Well, duh!!!

Entertainment Weekly - the biggest ranker & list-maker of all things entertainment - has just confirmed what I have known my entire life: The Wizard of Oz is the best movie for kids!!!! Please. I could have told you that when I was 4. Or was it 3? I forget just when the obsession began. And yes, it really was an obsession. There was one winter day that I went out to play in the snow in my "Dorothy dress", which wasn't exactly blue & white gingham but more like green courdory with a pocket in the middle of the chest. Yes I had a basket, and a dog and the whole movie on casette tape to which I could - and did - recite the ENTIRE MOVIE. And not just recite, but did I mention I acted the whole thing out too? (I didn't get my sparkling ruby red slippers though until high school.) I feel sorry that my parents had to listen to it every. single. day. But on the other hand, where is a 5-year-old getting her costume, accessories & copy of the movie? That right. Her parents. So you could say that they enabled, fed & encouraged my addiction.

And I'm proud to say that even if I was to sit down & watch it today, I would still cry when Judy Garland sings "Over the Rainbow", and speaks her parting words to the Scarecrow ("I think I'll miss you most of all." Oh! It's even worse than saying good-bye!), remain silent when she steps out of the wind-blown farmhouse into Munchkinland & laugh when Bert Lahr declares himself "King of the Forest" even though he self-admittedly is afraid of everything and has no clue how to be King.

I'll save my Return to Oz obsession for another post. (The original WoZ convinced me there WAS an Oz. RtO convinced me I could actually get there. No wonder my parents were genuinely worried about me.)

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) A gingham-sporting Kansas girl is dreamily transported from her home on the range to a Technicolor wonderland, where she befriends a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion. There, she learns about self-sufficiency, capitalism, and how to kill bad witches. More importantly, hilarious little munchkins abound!