(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.)
January 24, 2012 Nicol Williamson, the acclaimed Scottish actor who was probably best known for playing Merlin in Excalibur, passed away last month in Holland of esophigal cancer. He was seventy-five. Born September 14, 1936 in Glasgow, he quickly found a place in acting and made his London stage debut in 1961. He made his name in Inadmissible Evidence in 1964 (a part he reprised in the 1968 movie adaptation) and as Hamlet in the 1970s, both of which he played in both the West End and Broadway. He did not enjoy making movies, but used the salary to finance his stage career. Among the movies he appeared in were the 1969 version of Hamlet, Robin and Marian (as Little John), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (as Sherlock Holmes), The Exorcist III, and Spawn, which turned out to be his final film. He is best known to Oz fans, however, as the dual character of Dr. Worley and the Nome King in the 1985 Disney film Return to Oz. In later years, he abandoned acting in favor of music, and eventually settled in Holland. He passed away on December 16, 2011, and made it clear that he did not want a fuss to be made over him. He is survived by a son, Luke.
January 21, 2012 The latest issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, has now been printed and is making its way to members' mailboxes. Cover dated Winter 2011, this is the final issue of members' 2011 memberships, so get those renewals in soon!
In this issue:
The front cover is a reprint of Dick Martin's art for the August 1961 issue, announcing the Club's first convention. For this issue, Marcus Mébès colored and slightly redesigned the art to commemorate fifty years of Oz Club sponsored and supported conventions. The rear and inside covers reprint convention photos from all five decades.
Scott Cummings writes of Oz (and other) conventions in his "From the Editor" column.
The list of winners of the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award is updated to include the 2011 winner, Margaret Pellegrini.
In "Oz and Ends":
Bill Campbell's Oz character paintings and the merchandise you can find them on, at www.zazzle.com/ozshop.
In auction news, Pacific Book Auctions sold what is now believed to be the earliest known copy (the inscription is dated May 23, 1900) of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for
422,800, and a copy of Kabumpo in Oz autographed by author Ruth Plumly Thompson for $420. Profiles in History, meanwhile, had several items from the 1939 movie version of The Wizard of Oz up for auction at their December 16 Hollywood memorabilia sale, but nobody met the reserve on neither their Cowardly Lion costume nor a pair of Ruby Slippers. Several other Oz items did sell, however, including one of Dorothy's dresses (282,900), a Munchkin soldier jacket ($36,900) and hat ($15,990), a Winkie guard spear ($36,900), and a cast-signed copy of the book ($55,500).
The closure of the Oz Club's message board is announced, alongside the new Club, Baum Bugle, and Oziana pages on Facebook, and the new Royal Forums of Oz, run by Jared Davis.
Two new online Oz comics, Delusionary State (about a scientific expedition to Oz) and Namesake (an examination of the nature of the choldren who visit Oz and Wonderland).
New museums and exhibits include The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco (now through April 15), and All Things Oz in L. Frank Baum's home town of Chittenango, New York. Also, Sony Pictures announced the construction of a permanent giant metal rainbow to commemorate The Wizard of Oz being made there back when it was part of the MGM studios in 1938-9.
The formation of the Lyman Frank Baum Foundation to benefit charities in upstate New York, formed in Chittenango.
The forthcoming American premiere of the play The End of the Rainbow in Minnesota, before it moves to Broadway later this year.
"Death Valley and the Deadly Desert: A Discovery in a Western Newspaper" by Marilyn Strasser Olson shows parallels between Baum's creation of the Deadly Desert and an 1890 humor column about Death Valley from The Los Angeles Times.
Nathan M. DeHoff takes a closer look at the evolution and nature of the Deadly Desert in "'Great dates and deserts!' Some Thoughts on the Deadly Desert of Oz".
"Three is a Magic Number: Trinitarianism and Numeric Instability in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by Walter Squire looks at the nature of how the number three appears in the first Oz book — and how it changes to other numbers in unexpected ways.
"From Bass Lake to Beech Mountain: Fifty Years of Oz Club Conventions" is an illustrated look back at Oz conventions in the 1960s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and the twenty-first century, interspersed with remembrances from several Oz Club members.
"Adventures in Oz" presents stories from Peter E. Hanff ("Cyclone on the Prairies: A Leaf Book") and Michael O. Riley ("A New Look at The Wizard") about their collaboration on two new books looking back at the original publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, both of which were published by the Book Club of California.
"The MGM Scrapbook" presents the third and final part of the 1939 publicity article, "The Story Behind The Wizard of Oz".
"Oz Behind the Footlights" presents a review by David Moyer of the 2011 TheaterWorks USA Latin America-infused production of The Yellow Brick Road.
John Fricke remembers movie Munchkin Karl Slover in "In Memoriam".
"The Magic Picture" reports on the 2011 Winkie Convention (written by Sam Milazzo) and the 2011 IWOC National Convention in Beech Mountain, North Carolina (by Scott Hedley and Mike Penick).
And finally, "Ozmusements" presents an Oz Want Ads puzzle, first given at the 1967 Ozmopolian Convention.
November 15, 2011 The number of living cast members of The Wizard of Oz continues to dwindle, as Karl Slover, the lead Munchkin trumpeter, died today at age 93 in Dublin, Georgia. He was the last living member of the Singer Midgets, and at three feet tall, one of the shortest Munchkin actors. (He later grew another foot and a half.) Born September 21, 1918 as Karl Kosiczky in eastern Europe in what is now the Czech Republic, his father put him in show business at an early age (he was only two feet tall at the age of eight.) He eventually became part of the Singer Midgets, which led to him getting a part in The Wizard of Oz at the age of 21. By that time, however, he was already a Hollywood veteran, having appeared in the all-midget Western The Terror of Tiny Town, as well as Block-Heads with Laurel and Hardy, Bringing Up Baby with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and They Gave Him a Gun with Spencer Tracy. He became an American cistizen in 1943, when he changed his last name to Slover. After Oz, he appeared in one more movie, The Lost Weekend, before retiring from show business. He settled in Tampa, Florida, before moving to Georgia in recent years. He appeared at many Wizard of Oz events, including this year's Chesterton Oz Festival.
The Autumn 2011 issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, has now been sent out, and is making its way towards members. Once again, timely disribution and a timely issue make this issue a treat.
In this issue:
The front cover features John R. Neill's art for the front cover label of the 1920 reissue of The Sea Fairies.
Scott Cummings shares the results of the Bugle survey in "From the Editor".
Bill Beem, Judy Bieber, and Angelica Carpenter are announced as the winners of the elections for the Board of Directors.
Oziana #38 is announced, now being published on demand through lulu.com.
New Oz posters by Gallery 1988 (which now seems to be sold out) and Postertext.
Auctions of original artwork by W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill, inscribed first editions of Queen Zixi of Ix and American Fairy Tales, a letter by L. Frank Baum to a reader, items from the Fred M. Meyer collection, costume pieces from the making of the famous 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz and the crystal ball prop, and the Oz items in the Debbie Reynolds auction.
An exhibit in San Francisco and two accompnaying books about the original 1900 publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Dr. Richard Rutter's collections of Oz cartoons, donated to the Special Collections of the Stanford University library.
A report from The Wall Street Journal about the yellow brick road in Peekskill, New York, which may have inspired L. Frank Baum, who had been a student at the military academy there.
New invitations for the public to contribute a new cover to The Wizard of Oz and new illustrations for another edition, both in the United Kingdom.
The Bugle celebrates one hundred years of The Sea Fairies, first published in 1911, with "Mermaids in Oz" by Ruth Berman and a selection of contemporary reviews of the book, culled from the Baum scrapbooks and edited by Scott Cummings.
Richard Tuerk examines some of the issues and themes raised in the twelfth Oz book in "Head Versus Heart in The Tin woodman of Oz".
"The MGM Scrapbook" continues its presentation of the syndicated article "The Story Behind The Wizard of Oz" with parts 3 and 4.
A vintage story by Ruth Plumly Thompson, "Blonde Rival", originally published in Marvel's Miss America magazine in its February 1947 issue.
"The Oz Collector" visits Wausaukee, Wisconsin, in "Oz, Wisconsin! A Visit to the Land of Oz Museum".
"The Magic Picture" looks at the dedication of a memorial marker for Terry, the Cairn terrier who played Toto in the famous film verison of The Wizard of Oz, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
"In Memoriam" remembers Joan Neill Farnsworth, John R. Neill's youngest daughter, and Roland Roycraft, who illustrated new dust jackets for the Oz books in the late 1950s.
Oz Club members with premium memberships should have received their copies already, and other members should get their issues soon.
August 6, 2011
The International Wizard of Oz Club bestowed its highest honor, the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award, to Margaret Pellegrini this evening. Born Margaret Williams in Alabama in 1923, she was whisked off to Oz after a stint working in a potato chip booth at the Tennessee World's Fair, where she met up with Henry Kramer and his troupe of little people. That meeting led to her becoming a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. She had multiple roles, as a townswoman with a flowerpot on her head and a sleepyhead, among others. That proved to be her only movie, however (except for an uncredited cameo in 1971's Johnny Got His Gun), as she married ex-fighter Willie Pellegrini not long after and devoted herself to raising her family. She lived a quite life, never mentioning her famous film role. However, once she was discovered, she hit the appearance circuit big time, often wearing a reproduction of her flowerpot Munchkin costume. Now widowed, Margaret has made numerous appearances at festivals, parades, and on television reminiscing about the making of The Wizard of Oz, and has often supported the International Wizard of Oz Club in their efforts.
July 22, 2011
Tonight, the comic book industry's highest award, the Eisners, were handed out, and Marvel's adaptation of The Marvelous Land of Oz won in both categories in which it was nominated. The series won the award for Best Adaptation from Another Work, while Skottie Young won the award for Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for his work on the book. Congratulations to Skottie, writer Eric Shanower, and everyone else involved in putting such a fine, Ozzy piece of work together.
(Information courtesy of Jane Albright and Bleeding Cool.)
July 9, 2011
Tonight, the Winkie Award was presented to one of those responsible for the Winkie Convention's beginnings. Edith Hollister, who co-hosted the very first Winkie Convention in 1964 with her husband (and 1993 Winkie Award winner), the late Warren C. Hollister, received the award to a standing ovation from the assembled Winkies. Besides being the matriarch of the Hollister clan, Edith has provided her famous Oz character cookies at conventions for decades. She has also had a big hand in organizing the treasure hunts, and involved in many other aspects of the convention for close to five decades. It is a well deserved and overdue award.
May 30, 2011
Clarice Taylor, the actress and comedienne who originated the role of Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in The Wiz on Broadway, died today of congestive heart failure. She was 93. While touring with The Wiz, she roomed with a member of the chorus, Phylicia Ayers-Allen. When Ayers-Allen then went on to a part on The Cosby Show, Taylor came along to audition for a part as Claire Huxtable's mother. Bill Cosby had other ideas, and cast her as his own mother, Anna Huxtable, for which Taylor received an Emmy nomination. Taylor also had a long-running role as Harriet, David's grandmother, on Sesame Street. Taylor was born on September 20, 1917, in Buckingham County, Virginia, but grew up in Harlem. She started her acting career with Harlem's Negro Theatre, and was a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company. The Wiz was her only appearance on Broadway, but she also had a hit one-woman show with Moms, about Jackie "Moms" Mabley. She also appeared in other television shows and movies, including Play Misty For Me and Five on the Black Hand Side.
The Spring 2011 issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, has been printed, and should be finding its way to members' mailboxes soon. This issue focuses on the third royal illustrator of Oz, Frank Kramer, who illustrated The Magical Mimics in Oz in 1946 and The Shaggy Man in Oz in 1949.
In this issue:
The front cover (above) features a photograph of Kramer from the late '30s, surrounded by some of the pictures he drew for the Oz books. Since nobody had ever reported being able to locate a photograph of Kramer before, this is quite an accomplishment.
In his "From the Editor" letter, Scott Cummings focuses on the need to preserve and share our Oz treasures.
In "Oz and Ends":
Marvel Comics' adaptations of the Oz series continues with Ozma of Oz.
The Oz art of Joseph Yakovetic, the "Painter of Shadows".
In televisual news, mention is made of the news of the possible forthcoming television miniseries Wicked, based on the book by Gregory Maguire (and not the stage musical), to be produced by Salma Hayek; the Disney prequel movie Oz: The Great and Powerful; Universal's plans for a movie version of Wicked based on the musical; the television series pilot for Emerald City at NBC (which recently announced that it has not been picked up); a reading from The Road to Oz popping up in the HBO show Boardwalk Empire; many Oz references in the USA series Fairly Legal; the Oz-themed wedding featured on My Fair Wedding with David Tutera; the movie Oz Wars in development at Vanguard Animation; and a contemporary update of The Wizard of Oz to be entitled Legend of Oz.
An update on the current state of the Magic Land series in Russia, with current author Sergei Sukhinov writing a final volume to wrap up the loose ends, and adapting the stories into a film trilogy, while the Friends of the Emerald City clubhouse in Moscow serves as a meeting space, museum, and archive.
And finally, the Royal Houseguards Hotel in London served an Oz-themed tea in February in honor of the opening of the new Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz on stage in the West End.
Atticus Gannaway writes about the life and career of the third illustrator of Oz in "Frank Kramer: The Lost Illustrator of Oz".
Kramer's art, both Oz and otherwise, is the focus of "A Frank Kramer Gallery", compiled and annotated by Gannaway.
"Brickbats and Boquets: Criticism of Frank Kramer's Work" looks at the reactions Kramer's art has received from both Oz fans and readers of some of the magazines Kramer used to draw for.
Gannaway has also compiled "A Checklist of Works Illustrated by Frank Kramer".
And Gannaway, the busiest man in Oz (or so it would appear), examines "Frank Kramer's Original Illustrations for The Shaggy Man of Oz", the only original Oz series book for which the entire set of illustrations exists.
Gregory Hugh Leng looks back at the old Land of Oz theme park in "Vacationing in the Land of Oz: Over the Rainbow to Beech Mountain, North Carolina".
"The Magic Picture" looks at the Wizard of Oz children's educational exhibition during its recent run in New York City, courtesy of David Moyer.
"In Memoriam" remembers Florence Baum Hurst, L. Frank Baum's last living grandchild; Bill and Clara Houck, the couple behind the Chittenango Oz Festival; and Elizabeth Maren, an honorary Munchkin by marriage, as she was the wife of MGM Lollipop Kid Jerry Maren and a frequent guest at many Oz festivals in the last few years.
And the back cover reproduces a watercolor portrait of Dave Montgomery as the Tin Man in the 1902 stage extravaganza The Wizard of Oz, painted by Ike Morgan. A few years later, Morgan would illustrate L. Frank Baum's The Woggle-Bug Book.
Club members should get their issues within the next few weeks. And if you join the Club for 2011, you will get this issue with your membership
April 9, 2011
Sidney Lumet, one of the most respected directors in Hollywood, died today in New York City of lymphoma. He was 86. He first broke into show business in television, but soon moved into movies with his first feature, 12 Angry Men, in 1957. He went on to direct such acclaimed pictures as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Prince of the City, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Verdict, and Murder on the Orient Express. He was nominated for five Academy Awards and seven DGA awards, and received a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2005, and won a Golden Globe for Network, as well as accolades from the DGA, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the New York Film Critics Circle. He directed only one musical in his career, the 1978 adaptation of The Wiz, which he set squarely in the streets of his beloved New York City. Lumet is survived by his wife, two daughters, two stepchildren, nine grandchildren, and a great-grandson.
The Eisner Awards, the highest honor in the comics industry, has announced the nominations for the 2011 prizes. The Marvel Comics adaptation of The Marvelous Land of Oz has received two nominations. The title received a nod for Best Adaptation of Another Work, while artist Skottie Young was singled out in the Best Penciller/Inker category. The Eisners will be awarded at Comic Con International on July 22, 2011.
January 31, 2011
The schedule may have fallen off a little bit from its previous successes, but the Winter 2010 issue of The Baum Bugle has now been printed and is making its way to members of the International Wizard of Oz Club. (And therefore—just a reminder—it's time to renew your membership for 2011.)
In this issue:
The cover features the original art, by John R. Neill, for one of the color plates for The Emerald City of Oz, featuring Miss Cuttenclip and using découpage.
In "From the Editor", Scott Cummings provides his own personal remembrances of The Emerald City of Oz for its centennial, and looks ahead to the 2011 editions of the Bugle.
The Club asks for membership renewals, tells how to order the 2011 Oz Club calendar, and welcomes its new Membership Secretary, Shirley Echols.
Recent auctions of The Wizard of Oz Waddle Book, missing only its yellow brick road ($8400), W. W. Denslow's personal, sketched-in copy of the Roycroft Press book The Deserted Village ($6000), and late Munchkin Coroner Meinhardt Raabe's personal archive from The Movie ($50,400), and the announcement of Debbie Reynolds' collection of Hollywood memorabilia, including one of Judy Garland's Oz dresses and a test pair of Ruby Slippers not used in the movie, going under the gavel this coming June.
A new world record set in Portslade (in the United Kingdom) for largest gathering of people dressed as characters from The Wizard of Oz (446 of them!).
And the drive to commemorate Terry, the dog who played Toto in The Movie, with a marker at the historic Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park.
Continuing the Bugle's series of centennial commemorations, Peter Hanff looks at "How the Story of Oz (Almost) Came to an End: The Emerald City of Oz at One Hundred".
Ruth Berman looks at the origins of one of the communities Dorothy and company visited in The Emerald City of Oz in "Matching the Fuddles: The Jigsaw Puzzle Craze Behind the 1910 Oz Book".
"Oz Under Scrutiny" looks at early reviews of The Emerald City of Oz.
An excerpt from Neal Wilgus' The Ozoids: Limericks in Oz which tells the story of The Emerald City of Oz.
A look back at twenty-five years of the 1985 Disney movie Return to Oz.
A look behind the scenes with "The Army of Oz: Original Storyboard Artwork for a Lost Scene from Return to Oz" by Mike Ploog.
Announcements of the Club's two conventions for 2011, the Winkie Convention and this year's National Convention at Banner elk, North Carolina. (Registration forms for both conventions are included in the envelope with this issue of the Bugle.)
Willard Carroll, Freddy Fogarty, and Aaron Schultz recall some of their adventures acquiring items from a twenty-five year old movies in "In the Ornament Room: A Visit with Three Return to Oz Collectors".
Freddy Fogarty updates a checklist that the Bugle first published in 1992 with "Walt Disney's Return to Oz Character Merchandise Checklist: Addendum".
In "Oz Behind the Footlights", Joe Gascone reviews a revival of the earliest Oz dramatization in "The 1903 Wizard of Oz Lives Again! Canton Comic Opera Company, July 10, 2010", and Sam Milazzo looks at a Down Under production in "An Ozzy, Aussie Production: The 2009 Windmille Theatre Production of The Wizard of Oz".
"The Magic Picture" looks back at the 2010 Winkie Convention (reported by Tim Tucker) and the opening of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center (as relayed by Angelica Carpenter).
"Im Memoriam" looks back at the life of Olga Nardone, the littlest Munchkin, who died September 24, 2010.
And the back cover reproduces the painting "Automaton" by N. C. Winters, which depicts Tik-Tok from Return to Oz. (To take a look yourself, go to this link and click on the thumbnail one in from the right in the fifth row down.)
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.)
It's been mentioned before, in an on-again, off-again way, but it looks like the Wicked television miniseries is on again. This is not an adaptation of the musical, but of the original novel, with Salma Hayak producing and directing, and possibly writing as well. It's under development for ABC.
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.
It's getting harder and harder to keep up with all of the currently planned Oz movie 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 Witches of Oz, which has the Wicked Witch of the West coming to New York City to exact her revenge on a now grown-up Dorothy. Christopher Lloyd plays the Wizard. Both theatrical movie and television miniseries versions of this have been prepared, and it has already been shown on the Syfy Channel in Great Britain and released on DVD in Europe and Australia. The television miniseries version was a featured offer of DISH Cinema in September 2011. Word is now that there will be a theatrical release under the title Dorothy and the Witches of Oz beginning in February.
Oz, The Great and Powerful, a prequel about how the Wizard came to Oz, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Robert Downey, Jr.Johnny Depp James Franco, for Disney. (This may have previously been announced as Brick.) Disney has announced an intented release date of March 8, 2013.
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.
Dorothy of Oz, an animated musical sequel based on the book by Roger S. Baum, which now has a poster with an August 3, 2012 release on it.
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.
Legend of Oz, a modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz from Valley Wind Productions in Ottawa.
Yes, it looks like a film version of Wicked is currently in pre-planning at Universal. But this is a long way off—sometime in the middle of the decade—and a lot can happen. However, the success of the play most likely means that there will be a film version some day.
A still unnamed horror movie set in the 1920s with Dorothy meeting Alice in Bedlam Asylum.
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...
It seems the Hash, Inc., animated production of The Tin Woodman of Oz was successful enough that they're going ahead with their next production, The Scarecrow of Oz. This one even has test footage on YouTube, which looks something like this:
Could there be more Tin Man? This item from SciFiWire at least raises the possibility.
A computer animated production of Baum's 1902 book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is currently in the works. The producers are Hyde Park Entertainment, Toonz Entertainment, and Gang of 7 Animation. As with all movie projects, a lot can happen before release, which could cause them be delayed, or not to appear at all. Keep an eye on this website's news and events pages for details if they get closer to actually coming out.
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 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. (Rod Steiger was one of the forces behind this project, so his death likely means that it won't be developed.)
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.
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.)
"There's no place like the home page..."
Nicol Williamson, the acclaimed Scottish actor who was probably best known for playing Merlin in Excalibur, passed away last month in Holland of esophigal cancer. He was seventy-five. Born September 14, 1936 in Glasgow, he quickly found a place in acting and made his London stage debut in 1961. He made his name in Inadmissible Evidence in 1964 (a part he reprised in the 1968 movie adaptation) and as Hamlet in the 1970s, both of which he played in both the West End and Broadway. He did not enjoy making movies, but used the salary to finance his stage career. Among the movies he appeared in were the 1969 version of Hamlet, Robin and Marian (as Little John), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (as Sherlock Holmes), The Exorcist III, and Spawn, which turned out to be his final film. He is best known to Oz fans, however, as the dual character of Dr. Worley and the Nome King in the 1985 Disney film Return to Oz. In later years, he abandoned acting in favor of music, and eventually settled in Holland. He passed away on December 16, 2011, and made it clear that he did not want a fuss to be made over him. He is survived by a son, Luke.
The latest issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, has now been printed and is making its way to members' mailboxes. Cover dated Winter 2011, this is the final issue of members' 2011 memberships, so get those renewals in soon!
The Spring 2011 issue of The Baum Bugle, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club, has been printed, and should be finding its way to members' mailboxes soon. This issue focuses on the third royal illustrator of Oz, Frank Kramer, who illustrated The Magical Mimics in Oz in 1946 and The Shaggy Man in Oz in 1949.
The schedule may have fallen off a little bit from its previous successes, but the Winter 2010 issue of The Baum Bugle has now been printed and is making its way to members of the International Wizard of Oz Club. (And therefore—just a reminder—it's time to renew your membership for 2011.)