As a youngster, I don't recall Wizard of Oz, but I remember in elementary school, watching Alice in Wonderland, in the auditorium, and got scared. No color back then :o)

This was sort of a family even for us too. We kids would see it in the theater, but then it was on TV about once a year for a while. Ma often made popcorn and we'd watch. Then they took it off the air for a while and put it back in the theaters. Took a long time for it to come back on TV. There's so many good parts. The Tin Man always stands out in my mind for some reason and Burt Lahr (sp?) as the Cowardly Lion - always remembered him from the potato chip commercials. The feet sticking out from the house. And of course how beautiful Glenda was, still picture the shoulder shot of her in my mind! :) What a beauty! The music while the witch is after Dorothy. When I was real young the Wizard part with the flames and booming voice always scared me a bit.

It's another movie I can watch over and over again.

Went to see The Wiz, not too long ago.
Wizard of Oz fans really need to see it when it comes to your area. Fantastic.

Not sure if I have ever seen the whole thing! my mom was scared of the monkeys and we were not allowed to watch it. couldn't was Alice in Wonderland or Old Yeller either. I should probably rent all the movies she wouldn't let me see and have a movie weekend! LOL

What channel was it on? Nick loves it and he's been asking when it will be on again.

W of O came on around a certain holiday when I was growing up - was it Easter? It's amazing how even seeing a movie once a year could stick with you - kids today watch the same movie over and over.

I remember most television was an event when I was young. Even though it was the 70s, if you missed something you missed it. Series used to run through a season once, then they ran through it a second time in reruns so if you missed an episode the first time you could catch it a second time. (I miss that.) Some shows were syndicated but there were not as many outlets to view them. We didn't have cable channels until I was older. The local channels were filled with soaps, game shows, afternoon movies, news, local shows, the network line up. They didn't broadcast all evening so there was only so many slots for syndicated shows.

I fell in love with the Oz books when I was quite young. I learned to read early and well.

I remember I loved the books where my imagination took hold. I never saw the movie as a child and when I got older it never lived up to the colorful world I imagined reading as a child. So I really don't think I've ever seen the whole movie to this day. Bits and pieces,yes, but not the whole movie.

Saw it as a kid on a B&W TV many times. I happen to see it on TV years later as an adult and I remember watching it start out in B&W of course, and then my jaw dropped when it switched to color when they got to OZ. That was clever! I imagine the theater audience was dazzled by the switch back in the day. I found out, that at the time of release that the OZ portion was the longest length color insert in any movie up until that time. I think 'Portrait of Dorian Gray' was the first B&W movie to do a color insert which they put at the very end of the movie.

My grandfather took my two older sisters and me to see it at the movie theater when I was about 5 or 6. Those monkeys scared the beejeezus out of me and so did that mean old nurse that had Toto in the basket on her bike. I don't think I understood the lion and tin man were the farm hands or the wicked witch was that nurse.

I don't remember how many times I saw it on TV, then later when my kids were small. As I got older I was most impressed by the "don't look at the man behind the curtain" part when the great oz was speaking with a booming voice. Like a lot of things in life I figured I should think for myself and not necessarily believe what others thought I should believe.

I was always so afraid when the flying monkeys were after Dorothy and Toto....and I cried too!

I loved the Wiz, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.....it was a great update to a classic.

I had to leave the room when those flying monkeys came on.
They're just too freaky.

Ron

I honestly can't explain why but I have never liked the movie, not as a child and not as an adult. I have watched the entire movie several times when others were watching it, but if I were alone I'd turn it off. I don't recall being scared and I thought most of the characters were interesting but I never cared for Dorothy - she just didn't do anything for me.

It might be because even when I was a child she just seemed so big- obviously now I know it's because Judy Garland was an adult playing the role of a child. But I think for some reason it just didn't sit well with me.

Yet my absolute favorite show from my childhood was Peter Pan with Mary Martin. And that was an adult playing a child who wouldn't grow up!

I've never tried to analyze it before and I'm certainly not doing a good job of it now. Am I the only one who failed to be charmed by the Wizard of Oz?

You might be on to something Mcmann. Dorothy in the book was a little girl of my age in my imagination, around 7 or so. Maybe that's why the movie didn't impress me either. Dorothy was too old.

I loved it from the first time I saw it and love it still. Like Dilly Dally, I watched it for years on a B/W TV and then was amazed to see the change to color when I watched it as a teenager. For me the movie is perfect magic.
DH uses "If I Only Had a Brain" as the ring tone on his phone to ID calls from his boss and I have a pair of the ruby slippers as decoration in my office (to remind me 'there's no place like home'.) I guess we're hooked.

They're showing it now because this year is the 70th anniversary of the 1st release. Pretty cool for a kid's movie to hold up as well as it has for 70 years!

When it was on tv, once a year, my cousins would come over. We'd have dinner together and act out the movie until it was on. I was always Dorothy, my cousin Donna was the witches, and my sister and cousin Jim had to be all the other characters.

Have any of you read Wicked or seen the Broadway production? It's the story of the Wicked Witch; she's not wicked, she's just misunderstood. The book is entertaining but I haven't seen the musical.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wicked, the Musical

I read Wicked. I really enjoyed it and just felt that the musical would be too dumbed down for my taste. Especially since I saw it was produced with a more youthful audience in mind.

The book is extremely political. Are we allowed to discuss it here? *chuckle*

My favorite movie as a child. I got to see it often, at the Saturday afternoon matinees at the movie theater.

I read all the OZ books that were written by L. Frank Baum. Tried the ones that came after...and didn't like them.

I watched The Wizard of Oz every year on television growing up, then when DD was about 6 or so she fell in love with the movie, we bought a vhs copy and she watched it over and over. (She did the same thing with the Ninja Turtle movies and Grease.) We haven't watched it for years. Guess it is time.

It was on TV here today too, and I recorded it so hubby and I can watch it when he gets home tonight. It's a childhood favorite for both of us.

I saw the movie before reading the book, so I had no pre-conceived idea of what Dorothy might be like.

Loved the black & white to color transition, the songs and dances, scary flying monkeys ... all of it.

There were many of movies made of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' over the years and like many movies it first ran as a stage play. Here are some trivial tidbits.........

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" children's book was written in 1899.

The Wizard of Oz was first performed as an on-stage musical and premiered at the Grand Opera House in Chicago on June 16, 1902. On January 21, 1903, the show opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in New York and toured the country until 1911.

The book was made into many different films before the 1939 version that most of us know so well.

Here is a list:

* The Wizard of Oz (1908)
* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910), with 9 year old Bebe Daniels as Dorothy
o and two other films from Selig Polyscope Company based on Baum's Oz: Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz (1910), and The Land of Oz (1910)
* three times in 1914, all produced by Baum's own short-lived Oz Film Manufacturing Company
o The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)
o The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914)
o His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914/15) - the closest to Baum's original book and the only one directed by him
* The Wizard of Oz (1921)
* The Wizard of Oz (1925), a full-length silent film from Chadwick Pictures, with comedian Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy fame portraying the Tin Woodsman.

* The Scarecrow of Oz (1931) (aka The Land of Oz), a fantasy short
* a Canadian black and white feature The Wizard of Oz (1933) with no dialogue, and with some color animations
* a short animated version in 1938

And of course there have been many version both acted and animated since 1939.

I was never fond of the movie. I always thought Judy Garland was too old for the part. I like her though.

Sue

I'm a collector (not a huge one) of Wizard of Oz items. I have two+ sets of the Wizard of Oz dolls.
And of course a little pair of ruby red shoes...LOL

Oh..and the McD's W of O dolls too.

I still want to put them up on display in our room upstairs if it ever gets done.

patti

I have to agree that Dorothy didn't do anything for me either. BUt how couldn't you like the flying monkeys?! :)

And of course, I always enjoyed a good tornado...

Never cared for it, don't/didn't care for Judy Garland at all not when I was a child and even less as an adult.
I didn't find her a suitable Dorothy either even if she was just 16 years old

I was grown before I saw the movie, but when I was in the 7th grade I was a munchkin in a school play. My then boyfriend was the tin man. The man I married years later was was the spot light man. My sister was the make up artist. That was the first play I was in. Afterwards we all went to a restaurant. That was another first for me. I had been to a restaurant with my grandparents when I was 10 years old, but I had never been to one without them. That was such a fun night.
Linda

The Wizard of Oz has always been an event at our house. I have never watched it on tape or dvd. It has to be on the regular TV. My mom and grandmother would give me a big bowl of jello with whipped cream. Grandma would sneak in extra whipped cream, and we would watch. I loved it. I did the same with my kids. I can still remember my daughter wanting me to buy the movie and I refused.

Another great memory was my best friend and her family did this as a play at their church. Outside of school, this was the first play I had ever seen and I was in my very late teens. I still think about that!

Trish

Watched it with my GD the other night Judy. I just remember loving it...seems to take me out of my world for a while. Always loved fantasy.

We took our GD to Bass Hall this year....her first time to see the movie...the symphony played all the music to the movie. She and I curled up on the sofa the other night to watch it...I enjoyed watching her react to everything again...anticipating...

Hope her first memory of it sticks with her.

awww, cardamom, that is a wonderful story. What wonderful memories you are making!
There is just something about the Wizard of Oz that facinates me. I am not sure if it is the memories of my childhood it conjures up or if I just like the fantasy (like you mentioned) of it.
I do also remember when it first flipped to color when they got to munchkin land. I had forgotten about that part with all the colorfully painted horses in oz.
I wonder if Liza Minnelli ever watches it?

Trin

I have fewer fond memories of the movie than I do of the wonderful series of Oz books by Frank Baum. My mom had all those beautifully bound and illustrated 1930s Baum books (ie. The Road to Oz, Ozma of Oz, etc.) and read them to us. Later I read them all on my own when I was around 8 or 10 years old. They are fabulous; very imaginative for kids. Sadly, at some point the books disappeared and I've been buying them on ebay. Did anyone else read these?

Oh my gosh, I LOVE the Wizard of Oz. It is said Baum wrote parts of it right here in Holland Michigan.

"Local legend has it that Oz, also known as The Emerald City, was inspired by a prominent castle-like building in the community of Castle Park near Holland, Michigan where Baum summered. The yellow brick road was derived from a road at that time paved by yellow bricks"
I love to sneak in and see this castle. It is an association now and is not open to the public.

I forgot to add...

When I was growing up we went to church twice EVERY Sunday. When the Wizard of Oz was on we got to stay home and watch it while our Mom and Dad went to church. I don't think I missed watching it for 30 years.

Our kids would watch it over and over again when they were young. When we went up to visit Curts family they would tell us to leave the Oz video at home! LOL

Judy

My memory of the Wizard of Oz as a kid was it was on the evening of Labor Day (after the Jerry Lewis Telethon). Where I lived, the first day of school was the day after Labor Day so I remember watching with that anticipation too. Like many of you, we didn't have a color TV until I was 18 so the first time seeing it in color was so exciting!
My now 21 year old daughter started watching it when she was about 3...we had it on VHS. The flying monkeys and the witch didn't really scare her. She called the movie "Dorothy"....my mom was our daycare provider for her and I remember coming home from work one day and my mom saying in an exhausted voice "we watched Dorothy THREE times today......"

It looks like I am in the minority here, as I hated The Wizard of Oz. I was around 3 or 4 years old when I first watched it and cried hysterically at the sight of the flying monkeys and the wicked witch. I had nightmares for quite a long time. I'm 52 and have only watched it one time since and that was with my boys when they were kids.

I remember Margaret Hamilton, the bad witch, being interviewed in later years and saying how kids were afraid of her after that movie. She said when they asked her to be in the movie she asked in what role, she didn;t realize she looked like witch material.
She was on Mr Rogers Neighborhood, my kids watched that, and he was explaining how she was just pretending to be scary.

I have fond memories of watching the Wizard of Oz as a child. Three other movies that still come to mind are "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "The Birds" and "Elephant Walk". (showing my age now) My daughter & I recently saw the musical Wicked in London. After seeing it I'll never watch the Wizard of Oz the same. It puts a totally new spin on the original. Loved the music and often listen to the free sound tracks online. I'd highly recommend it. More of a chick flick though. Guys probably wouldn't care for it.

I love the movie! Always thought the flying monkeys looked too real! I love the 'little people", esp. the Lollipop Kids... "We are the Lollipop Kids, the Lollipop Kids, the Lollipop Kids...." The scarecrow amazed me with his dancing and how he looked so much like a rag doll. I remember Glinda, played by Billie Burke. Billie Burke was on some t.v. show much later on (forgot name) sometimes in the 80's or 90's... She was so little and old.... Now, as I'm older, all I can think of when I see that movie is how tragic Judy Garland's life was. I've always meant to read her Biography. My friend is a huge fan and says it's amazing and sad...

I never really liked it either, I was either worrying about Dorothy getting home or Toto coming to harm or being taken away and the Munchkins just creeped me out with their icky hair and costumes. I always left the room if I could during that part. I felt sorry for the Tin Man and the Lion and Scarecrow. It was just a worrisome movie for me, but I watched it because it was a big deal at our house, mom would plop all three of us in front of the TV in their room and we would eat chip and dip. I liked the chip and dip. That's about all I liked, except for the ending when she got home.

Don't remember it ever being one i wanted to see over and over again.

Glenda,the Wiz that you saw was it the one with Michael Jackson?? We have that video.
Kathi