No Place Like Home

Welcome to 2024! If there’s anything the past few years have taught us, it’s to appreciate our local community and this place we call home. Our award-winning Marshes of Glynn Libraries and Golden Isles Arts & Humanities will be kicking off 2024 with the return of The Big Read. This year’s book selection of L. Frank Baum’s classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and its resonating message, “There’s no place like home,” seems a perfect theme to begin this new year. We start down the path ahead in the company of friends and traveling with courage, a heart full of love, and hopefully, some wisdom. Join us to see the wonderful ways in which it unwinds and the people and places we encounter along the way. It’s always an adventure!

Following the Yellow Brick Road

Considered one of the best-known stories and one of the most widely read books in American pop culture, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was written by L. Frank Baum and first published as a children’s book in 1900. This modern fairytale with a distinctly American setting was essentially the Harry Potter of its time. An immediate bestseller, the book was popular not only for its plucky heroine and the fantastical Land of Oz, but for the superb illustrations provided by W.W. Denslow. Baum expanded the adventures of these characters with 13 more Oz books, the last being Glinda of Oz, which was published in 1920, a year after his death. While in the early part of the century, the series continued to be penned by another author due to its lasting popularity and the story inspired a Broadway musical, by its later years MGM’s 1939 film version of the story was more familiar to people than the book on which it was based. Since that “Technicolor triumph,” there have been scores of books, film, television, and stage adaptations and contemporary retellings that have added to the original lore. What remains clear is that throughout more than a century of remarkable change, the popularity of L. Frank Baum’s fantastical tale has endured as a classic and grown, embraced by generation after generation of children and the young at heart.

In case you need a recap of the book, a cyclone whisks Dorothy and her dog Toto away from her aunt and uncle's farm in Kansas. They find themselves in the unfamiliar land of Oz, where Dorothy is told she must follow the yellow brick road to find the all-knowing Wizard of Oz to obtain his help in returning her home. Along the way, she encounters the Scarecrow, who is desperate to acquire some brains, the Tin Woodsman who wants a heart, and the cowardly Lion who wants to gain courage. They become her traveling companions on the unfamiliar and sometimes frightening journey to Emerald City. When they finally get to see Oz, he tasks them with ridding Oz of its remaining wicked witch before he will grant each of them their wishes. Once that is accomplished, the Wizard and Dorothy plan to leave Oz on a balloon, but the balloon mistakenly leaves without Dorothy. She then sets off on yet another quest to seek assistance from Glinda the Witch of the South. Glinda summons the flying monkeys to return Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion to their respective homes and tells Dorothy that her ability to return home has been within her silver slippers all along. With three clicks of her heels, Dorothy and Toto are transported back to her aunt and uncle’s farm in Kansas, where their home is now rebuilt.

The Big Read will give you two opportunities to to watch the 1939 movie that MGM billed as the “biggest sensation since Snow White. The Wizard of Oz, directed by Victor Fleming and starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, and the Munchkins will be shown at The Ritz Theatre on February 8 as part of the Cinema Gourmet series, with delicious food from Indigo Shanty and a film discussion. Tickets must be purchased in advance for the Cinema Gourmet screening at goldenislesarts.org. A free repeat screening of the film will take place at The Ritz at 4:00 p.m. on February 19.

The book, movie, and other adaptations of the classic story will provide ample material for review and discussion during The Big Read. Coastal Georgia Reads The Wonderful Wizard of Oz promises to be an engaging for adults and children alike. To get you prepared, we thought we’d share some interesting facts about the movie that differ from Baum’s book.

The studio’s desire to show off the capabilities of the “new” three strip Technicolor filming process was the impetus behind some of the most significant changes found in the movie. First, the black and white introductory story with Miss Gulch trying to take Toto away, Dorothy running away from home, and her encounter with Professor Marvel is not a part of the book. In Baum’s story, the cyclone strikes the farm almost immediately. The transition from the colorless landscape of Kansas to the vibrant world of Oz where Dorothy is transported exists both to introduce the characters who would appear in her “dream” and to demonstrate the brilliant colors that could now be captured in film. It’s hard to imagine the movie without Judy Garland’s iconic rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow as she wistfully longs for a magical, colorful place that exists far beyond her stark grey surroundings.

Even more difficult to imagine is Dorothy without her signature ruby slippers! In fact, you’d probably be hard-pressed to find someone who recalls that in Baum’s book the shoes Dorothy clicks together to return to Kansas are silver. Sparkling red shoes were created for the movie because they made a more dramatic visual image on the screen and now ruby slippers are synonymous with Dorothy and dreams of home.

In fact, the actual red sequined shoes used during the making of the film are among the most beloved artifacts from movie history and have quite the story of their own. Designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM Studios’ chief costume designer at the time, it is estimated that six to ten pairs were made for the film, and four authenticated pairs are known to remain. White silk pumps were dyed red and covered with red fabric, soles were painted red, sequins were colored a dark red to match, and bows of stiff cotton adorned with three kinds of beads and rhinestones were added. A mismatched pair is on display at The Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History and have been viewed by an estimated tens of millions of people since an undisclosed donor gave them to the institution in 1979. One of the most asked about artifacts at the museum, they have been on nearly continuous display, except for a period in 2017-2018, when they underwent significant extensive research and conservation. Another pair was on loan from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, when someone climbed through a window, broke the display case, and stole them in 2005. Those were recovered in 2018 and brought to the Smithsonian for analysis. Another pair is on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Debbie Reynolds was known to have owned a pair that was auctioned off for more than a half million dollars in 2011. The current value of a pair of the existing ruby slippers is estimated to be $3.5 million. There’s even been a entire book written about the movie’s ruby red shoes!

The dramatic impact of Technicolor was the focus for the filmmakers once again when it came to the color of the Emerald City. In Baum’s book, Dorothy and her companions are forced to don glasses that are fastened at the back by a lock which is kept by the Gate Guardian when they arrive in Emerald City. Unbeknownst to them, it is these glasses that make the city appear green. Oz later admits that he forces the people of the city to wear the glasses to make the city seem more magical than it actually is. In the movie, there are no such glasses, Emerald City appeared green with no need for visual enhancement. Remember the horses?!

In Baum’s book, the Wicked Witch of the West had only one eye. Her role and presence in the book weren’t nearly as significant as the focus on her in the film and did not include the early introduction of her character as Dorothy’s nemesis. Actress Margaret Hamilton’s brilliant portrayal further helped bring the character front and center. Her memorable performance in the film made her one of the most famous incarnations of witches, ranking the character as one of the American Film Institute’s Top 50 best villains of all time.

Finally, in the book, Dorothy has significant adventures after meeting the Wizard and traveling to find Glinda that are not detailed in the movie. This was likely due to time constraints and the more fantastic elements of the story that would have been difficult and costly to create in the days before CGI. In Baum’s story Dorothy’s time in Oz is lengthy and her absence from Kansas is real, not simply explained away as a dream. Ah, but what a dream it was!

Coastal Georgia Reads: The Wizard of Oz

Escape to Oz by joining The Big Read – Coastal Georgia Reads The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Golden Isles Arts & Humanities and the Marshes of Glynn Libraries will be presenting a variety of free (unless otherwise noted) events and programs in addition to the movie screenings previously mentioned to engage the community and readers of all ages with the “Official” Big-Read Kick Off happening in Historic Downtown Brunswick at First Friday on February 1. The “Over the Rainbow Art Exhibit” at The Ritz Theatre and Brunswick Library will open that evening and at 5:30 p.m. there will be a Wizard of Oz story time at the library. Come dressed as your favorite character from the book/movie and take part in the Yellow Brick Road Scavenger Hunt! More info will be shared as the event gets closer, so keep your eye on the Historic Downtown Brunswick, Brunswick-Glynn County Library, and Golden Isles Arts & Humanities Facebook pages for additional details about all the fun happening that evening.

The Big Read Keynote address will be presented on February 15 at 7:00 p.m. at The Ritz Theatre. The speaker is Chris Glasgow, curator of the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas. Initially opened in 2003 to exhibit Wamego native Todd Mancin’s extensive collection of Oz memorabilia, and later that of Johnpaul Cañero, the museum now features more than 2,000 rotating pieces on display and has begun acquiring their own for a permanent collection. And the town of Wamego has wholeheartedly embraced the Oz concept, creating an entire immersive experience complete with yellow brick road, more than a dozen #TotosAroundTown sculptures decorated by artists, and other features as well as an annual OztoberFEST.

The two screenings of the MGM film aren’t the only Oz movies presented as part of The Big Read. The Wiz will be shown at College of Coastal Georgia’s Stembler Theatre on February 12 at 7:00 p.m. A costume contest is planned as part of the fun! On February 16 at 10:00 a.m. bring the kids out to see The Muppet Wizard of Oz at The Ritz Theatre. On February 20, American Oz, a documentary about L. Frank Baum, will be shown at The Ritz at 4:00 p.m. For something a little jazzier on the stage instead of screen, talented performer Annie Akins will be presenting “From Judy to Joni and All That Jazz” at The Ritz on February 25. Visit goldenislesarts.org for tickets to that musical matinee.

There will be Coastal Georgia Reads Lectures at the St. Simons Library at 6:00 p.m. with Dr. Roscoe Scarborough (CCGA, Sociology) on February 7, and Dr. Hector Montford (CCGA, History) on February 14. Lectures will take place at the Brunswick Library at 6:00 p.m. with Dr. Aurora Ramos Nunez (CCGA, Psychology) on February 27 and Dr. Nicole Pankiewicz on March 5. Ann Mason will hold book discussions at the Brunswick Library at 10:30 a.m. on February 8 and at the St. Simons Library at 10:30 a.m. on February 21.

Additional events may be added, and existing events are subject to change. The Big Read Schedule of Events and Resource Guide is available at goldenislesarts.org. We look forward to seeing you on the yellow brick road!