The Latest Wizard of Oz News

The latest issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, is now on its way to members. With a cover date of Spring 2010, the streak of actually on time issues continues. And with plans for the Autumn 2010 issue already announced and production under way, it appears that Editor-in-Chief Scott Cummings is staying on top of things.

In this issue:

• The front cover features the illustration of Glinda searching her records from The Marvelous Land of Oz, newly scanned from the original artwork and digitally colored by Marcus Mébès.
• Cummings looks at the current flood of both new books and possible Oz movies in "From the Editor".
• "Letters to the Editor" has Joseph Rubin identifying a piece of music printed on the dedication page of The Road to Oz, and Evan I. Schwartz rebutting the reviews of his book Finding Oz.
• In "Oz and Ends":
  • Recent Oz themed flower shows in Maryland and Indiana.
  • An Oz exhibit at the Joliet Area Historical Museum in Illinois.
  • Oz puzzles in the March 2010 issue of Games magazine.
  • New Oz-themed garden stakes and stepping stones available from The Summer's Garden in Overlake Park, Kansas.
  • A talk at the Library of Congress entitled "Summers and Oz: L. Frank Baum and Macatawa", about his summers in Macatawa, Michigan.
  • An Oz-themed read-aloud streak by Oz Club members Jim and Kristen Brozina, profiled in The New York Times.
  • The latest Oz figure from artist Jim Shore, "Glinda's Goodness".
  • An update from Gregory Maguire on the writing of his fourth (and likely final) "Wicked Years" Oz book, Out of Oz.
  • Reports on Oz exhibits at children's museums in Florida and on Long Island, New York.
• A new feature, "The Emerald City Film Festival", takes a look at the large number of Oz movie projects available, in production, or in the rumor mill, including:
  • Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man, available now on the web.
  • The Wheeler of Oz from Metro City Films, available for purchase now.
  • A French animated adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, produced by John Boorman and Action Synthese, due in theaters in 2011.
  • Dorothy of Oz, an animated musical sequel based on the book by Roger S. Baum, coming from Alpine Pictures in 2011.
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a low-budget independent production from Barnyard Studios and Used Productions.
  • Oz, the Great and Powerful, a prequel from Disney.
  • Land of Oz, a faithful, non-musical adaptation from New Line and Temple Hill.
  • Oz from Warner Bros., which might involve Dorothy's granddaughter journeying to the Emerald City.
• "The Fate of a Crown: The Serialization and Promotion of Baum's First Psudonymous Novel" by Judy Bieber looks at Baum's first adult novel, published under the name Schuyler Staunton in 1905, and how it was publicized and serialized in newspapers.
• "The Baum-Brazil Connection: Possible Influences on Baum's Novel The Fate of a Crown", also by Bieber, looks at the Republican movement in late nineteenth century Brazil, how it came to upstate New York, and where Baum may have gotten the details for his novel The Fate of a Crown.
• "Which Witch? The Incredible Makeover of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North" examines the role of Glinda in the famous MGM movie version of The Wizard of Oz and what actress Billie Burke brought to the part.
• "Adventures in Oz" presents "An Early Audience with the Wicked Witch of the West" by Paul Miles Schneider, a reminiscence of his meeting Margaret Hamilton backstage at a production of Oklahoma! in 1969, which led to a long pen pal association.
• "Dear Ray" reproduces a letter from Margaret Hamilton to Ray Bolger celebrating their onstage reunion in the 1969 play Come Summer.
• "The Wonderful Witches of Oz" by Jessica S. Gray looks at the various interpretations of the witches of The Wizard of Oz over the past 110 years.
• Reviewed, or at least noted, in "The Oz bookshop":
  • The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Motion Picture Classic by John Fricke and Jonathan Shirshekan, reviewed by Suzanne E. Henshon.
  • Dunkiton Press #18, edited by Ruth Berman and reviewed by Margaret Berg.
  • Wicked The Musical: A Pop-Up Compendium of Splendiferous Delight and Thrillifying Intrigue by John Attenberg with paer engineering by Kees Moerbeek and illustrations by Greg Call, reviewed by Scott Cummings.
  • The Undead World of Oz: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Complete with Zombies and Monsters by L. Frank Baum and Ryan C. Thomas.
  • Rainbow Connection by Ian Harac
• Reviewed in "MultimediOz":
  • The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Editon on Blu-Ray, reviewed by Mark Griffin
  • The English translation of a Russian video game, Wizard of Oz: Urfin Jus and His wooden Soldiers, which lets you relive the events of the first two Magic Land books, reviewed by Tim Hocking.
• Reports on two events: the 2009 Oz Club National Convention in Manhattan, Kansas (report by Gina Wickwar), and Los Angeles art exhibit Night of the Nick-Nacks (report by Freddy Fogarty).
• "In Memoriam" presents an obituary of MGM Munchkin Coroner Meinhardt Raabe, who passed away in April.
• And the back cover reproduces an off-screen test frame of Billie Burke as Glinda in the 1939 film.

Whoops, here's a news item that slipped under the radar until now! The International Wizard of Oz Club presented it's highest honor, the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award, to Stephen Teller back on May 15 (Baum's 154th birthday). Teller is a lifelong Oz fan from a family of Oz fans, and he has contributed much to the Club and Oz scholarship for decades now.

Rue McClanahan, the Emmy Award-winning actress, passed away today at the age of 76. Born Eddi-Rue McClanahan on February 21, 1934 in Healdton, Oklahoma, she made her stage debut in Pennsylvania in 1957, and moved to off-Broadway in New York later that year. She would finally make it to Broadway in 1969, and not long after made the move to television, appearing in soap operas Another World and Where the Heart Is, and in prime time as Maude's best friend, Vivian Harmon, on Maude. She and Maude star Bea Arthur would be reunited on the long-running sitcom The Golden Girls, for which McClanahan was nominated for the Emmy Award four times, winning for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987. Rue McClanahan had two Oz roles, playing L. Frank Baum's mother-in-law, suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage in the 1990 television movie The Dreamer of Oz, and being the second actress to play Madame Morrible (pictured) in Wicked on Broadway. McClanahan had a series of health setbacks in recent months, undergoing triple bypass surgery in November 2009 that led to a minor stroke. A second, larger stroke caused a brain hemorrage that led to her death. She is survived by her sixth husband, Morrow Wilson, her son from her first marriage, a sister, and a nephew. While there will be no funeral, memorial services are planned for both New York and Los Angeles later this summer.

Martin Gardner, the man who made math fun, died tonight in Norman, Oklahoma, after a brief illness. Born in 1914 in Tulsa, he was 95. He is survived by two sons and their families. Gardner is probably best known for his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American magazine, which ran from 1956 until his retirement in 1982. Through the column, he popularized Chinese puzzles, fractals, and the works of M. C. Escher. He was also a sceptic, often investigating and debunking fringe religious or pseudoscientific beliefs, and had interests in magic, philosophy, and literature. He was also the author of over fifty books.

He was also a lifelong fan and proponent of L. Frank Baum and Oz. He was one of the charter members of the Intnernational Wizard of Oz Club, being one of the first sixteen members in 1957. That same year, he co-authored (with Russell B. Nye) one of the earliest popular critical studies of Baum, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was. Gardner also wrote the introductions to many of Dover Publishing's reprints of Baum's books in the 1960s and '70s, and wrote his own original Oz novel, Visitors from Oz, published in 1998. After the success of his book The Annotated Alice, his publishers approached him with the idea of annotating The Wizard of Oz, but he didn't feel that he could do justice to the task, and suggested instead a young Oz fan and college student named Michael Patrick Hearn for the job instead. The International Wizard of Oz Club presented him with the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award in 1971 for his many contributions to Oz and the Club.

(Information courtesy the Associated Press and Wikipedia.)

(New York Times obituary)

Lena Horne, the famed singer and actress, died today at the age of 92 in New York City. Her career on stage, on film, and in concert began in the 1930s, but she is fondly remembered by Oz fans for her performance as Glinda the Good Witch of the South in the 1978 film version of The Wiz. Horne first performed at the famous Cotton Club, and made her Broadway debut in Dance with Your Gods in 1934. She first came to fame in the New York revue Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1939, which brought her to the attention of Hollywood. She was the first black actor signed to a contract at MGM, but her ethnic background prevented her from becoming a major star. She primarily appeared in revues (in scenes that could safely be excised in the South) and all-black movies. She was loaned to 20th Century Fox for Stormy Weather in 1943, where she sang the title song, and it became the signature tune of her career. That same year, she also appeared in Cabin in the Sky at MGM, the first film directed by Vincente Minnelli. After her contract at MGM expired, she went on to appear on television and in night clubs, and also made many records. She made few films, and her last movie part was in The Wiz. Horne was preceded in death by her second husband, musician Lennie Hayton, and her son. She is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, three grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. (Information courtesy of The New York Times. Image from The Wiz on DVD.)

Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Munchkin Coroner in the famous 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz, died today of an apparent heart attack in Florida. He was 94. Raabe worked his way through college by appearing at fairs around the country, so he was prepared for show business when he appeared in The Wizard of Oz. While that proved to be his only movie, he got a job as a salesman for Oscar Meyer, where he went on to become the first "Little Oscar", making appearances around the country with the first Weinermobile. During World War II, he was a pilot and instructor with the Civil Air Patrol. He also worked as a teacher in Pennsylvania. By the time Raabe and his wife retired to Florida, the Oz appearances circuit was up and running full steam, and the Raabes appeared at events all over the country. Raabe was one of the Munchkin actors who was their to witness the unveiling of the Munchkins' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, and he was presented with the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award by the International Wizard of Oz Club in 2008. Raabe was predeceased by his wife, Marie, in 1997, and is survived by a sister in Wisconsin.

And it just keeps on getting better! Although it didn't quite come out in the year on the cover, at least the season is right as the Winter 2009 issue of The Baum Bugle has now been published, and is being sent out to members of the International Wizard of Oz Club. This issue celebrates one hundred years of The Road to Oz.
In this issue:

• The front cover reproduces the picture of Polychrome leaving on the rainbow, as it first appeared in color in the 1939 Rand McNally Junior Edition of The Road to Oz.
• In "Oz and Ends":
  • The new Oz-inspired "My Pretty" jewelry and fashion collection by Tarina Tarantino, and the companion book.
  • Personalized editions of The Wizard of Oz from Personalised Classics and Customized Classics.
  • Oz motifs and references in the 2009 mystery novel The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly.
  • Barnes and Noble's September 2009 Classic book club choice, The Wizard of Oz, and Mari Ness's reviews of the Oz books at tor.com
  • A wrap-up of major Oz items auctioned in 2009.
  • A banner, available from artist Jon Heilman, of the sign on Professor Marvel's wagon.
  • The Funko line of Oz dolls and bobbleheads.
  • The Oz-inspired Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection of nail polishes from China Glaze.
  • The forthcoming documentary Rediscovering Dorothy, which may appear on PBS stations later this year.
  • The new Hollywood Palms Cinema near Naperville, Illinois, which includes one auditorium decorated like the Wicked Witch's castle.
  • Dr. Dick Rutter's class, Down the Yellow Brick Road: An Introduction to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in Redwood City, California.
  • A 2009 conference at the Albany Law School entitled "Taking Oz Seriously," looking at legal topics through Oz.
• To celebrate the centennial of The Road to Oz, Wes Lowe's illustration of the sandboat is reproduced.
• Scott Cummings takes a magnifying glass to the artwork in "Hidden Details in Neill's Artwork for The Road to Oz.
• "Oz Under Scrutiny" looks at some of the early reviews of The Road to Oz, including one in verse entitled "Ode to The Road".
• Peter Maresca details his effforts to reprint the "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz" comic page in "On the Road to the Comics of Oz".
• "Readers Forum" presents comments from Judy Bieber and Eric Shanower on the book Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story by Evan I. Schwartz, both repudiating many of the book's points.
• "The Oz Collector" looks at modern Oz book collecting in "From Ye Olde Book Shoppe to Cyberspace: A Book Collector's Personal View of the Internet Age" by Paul Bienvenue.
• "Oz Behind the Footlights" reviews Say Goodnight, Toto at the Ark Theatre Company in Los Angeles, and American Fairy Tales by the Franklin Stage Company in Franklin, New York.
• "MultimediOz" reviews the DVD double release of Peter and the Magic Egg/Dorothy in the Land of Oz.
• Reviewed in "The Oz bookshelf":
  • The Wizard of Oz, newly illustrated by Graham Rawle, reviewed by Dr. Dick Rutter.
  • My Judy Garland Life: A Memoir by Susie Boyt, reviewed by Angelica Carpenter.
  • The bilingual The Wizard of Oz/El Maravilloso Mago de Oz, retold by Carol Ottolenghi and illustrated by Jim Talbot, reviewed by Suzanna E. Henshon.
• "The Magic Picture" reports on Oz events and meetings of 2009, including the Munchkin Convention in Syracuse, New York; Oz-Stravaganza in Chittenango, New York; the Wizard of Oz Festival in Chesteron, Indiana; Autumn at Oz in Beech Mountain, North Carolina; and the Winkie Convention in Pacific Grove, California.
• Michael O'Connor relates his experience shopping at an Oz decorated Harrod's in London during the holidays.
• And finally, the back cover reproduces the original cover art of the original dust jacket of The Road to Oz.

Ah, the Autumn 2009 issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club is here! That must mean that, based on the Bugle's idiosyncratic publishing schedule of the past, that this is the late-spring-verging-on-summer of 2010. Baseball is in full swing, students (and teachers) are looking forward to summer vacation, and my, weren't those Winter Olympics exciting? I never expected the Bahamas to win the silver in women's curling.

All kidding aside, I know exactly what time of year it is. Kudos to new editor Scott Cummings for actually managing to get the Bugle onto some semblance of a regular, predictable publishing schedule. (Pay no attention to the "Summer" listed on the front cover, the first page says "Autumn," as it should. There has never been a regular summer issue of the Bugle.) And it's a darned good issue, too, continuing the tradition of an issue celebrating the every-ten-years anniversary of the famous movie version of The Wizard of Oz, going back to the Autumn 1969 issue. Much of what we now know of the making of The Wizard of Oz is thanks to the pioneering work of those early Oz researchers, and it continues today, with more being discovered.

In this issue:

• The cover is a wraparound frame blow-up of Dorothy being greeted by the Munchkins.
• Scott Cummings reminisces about his MGM memories in the "Letter from the Editor".
• The current list of winners of the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award is published, including this year's latest addition, Michael Patrick Hearn.
• In "Oz and Ends":
  • The one night only seventieth anniversary screening of The Wizard of Oz in theaters around the country on September 23.
  • A series of Oz-themed floral displays at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory in Wayne, Indiana
  • A Wizard of Oz themed scratch game in the Kansas Lottery this year.
  • Judy Goes Hollywood, a new album of songs as performed on The Judy Garland Show, including "If I Only Had a Brain," "We're Off to See the Wizard," and "The Jitterbug" with Ray Bolger.
  • New Oz and Oz-themed comics, including the variant cover of X-Men Forever #4, a new adaptation of The Wizard of Oz from Stone Arch Books to help with early reading, a new take called Emerald City Blues, the forthcoming All-Action Classics #4: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the sale of Skottie Young's original art from the Marvel adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and rumors of a new British series coming in 2010, The Forgotten Oz Trilogy.
  • "Oz in the News", now shifted to a section of "Oz and Ends", features radio pieces from NPR and the BBC about political interpretations of The Wizard of Oz, the article "The Real Rhett Butler" from The New Yorker that profiles The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind director Victor Fleming, "Frank Baum, the Man Behind the Curtian" from Smithsonian Magazine, "The Man Who Made Oz: L. Frank Baum and the First American Fairy Tale" on slate.com, and Oz Club President Angelica Carpenter and Munchkin coroner Meinhardt Raabe appearing on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.
  • Upcoming potential movies include Warner Bros. making an official sequel to The Wizard of Oz, a movie based on the Dark Oz comic book (there's already a novel), and what sounds like a prequel called The Oz Wars.
  • The new The Wizard of Oz: Beyon the Yellow Brick Road video game for the Nintendo DS.
  • The Royal Podcast of Oz by Club member Jared Davis
  • Two new reprints from Pumpernickel Press, Zauberlinda the Wise Witch and Father Goose: His Book.
  • An obituary for Howard Smit, an influential and respected Hollywood make-up artist. One of his earliest jobs was on The Wizard of Oz.
  • The Oz exhibit at the Great Overland Station in Topeka, Kansas, and the new Land of Oz Museum in Wausaukee, Wisconsin.
• "The Wizard That Wasn't: Lost Treasures from the MGM Vault", edited by John Fricke, looks at some of the latest behind-the-scenes discoveries on the production of The Wizard of Oz, including:
  • A letter from Robert P. Burns, who had played parts in the earlier stage version of The Wizard of Oz and The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays and other early Oz movies, asking to be considered for a part.
  • A letter from then-Royal Historian Ruth Plumly Thompson, suggesting that some of the Oz songs she had written for another production could be used for the movie. She also sent along samples of the lyrics.
  • Never before published production photos from director Victor Fleming's scrapbook.
  • Some possible Munchkinland lyrics by MGM musician Roger Edens.
  • A story treatment by Ogden Nash.
  • A few pages from an early draft of the script.
  • A memo from Arthur Freed setting up music recordings, and another outlining day-to-day operations.
  • An early list of possible special effects that the movie would entail.
  • Plans for what songs to record during one session, including the intriguing title "Watch Out for the Wicked Witch," which isn't known to exist anywhere else.
• "Adventures in Oz" sees actor and long-time Oz fan Bronson Pinchot reminiscing about an Oz encounter while making Perfect Strangers in "From Mypos to Kansas Via Munchkinland".
• "The Oz Collector" has an examination of vintage Wizard of Oz housewares from Jane Albright. (The carpet sweeper still works!)
• In "The Oz Bookshelf":
  • Jared Davis reviews Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz: The Complete Comic Strip Saga 1904-1905, the megasized reprint of L. Frank Baum and W. W. Denslow's early Oz comic pages.
  • Marcus Mébès reviews Silver Shoes by Paul Miles Schneider.
  • Nathan DeHoff reviews the latest edition of Lurline and the White Ravens of Oz by Marcus Mébès.
• "Oz Behind the Footlights" has reviews of this past summer's Broadway revival of The Wiz, written by Sean Barrett, and a new musical version of The Marvelous Land of Oz this past spring in Chicago, reviewed by Scott Cummings.
• In "MultiMediOz," Marcus Mébès reviews the DVD release of Inkheart with special emphasis on all of the Oz references.
• Henry E. Darcy contributes an Oz quiz focused on the famous movie version of The Wizard of Oz.
• "The Magic Picture" reports on some recent Oz events:
  • Robert A. Baum reports on the 2009 South Winkie Convention in Glendale, California.
  • Bill Campbell writes up the premiere of an exhibit of Graham Rawle's illustrations for a recent edition of The Wizard of Oz.
  • Richard Tuerk reports from the "Oz 2009: The Yellow Brick Road in the 21st Century" conference in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
  • Scott Cummings writes about the "Frankly, My Dear! The Munchkins Are Here!" weekend Wizard of Oz/Gone with the Wind hosted by the Clark Gable Foundation in Cadiz, Ohio.

Tonight, the International Wizard of Oz Club gave its highest honor, the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award, to Michael Patrick Hearn. Hearn has been a passionate Oz and Baum researcher for many years now, having first made a splash with the exhaustive book The Annotated Wizard of Oz in 1973. He has contributed to The Baum Bugle and Oziana, written or edited many other books about Oz, and is continuing to do research on what should ultimately be the definitive biography of L. Frank Baum. For his many accomplishments, the award is richly deserved.

Slowly but surely, the crew at the International Wizard of Oz Club that puts out its journal, The Baum Bugle, is catching up, for the Spring 2009 issue is now out and on its way to members. And at sixty pages, it's one of the bigger issues in recent years.
In this issue:

• The front cover features the cover of the 1901 possibly-influenced-by-Oz book Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch by Eva Katherine Gibson, surrounded by some of Mabel Tibbitts' interior illustrations.
• In his "Letter from the Editor," Sean P. Duffley talks about the theme of the issue, then reveals that this is his last issue, as he is handing the reins over to Scott Cummings.
• "Oz and Ends" looks at:
  • The launch and tour of the 70th anniversary Wizard of Oz balloon.
  • The forthcoming release of The Wizard of Oz on Blu-Ray.
  • Two Los Angeles exhibits, "Inspirations of the Oz Fine Arts Collections" and "The Ruby Slippers Collection", both celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the release of The Wizard of Oz.
  • An Oz-themed children's bedroom.
  • Three new Oz theatrical ventures: Andrew Lloyd Webber bringing a new stage version to London's West End, Anne Hathaway playing Judy Garland in stage and film adaptations of Gerald Clark's biography Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, and Dorothy Gale, an NBC pilot about a Kansas girl living her dream of working in the Manhatten art scene.
  • New Holland Brewing Company's Golden Cap saison ale.
  • Cards and prints from F. Y. Cory's website.
  • The wrap-up of Marvel's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz comic series, and the announcement of the next series, The Marvelous Land of Oz.
  • The final volume (in its English translation, at least) of the manga series Toto! The Wonderful Adventure.
  • The public service ad for the Library of Congress's Lifelong Literacy Program that features a train trip to the Emerald City
  • Audio downloads of a reading of The Wizard of Oz from the Wired for Books Players, music inspired by Oz from Francesco Lettera, and The Emerald City Podcast.
  • A new Oz video game based on Urfin Jus and his Wooden Soldiers.
  • New books such as The Pearl and the Pumpkin, co-written by W. W. Denslow, from Dover Books, Lesson from Oz by Julienne LeFleur, and The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum by Paul Bienvenue and Robert F. Schmidt.
  • A new Wizard of Oz-themed slot machine, seen in casinos all over the country.
  • A new company, Smith & Tinker, with a definite Ozzy motif.
  • A set of Easter dioramas, all using Peeps, telling the story of The Wizard of Oz, which won the Chicago Tribune's 2009 "Peeps on Parade" contest.
  • A piece from NPR about a Midwest woman named Dorothy whose dog was lifted up by high winds.
• "The Wise Witch and the Wonderful Wizard; or, Annie and Dorothy" by Phyllis Ann Karr takes a critical look at Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch, and tries to determine whether or not it's really the knockoff of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that Ozmologists have claimed it is. Sean P. Duffley also presents a short biographical sketch of Zauberlinda author Eva Katherine Clapp Gibson.
• Another possible Oz knockoff, The Pearl and the Pumpkin, is put under the microscope as Sean P. Duffley looks at the genesis of the book and musical as envisioned by W. W. Denslow; Ruth Berman looks at the first compiled version of the book in "A Denslow Dummy"; and "Denslow Under Scrutiny" presents contemporary reviews of the musical play version of The Pearl and the Pumpkin.
• "Multi-MediOz" reviews the Emerald City Confidential computer game and the computer animated movie The Tin Woodman of Oz, available on YouTube.
• Marc Berezin looks at the 1969 kiddie matinee Oz movie in "Oz on a Budget: The Making and Selling of Barry Mahon's The Wonderful Land of Oz" while Bob Craig and Freeman Williams reviews of the movie from the Internet are reproduced.
• "The Wonderful Home of Oz" by Sally Roesch Wagner presents the Matilda Joslyn Gage House, now a historic site, where L. Frank Baum's mother-in-law lived and where her daughter married Baum.
• "The Oz Bookshelf" reviews:
  • The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz by Paul R. Bienvenue and Robert E. Schmidt, reviewed by Bill Campbell.
  • Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story by Evan I. Schwartz, reviewed by Marcus Mébès.
  • A Promise Kept in Oz by Dennis Anfuso, reviewed by Joe Bongiorno.
  • The Mysterious Caverns of Oz by Marcus Mébès, reviewed by Sue Henshon.
• "In Memoriam" remembers MGM Munchkin Mickey Carroll, long-time Munchkin Convention attendee Jerry Mendel, and Club member Susan Koelle.
• "CuriOzity" presents a vintage Halloween card from early in the twentieth century that seems to have been inspired by some of W. W. Denslow's artwork from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• Atticus Gannaway asks for information about illustrator Frank Kramer and the history of Reilly and Britton/Reilly and Lee for future articles.
• And the back cover reproduces the poster for The Wonderful Land of Oz.

The Munchkins presented their highest award, the Munchkin Award, to Judy Bieber tonight. She receives the award for all of her help with the east coast Munchkin Convention.

The Winkies presented their highest award, the Winkie Award, to Bill Thompson tonight. Bill receives the award for all of his help with the Winkie Convention, particularly acting as auctioneer and bibliographic expert.

Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, died today in Los Angeles from an apparent coronary attack. He was fifty years old. An entertainer his entire career, the superstar was best known for his music, both in the Jackson 5 with his brothers and his solo career. He also dabbled in acting, however, and his first role was as the Scarecrow in the 1978 movie adaptation of The Wiz. He is succeeded by his parents, brothers and sisters, two sons, and a daughter.

• Oz, The Great and Powerful, a prequel about how the Wizard came to Oz, directed by Sam Raimi and possibly starring Robert Downey, Jr., for Disney. (This may have previously been announced as Brick.)
• Dark Oz 3-D, based on the old Caliber comic book
• A non-musical, faithful adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from New Line and Temple Hill
• Dorothy of Oz, an animated musical sequel based on the book by Roger S. Baum
• A low budget modern-day sequel to The Wizard of Oz, entitled The Witches of Oz, is in post-production. You can read more about its production right here. The movie also has a website, at followtheyellowbrickroad.com, and the production company is also on Facebook.
• The Oz Wars, which would have the witches fighting for control of the Emerald City while the Wizard leads the resistance.
• John Boorman's animated adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz seems to be on track for release in 2011 — in France. An English-language release is slated for 2012.
• Oz: Return to the Emerald City was one of two possible competing projects at Warner Bros. This original sequel may now be shopped around to other studios, or turned into a novel.
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a low-budget independent production from Barnyard Studios and Used Productions. This is very much a shoestring production, which is looking for money and actors.
• Yes, it looks like a film version of Wicked is currently in pre-planning at Universal. But this is a long way off—sometime in the middle of the decade—and a lot can happen. However, the success of the play most likely means that there will be a film version some day.
• Oz, a new telling of The Wizard of Oz

• Lost in Oz, a series that was to feature Melissa George as a Kansas university student who is whisked to Oz sixty years after the events of The Wizard of Oz and helping to spearhead a rebellion against the new Wicked Witch of the West. Although developed for the WB and a pilot film produced, it was never picked up, nor the pilot shown. (But keep an eye out on auction sites, as a bootleg DVD sometimes shows up...)
• A telelvision miniseries based on Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked, with Demi Moore in the title role. (There are stories that the people developing this version later pushed their involvement into the musical version now playing on Broadway and elsewhere.)
• The O. Z., a hip-hop flavored re-telling of The Wizard of Oz for Fox. Among the rumored Dorothy's at one point were Brandy, Mya, and the late Aaliyah. Justin Timberlake, John Leuizamo, and Little Richard were mentioned for other parts.
• Surrender Dorothy. Drew Barrymore as Dorothy's great-granddaughter coming to Oz, and battling the Wicked Witch of the West's granddaughter. (Rumors of this recently resurfaced, but were quickly squelched. This project is dead.)
• Somewhere starring Elizabeth Taylor as Dorothy, now a grandmother, returning to Oz. (Rod Steiger was one of the forces behind this project, so his death likely means that it won't be developed.)
• Pamela West, where the Wicked Witch is the innocent victim and Dorothy (with Toto as a pit bull) is the evil interloper.
• The Land of Oz (not based on the book of the same name), produced by Hallmark for NBC. This eventually became the basis for the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man.
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus from Circa Pictures. It's no longer listed on their website.
• A Bollywood adaptation of The Wizard of Oz in India.
• A movie version of American McGee's (later cancelled) Oz video game.
• Geoff Ryman's Was.

If progress is made on any of these projects, such as actually going into production or a release date announced, the news will be posted as quickly as possible on this page. But at this stage, any of these going into production is very unlikely. (However, Tin Man was part of this list for some time before its eventual completion and broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel.)