Oz was created in 1900 by L. Frank Baum, who went on to
write fourteen full-length books about the fictional land. (I had a tough time
finding them in libraries in the 70’s, but you can get them all from Amazon
today.) In an interview, Baum once said he got the name from a filing cabinet
that was labeled “O-Z.” There were seven film adaptations BEFORE the 1939 MGM
musical, including a silent movie featuring a very young Oliver Hardy. Three more
appeared – one starring Judy Garland’s daughter, Liza Minelli – before The Wiz
(1978) with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. Several animated versions were made,
including a few with Tom and Jerry. Return to Oz (1985), is probably still
giving my kids nightmares. Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) is
probably worth seeing, once. Part one of Wicked came out this month. The movie
is PG, but the book it’s based on is definitely not kid-friendly.
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