Festive fall greetings! Today's post is all about Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz. Above, we see a hilarious Thanksgiving comic, in which Dorothy asks for the Thanksgiving stuffing and ends up with the Scarecrow's stuffing. Hilarious! So, within our post, you will see various activities that you can do to bring the Land of Oz into your living rooms this Thanksgiving from parades to books and comics to multimedia videos. There is a wide plethora of things to do this Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz, so let's get going. First up, we will keep the comic train rolling with this lovely Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz comic concerning the Wogglebug, Jack Pumpkinhead, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Thanksgiving bird. Produced around 1904, a series of comic strips was released entitled, "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz". The comic strips followed the adventures of our favorite characters from the Marvelous Land of Oz book as they experience different components within life. If you remember from the book, our heroes ended up flying the Gump outside of Oz and into our world and this comic strip gives us a spin-off look into what could have happened during that brief period of flying across from Oz. The comic above was created on November 20, 1904 (around Thanksgiving) and in it, there is a comic where our heroes are trying to find a Thanksgiving bird to eat for the holiday, but end up with the wrong bird. Good going, Wogglebug! After having a couple introductory laughs, what would Thanksgiving in Oz be without some food that is inspired by the movie and the book. In the book on the left, Monica Bayley has taken inspiration from the regions of Oz, based in the book, and created a huge variety of Ozian-themed dishes. So, for instance, the book contains Quadling (red) inspired dishes and Munchkin (blue) inspired dishes. The book on the right, Sarah Key, Jennifer Newman Brazil, and Vicky Wells use the movie as inspiration for this cookbook. It uses the sepia Kansas as an inspiration for different breakfast recipes as Aunt Em would cook them up. Each book is a wonderful addition in making Oz come to the Thanksgiving table this holiday. So, however you choose to get inspired this Thanksgiving, check out one of these great cook books. After the table is set and as you gather around the Thanksgiving table, a good poem is always a good idea. Above is a poem written by the second Royal Historian of Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson, and it was originally published in November 1919 in the Philadelphia Public Ledger. The poem describes a Thanksgiving parade one night in the Town of Sleep and I think it is a great Ozian touch to celebrate Thanksgiving. If you are interested in another of her Thanksgiving poems, check out the other one published here. That poem is about a ghost Pilgrim ship that landed at Rock Candy Cove the day before Thanksgiving. Additionally, many poems were published years ago in a series of fan-created pamphlets made back in the early 2000s called The Dunkiton Press (inspired by the Town of Dunkiton from The Road to Oz book). It was created by Oz member, Ruth Berman, and in issues 16 and 18, Berman celebrated Thanksgiving in Oz with some more Thanksgiving poems and activities, so that is definitely worth checking out and you can find more information here (as well as how to get your own copy of these wonderful collectibles). As you finish up the dinner, it will be time for some fun family-friendly TV viewing and the first on the list is the TV Special, "Dorothy in the Land of Oz", which premiered in 1980. It tells the story of Dorothy visiting the Land of Oz during the Thanksgiving holiday while explaining to all what the holiday is about and also bringing Aunt Em and Uncle Henry to enjoy the festivities in Oz. It is a cute video to watch and is really fun to experience a holiday in the land of Oz other than Christmas or Halloween. If you are interested in the book based on this special, you can get a copy here. Next up is a short episode from the 1961 TV show, Tales from the Wizard of Oz, which took a more bleak comedic approach to the land of Oz. In this episode, our heroes are looking to catch a Thanksgiving bird, but then Socrates the Scarecrow and Dandy the Lion end up befriending the turkey. Check it out for yourself to see how this plays out. Will they be able to cook the turkey or invite it to dinner? In addition to those videos, there are plenty of recordings out there from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade that feature The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked appearances, so feel free to check those out videos to add to your Thanksgiving in Oz viewing playlist. As always, if you find one that you want to share with others, feel free to post it in the comments sections. A great place to start might be the very first appearance in 1939, check it out here. I would love to see a montage of all the Wizard of Oz videos at the parade in one video like how the Oz Club did below in their history of Wizard of Oz appearances but in one compilation video. Anyways, for more information (and additional pictures), check out the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Wiki page to experience more Wizard of Oz on Thanksgiving. Of course, this time of year always sees the annual television viewings of the MGM's The Wizard of Oz on either TNT, TBS, digitally, or however you can get access to it; it is always worth a see. At the end of the day, I hope you have enjoyed our Thanksgiving in Oz, where we had some laughs, tasted some good Ozian treats, and sat down with the family for a good story. As always, if there was something additional that you found out there that you would love to share, feel free to post in the comments. Before I leave you, feel free to check out this week's Oz Talk video on Thanksgiving in Oz below. So, as we leave our year of obscure, I also hope you have enjoyed experiencing different aspects of the Land of Oz outside the normal, mainstream Wizard of Oz film; and, as we move into our second year, we will be looking at the Magic of Oz each month along with some continued fun with the Wicked activities. So, until next, we'll be seeing you somewhere over the Vinkus.
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Well, we have officially made it to our final month in our year of obscure and I sure hope that discovering these fun, obscure pieces of Oz has inspired you to find your own obscure moments or collectibles in Oz so you can share them below in the comments. Now, a big component in the world of Oz is family and since November is a month where families start gathering together for the holidays (and the famous November meal), I figured we could definitely take a look at different characters in the Oz books and their identifiable families through Baum's and Maguire's worlds (as well as some media adaptations). First up, of course, is our heroine, Dorothy Gale. So, with Dorothy's family tree, there were a couple of pieces that I had to gather first to begin construction of this family tree (as seen above). The first piece of information comes in the first book when we are introduced to her aunt and uncle. The next piece comes from the third book, when we are told her last name and it is implied that her aunt and uncle share the last name. In the fourth book, we are told that Dorothy has family related to Aunt Em; and, finally, in Emerald City of Oz, we learn that Dorothy's mother was Henry's sister; which means that Dorothy is related on Henry's side. Now, with that information and the stories presented in media adaptations over the years, I was able to connect quite a few dots in Dorothy's family tree, including the names of Dorothy's mother and father, who have always remained unknown in Baum's books. The first mention of both of her parents anywhere (at least to my knowledge) is said in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), where they are named "Annie and John Gale" (whom I have chosen for Dorothy's family tree). In 2017, NBC's Emerald City called out the "Dr. Roberto" as Dorothy's father and her mother was called "Jane Andrews", but was adopted by Henry and Em Gale. Another version I know out there is in Amazon Prime's Lost in Oz, Dorothy's mother's name is Evelyn Gale but no mention of her father since he is deceased at the start of the show. So, for the sake of putting together this family tree, I wanted to stick to a more singular structure that told just the main branches of Dorothy's family tree and stick to versions that seemed simple unlike the alternate Oz versions, which became confusing real quick. Furthermore, since pets are family, we can not forget Dorothy's pets as Toto was not Dorothy's only pet. Billina the Yellow Chicken, Eureka the kitten, and Imogene the Cow have been known to belong to Dorothy in various books and stories over the years; and yes, and you are seeing that correctly, Dorothy married her second cousin in The Oz Kids stories. It was awkward. Anyways, if you want more information on Dorothy's family tree, check out the "Family Tree" section of her Oz page. Now, when it comes to Dorothy's friends (Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion), there's not a lot of family members to note. But, we do get to meet some sons and daughters in such shows as The Oz Kids. Feel free to check out my post on The Oz Kids if you are unaware of this old-fashioned animated TV show. So, Scarecrow's family is limited to his son, Scarecrow Jr. and girlfriend, Scraps (The Patchwork Girl). Scarecrow Junior's origins were not stated in the series; however, it could have been very similar to the Scarecrow's beginning with a Munchkin farmer (except in this case, the Scarecrow put him together and brought Scarecrow Jr. to life with the magic of Oz). Also, since the farmer put the Scarecrow together, he could be seen as a "father figure" to the Scarecrow, which would make him related to Scarecrow and Scarecrow Jr. Scraps has very little connection to Scarecrow's family except that they were love interests for the length of the lives. Scraps is also called "Auntie Scraps" in the Oz Kids saga by all the kids (pictured above right). So, she has some familial relations to the Scarecrow family. Nonetheless, if you would like more information on Scarecrow Jr, check out this site; and, if you want to learn how Scraps and Scarecrow met, feel free to check out that story in "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" book (on audio, e-book, or physical copy). Tin Man's family is also vague matter (and something I am not fully complete in my understanding); however, what I do know is that Tin Man, who used to be Nicholas Chopper, a Munchkin woodsman, was in love with a Munchkin woman, Nimmee Amee. The two do not get married to him in the end of that story. However, in The Oz Kids, Tin Boy (pictured above center) was Tin Man's son and there is no known origin story for him; however, I am guessing, it is similar to Tin Man's story except Tin Boy was actually put together by the Tin Man and came to life through the same magic that put him together (or there was an unknown child that Nimme Amee had that she never told Tin Man about?!?). Additionally, Captain Fyter, a tin soldier introduced in The Tin Woodsman of Oz book by Baum, can be seen as an unintentional brother (-in-arms) since they were made by the same tinsmith. Furthermore, the tinsmith can be seen as the Tin Man and Tin Soldier's unintentional father. Maguire states nothing about Tin Man's family in the Wicked saga. For more about Tin Boy, check out his site here and for more information on Captain Fyter, check out Baum's book, The Tin Woodsman Of Oz. In an alternate world the SyFy's miniseries, Tin Man, Wyatt Cain was the "Tin Man", a law enforcement officer, who had a wife and son in that story. So, be sure to check out that mini-series on TubiTV. Lastly, the Cowardly Lion's family is also just as limited as the others; however, there are some notable figures to name such as his children, Boris and Bela, as identified in The Oz Kids TV show. Boris is Lion's first born of his two twin children and Bela is a few minutes younger and the two are constantly notating that fact. The mother is unknown; but, I have a theory about who that may be. In the Wicked saga, the third book to be precise, Maguire identifies a female "Hungry Tiger" equivalent called Muhlama H'aekeem. This princess and the Lion, called Brrr in these stories have sex once and it is quite intense (and quite detailed for animal sex). Now, it makes me wonder, is she Boris and Bella's mother? Who knows? Also, in the Maguire saga, the Lion has a pet glass cat called Shadowpuppet, who hangs out with him quite a bit and only Lion can understand him. Furthermore, in Maguire's saga, Lion did have a family at one point, but was taken away from them and caged for a science experiment at a well-known Ozian university. So, if you would like to learn more about Muhlama H'aekeem, check out her Oz page as well as Boris and Bela's Oz page. Other notable families of Oz include The Wicked Witch of West, Glinda, and of course the writer of Oz books, L. Frank Baum. Since we do not have time to get into each of these families, feel free to click on each character name above to learn more on each family of Oz. Now, when your families come to visit, it would be a good time to check out some of these more obscure family films. Let us start with Funky Fables (imaged above left), a modified animated version of The Wizard of Oz. It is a cute story that includes a lot of elements from the book (and the movie). Another more obscure family-friendly film is The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz (imaged above right), which takes a space-themed approach to the Wizard of Oz story. This film used the Japanese TV series and truncated many of the episodes into a 75-minute feature film. So, if you click each of the images above, you will be taken to an online version of the film. Additionally, there are a couple of family of Oz-themed episodes from two different Ozian TV shows. The first is a quick episode of the Tales of the Wizard of Oz, which is appropriately entitled, "The Family Tree". So, feel free to check that out. The second is a clip from an episode from Boomerang's Dorothy and the Wizard and Oz, featuring Glinda's mean twin sister, Melinda the Mean. Oh goodness, what could possibly happen! Well, that ought to do it for our exploratory discussion about the Families in the Land of Oz. Of course, there are plenty of characters with other families and I welcome your comments on your favorite families in the Land of Oz. Also, feel free to share your own creations of family trees in Oz. But, until next, when we get to see what Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz is like, we'll be seeing you somewhere over the Vinkus.
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May 2024
AuthorMy name is Vinkus Ken and I have been a long time fan of many things in Oz and how their world truly does emulate much of ours. Did you know that they have a flag of their own? Or did you know that they have a law about only having 9 jurors in their courts? Also, Oz has a court system! I like to introduce facts that seem meaningless and bring meaning to them by comparing them to our world. So, come along on this journey and enjoy the ride. |