Wizard of Oz festival

Last updated

The Wizard of Oz festival was an annual festival in Chesterton, Indiana for The Wizard of Oz .

History

It was cancelled in 2008 after 27 years following poor financial performance due a complicated history with town government, the declining health of actors from the 1939 movie, and a severe storm that essentially stopped the 2008 festival dead in its tracks. [1] [2] The festival was revived in the fall of 2009 under new management and greatly overhauled in structure and organization. It was once again cancelled in 2013 when the primary sponsor dropped the festival last minute, leaving the event without any financial backing. Smaller organizations and dedicated fans worked tirelessly in an attempt to save the festival. Unfortunately, it was all to no avail. To this date, there is still a large demand from fans to bring the festival back to the small Indiana town.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chittenango, New York</span> Village in New York, United States

Chittenango is a village located in Madison County, New York, United States. The village is in the southern part of the Town of Sullivan. The population was 4,896 at the 2020 census. Chittenango is the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Gen Con also features computer games. Attendees engage in a variety of tournament and interactive game sessions. In 2019, Gen Con had nearly 70,000 unique attendees.

<i>The Wizard of Oz</i> 1939 film based on the book by L. Frank Baum

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). An adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind. It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar "Yip" Harburg.

<i>Wizard</i> (magazine) American magazine about comic books

Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011. It included a price guide, as well as comic book, movie, anime, and collector news, interviews, and previews.

The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of the work might consist solely of the title character's name – such as Michael Collins or Othello – or be a longer phrase or sentence – such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alice in Wonderland, or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The title character is commonly – but not necessarily – the protagonist of the story. Narrative works routinely do not have a title character, and there is some ambiguity in what qualifies as one.

Toto (<i>Oz</i>) Fictional dog in the Oz series

Toto is a fictional dog in L. Frank Baum's Oz series of children's books, and works derived from them. He was originally a small terrier drawn by W. W. Denslow for the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). He reappears in later Oz books and in numerous adaptations, such as The Wizard of Oz (1939) and The Wiz (1978).

<i>The Muppets Wizard of Oz</i> 2005 musical fantasy television film

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz is a 2005 musical fantasy television film directed by Kirk R. Thatcher, and the third television film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Ashanti, Jeffrey Tambor, Quentin Tarantino, David Alan Grier, Queen Latifah, as well as Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, and Eric Jacobson. A contemporary adaptation of the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, the story follows young Dorothy Gale, who works in her Aunt Em's diner, but dreams of becoming a singer somewhere beyond her small Kansas town. Swept up by a tornado, in her trailer home with pet prawn Toto, she lands in Oz and embarks on a journey to meet the Wizard who can help make her dreams come true.

Dickinson P. Martin was an artist from Chicago who wrote and illustrated a number of books in and related to the Oz series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Maren</span> American actor (1920–2018)

Jerry Maren was an American actor who played a Munchkin member of the Lollipop Guild in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz. He became the last surviving adult Munchkin following the death of Ruth Duccini in 2014, and was also the last surviving cast member with a specifically identifiable speaking or singing role.

<i>The Wizard of Oz</i> (1925 film) 1925 film

The Wizard of Oz is a 1925 American silent fantasy-adventure comedy film directed by Larry Semon, who also performs in the lead role as a Kansas farmhand disguised as the Scarecrow.

The Dark Side of the Rainbow – also known as Dark Side of Oz or The Wizard of Floyd – is the pairing of the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This produces numerous moments of apparent synchronicity where the film and the album appear to correspond. Members of Pink Floyd and the Dark Side of the Moon engineer Alan Parsons denied any intent to connect the album to the film.

"200" is the sixth episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1's tenth season, and the 200th episode of the series overall. Unlike the more serious nature of the season's story arc, "200" is a light-hearted parody of both Stargate SG-1 and other sci-fi shows, as well as popular culture like The Wizard of Oz.

Music Theatre Louisville was a non-profit organization in Louisville, Kentucky, dedicated to producing, presenting, and developing diverse and affordable entertainment. Up through 2008, the company staged several shows during the summer at Iroquois Amphitheater in Iroquois Park. In 2009, the company moved to the Bomhard Theater at The Kentucky Center.

The International Wizard of Oz Club, Inc., was founded during 1957 by Justin G. Schiller, a then thirteen-year-old boy. The sixteen charter members, some of whom continue to make valuable contributions to the club, were garnered from the mailing list found among the papers of the recently deceased Jack Snow, with whom Schiller and the others had discussed the work of L. Frank Baum.

The Land of Oz is a theme park based on L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz books, located in the resort town of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, US. Carolina Caribbean Corporation opened it in 1970 under the guidance of Grover Robbins, who had been successful with Tweetsie Railroad. Designed by Jack Pentes, the park was fully operational until 1980. As of September 2019, it now opens for Fridays in June for "Journey with Dorothy Tours" and in September for Autumn at Oz – the largest Wizard of Oz festival in the country.

Adaptations of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by American author L. Frank Baum. Since its first publication in 1900, it has been adapted many times by L. Frank Baum and others: for film, television, theatre, books, comics, games, and other media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Waddingham</span> British actress and television presenter (born 1974)

Hannah Waddingham is a British actress, singer and television presenter. She is known for playing businessperson Rebecca Welton in the comedy series Ted Lasso (2020–2023), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021 and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022. She has also appeared in a number of West End shows, including Spamalot, the 2010 Regent's Park revival of Into the Woods, and The Wizard of Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West, and has received three Olivier Award nominations for her work.

<i>Legends of Oz: Dorothys Return</i> 2013 film by Daniel St. Pierre

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return is a 2013 animated musical fantasy film that is loosely based on the 1989 book Dorothy of Oz by L. Frank Baum's great-grandson Roger Stanton Baum. It was directed by Daniel St. Pierre and Will Finn. The film stars the voices of Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Kelsey Grammer, Hugh Dancy, Megan Hilty, Oliver Platt, Patrick Stewart, Bernadette Peters, and Martin Short.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comic book convention</span> Event with a primary focus on comic books

A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.

<i>Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz</i> Childrens animated television series

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz is an American animated children's television series loosely based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its subsequent books, as well as its 1939 film adaptation. The series debuted on Boomerang SVOD on June 29, 2017. The series was picked up for the second and third seasons. The series ended on July 31, 2020, after three seasons.

References

  1. "'Credit Munch' Hits Wizard Of Oz". BSkyB . November 30, 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  2. "Wizard of Oz festival at end of yellow brick road". Associated Press. The News-Sentinel. December 1, 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2011.