HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO “THE GREEN BOOK”!

THE OFFICIAL 50th ANNIVERSARY PICTORIAL HISTORY” IS NOW 35 YEARS OLD Part Two By John Fricke Welcome to Part Two of our birthday salute to the best-selling, full-length history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1939 production of THE WIZARD OF OZ, first published 35 years ago this past August to commemorate the film’s 50th anniversary in 1989. Its …

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO “THE GREEN BOOK”!

“THE WIZARD OF OZ — THE OFFICIAL 50th ANNIVERSARY PICTORIAL HISTORY” IS NOW 35 😊 Part One – By John Fricke Above: This is the front dust jacket cover of the book that celebrated the golden anniversary of MGM’s THE WIZARD OF OZ just 35 years ago this summer . . . and on into …

Ha-Ha-Ha! Ho-Ho-Ho!

And a Happy, High-Spirited History of Last Month’s Magic (Or: Oz-Stravaganza® 2024 😊) by John Fricke After 46 prior and virtually annual jubilations, what can be said about Oz-Stravaganza® #47 that hasn’t been gratefully and proudly “sung out” before? Perhaps the most grandiose AND accurate declaration is that the weekend of May 31st-June 2nd, 2024, …

“L. Frank-ly, My Dear, We WILL Give a Fest!”

by John Fricke Given the paraphrased title of this month’s blog, may I remind you that this year marks the 85th anniversary of THAT film, too . . . . 😊 However, there’ll be no further homage to GONE WITH THE WIND! We’re all about ALL THINGS OZ, and we’re here to herald and celebrate …

“ILL-OZ-STRATIONS” — DIVERSIFIED! Part Two

by John Fricke A bit of background to begin! Part One of this two-part series may be found by simply scrolling down past this entry; therein discussed are some of the early artists who pictured L. Frank Baum’s book, THE WIZARD OF OZ. There were comparatively few such illustrators, however; from its initial publication as …

“ILL-OZ-STRATIONS” — DIVERSIFIED! Part One

By John Fricke Even occasional visitors to these blogs – or to Oz in general – will recognize the name William Wallace [W. W.] Denslow. It was his dazzling color pictures, artful book design, and character and setting concepts that helped make L. Frank Baum’s THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ the best-selling children’s book of …

“THE LITTLE PEOPLE WHO LIVE[D] IN THIS LAND” – CONCLUSION

By John Fricke FOREWORD In our August 26th entry for 2023 — posted on Chittenango’s All Things Oz and OZ-Stravaganza! Facebook pages (as well as on this blog site) — we celebrated the Oz festival of last June. The highlights of that weekend, of course, were provided by the song, dance, autographing-and-reminiscing participation of ninety-one-year-old …

“THE LITTLE PEOPLE WHO LIVE[D] IN THIS LAND” – PART 5

By: John Fricke FOREWORD In our August 26th entry for 2023 — posted on Chittenango’s All Things Oz and OZ-Stravaganza! Facebook pages (as well as on this blog site) — we celebrated the Oz festival of last June. The highlights of that weekend, of course, were provided by the song, dance, autographing-and-reminiscing participation of ninety-one-year-old …

“THE LITTLE PEOPLE WHO LIVE[D] IN THIS LAND” – PART 4

By John Fricke FOREWORD In our August 26th entry — posted on Chittenango’s All Things Oz and OZ-Stravaganza! Facebook pages (as well as on this blog site) — we celebrated 2023’s Oz festival. The highlights of that weekend, of course, were provided by the song, dance, autographing-and-reminiscing participation of ninety-one-year-old Betty Ann Bruno, an original …

“THE LITTLE PEOPLE WHO LIVE[D] IN THIS LAND” – PART 3

By John Fricke FOREWORD In our August 26th entry, posted on the various Chittenango, New York, All Things Oz and OZ-Stravaganza! Facebook pages (as well as its blog site), we celebrated 2023’s Oz festival. The weekend highlight, of course, was the song/dance/autographing/reminiscing participation of ninety-one-year-old Betty Ann Bruno, an original “MunchKid” from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1939 feature …