CELEBRATE OZ 2012

Chapter One

I have long been a fan of the books of Oz and as a child read every one I could find in our public library. I continued reading the books as I grew into adulthood. There are more than 60 published books about Oz beginning with the Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and published in 1990. Although the books are wonderful reading for the young and the young at heart most people when hearing Land of Oz or Wizard of Oz think of the movie.

I doubt that there’s anyone who has seen the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West along with Jack Haley as the Tin Woodman, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion and of course the beautiful Billie Burke as Glinda and not have fallen completely under its spell. Telecast of the movie began in 1956 and nearly every year since and has become one of the most watched movies of all time. I have no idea of how many times I’ve seen the movie. I have a DVD copy and watch it at least once a year. I watched it recently to do some research to get ready for the blog party.

One of my favorite characters is the Wicked Witch of the West. Gregory Maguire named her Elphaba in his books. In the movie Margaret Hamilton did a wonderful job of bringing her to life. When I was young she scared me but I couldn’t get enough of her. Because of my fondness of Elphaba I created an art doll attempting to capture whatever it is she has that put that scare into me. The other three dolls I created for this Oz blog party are Dorothy Gale whose house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East and who later melted The Wicked Witch of the West by throwing a bucket of water on her. Then of course I had to include The Good Witch Glinda and the final doll is one of the Munchkins who represented the Lollipop Guild. I get such a kick out of their welcoming song to Dorothy and the jerky little movements they do while singing it. I’ve attempted to capture this in Dillywink, my little Munchkin.

"You, little man, tell me what you know of my sister's death."

"Well, (gulp) it was like this, we were all just going about minding our own business when all of a sudden there was all of this wind and a really loud BAM-CRUNCH-WHAM or maybe it was BAM-WHUMP-CRUNCH-SPLAT and the next thing we know there's a house where a split second earlier there was nothing and then this girl here comes out of the house and asks us where she is."

"You there girl, you're the one who killed my sister by dropping a house on her? Wait a minute, those are my sister's shoes. Why are you wearing them? Take them off this very minute!"

"I said take them off this very minute or suffer the consequences!"



"Listen lady, I didn't drop the house on your sister. It was lifted up by a tornado or cyclone or whatever and then brought here where it just fell from the sky. I was lucky I wasn't killed as well when the house hit the ground. I didn't even know it landed on anyone so it's not my fault and you don't need to be so snotty about it. I've got to find my dog Toto and I don't have time for this right now."

"Toto, here boy. Where are you?"

"Toto? Where are you boy?"

"Dorothy, I've looked and looked for your little dog. Even riding over the city is my big bubble and searching high and low I can't find him. Are you sure he was in the house when you got here? Maybe he's still back home in Kansas."

"Well, if it isn't the Wicked Witch of the West?! I figured you put in an appearance to see if you could get your hands on those ruby slippers. Don't bother trying, I've charmed them and if you even touch them they'll give you such a shock."

"Your magic means nothing to me. I'm getting those ruby slippers one way or another. They belong to me now and no goody goody witch and a wretched slip of a girl are keeping them from me."

"You may as well go back to your dark,damp and dreary castle because you're not getting those ruby slippers today, or any other day so begone or you might get to see what these diamond slippers feel like when they kick you in the shin."

"Humph! You may think you have won Glinda but you haven't seen me when I get angry. You don't want to see what I can do when I'm mad.

Watch out little girl, I'm coming after those slippers and that goody-goody has better things to do than keep an eye on you. I'll get you when you're least expecting it. I don't think you'll find that dog of yours. There are flying monkeys in the forest near here and they just love puppies. Heeheeheeheehee!!!!" 

"I've just lost my home because the Wicked Witch of the West set it on fire and I need someone to put me up for awhile. I promise to be an ideal house guest."



On Sunday, July 22^nd I’m going to have a drawing and someone will be giving Dillywink a new home. If you’d like to be that someone all you need to do is be a follower of this blog and leave me a comment saying you would like a chance to win. New followers are always welcome. You can comment here on this post or on the next two posts. Each comment is an entry.

I hope you’re having fun visiting all of the blogs who are taking part in Celebrating Oz. I’d like to say a great big thank you to Oma Linda for hosting this fantastic blog party. For a complete list of the blogs that are participating in this event you can click the button for the Celebrate Oz 2012 that is on my side bar. This will take you to Oma Linda’s blog where she has links to each of the participants.

Since I’m such a party animal and don’t know when to give up and go home or give it a rest, I have decided to do something a bit different by stretching this party out over a four day period dividing what I’ve put together into four segments or chapters with the last one where I will have the drawing for Dillywink on Sunday. Besides, if I were to try to put everything in this one post you’d be here forever and there are so many other blogs you’ve got to visit so you can see how all of those other party animals are celebrating.

Have fun and as always, thanks for stopping by.