body makeup involved (as there would be for anyone ever showing their skin in a movie), it was indeed all him.A 1971 episode of Gunsmoke, one that centered on a passel of orphans at Christmastime, featured a variety of little ragamuffins who would eventually go on to much higher heights. Trapped under a blonde wig was young Erin Moran. Several years after this, she would be cast as the young sister (Joanie) of Ron Howard on the mega-hit sitcom Happy Days. Viewers watched her grow up on that long-running program. Auburn-haired Eric Scott was also soon utilized as Ben in The Waltons, a series that also ran for many years and returned periodically with movie reunions. Willie Aames would make another appearance later on Gunsmoke, along with other gigs, before making a splash as teenage Tommy on the popular show Eight is Enough. This was followed a while after with Charles in Charge (opposite Scott Baio, who had been paired with Erin Moran both on Happy Days and on the infamous debacle Joanie Loves Chachi!) The other blonde girl, a real blonde, was a heavily-utilized child actress by the name of Jodie Foster. Apart from a deliberate sabbatical from the movies in order to obtain a college degree, she has gone on to stellar heights as an actress and director, with two Best Actress Oscars on her mantle along the way!

Wizard of Oz fans would surely get a kick out of the 1973 episode featuring Miss Margaret Hamilton as a Miss Gulch-like Dodge City resident. She drags young ruffian Willie Aames into Marshal Dillon’s office, demanding that he be punished for stealing one of her pies. Later, after Hamilton has been locked in a safe by an escaped Aames, Hamilton gives the Marshal “what for” as only she condescendingly could. However, in that season’s gag reel, there’s a clip of Hamilton substituting her dialogue about reporting Dillon to the Attorney General with the unlikely and hilarious phrase, “I hope he burns your ass!”

At last we depart the dusty streets of Dodge City and trade them in for the breezy, beautiful island locations of Hawaii 5-O. Actors who came here for a job got the added benefit of spending their down time in one of the country's (if not the world's) most breathtaking locales. For a little more about the show and it's star, you can click on Jack Lord's name in the column to the right. We touched on Mr. Spock and Khan, so why not highlight Captain Kirk? Following the 1969 cancellation of Star Trek, the series' star William Shatner entered a period of career trauma in which he scrambled for work in many TV movies and on episodic television. In the decade between the series' demise and the big-screen reunion Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Shat made a lot of shit, not that some of it wasn't enjoyably terrible. Nowadays, he is celebrated for his unique approach to characterization and his sometimes insightful (when he actually stops interrupting and allows his guests to speak!) interview show, Shatner's Raw Nerve. In 1972, though, he was just trying to make a living. He frequently used his guest appearances, such as this one on Hawaii, to overact his heart out, hoping that it would reinvigorate his flagging career. Always one to struggle with his weight, he was forty-one when he did this beefy, but certainly not obese, role as a man who allows himself to be seduced in order to expose a blackmailing ring. Note to self: Never buy a swimsuit a size too small. It causes spillover.

Another 1969 episode of Hawaii 5-O gave a role to Farley Granger, a 1950s heartthrob who had only appeared in one minor movie since 1955! In this age of the "Big Three" television networks, an actor could still make a decent living through guest appearances and he did so, though sporadically. What struck me in this episode was how, despite his horned-rim glasses and uptight clothing, he still displayed a trim, healthy physique. Then again, he was only forty-four and already basically discarded Hollywood (or it him?) and gone to New York to work on the stage. In the ensuing years, he would work in quite a few foreign movies, serve an ill-advised stint on As the World Turns (his longtime partner was a producer at the time) and then retire by 1990, with one more role in 2001. He passed away just a couple of months ago at age eighty-five.

One of Farfel's (as close-friend and on-time fiancee Shelley Winters called him) other TV roles was on Ironside. Here he played the husband of Underworld favorite Lee Grant. The first scene they share is amusing in that, in the middle of a pool party at their spread, she sidles up behind him and presses herself up against his behind, grabs his torso with her claw-like hands and says, "You like?" as he closes his eyes in mild ecstacy! Oh, he liked.... though perhaps the other guest star, Richard Anderson might have been more up his alley. Anderson, later to become legendary as Oscar Goldman, the boss of The Six-Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, was still balancing small film roles with many, many TV appearances. He would do this until his two series took off and when they ended in 1978, he continued to stay very busy on television. One thing I absolutely love about vintage TV is the chance to see the clothes and hairstyles of the actresses, even ones in the background. Look at the buxom lovely with the bikini top, headband, mass of thick hair and false eyelashes. I think it should be mandatory for women to look like this!

In this 1967 episode, Miss Lee Grant models a variety of vivid clothes, several of which are sort of "out there" in their colors and patterns, a few of which are shown here. She also tries to vary and augment her ever-present wigs by either adding some more hair to the top for an "up-'do" or attaching a little jeweled ornament to the crown. The early years of Ironside (which ran in all from 1967 to 1975) happened to hit my very favorite era for hair and makeup. Costar Barbara Anderson (shown here, even though she is not a "guest"... I'm on a fashion and hair tangent at the moment!) had the most chic, short, blonde hair and wore an endless array of simply cut, but dazzlingly flattering and colorful, little dresses and suits. As we've been on a Star Trek kick today anyway, she was a memorable guest star on one of that series' earliest episodes as the daughter of a famed Shakespearean actor who may have once been guilty of genocide.

This same episode of Ironside with Farley and Lee, has a guest appearance that is very rare indeed. See if you can recognize the "actor" shown here. (You can click to enlarge.) The man only acted on two TV shows in his life, the second being in 1991. He also appeared uncredited in one movie. He is a very known persona, however. The top photo makes it a little harder to identify him, but I think the second, in which he has a more typical expression, is more of a giveaway. Yes, portraying a piano-playing nightclub owner is none other than mega-successful musical composer and producer Quincy Jones!

To touch on clothes again for just a moment, consider this 1969 episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. Miss Anne Baxter is counseling a young pregnant runaway in the middle of a shopping plaza when a cellulitic female extra sashays by in what appears to be a long-sleeved, navy blue, turtle-necked bodysuit. When I say bodysuit, I mean that it is legless…stops right at the hip and was probably intended to have a skirt or pants over it! (Some females out there will remember ‘60s and ‘70s tops that stayed tucked in thanks to snaps in the crotch, almost like a baby’s outfit!) When I had salved my corneas and thought it was safe, the bitch came strolling back into frame for a surprise frontal assault! What made this chick think that this was appropriate shopping (or anything) attire?!

Ironside was a bit of a sociopolitical forerunner in that star Raymond Burr's on-screen personal assistant was a black ex-con played by Don Mitchell. Another show that really broke new ground for racial diversity was The Mod Squad. The fact that black actor Clarence Williams III was one of the three leads meant that occasions would frequently come about that included other non-white performers. Future Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr appeared as a guest three different times, always as another character. In this 1968 episode, he played a troubled war veteran and, bald even then at thirty-two, was placed in an afro toupee! It looks pretty good upon first glance, but throughout the show, one can see the line of demarcation where it meets the hair on the sides of his head.

Cannon was the private eye show that starred William Conrad as a rotund, but surprisingly resourceful, ex-cop who took on difficult cases in his retirement. It’s credits placed the guest stars in little circles (cannonballs?) and you can imagine my reaction (aforementioned at the top of this post) to seeing the love of my life and reason for living, Dack Rambo, in one of them. Dack was at the height of his humpy good looks and in a couple of instances even showed off his crazy, off-the-hook package in a couple of pairs of snug pants. Anytime, as a kid or now, that I stumbled upon Rambo in a TV show, I knew I was in for a good time.Another crime/police show I've been watching is Starsky and Hutch. The gritty-on-the-surface series had a soft underbelly, notably in the handling of stars David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser's relationship, described by many as an ongoing demonstration of platonic love. Sometimes, there would be a "very special episode" (in a time before that phrase was ever coined) like in 1976 when little Kristy McNichol showed up as a street kid whose only relative, her father, is gunned down, causing her to move in with Hutch (David Soul.) McNichol would come back on the show two other times, always as a different character. This shot of her with the stars could almost be utilized in one of my infamous posts about TV bulges, thanks to Soul's trousers, but I can use it here because there is more where that came from, stay tuned for details on that!

One two-parter, also from 1976, offered up Miss Lynda Carter as the chief female guest star. (Others in the episode included Roz Kelly and Jayne Kennedy, a name that ought to stir up memories for people of a certain age.) Carter played a Las Vegas showgirl who is in danger of being targeted by a relentless strangler. She was already enmeshed in The Adventures of Wonder Woman by this point, but appearing on Starsky and Hutch meant that she could temporarily abandon the stylish, but demure, clothes of Diana Prince and exchange them for eye-poppingly revealing, silky, low-cut dresses. You can see in Paul Michael Glaser's eyes what it is he finds most interesting about her in this shot.

Also on board for this ep is 1930s and '40s star Joan Blondell. (Her career lasted far beyond that, all the way up to the late '70s - early '80s, in fact.) Having worked with David Soul on the earlier series Here Come the Brides, she was reunited with him briefly as the night manager of a 24-hour drug store. What really struck me was the fact that she was restocking a big pile of toilet paper. Number one: The toilet paper is in a variety of pastel colors! I had somehow forgotten that this was once the norm. Number two: The toilet paper is being sold by the ROLL! I have no memory of this. (And did I really just expound on the marketing of toilet paper by writing "number one" and number two?" LOL)

Every once in a while a TV series episode will feature a small role by someone unbilled (or tacked onto the end credits) who later went on to much higher heights. Such was the case in this 1978 installment of The Love Boat. True, Shelley Long had spent one season on SCTV, but had yet to catch a break in Hollywood. In this crowded episode, Frankie Avalon played a man who brings a matchmaking computer on to The Pacific Princess in order to pair up a bunch of single cruisers and Long was one of the ladies who was given a mate. It wasn't a featured role, but gave her a fair amount of lines and face time, paving the way for more roles on shows like Family, Trapper John, M.D. and M*A*S*H until she landed her own show, Cheers, in 1982.

We've come to the end of this post on TV guest stars, but, you know, I always try my best to go out with a bang, so I will leave you with a shot from the pilot episode of the 1984 pay cable series 1st & Ten, all about rich wife Delta Burke taking on ownership of a pro football team. She wins the team when she comes home to find her husband Ben Cooper in the throes of a naked rubdown with one of the players, leading to a divorce and a hefty settlement. Cooper was a young actor in the 1950s who appeared in the camp classic Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford! By the time of this episode, he'd been acting on screen for three and a half decades and been married for two and a half. It was a rather surprising role to see him in. The handsome player, Rick Moser, had been a real pro footballer and served as a consultant on the series. His homosexual character stayed on the series for quite a while, though when the AIDS crisis came about, with its resultant panic and fear, the character was de-gayed and eventually depicted as straight!

Sometime in the future, I'll be back with another sampling of TV guests stars from what I consider "the good ol' days." I hope you got some enjoyment out of this one.

Are You There God? It's Green Margaret!

I don’t suppose anything on Earth scared me quite as much as a child than The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz (with The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang hot on her heels!) I’m certainly not alone on this score as this maleficent hag (and her creepy flying monkeys) sent countless children to their rooms at night, praying that they wouldn't awake to find her at the foot of the bed.

Now, of course, I revel in each and every frame of Miss Margaret Hamilton’s marvelous, but surprisingly scant, screen time in the film. What is it with me loving, practically worshipping, the same things that I either loathed or was afraid to death of as a child?!

Last night I was privileged enough to secure a ticket to a 70th Anniversary screening of this legendary movie which was presented in a high-definition format, allowing every possible detail of the many wonderful props and glorious costumes to be seen in all their glory. (Also, this format pointed out some of the artificiality in the sets and even the lace from the characters’ wigs, but who gives a hoot?!) A tornado was never more threatening and Miss Hamilton was never more vividly green. I came away from the screening even more devoted to the power of handcrafted special effects and more staunchly opposed to computer-generated imagery than I was before.

In an almost ridiculous bit of irony, Hamilton, who has elicited squeals from children for over seven decades now, was, prior to her film career, a Kindergarten teacher!! Jim “Mr. Howell” Backus was one of her young charges, as a matter of fact. She toiled away in character parts (which, with an usual face like hers, was all she could ever hope for, especially in those heady glamour days of Hollywood) until she was called upon to enact what would be a role for the ages.
Initially, the Wicked Witch was going to be more like Snow White’s stepmother, a tall, lithe beauty in a glitzy black gown, but still possessing all the evil qualities one might expect. When the decision was made to head more towards the crone territory, Gale Sondergaard declined to continue in the role. This paved the way for Hamilton who ensured that any potential campiness the role might offer, then or now, went out the window as she delivered a breathtakingly nasty villainess. In fact, some of her most vividly horrible moments were snipped from the film for fear of the effect it might have on kids who would be watching. One can only dream of these someday being unearthed and shown again, unlikely as it is.

Hamilton didn’t have it easy during the making of the movie. Aside from the arduous make-up tests and applications, the necessity to avoid eating during filming due to the toxicity of her make-up and the somewhat heavy costume under scorching lights, she was severely burned thanks to the mistiming of one of her exits involving a fiery explosion. It took a month and a half for her to recuperate and when she returned, she declined to take part in anything involving flames. In a sad comment of the times, she knew she had no way of suing or being compensated for her injuries and trauma unless she never wanted to work in films again.

Still, she took pleasure in the notoriety the part gave her, especially from 1956 on when the film was broadcast on television for the first time and enraptured a whole new generation (even though virtually all the TVs were in black & white at the time!) Miss Hamilton worked in TV and film periodically and had a long tenure as Cora, a general store owner who championed Maxwell House coffee in a series of ads. In 1976, she donned her Wicked Witch makeup and costume again for the ultra-campy and ridiculous Paul Lynde Halloween Special, in which she hobnobbed with, among others, Billie “Witchiepoo” Hayes, Florence Henderson (who delivered a humiliatingly hilarious disco rendition of “That Old Black Magic”) and, most startlingly, the rock group Kiss!

The legacy of Margaret Hamilton in this role is undisputed, but I must point out that even so, her ACTING seems somehow underrated. After all, it was not deemed worthy of an Oscar nomination even though, within the film, she demonstrates not only exceptional skill, but versatility as well. Her crotchety, fussy, old bat Miss Gulch, while mean and crusty, is semi-comic and light years removed from her Witch, who is the personification of horribleness. No one could have brought the intensity, vocal variety or sense of menace to the role the way she did.

Playing The Wizard in a stage production once was a complete joy for me and I must say that the message of this story (at least as it appears to me) is one that I admire heartily. That is that many times the things we desire, or believe that we lack, are within us already. We just haven’t discovered them yet. The Scarecrow who covets a brain is the one who keeps coming up with solutions. The Tin Man who wants a heart is the most emotional of all. The “Cowardly” Lion is the first one up the mountain to rescue Dorothy. It’s a rewarding notion that I think does children more good than 99 and 44/100% of the drek that is placed before them. The fact that they may not sleep for days afterward is a small price to pay in my opinion! Ha ha!