I had planned that at OzCon this year, we would follow a panel with Barry Bregman and Christianna Rickard reflecting on their relatives involved with MGM's The Wizard of Oz with
an original music video tribute to the movie, featuring the beloved
song "Over the Rainbow" and "The Reprise" from Meco's Wizard of Oz disco
album. However, things got shifted around and it wound up being one of
the last things we showed on Sunday. But thanks to YouTube, now anyone can see it. It was my first time editing in Vegas and I had to learn the software while making this video.
Editing the "Over the Rainbow" part at the beginning was a little
difficult in that I realized just how magnetic Judy is during it. She
has a lot of presence during this song and it's hard to take your eyes
off of her. So deciding when I would cut away to clips from later in the
movie was a little tough. I think it works rather well
and the Over the Rainbow portion works as a video all on its own.
The second half was a real challenge to time everything correctly and not linger
on shots for too long. I really like the Wicked Witch montage, though.
International Wizard of Oz Club president Jane Albright shared this video online recently. From January 14 to August 20, 2017, Kansas City's National Museum of Toys and Miniatures featured the exhibit Over the Rainbow: Toys from the Land of Oz.
The exhibit mainly featured merchandise and occasional costumes and props. Not everything in the exhibit is exactly a toy, but there's plenty.
Jane provided many pieces seen in the exhibit and contacted other collectors who loaned various pieces for it, in many cases completing collections of rare merchandise.
In this video—initially filmed for Facebook Live, so excuse the portrait mode video—Jane tours the exhibit on its last day and explains what the pieces are. If you couldn't make it to the exhibit, this is a nice alternative. If you did, here's a way to relive it. And the real highlight is Jane's clear and informative narration.
In the video description, Jane provides a list of the collectors who loaned their pieces to the exhibit. I have copied it below:
Jane Albright Robert Baum Bill Beem Dianne Breitenstein Bill Campbell Currie Corbin Scott Cummings Valerie Dunaway
Billy Ferguson
Atticus Gannaway
Micheal Gessel
Peter Hanff
Edith Hollister
David Kelleher
Walter Krueger
John Masson
Gita Morena
The Oz Museum
Richard Rutter
Aaron Schultz
Bill Thompson
Jan Vanderwall
Chris Warkala
In writing his 4th Oz adventure, "the Road to Oz", L Frank Baum wrote two passages in the book that gave a specific date for the time the story was set:
"I wish it would snow; don't you?"
" ' Course not, Shaggy Man," replied Dorothy, giving him a severe look. "If it snowed in August it would spoil the corn and the oats and the wheat; and then Uncle Henry wouldn't have any crops; and that would make him poor; and - "
"Never mind," said the Shaggy man.
(Later)
"Do you know Ozma?" she asked, wondering.
"I regret to say that I do not," he answered, sadly; "but I hope to meet her soon. You know the Princess Ozma is to celebrate her birthday on the twenty-first of this month."
"Is she?" said Dorothy. "I didn't know that."
So ... "August" and "twenty-first".
Ever since then, August 21st has been chosen by Oz fans to be the day they celebrate Ozma's birthday, wherever they are in the world; and they do so in whatever way they can that plays tribute to the favourite Queen of Oz.
One of the imaginative and creative ways of celebrating her Birthday (last week) is by editing fan videos on Youtube (and elsewhere).
This unique version, starring Shirley Temple and Agnes Moorehead from the 1961 TV Show, combines the two transformation scenes together with some music from Walt Disney's animated classic "Sleeping Beauty".
I made this one a few years ago, before technical and other difficulties
prevented me from finishing other videos (including two others for
"Patchwork Girl" in 2013; and especially more videos to this Playlist adapting "Wizard" in Music Video form).
(I also made a image that had John Neill's illustrated surrounded by onscreen presentations - that image has yet to be modified for satisfying further viewing)
Of course this isn't the only video to celebrate Ozma, by me or anyone else; each video does something different:
Coloured-in illustrations from the book that act as a showreel for Ozma's Guests, Gifts and Birthday Celebration . . .
. . . A selection of clips from the 1999-2000 Russian animated "Adventures in the Emerald City" series . . .
. . . and finally one that shows the different portrayals she has had onscreen throughout the century!
(these two done by Jay "RoyalKidofOz" Davis)
No matter how often she changes in looks or age, in the books or onscreen, her Birthday will always be celebrated by Oz Fans on the 21st of August.
For Ozma's birthday, I've uploaded this video I've had sitting around for awhile. Back when I first transferred The Wizard of Oz Returns record album, the sound wasn't so good due to the fact that I had bought a cheap record player.
Regardless, I made a video of Dorothy's first song on the album "Somewhere is Oz" with clips from Disney's Return to Oz. The sound quality was so poor that Sam suggested I not upload it. Recently, I went ahead and got a new turntable that produced much better sound and made a new transfer. I simply replaced the audio and had a much better version, though the method I used prevented me from fading out the audio at the end.
I've posted the video in a Return to Oz group on Facebook, but for Ozma's birthday, I decided to give it a YouTube debut. Enjoy!
And if you're wondering, the lyrics are:
Somewhere is Oz
Magic land, far away
Beyond mountains
Emerald City
Oz full of laughter
Oz full of fun
Oz where I so wish to be
You needn't live there to love it
I know what I say is true
Once you have gone to that land
It lives on within you
Merry Christmas! To celebrate the season, Sam has put together a new video using the original color plates by Mary Cowles Clark for the original edition of L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Enjoy!
L. Frank Baum's birthday is May 15th, and to celebrate, the Royal Podcast of Oz and EyeScope Films present dramatic versions of two of his short stories.
The podcast presents one of Baum's last short stories: The Littlest Giant: An Oz Story. Narrated by Mike Conway with the vocal talents of Nathan DeHoff, Angelo Thomas, Sam Milazzo, and Kim McFarland. Listen below or download at the podcast site.
In Mark Evan Swartz's Oz Before the Rainbow, he suggested that the 1910 Wonderful Wizard of Oz may have also been available in a color tinted version.
I decided to run with that idea. I ripped the video from a DVD as an MPEG-2 file, the same quality you get on the disc. For extra picture clarity, I sharpened it and used auto level to decrease the amount of gray colors in the video. Then, using the duotone filter, I tinted each set of scenes in a different country, based on the colorings used for the illustrations in the original edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Kansas is sepia, the Munchkin Country is blue, the Emerald City is green, and the domain of the Witch is yellow.
Instead of just slapping a random music track on it, I used music from incompetech.com.
I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with this, so this will be my YouTube version. I may do further alterations in the coloring and music and put it on a DVD.
In 1910, the first of 4 Selig Baum short films was released: "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz" on March 24 or 26.
Even though it's late, I - Sam Milazzo - have made an Anniversary Tribute to this black-and-white 1 reel/1000 ft short film with music graciously permitted by Joe Cascone.
I have sharpened and brightened the actual video, as well as fixed up a few frames that were 'out of order'. Any more info can be seen in the description.
The Selig Baum films that followed were "Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz" (April 19), "the Land of Oz" (May 19) and "John Dough and the Cherub" (December 19). It would be truly wonderful if the other films were found and released, along with a restoration, together with "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz".
The short film can be purchased on DVDs "the Wizard of Oz: 3-disk Collectors' Edition" (2005), "the Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary 4-disk Ultimate Collectors' Edition" (2009), the "More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931" and maybe a few others.
Thanks go to Joe Cascone for graciously letting me use his music, and Thanks to Blair Frodelius for helping me with the dates for these films' releases.
Happy One Hundredth Anniversary, Selig Polyscope Co's "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and others!
