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What happened to Toto?
There are two conflicting reports. The more likely one, in my opinion, is that when Terry, a show business veteran who appeared in a number of films, died, she was buried in the backyard of her trainer, Carl Spitz. Later, Spitz's property was sold to the city of Los Angeles, and the Ventura Freeway was built over it, so Terry is now under either the roadway or an apartment complex. I have also been alerted, however, to a report in The Guinness Book of World Records that Toto's stuffed remains were auctioned off in 1996 for ,680. I have not been able to confirm this story, however. (It is possible that both accounts are correct, as Terry was off the set for a while after one of the Winkie guards accidentally stepped on her. Another dog filled in for her during that time, so it may be Terry's understudy who was stuffed and auctioned off.) Sad, Sad, RIP Toto!
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The Cast:
Dorothy -- Judy Garland
Professor Marvel -- Frank Morgan
Hunk -- Ray Bolger
Zeke -- Bert Lahr
Hickory -- Jack Haley
Glinda -- Billie Burke
Miss Gulch -- Margaret Hamilton
Uncle Henry -- Charley Grapewin
Nikko -- Pat Walshe
Auntie Em -- Clara Blandick
Toto -- Toto
The Munchkins -- The Singer Midgets
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Different Interpretations of the Movie:
*Parable on Populism:
This is probably one of the most popular and controversial interpretations of Baum's, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This theory belongs to Henry M. Littlefield who in 1963 used Baum's book to educate his class of History students about the turn-of-the-century Populist Movement. Littlefield alleged that Baum used to march in torch-light parades for William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Littlefield states that when Baum went on to write his classic fairytale in 1900 he dressed it up as a Populist allegory. Littlefield makes the following comparisons between Baum's book and the Populist Movement: the stark opening of the book depicts the rural worker's despair and blasted hopes; the Wicked Witch of the East, who kept the Munchkins in bondage, stands for Eastern financial interests; the Tinman represents dehumanized machine-like labor in the factories; the Scarecrow represents the farmers; the Wizard of Oz represents William Jennings Bryan himself, the politician who failed to deliver the votes; the Silver Shoes were the silver standard; and the Yellow Brick Road was the gold standard.
SOURCE: Littlefield, Henry M. The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism, pp. 221-233. From The Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum, edited by Michael Patrick Hearn, New York : Schocken Books, 1983.
*The Wizard of Oz in American Popular Culture:
This interpretation was actually conceived as a Doctoral Dissertation by Neil Earle, but was later published as a book. This book consists of seven chapters. In the introduction, Earle describes his intentions as follows: "To answer the question as to why a fairy tale has lingered so long and so lovingly in the minds of generations of Americans and has cast such a spell across the popular arts necessitates this broad-based approach. This explains my analysis in Chapter Two. Chapters Three and Four aim to provide a fresh commentary upon the original text informed by theories derived from both popular and archetypal studies. Chapter Five analyzes the 1939 film and its significance. Chapter Six attempts to do the same for the all-black 1978 musical film The Wiz. Chapter Seven will try to summarize how Baum's classic helps define popular culture and its critical parameters. Fortunately, this historical and literary journey along the "Yellow Brick Road" has a neat and timely starting point: the year 1900. It is to that period of history we will have to first turn to place the events that were shaping not just the Gale farm in Kansas but also the larger American scene. Before all of this, however, I want to recall earlier, ingenious attempts to unravel the Baumian world. The analysis of these interpretations takes us to Chapter One."
SOURCE: Earle, Neil. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in American Popular Culture : Uneasy in Eden, The Edwin Mellen Press, 1993.
*Analogy between the Yellow Brick Road and the Information Superhighway:
This interpretation by Oscar H. Gandy sort of picks up where Littlefield's theory left off. In this article, the story of Oz as the underlying metaphoric hook concerning information technology and the Information Age it portends is presented. Gandy suggests the following in his article: "Whatever else we know about Baum's wonderful tale, it is clearly a story about illusion, deception, and sleight of hand. It is my contention that much of what we think about the Information Age, and the information superhighway that is supposed to take us there, has been heavily influenced by similar forms of craft. And further, I suggest that these illusions serve the same kinds of instrumental purposes in political economy as they do in popular fiction."
SOURCE: Gandy, Oscar H. "The Information Superhighway as the Yellow Brick Road", National Forum: Phi Kappa Phi Journal, v.74:2, Spring 1994, pp. 24-27.
*The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth:
This interpretation by Paul Nathanson was also first conceived as a Doctoral Dissertation but later made available to the public as a book. According to the abstract from Dissertation Abstracts Nathanson's interpretation of The Wizard of Oz as a secular myth can be described as follows: "Formal and cultural analyses of The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) indicate that Dorothy's passage from Kansas through Oz and back to Kansas symbolically recapitulates paradigmatic stories of both America (the nation's passage from utopian origin, through history, to utopian destiny) and Christianity (the cosmic passage from paradisian origin, through history, to paradisian destiny). In order to "go home" (the explicit theme), Dorothy must "grow up" (the implicit theme); this link is also paralleled symbolically at both national and cosmic levels. Resonating profoundly with the collective ethos, this movie has come to function in a modern (ostensibly secular) society the way myths function in traditional (overtly religious) societies. I conclude that popular movies may be effective replacements for the mythic aspect of traditional religion and that modern societies may appear to be more secular (hostile or indifferent to religion) than they actually are."
SOURCE: Nathanson, Paul. Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth of America, Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, 1991.
*Salman Rushdie's Theories of Oz:
Salman Rushdie, best known for his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses, was also influenced by The Wizard of Oz. On the back cover of his book, Rushdie's theories about The Wizard of Oz are described as follows: ""The Wizard of Oz was my first literary influence", writes Salman Rushdie in his account of the great MGM children's classic. At the age of ten he had written a story, "Over the Rainbow", about a colourful fantasy world. But for Rushdie The Wizard of Oz is more than a children's film, and more than a fantasy. It's a story "whose driving force is the inadequacy of adults", in which the "weaknesses of grown-ups forces children to take control of their own destinies". And Rushdie rejects the conventional view that its fantasy of escape from reality ends with a comforting return to home, sweet home. On the contrary, it is a film which speaks to the exile. The Wizard of Oz shows that imagination can become reality, that there is no such place as home, or rather that the only home is the one we make for ourselves."
SOURCE: Rushdie, Salman. The Wizard of Oz, Series: BFI Film Classics, BFI Publishing, 1992.
The Wizard of Oz as a Theosophical Allegory:
*At a faculty colloquium presented by David B. Parker, Assistant Professor of History, at Kennesaw State University, he suggested a relationship between certain themes, episodes, and characters in the Oz stories and L.Frank Baum's theosophical beliefs. Theosophy was a sort of New Age occult religion that was popular among certain groups of people a hundred years ago; Baum was a theosophist. Parker explains that the basic tenets of theosophical thought are relatively simple and included such notions as cosmic unity, planetary chains, human evolution within seven planes of existence, reincarnation, etc. It was upon re-reading Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that led Parker to discover the relationship between Baum's Oz writings and his theosophical beliefs. Parker states that given its closeness to Asian religion, theosophy might help explain Baum's "dainty China country", the title of one of the chapters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Through more research, David Parker came across John Algeo's work on Baum and theosophy. Finally, Parker gives some specific examples to illustrate how Baum's belief in theosophy could have several other implications for his writings. These include: 1) Many early theosophists were feminists and theosophy stressed a basic equality of the sexes. And, most of the major characters in the Oz series were female; 2) One can see a similar possible theosophical reflection in Baum's anti-intellectualism. For example, as Parker explains, the Scarecrow, who mistakenly thinks he needs brains ("head-learning"), actually gets by very well without brains, and is in fact the "smartest" of the travelers on the Yellow Brick Road; 3) The theosophical belief in reincarnation can be seen in how Baum's characters sometimes change identities which is the case of Tip, the young boy who is the main character in The Marvelous Land of Oz. At the end of the book, Tip is transformed into Ozma. And, furthermore, as Parker points out, "Ozma" is similar to "Atma", the theosophists' name for the Spirit, the highest level of man's evolution; and 4) Colors were also important to early theosophists says Parker. Charles M. Leadbetter, an important shaper of early theosophical thought, came up with a list of colors and their correspondences with the astral body. Yellow meant "intellect" while emerald green stood for "versatility, ingenuity and resourcefulness". So, as Parker explains, Dorothy on her quest, follows the Yellow Brick Road (intellect) and discovers, at the end, only a humbug (the Wizard)--"head-learning" alone is useless. Only after Dorothy applies the lessons of the Emerald City--"versatility, ingenuity and resourcefulness, applied unselfishly"--does Glinda tell Dorothy that she always had the power to return home.
SOURCE: Parker, David B. Oz: L.Frank Baum's Theosophical Utopia, Faculty Colloquium Speech given at Kennesaw State University, 1996.
I would like to thank Dr. Parker for sending this theory to me via email. I hope you enjoyed learning about it as much as I did! Professor Parker now has his own website!! So, please visit it to read this article in its entirety plus his article on debunking the Parable on Populism. Click here to go to his website.
*The Wizard of Oz as a Banned/Censored Book:
"At a state library conference in 1957 the director of the Detroit Public Library system fueled a controversy heard across the nation. He voiced the sentiment that L.Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz stories had no value. ... Furthermore, numerous librarians rallied in support of the Detroit director's proclamation, calling the Oz books "poorly written", "unimaginative", "negativisitic", and "unwholesome"." This information is stated on the back cover of Martin Gardner and Russel B. Nye's book, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was. This book was originally published in 1957 as a counter attack to this controversy and to pay tribute to L.Frank Baum's unique approach to writing children's literature.
SOURCE: Gardner, Martin & Nye, Russel B. (editors), The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was, East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, 1994.
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Academy Awards won in 1939:
1.)Best Song for "Over the Rainbow"
2.)Best Original Score
3.)A Special Award for Outstanding Juvenile Performance which went to Judy Garland
Interesting Facts:
*The Wizard of Oz made history by being the first movie to be shown on commercial television annually. It first appeared on CBS on Saturday, November 3, 1956 and last aired on Friday, May 8, 1998. The film will still be telecast on television, but on the Turner cable channels of either Turner Classic Movies (TCM) or Turner Broadcasting System (TBS).
*Several years ago, a National Registry was established that inducted The Wizard of Oz into its registry. This means that the film cannot be edited or otherwise altered without full disclosure and only within certain limits.
*On the CBS television airing, Tuesday, June 16, 1998, the AFI (American Film Institute) revealed its choices for the 100 greatest films from the past 100 years. The Wizard of Oz was chosen as the no.6 best film of all time!!!
*In the August 8-14 issue of TV Guide, The Wizard of Oz came in as no.4 in TV Guide's "Nifty Fifty", The 50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video.
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Dorothy and the Scarecrow when they see the talking trees.
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Dorothy being sent home.
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