Wednesday, March 19, 2014

March 2014 - Judy Garland Letter From Home - Interview with John Fricke on "Oz"

Happy March everyone!  

This past week the snow here in northern Minnesota began to melt and the work on our new display cabinets was completed. Now, with less than three months until The Wizard of Oz Festival, the gallery has been cleaned and is being readied for the fabulous new Wizard of Oz exhibit. You can read more about our new exhibit here.

Our newsletter for March is short, but full of interesting information. It also includes a great interview with John Fricke. We hope you enjoy it!


An Interview on "Oz" with John Fricke

Recently, our editor met up online with Oz Historian John Fricke to discuss how he sees the 75thAnniversary of the 1939 Wizard of Oz film starring Judy Garland and, among other things, what he has planned for this year's Wizard of Oz Festival at The Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Of course, most of you reading this know that Grand Rapids was where Judy Garland was born, nearly 92 years ago.
  
Judy Garland Letter from Home: Hello, John. Thank you for agreeing to do this article. We know you've been to The Judy Garland Festival in Grand Rapids many times. Of course, this year, it's being called “The Wizard of Oz Festival” in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the film. Can you tell us about the first time you ever visited Judy Garland's home town?

JOHN FRICKEI've lost track of how many times I've been welcomed at the Grand Rapids Judy Garland Festival, but my first visit coincided with the 50th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz movie back in 1989. 

LFH: Wow! Can you tell us a special memory you have of that event and what it was like to visit Judy's home town for the first time?

JF: Well, I'd wanted to visit "Judy's home" since I first became a fan -- when I was five! But it took me another 33 years to make it. And what I most remember and cherish was the great influx of children and teens and men and women who all came to town because they felt the way I did. There was this wonderful sense of honoring someone who made all of us (and billions more) so very, very happy. Of course, that's the case at every Grand Rapids get-together -- as evidenced by the fact that, when the scheduled events are done for the day, we always align at the hotel or at a restaurant and "talk Judy" WAY into the night.

LFH:  It really is amazing how The Wizard of Oz, which was written and published by L. Frank Baum in 1900, is as popular as ever, if not more popular. I find it difficult at times to realize the passage of time. This editor remembers seeing the film for the first time when I was about seven, and reading the book when I was eleven. I was fascinated with Dorothy and her friends then, and that fascination and interest never seems to stop.

JF:  It's interesting to me as well that the Oz movie is now another quarter-century older than it was during my first visit in 1989. But unlike the rest of us, it never ages. It never goes out of date or out of fashion. And it never loses its hold on the hearts, imaginations, and courageous souls of children -- or people who used to be children. 

So this 75th anniversary year is special for uncountable reasons. And in every possible manner, we're all going to celebrate Oz -- and Judy Garland, the paramount citizen of that magical land and film. The Festival itself has a glorious line-up of participatory events for everyone, near and far, young and old.
Although we no longer have our friends
with us, the wonderful little people who
played the Munchkins, they will certainly be
at this year's Oz Festival in spirit.

LFH: It's so wonderful that you will be at the Festival this year, and making two special presentations. Can you tell us about them?
  
JF: The two presentations I'll offer are both on Friday, June 13th, and they will be as “Ozzy” as they can be.

The first presentation, from 10:00am - 11:30am, is an illustrated program on "The Making of The Wizard of Oz" film. It will include scores of photographs of make-up and costume tests, deleted scenes, and on-the-set rarities (plus anecdotes about the crazy script ideas that were -- luckily -- abandoned along the way).

Then, from 12 noon until 1 pm, the second talk will trace the impact of the Oz film on popular culture for the last 75 years with fun and funny stories about the references to Oz in other movies, books, TV sitcoms and dramas, newscasts, newspaper headlines, comic strips, and just plain everywhere.

LFH: Thank you, John Fricke. I know your presentations are going to be great! They always are, so everyone should really try to be there for them. Can I ask you what you are looking forward in your visit to Grand Rapid's Oz?

JF: I look forward to meeting any and all Oz and Garland fans, as we honor the little girl from Minnesota who played -- as no one else ever could or will -- the little girl from Kansas...and over the rainbow.

***

 Note: Some of John Fricke’s Interview spilled over into our next article, so don’t miss it!


The Judy Garland Birthplace Revisited

The front parlor where the Gumm family often rehearsed and
where young Frances Gumm (aka Judy Garland) sang her
first notes
One of the most important reasons people visit Grand Rapids is the little white house where Judy Garland spent the first four years of her life. It was in these rooms that she had some of her most treasured memories and where she sang her first notes.
Snowy view from Mary Jane and
Dorothy Virginia's bedroom upstairs

Frost on the window pane in
the upstairs hall
Fans from far and wide come to visit the home which has been lovingly restored to circa 1922. Those who visit have fond memories of being in this very special place. John Fricke is certainly one of those. When asked about his favorite memory of Grand Rapids, this is what he wrote:




My own most cherished moment during all my visits to Grand Rapids came the year that Judy's house was "in place" as it is now -- and beautifully restored inside and out, with the vintage appointments and gardens and all.

And during The Gumm Family "musicale" program produced by Michelle Russell, I was permitted to sing "Danny Boy," which Frank Gumm often had sung to his youngest daughter, Baby (who would grow up to become Judy Garland). I sat on the stair landing of the Gumm living room -- just where Judy and her sisters had so-often rehearsed and performed -- and I sang Frank's song.  It was an almost overwhelmingly emotional moment. And once again (as on countless occasions since 1956), all I could think of was that I felt so very, very grateful that God had looked down on me on November 3, 1956, and decreed that I was going to be a Judy Garland fan.

Judy's mother, Ethel Gumm, liked to keep her sewing machine in the
dining room where she often sewed costumes for the girls. Here is
a snowy view, something the fans seldom get to see.

Anytime is a beautiful time to visit the Judy Garland Birthplace, but we hope you enjoy these rather enchanting views of winter. Some of Judy Garland’s fondest memories of Grand Rapids were of the times she spent there in winter.

***

A New Exhibit to Grace The Judy Garland Museum

Dorothy and the Wicked Apple Tree, along with The
Wicked Witch of the West and other memorabilia.
One of the big events that will take place during this years Judy Garland – Wizard of Oz Festival is the opening of a new  Wizard of Oz exhibit at the Judy Garland Museum.

Of course, the largest item on display in our museum is the carriage from The Wizard of Oz. It is the carriage Judy and her friends ride in as they enter the Emerald City. This carriage has appeared in close to 200 films, including Jezebel starring Bette Davis. But that is not its greatest claim to fame. When it went up for auction, it was discovered that this carriage was originally built for Abraham Lincoln.

Miniatures of The Wizard of Oz Characters

Of late, our gallery has been closed as new cases were built and the new exhibit prepared. The Wizard of Oz exhibit will be opened to the public for the first time on Tuesday, June 10th at 10am. The opening will reveal a fabulous collection of Oz memorabila including miniature representations of Oz film scenes, recreations of the original book illustrations in the form of figurines, replicas of film items, artwork, collectibles of all kinds and other items too numerous to mention .

This exhibit is something that visitors will want to take in more than once. We look forward to seeing you there!

More on this new exhibit, as well as the new Judy Garland exhibit, will be included in our April newsletter, but we thought you’d like to get a sneak peek now!


Don’t Forget the Guinness Attempt!

Don’t forget to get your costume ready for the Guinness World Record attempt to break the record for the most persons dressed as the Wizard of Oz. The event takes place on Friday, June 13th at 5:30pm. Further information is available in the January Letter from Home. Just click to your right on “January!”

***

Until April, we wish you a happy spring. Look forward to seeing you in June!


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