Friday, September 4, 2009

Flashback Friday or What I learned from the Wizard of Oz

You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, You're out of the night. Step into the sun, Step into the light. Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place On the Face of the Earth or the sky. Hold onto your breath, Hold onto your heart, Hold onto your hope. .[ Wizard Of Oz Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]




Each year my brother Jimmy and I would eagerly anticipate the showing of the Wizard of Oz. We would take our baths and ready ourselves for bed...our Mom would make snacks...we had our blankets and pillows at the ready...such good times! In this day of DVDs one can watch anytime the desire strikes...for us though, it was a once a year deal and it was a BIG deal! The rest of the year we kept a close watch out for flying monkeys.



This is still one of my favorite movies and books of all time! As a child, I alternated between desperately wanting to be Dorothy and wear the sparkly ruby slippers and being the good witch Glinda...what was not to love about her?!!! My daughters and I watched this movie together frequently and one of our longstanding albeit most corny comments is "do you want to be a good witch, a bad witch or a sand witch" We thought we were hilarious.



As an adult I think L. Frank Baum was a genius. The best lessons learned from this story for me are...



************************** There is NO PLACE like HOME!



******************** You have EVERYTHING you need within YOU



Good Friends are the BEST, they will stand by you and see you through any adventure or trial



******People come in all sizes, shapes and colors...ALL are a lovely sight to behold



Watch out for Flying Monkeys...(all our fears and disappointments, trials )...Love conquers Fear every time.



There is a Higher Power watching over EACH of us (for me this is my Heavenly Father) for some it may be a Universal Love or some other deity.



**************************** STICK TO THE PATH



Being nice matters (or someone may drop a house on you) and everyone can use a little sparkle!



To all my wonderful friends may you always find your heart's desire...peace and love and best wishes!



* picture of Jimmy and Connie taken circa 1964ish maybe Olan Mills Photography

* Glinda and Dorothy borrowed courtesy of CinemaisDope.com

* Dorothy's shoes courtesy of wetcircuit.com




14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a sand witch! This was great Mommy! Thanks for making me happy!

Hayden Tompkins said...

I always wanted to be Glenda! She traveled in a bubble, had a wand, and wore sparkly pink!

It also didn't hurt that she was rocking a magic wand. :)

Rosezilla (Tracie Walker) said...

I could never decide for sure if I liked this or not - but I wouldn't have dreamed of missing it each year! My sister and I enjoyed it together, but when I tried to watch it with my sons, they were silent throughout; then one of them declared, "Too many witches!" and headed off to play. They never cared to watch it again. But they wouldn't watch the old Cinderella even once and my sister and I LOVED seeing that each year.

Connie said...

There was something magical and delightful about watching those movies just "once" a year. I never missed the Roger's and Hammersteins Cinderella either!!! or Peter Pan with Mary Martin

Christy Peake said...

I see so much of Anna in that photo! Okay, now I have to go read... LOL

campbell said...

I love this post. I love the Wizard of OZ. I always wanted to be Dorthy. "There's no place like home"!

Anita said...

I can remember waiting to watch this one on TV, too! This and The Sound of Music, which for some reason always came on around Christmas. Hence, I think it's a Christmas movie :) Maybe this is where you got your love for "bling", Connie!

Pippa said...

Oh, this was the second book I ever read in English. The first was Dr Doolittle. I only discovered the Wizard of Oz film many years later, and it had an enchantment different from the book's but totally addictive.

Thanks for the lessons from it, Connie, that's beautiful! My son was too young to remember the whole name "Wizard of Oz" so when he wanted to watch it, he'd only say "green witch" and we'd know. =)

Rosezilla (Tracie Walker) said...

Oh, I forgot to say, I got to see a live production of this last year and it was wonderful! I was in the doctor's office and the doctor had finally come in and my phone rang and I almost didn't answer but I'm so glad I did because it was my husband asking me on a date to see this as he had a chance to get good tickets - I think I need some punctuation somewhere in there. Sand witch is funny. :)

SE'LAH... said...

cool post. one of my daughter's favourite movies of all time.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

Yes, it was really something to wait every year for Wizard of Oz or Cinderella or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Charlie Brown. It made the watching so special.

And those flying monkeys scared me too as did Miss Gulch!

Unknown said...

Oh, I totally remember Wizard of Oz being a full on EVENT when it came on TV...

Jayne said...

Love the post. Isn't it funny how these works of literature (and the films too) contain so many truths? You've inspired me to watch it again and to remember to look out for those flying monkeys.

Relyn Lawson said...

This is a marvelous post! And, that photo of you two! OH MY!! I love, love, love it.