By John Fricke One plain and simple fact should come as no surprise to anyone reading here: L. Frank Baum had a limitless imagination and — to be sure — extraordinary real-life adventures. That combination led him to write not only about Oz and its countless unique citizens and hamlets, but to pen dozens of […]
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MGM’S “WIZARD”: IT JUST KEEPS ROLLIN ALONG!
by John Fricke One of Chittenango’s most loyal boosters — and OZ-Stravaganza! attendees — sent me an email this past Wednesday, August 25th, that simply said: “Happy WIZARD OF OZ Day!” He, like so many others on social media, was celebrating the fact that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s extraordinary movie of L. Frank Baum’s story, THE WIZARD OF […]
OZ-STRAVAGANZA! 2021 COMES TO YOU!
By: John Fricke Last year, for the first time in forty-three years, there was no annual Chittenango OZ-Stravaganza! The glorious festival in the birthplace village of L. Frank Baum – “Royal Historian of Oz” – was initially launched in 1978 and, by 2019, had spanned five decades. In the process, OZ-Strav! triumphed over rain, snow, […]
MORE ABOUT OZ, MR. BAUM!
By: John Fricke I guess everyone has recurring dreams, and some of those I’ve heard or read about from fellow Oz fans are certainly . . . well, I guess the catch-all word would be “interesting”! Meanwhile, I only have one of my own, but it’s popped up over multiple nights and across multiple decades […]
“OZCOT” – AT HOLLYWOOD IN CALIFORNIA
By: John Fricke If you’ve ever heard anything about L. Frank Baum’s childhood, you’re aware that – as a boy — he lived on a beautiful estate called Rose Lawn, near Syracuse, NY. Its gardens, flowers, lawns, paths, and mansion-like home made for a happy environment; here Frank wrote and printed his own small newspaper, […]