By Brett Weiss Charming. Delightful. Enchanting. Magical. Wondrous. These words only scratch the surface of the appeal of MGM’s The Wizard of Oz, one of the most beloved films in the history of Hollywood. For Walter Krueger, founder of the Wizard of Oz Collectors United! group on Facebook, you can add “amazing” and “life-changing” to that list. Krueger first saw the iconic film during its 50th anniversary when he was just three years old. Released Aug. 25, 1939, The Wizard of Oz was based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but lost out to Gone With the Wind. That year, one of the most significant in Hollywood history, also saw the release of such classics as Stagecoach, Of Mice and Men, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The Wizard of Oz will certainly receive its share of fanfare for its 80th birthday this year. Film festivals, costume parties, museum exhibits, and other celebrations will take place all across the country. Krueger, who plans on celebrating the milestone by working at the Land of Oz seasonal theme park in North Carolina, grew up in an Oz-friendly household. Even though he was just three when he first saw the film, he was already familiar with the characters and the world they inhabited. “My introduction to Oz was through a coloring book reflecting the original story,” he said. “Shortly after that, my grandma read me the original full-length novel. She then introduced me to Ozma Of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, both of which are sequels to the original story everyone knows.” Baum wrote 13 sequels to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, including Glinda of Oz, which was published posthumously. Several silent films based on the works of Baum were produced, including 1925’s Wizard of Oz featuring a young Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman. Such movies as The Wiz (1978), starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, and Disney’s Return to Oz (1985), based on The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz, are interesting as well, but it’s the 1939 feature film that is by far the most fondly remembered. Directed by Victor Fleming, who also directed Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz tells of young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), an unhappy orphan who lives on a bleak, black-and-white Kansas farm with her aunt, uncle, and beloved dog Toto. She yearns to go “somewhere over the rainbow” and, thanks to a timely tornado, gets her wish and is whisked away with Toto to the colorful (literally and figurately) Land of Oz. There Dorothy encounters the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), the winged monkeys, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke). Glinda suggests that Dorothy follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, home of the Wizard of Oz, who might be able to help the girl return home to Kansas. Along the way she befriends the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), who longs for brains, the Tin Man (Jack Haley), who wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), who wants to scare up some courage. They join Dorothy on her quest, hoping the Wizard will help them, too. The Wizard of Oz won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”), and it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Special Effects. However, according to Krueger, the film is much more than a fun, slickly produced musical fantasy. “It touches on the subject of following one’s dreams no matter how you doubt yourself, and we all doubt ourselves in one way another,” he said. “Whether we think we’re not smart enough, not able to love enough, or not courageous enough. And then we come to find that we have possessed all these things all along—it sometimes just takes others to bring it out and show you.” In the film, Dorothy proclaims that “There’s no place like home,” to which Krueger agrees. “We are always looking for that place we can call home, and that home is always inside us,” he said. “We see these themes shown through a story that even a child can understand. It’s very relatable to life and believing in ourselves. The story’s message is timeless and simple: just believe in yourself and those that love you, and anything is possible no matter what Wicked Witches you may encounter on your journey.” Krueger’s fascination with The Wizard of Oz extends beyond watching the movies, reading the books, and running a public Facebook group. He has a massive collection of memorabilia displayed in his home in what he calls his “Oz rooms.” “I have two large, suite-style rooms that have hallways and walk-in closets adapted into shelved areas to hold vast amounts of Oz collectibles for display,” he said. “I also have an army of display cabinets that house many of my rarer Oz items. I have a room that’s dedicated to my older Oz items and a hallway that spills into international items from places like Japan and Italy. I have another room dedicated to the further installments of Oz, such as Wicked and The Wiz and Disney’s Return to Oz. I also have a Wizard of Oz-themed pinball machine.” A lifelong collector, Krueger’s first Wizard of Oz item was the aforementioned coloring book. Soon after, he began receiving items produced for the 50th anniversary of the motion picture, including dolls, action figures, plush, music boxes, snow globes, and other items that eventually filled the shelves of his childhood bedroom. This includes a do-it-yourself lamp his mother painted for him and gave him as a Christmas gift. “That piece means everything to me for sentimental reasons,” he said. Some of Krueger’s other treasured Oz items include costumes from the 1939 film, such as a coat and pair of pants that an Emerald City Guard wore. “The costumes are extremely rare and highly sought after in the movie memorabilia market,” he said. “To own a piece of the wardrobe or a prop is like you being a keeper of real magic or proof that dreams do come true in Hollywood. Every piece in my collection has a history or a story of how it came to me, so every piece is my favorite, I guess you could say.” Despite the enormity of his collection, Krueger is still on the lookout for some especially rare and valuable items, including a film-used pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers, an original Patchwork Girl of Oz doll, and various promotional items from the year the movie was released, such as “a set of little girl hair bows that have the characters on a paper card promoting the release of the film that were only available at five and dime stores in 1939, making them impossible to find.” |