American Experience: American Oz

The Wizard of Oz. It is an essential reference point for most Americans. It has provided several enduring metaphors, with my favorite being the man behind the curtain, pulling the levers of power, exposed as a pathetic little man, by a little dog, Toto. Among my friends in Saudi Arabia, most would find it appropriate to use, on some given occasion: “Well, it looks like we are not in Kansas anymore.” L. Frank Baum wrote this magical tale. The directors, Randall MacLowry, Tracy Heather Strain, in conjunction with PBS, have provided this two-hour documentary on the author. It was released in 1988.Baum was born in Syracuse, New York in 1856. He appears to have had an idyllic childhood on the family farm. At the age of 19 he started a farming enterprise involving “fancy chickens” that did not prove to be a success. At the age of 24, he went to NYC to study acting. He would meet Maud, a strong independent woman, whose mother was active in the suffragettes. In 1882, Frank and Maud were married. After his father died, they struck out on their own, moving to Aberdeen, South Dakota, a growing town of 3000 folks. He started a newspaper and was a strong advocate of women’s rights, including that of the vote. Certainly, very progressive from the modern perspective; however he also reflected the attitudes of his milieu: while praising Sitting Bull, he called the remaining Lakota whining curs who must be eliminated. He acknowledged that Native Americans had been wronged for centuries but felt that they needed to be wiped out via just one more wrong. Wow.A multi-year drought forced many to abandon the Dakotas. He was drawn to the World Fair in Chicago in 1893, which attracted 27 million people. His mother-in-law, Matilda Gage, also introduced him to Theosophy, as a counterpoint to organized religion. And not all witches are bad… indeed. He met Mat Denslow, an illustrator.The two of them produced the tale of an assertive little Dorothy who did not have to await her Prince Charming to find her way in the world. It was released in 1900 and became an instant best seller. A play was produced that transformed the story, almost beyond recognition, featuring the roles of the scarecrow and the tin man. Baum elected not to object, as the money rolled in, enough so that he and Maud were able to take the “Grand Tour” of Europe. He would die in 1919, just before his 63rd birthday. Before his death, he would write thirteen additional books featuring the characters in the original Oz.It was the movie studio MGM that produced the famous 1939 version of the story, with Judy Garland as the assertive girl in her ruby red slippers singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”The documentary covered how this quintessential story of a time and place has been adapted to the modern era, including an all-black production entitled “The Wiz.”I tend to agree with some of the other reviewers that have criticized the “preachy” political correctness of the documentary, which included one commentator always referencing the “white people” in the story. For a story that featured “good witches,” it is fitting to recall the observation of Voltaire: It is remarkable how few witches there are since we stopped burning them. 4-stars for the documentary.

Saw this on the PBS app on my Roku. Just had to get the DVD of it. It is well done; though the story could have been narrated better. But the whole story on Frank Baum is intriguing to say the least because my only exposure was the classic 1938 film and listening to an audio play version of the original story. So to see the concepts he brought out in his lifetime he experienced I never knew before. If you like American Experience this a title worth watching both on the app and physical DVD format. Only downside was there were points it did drag too long. Other than that, worth checking out!

It does a good job relating some information about the Author, but totally omits any discussions about one widely held beliefs about the origin of the Characters and Story. Even though in his Life L. Frank Baum denied any Political motivations behind the Story "The Wizard of Oz" many of that time did read it as a parallels to the, at the time, on going debate over moving away from the Gold Standard and creating a USA currency on the Silver Standard. That is just a quick summary of the overall belief, and it's a very interesting theory about this Book. In the Book the Yellow Brick Road represents the Gold Standard, which the Bankers could use to control the AMOUNT of currency in circulation. At the time of the writing of the Book Bank failures and re-occurring Depression cycles where relatively common, and thought to be controlled by the Money Barons of the time. In the Book, the Slippers where SILVER, and the Wizard told Dorothy who represented the Developing Nation that she had the Solution all the time. The SILVER SLIPPERS represented the Silver Standard, Along the way she meet :The TIN MAN = which represented the Factory Workers, He only wanted a Brain (UNIONS)The Scare Crow = The Farmers from the Dust Bowl, that only wanted Courage, (A VOICE IN GOVERMENT)The Cowardly Lion = A Politian at the time that had been the Voice of the Sliver Movement and also fought against the establishment of a Federal Reserve and borrowing done by Congress. Even then they understood the Dangers of borrowing currency instead of just creating it ... and 100 years later here we are. That's just a brief summery, and to get any real understanding of the theory you will need to explore on your own. Believe the theory or not, it is interesting, and a controversy he had to deal with then, and follows the Book now.

I have a concert version of the movie's songs (plus the Jitterbug) from 1996 and I own the book titled The Annotated Wizard of Oz. I saw the stage production to which Andrew Lloyd Webber added songs--yuck! And I have two DVDs of Wicked, plus all of Maguire's Oz books. It's good to add this PBS documentary to my little collection and learn not only about the man who wrote the book but also about early stage and silent movie adaptations of the book. I recommend this documentary to people who still love Oz.

Came on time, great condition. Very informative and interesting.

This is such a wonderful documentary, which covers not only the story of the Wizard of Oz, but the context in which it was created, severe droughts, poverty, and the unfailing promise of a better life just over the rainbow. This is history every American should take the time to learn and understand.

Very thorough in places; however, you'll be reminded of his and everyone else's gender and race multiple times and the impact those things had on his life. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging these things- in many if not all cases they're true; however, they're all largely beside the point as they could be said of any white male from the period.I found myself forgetting that the documentary was about him rather than a critique of gender and race in the late 19th and early 20th century...