The Latest Wizard of Oz News

(I will update this page when there is news to tell. Any news older than a year is dropped at the next update. If you have news to report, please e-mail me.)

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(For more Oz news, check out The Daily Ozmopolitan. For the latest Oz not-quite-news, see the Rumor Control section of this page.)

June 8, 2010

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:

June 6, 2010

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.

June 3, 2010

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.

May 22, 2010

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)

May 9, 2010

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.)

April 9, 2010

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.

February 28, 2010

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:

November 16, 2009

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:

October 10, 2009

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.

August 31, 2009

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:

July 31, 2009

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.

July 11, 2009

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.

June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow in 'The Wiz'

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.

Rumor Control
(Because of the many questions I am asked about possible forthcoming Oz projects or other bits of pseudo-news, I have added this section to answer some of these inquiries.)
It's getting harder and harder to keep up with all of the currently planned Oz movie projects. Bear in mind that at this stage, most of it is speculation and/or not even in pre-production, or possibly even a game of "Telephone". But here are some of the current Oz movies that could be coming to your local theater in the next few years:
It seems the Hash, Inc., animated production of The Tin Woodman of Oz was successful enough that they're going ahead with their next production, The Scarecrow of Oz. This one even has test footage on YouTube, which looks something like this:

Could there be more Tin Man? This item from SciFiWire at least raises the possibility.
A computer animated production of Baum's 1902 book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is currently in the works. The producers are Hyde Park Entertainment, Toonz Entertainment, and Gang of 7 Animation. As with all movie projects, a lot can happen before release, which could cause them be delayed, or not to appear at all. Keep an eye on this website's news and events pages for details if they get closer to actually coming out.
No, there is no truth whatsoever to the rumor that Warner Bros. is going to invest one billion dollars on an all-computer generated remake of The Wizard of Oz, directed by Peter Jackson. (My goodness, how do these sorts of stories get started? Oh, yeah, in places like this...)
In recent years, there have been proposals for other Oz or related projects, none of which now appear that they will get off the ground. Among them:

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.)

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