The Baum Bugle is here!

By now, all members of IWOC have probably got their copies of the Spring 2006 Baum Bugle. Mine arrived Friday, but I couldn't blog until now, what with my grandmother's funeral and all.

Every issue of The Baum Bugle sports a great cover. This one is a sepia tone portrait of L. Frank Baum. Inside the front cover is a color photo from the OZ-MANIA event that I wish I could've gone to.

In the Oz and Ends section, they have an entry on Oz blogs. I'm not there, but that's OK.

The most interesting articles are about the Baum's Castorine company, comparing The Magic of Oz manuscript to the finished book, and there's an article about L. Frank Baum and the effect he had on the Baum family by Robert A. Baum. There was also an article about Baum's failed Flying Girl series, but it was written in an uninteresting style.

The Reviews were of newly-published Oz books. (I must read Melody Grandy's Forever in Oz!) There was also a review of the 3-disc edition of last year's re-relase of MGM Wizard of Oz, but I didn't feel like it did it justice. Needed some more specific information on the special features.

Not a member of the Oz Club? Join now!

I'll look forward to the next one, but then I'll need to renew!

"Rainbow Road to Oz" prelimary show coming to DVD

On December 19th, Disney will be releasing a DVD called "Your Host, Walt Disney." Among the features on the DVD will be the "Disneyland Fourth Anniversary" show. This is the famous (among Oz fans) show that had the "Rainbow Road to Oz" preliminary show on it. (For the sake of simplicity, I just call it a "preview.")

Most Oz fans haven't seen this, but the show has been broadcast on the Disney Channel, and some Oz fans have had their VCRs going. (Including one who made a copy of this clip and sent it to me. If you see this, you know who you are, thanks!)

I've researched this thing pretty well. The movie "The Rainbow Road to Oz" was planned to let the Mousketeers move to the big screen. However, eventually, only Annette Funicello became a film star, with a small role in the original "Shaggy Dog," and later movies like "Babes in Toyland," "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones," "The Monkey's Uncle," as well as the non-Disney "Beach Party" movies. Why did Disney shut down production before it began? No one knows for sure. Some think it was the budget, some think it was the Mouseketeers' TV presence would not translate well to the big screen. Others think it was the writing of the script or the songs. No one really knows, I guess.

Now, here's the kicker, do you want to buy a DVD just for a 15 minute segment? I am! Just because I want it for the "Oz" preview, I'm sure I can enjoy the rest of it! (And a lot of Oz fans bought the whole Shirley Temple Storybook set just to get her "Land of Oz" show.)

Buy the DVD from Amazon.com