![]() ![]() Frank Baum was the epitome of that American dreamer - moving from place to place and starting various entrepreneurial endeavors, even as he had a wife and children to support. (One person interviewed says Chicago was the great American city at the turn of the century.)Īs the documentary illustrates, L. When Baum attended Chicago’s World’s Fair in 1893 and marveled at the gleaming, sparkling facades of the White City - which was magical and dreamlike, yet totally fabricated - might he have drawn upon that experience when he imagined the Emerald City?ĭrawing on interviews with authors and historians, myriad photos of Baum, readings from his letters and papers, snippets of newspaper clippings and a bounty of stunning pictures (and later film clips) from the late 19th and early 20th century, “American Oz” is a gorgeous tapestry of a specific time and place in which many Americans were looking to expand their world beyond the small towns where they had grown up, moving out West or to large Midwestern cities in the hopes of not just carving out a living but achieving true success. Kansas was a substitute of sorts for the Dakota plains, where Baum and his family lived for a time and found life to be harsh and unforgiving. Denslow’s illustrations from the original story are sprinkled throughout the documentary, which makes a convincing case that Dorothy’s adventures were inspired by Baum’s own experiences. Toto was not gray he was a little black dog, with long silky. ![]() Like It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Clips from the 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz” and the brilliant W.W. Like While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth. ![]()
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