First the MGM lion roars. Then the sepia toned clouds and opening credits with a montage of the various songs from throughout the movie and finally we see Dorothy rushing home with Toto.
One year, one of my older sisters jumped up as the movie and said, “I have to take a shower. Tell me when the colored part starts.”
“You bet.” That was where the movie got good. I didn’t want her to miss it.
Then just before Dorothy opened the door, we—I—was screaming. “It’s just about the color part! Hurry! Hurry! She’s opening the door!!!”
My sister didn’t see Dorothy open the door nor her step out of her sepia colored world into technicolor, but she did get to see the Munchkins.
Whew! I was sweating there for a minute.
Another year, our parent had the nerve to have us all in the car driving two and half hours over a mountain pass to some relatives. How dare they have such poor planning and timing? The one day of the year that mattered. “Can’t you drive any faster?!”
By the time we arrived, the movie was well into the technicolor portion, and Dorothy had already left Munchkinland behind. Though disappointed to have missed my favorite part, I settled for watching the rest of the movie.
In college, I had a friend who had never—I mean NEVER—seen The Wizard of Oz. How do you grow up in America and never have watched one of the greatest movies ever.
My roommate and I acted out a couple of scenes for him. He thought we were a little weird. We probably were.
So when we heard that The Wizard of Oz was going to air on TV over winter break, we penned a formal invitation for him to sit in front of his own TV at home and watch it.
When we returned from break, we rush up to him. “Did you watch it? Did you watch it?”
“Yes.”
“What did you think?” We just knew that we had given him a wonderful gift, and he’d be so grateful to us for broadening his world. “What did you think?”
“It was all right. I guess.”
All right?
That’s when I realized, that maybe one had to grow up with the Munchkins, Scarecrow, Tinman, Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Toto, and all the rest for them to matter and be a part of a person. I was sad for my friend to have missed out. He could never go back and grow up with them.
Who didn’t want the Emerald City work day?
“Get up at twelve.”
“Start to work at one.”
“Take an hour for lunch.”
“And then at two you’re done.”
“Jolly good fun.”
Jolly good fun indeed!
It wasn’t until I was well into adulthood that I realized Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion each possessed what they were going to the wizard to get. I mean I knew it but hadn’t realized it.
Scarecrow wanted a brain so he could be smart, yet he was the one who came up with all the ideas and plans.
Tinman wanted a heart so he could feel, yet he was the one who would cry.
Cowardly Lion wanted courage, yet when Dorothy was in trouble, he was ready to rush in and save her.
So is the moral of this story that you likely already possess what you’re looking for? Look within to find what you want?
Or that there is no place like home?
Or perhaps that Technicolor is better than sepia tone, and don’t deny the baby her once a year chance to watch the Munchkins?
Memorable WofO lines: (Some may not be the actual lines, but the lines we’ve come to accept.)
“Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”
“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too.”
“I’m melting!”
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
“And you were there. And you. And you.”
“There’s no place like home.”
Do you have a favorite part of The Wizard of Oz?
NEW RELEASES
“Holly & Ivy,”my #HistoricalRomance novella in A BOUQUET OF BRIDES COLLECTION, takes place in 1890, in Washington State. It’s about a young woman who accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a Christmas mail-order bride and is helped by a gallant stranger. #BouquetOfBrides
A doctor or an Amish wife? She can choose to be only one…Kathleen Yoder comes home after fourteen years in the Englisher world. Practicing medicine means sacrifice—no Amish man will want a doctor for a wife. Widowed Noah Lambright offers a cottage as her new clinic, seeing how much Kathleen’s skills can help their community. But as their friendship deepens, could love and family become more than a forbidden dream?
#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January 2018, Courting Her Amish Heart in March 2018, The Widow’s Plight in July 2018, Courting Her Secret Heart September 2018, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December 2018. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
1 comment:
With all of the new technology, I miss the once a year television events. Like you, we watched the Wizard of Oz every year. Now, it seems like I haven't seen it in forever. Same with Sound of Music and all of the Christmas specials.
The line, I use (and warp) over again, "Don't look behind the curtain." There is usually something in my house with a curtain, and I don't want anyone to look behind it.
Post a Comment