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 FRICKE: I'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 |
 |
| Snowy view from Mary Jane and Dorothy Virginia's bedroom upstairs |
 |
| Frost on the window pane in the upstairs hall |
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
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. |
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!
For further
information, please visit the following:
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TWITTER: https://twitter.com/judygarlandmuse
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