Oz News

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(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.)

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August 5, 2017: The L. Frank Baum Memorial Award

This evening, the International Wizard of Oz Club presented it's highest award, the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award, to Scott Cummings. Cummings served as editor of the Club's journal, The Baum Bugle, for many years, producing some of its most memorable issues. He is also a tireless researcher who keeps finding out new things about Oz, and frequent con chair (including this year's National Oz Convention in the Chicago area). Congratulations, Scott!

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July 26, 2017: June Foray, 1917-2017

Perhaps the greatest and most prolific of voice actors, June Foray passed away today at the age of 99 (only 54 days short of her 100th birthday). Although still working well into her nineties, Foray had been in declining health the last two years, particularly after a 2015 auto accident. Anyone who has ever watch cartoons probably has heard her voice. Among her many, many roles were Lucifer the Cat in Cinderella (her first voiceover job) and Grandmother Fa in Mulan for Disney; Granny, Witch Hazel, and Miss Prissy for Warner Bros.; Splinter and Knothead in the Woody Woodpecker cartoons; Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas; and stints in shows ranging from Mr. Magoo to The Simpsons. She was even the voice of Betty Rubble in the original pilot for The Flintstones, and Talky Tina in the "Living Doll" episode of The Twilight Zone (a take-off on her earlier work as the voice of the original Chatty Cathy doll). She will probably be best known, however, for her work with Jay Ward, where she voiced Nell in Dudley Do-Right, Ursula in George of the Jungle, Marigold in Tom Slick, and Rocky the Squirrel and Natasha Fatale in The Bullwinkle Show. Among her credits was the 1967-68 MGM anthology series Off to See the Wizard, in which June was the voice of Dorothy (as seen in the clip below) and the Wicked Witch of the West, alongside fellow voiceover icons Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, and Don Messick.

Among her other achievements, she started the Hollywood chapter of the Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (which later made her the recipient of its first June Foray Award); helped create the Annie Awards, which she later won two of; lobbied the Oscars to include a category for animated features; and has won the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, the Inkpot Award, and both an Emmy and the Governor's Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

She was often compared to the equally prolific Mel Blanc, but the legendary cartoon producer Chuck Jones (who was in charge of the animated segments of Off to See the Wizard) said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc is the male June Foray."

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July 1, 2017: The 2017 Winkie Award

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OzCon International gave its highest award tonight, for contributions to the convention and Oz in general, to John Fricke. The award-winning author and Oz and Judy Garland expert has contributed to many programs and events at the convention for over thirty years, despite being an infrequent visitor to the west coast. Congratulations to John!

(Photo courtesy Sam Milazzo.)

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May 27, 2017: The Baum Bugle, Spring 2017

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Now back from the printers and making its way to members mailboxes is the Spring 2017 issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club. If you have not received this issue yet, you're not a member of the Club for 2017, so renew (or become a member for the first time) now!

In this issue:

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April 30, 2017: Lost in Oz: Extended Adventure wins three Emmy Awards

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The Amazon Prime series, Lost in Oz, hasn't even come out in its entirety yet, but already it is an award winner. The second outing of the series, Extended Adventure, a compilation of the first three episodes, today won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program, beating out Milo Murphy's Law, Dragons: Race to the Edge, LEGO Satr Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, and The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show. If that weren't enough, the day before it also won two awards at the Creative Arts awards, for technical achivements. Lost in Oz: Extended Adventure won the awards for Outstanding Sound Mixing—Animation and Oustanding Sound Editing—Animation. (It had also been nominated for Outstanding Casting for an Animated Series or Special and Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program, but it lost both awards to Trollhunters.)

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April 26,2017: Merle "Robin" Olderman, 1944-2017

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Merle "Robin" olderman, a longtime member of and contributor to the International Wizard of Oz Club and its conventions, passed away today at the age of 72 in Kansas City, Missouri. A retired Houston English teacher, Robin joined the Inetrnational Wizard of Oz Club in 1969, but was reluctant to attend a convention until talked into it by fellow member Jim Haff in 1974—and she never stopped. Robin was a mainstay at all three of the Club's regional conventions, as well as the National Convention when it started, and helped out with auctions, plays, and anywhere else she could. She also became an active leader within the Club, serving many stints on the board of directors, contributing to The Baum Bugle and other Club publications, editing The Oz Game Book, and serving as editor of the Club's literary magazine, Oziana, for fifteen years. For her many contributions, Olderman received the Club's highest honor, the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award, in 1988. Predeceased by her husband Jeff in 2009, she is survived by her two daughters and their families.

(Image of Robin Olderman with her L. Frank Baum Memorial Award courtesy the International Wizard of Oz Club.)

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March 7, 2017: The Baum Bugle, Winter 2016

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Now back from the printers and making its way to members mailboxes is the Winter 2016 issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club. This issue celebrates one hundred years of the novel Rinkitink in Oz.


In this issue:

Club members are advised that this issue is the final one in their 2016 membership, and are urged to renew their memberships as soon as possible to ensure they keep getting their Bugles.

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December 28, 2016: Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, RIP

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Carrie Fisher, the actress and author best known for her iconic role of Leia Organa in the Star Wars movies, passed away yesterday. Fisher was sixty years old. She had been rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles four days after suffering a medical emergency on a flight from London. Among her other roles was Annie Clark in Under the Rainbow. Her character worked at MGM in 1938 and was responsible for chaperoning several dozen little people who were staying at a hotel in Culver City during production of a new musical movie, The Wizard of Oz.

Per Fisher's wishes, as she wrote in her memoir Wishful Drinking, we are printing a line that she wanted in her obituary, referring to Leia's lack of undergarments in the original Star Wars movie:

"I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra."


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In a cruel twist of fate, Fisher's mother, iconic actress and singer Debbie Reynolds, died today, only one day after her daughter. She was rushed to the hospital after suffering a massive stroke while planning Carrie's funeral with her son. Reynolds was 84. Best known for playing Kathy Selden in MGM's other biggest musical ever, Singin' in the Rain, Reynolds was also an avid collector of Hollywood costumes and other memorabilia, in the hopes of eventually opening a museum. She started her collecting at the famous 1970 MGM auction where she never even got the chance to bid on the Ruby Slippers there. She did, however, eventually procure a test pair of Ruby Slippers, not actually used in the film, with toes curled up at the front like the silver shoes in W. W. Denslaw's original illustrations from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Reynolds also acquired a dress, worn by Garland, that was also tested but not used in The Movie. The museum never materialized, and Reynolds sold off most of her collection, including the "Arabian Slippers" in 2011.


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November 30, 2016: Oziana 2016

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The latest issue of the International Wizard of Oz Club's annual fiction anthology, Oziana, has now been published and is available for sale at lulu.com. This is the biggest issue of Oziana ever, and the entire contents are devoted to celebrating the centennial of Rinkitink in Oz, published in 1916. The book, however, was originally written around 1905 as a non-Oz adventure, King Rinkitink. Baum dusted off the story, added Oz characters in the last few chapters, and turned it into his annual Oz book. The original manuscript has been lost, so the International Wizard of Oz Club sponsored a contest to provide a new ending for King Rinkitink, starting with a new chapter 20. This edition of Oziana publishes all of the entries in the contest.

The entries are:

  • "Suggested Ending to Rinkitink in Oz" by Susan Johnson
  • "An Epilogue to Rinkitink in Oz" by Aaron Solomon Adelman
  • "A New Ending for Rinkitink in Oz" by Dennis Anfuso
  • "A New Ending for Rinkitink in Oz" by Jared Davis
  • "The Rinkitink Conspiracy in Oz" by Baruch Adelman
  • "The Adventures of King Rinkitink" by Andrew Heller (the grand prize winner!)
  • "King Rinkitink in Oz, An Ending and a Beginning" by George Van Buren
  • "A New Ending for King Rinkitink" by Nicholas M. Campbell
  • "Wrapping Up Rinkitink" by Christopher M. Diket
  • "The Adventures of King Rinkitink" by Robin Hess
  • "Rinkitink" by Karen Diket
  • "King Rinkitink Restor'd" by John W. Kennedy and Eleanor M. Kennedy
  • "King Rinkitink Conclusion" by Sarah Hadley
  • "Ending Chapters of King Rinkitink" by Mariah B'Forre
  • "Concluding King Rinkitink" by Maggie Lockett

And the winning entry will soon be published, edited into the original text, as King Rinkitink by L. Frank Baum and Andrew Heller. Watch for that coming to a website near you!


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November 25, 2016: The Baum Bugle, Autumn 2016

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The latest issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, is now in the mail and making its way to members.

In this issue:


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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.)


There is now a release date for the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical version of Wicked: December 20, 2019. This is still subject to change, but an announced date is a good sign. Winnie Holzman, who wrote the book of the play, is working on the script, and the composer, Stephan Schwartz, is arranging the music (and probably writing a new song or two). No casting announcements have been made yet.


Reports of Jerry Maren's death on February 29, 2016, are false. The last little person to play a Munchkin in The Movie, he is still alive and kicking and, unlike the reports saying it, does not have cancer.


Okay, yes, word has leaked out that Warner Bros. tried to talk Robert Zemeckis into directing a remake of The Wizard of Oz, using the same screenplay as the famous 1939 Judy Garland version. Zemeckis already rejected the idea. This probably puts the idea on the back burner for a while, and based on the extreme negative reaction the idea got, I suspect it will stay there. Rumors of this have surfaced again, but appear to be the result of someone finding the old story and running it again.


It's getting harder and harder to keep up with all of the currently planned Oz movie and television 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:

  • The Road to Oz, a movie biopic about the life of L. Frank Baum and how he created Oz, starring Eddie Redmayne as Frank. (See reports here and here.)
  • 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.
  • 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 France. Once it's released, an English-language release will likely come out soon afterwards. (However, in a recent interview, Boorman admitted that the project has stalled due to lack of funding.)
  • 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. But its Kickstarter campaign to raise the last money it needed was a success, so it may be finished soon.
  • Legend of Oz, a modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz from Valley Wind Productions in Ottawa.
  • Oz, a new telling of The Wizard of Oz.
  • A still unnamed horror movie set in the 1920s with Dorothy meeting Alice in Bedlam Asylum.
  • Young Santa., based on L. Frank Baum's book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and directed by Sean McNamara.
  • How the Wizard Came to Oz, based on two books by Donald Abbott.
  • Not entirely Oz, strictly speaking, but the Judy Garland biography Get Happy may be made into a movie, featuring Anne Hathaway as Garland.

And it's not limited to movies any more. In development for television:

  • Red Brick Road, a television series continuation of The Wizard of Oz in the style of Game of Thrones. The latest word is that this is being developed for the Lifetime channel.
  • Dorothy, an Oz-themed medical drama in development at CBS
  • Dorothy Must Die, in which Dorothy has returned to Oz and become a dictator, in development at the CW. This would be based on the book series of the same name.
  • Warriors of Oz, a post-apocalyptic version in development at Syfy.
  • A Wicked television miniseries, based on the original book (not the stage musical). Salma Hayak was attached to this as a producer. When last heard of, it was under development at ABC.

No, Peter Jackson is not producing or directing a billion-dollar all-CGI remake of The Wizard of Oz for Warner Bros. How do stories like this get started? Oh, maybe in stories 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:

  • 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 (The Movie) 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. The deaths of both Taylor and developer Rod Steiger means this is unlikely to ever happen.
  • 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.
  • The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus from Hyde Park Entertainment and Toonz Entertainment.
  • 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.)

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