Wizard of Oz Fans Share Their Memories of Oz

Back in the day, the Wizard of Oz only came on TV once a year. My sisters, mother & I waited for it to come on and we all watched it together. It was a special time for us all to be together. When my daughter was old enough to watch, she was mesmerized. Everything was the WOZ. She collected everything there was. When she got married, her bridesmaids knew how much she loved the movie, they did a Wizard of Oz theme. It was amazing!

- Jeri

When my daughter was 2, she’s 21 now, we had to watch The Wizard of Oz over and over and over again, from the time she woke up until she went to bed, she literally knew the movie by heart songs and all. Of course she had to play Dorothy and had her ruby red slippers and a BIG stuffed saint bernard dog that was her Toto!!!

She is getting married in a few weeks and she is having Somewhere Over the Rainbow played as she walks down aisle instead of the Wedding March!!!

-  Gayla

We were very young(I was probably 7 or 8 and my sister was 6 or 7)when we watched the first and remembered the Wizard Of Oz. My sister was so scared of the flying monkeys she did not want to finish watching the movie, so for the next few weeks I would yell “Watch out for the flying monkeys” and she would scream and cry and I would laugh.

Even today I go to the Wizard of Oz festival in Chesterton, Indiana every year and I always get her some type of flying monkey product and we still laugh, I am 47 and she will be 46 next month. All of our children watch the show and my daughter collects Wizard of Oz anything.

-  Nina

Watching it with my father! Even though I’m 30 years old we still call each other when it’s on, but we don’t say the Wizard of Oz is on, we say a line from the movie.

-  Tracy

I used to watch it over and over with my brother and sister before going to bed. When the monkeys showed up, we would all hide under the blankets. I was the oldest, so it was my job to peak to see when it was over. I would carefully pull back the blanket to just under my eyes—if it was over—I would declare it to my siblings—but if you could still see monkies—I would throw it back over my head and shout “NOT YET NOT YET!”

It was my favorite movie and still is.

-  Emma

Comments

[Sarah Holland]

When I was little my mother would make me a "Glinda Wand" out of cardboard and aluminum foil in time to watch it on tv every year. I always made her watch the scary (B&W) part, and she could leave me alone once Dorothy got to oz. She also did great imitation of the cowardly lion all the time.
I have played a munchkin in 2 different stage versions of the show and directed the musical version myself. I own the dvd, and still watch it whenever I see that it is on.

[Kathy Swiatek]

I watched the " Wizard of OZ" every Thanksgiving .. I bought a lot of collective things from the shop they used to have MGM Grand in Vegas and there big theme they used to have when you walk in the hotel there. I love that movie and still watch it to this day ..

[pati]

My all time favorite movie, now one of my granddaughters favorite, we watch it together and can recite script, and songs together! My daughters went about getting me an autographed picture signed by some of the munchkins around the year 2000.......in 2005, I was in NY, home of Frank Baum, during the yearly WIZARD OF OZ celebration and parade, I have my picture taken with the same munchkins who's autographed my photo given to me by my daughters years earlier! Even now at 56, when it comes on TV (although I have it on DVD), my family calls to tell me its on TV......and still my all time fave!!!!!!!!!!

[Hunter Grigsby]

I love Wizard Of Oz and the Oz is bald and a little intimdating but so cool!!!!!!!

[Mary Tatter-Mancini]

I love the Wizard of Oz. I can sing and say the lines before they even say it. When it was the big screen a couple of years ago, my husband took me for my birthday. I had never seen it on the big screen. It was awesome.

Mary

[Callie Embry]

I remember 40 years ago when it would come on and I would make the family watch it. As soon as I heard the Wicked Witch of the West's theme music I would run to the hall closet and hide sitting on the vacuum cleaner until my mother would tell me it was okay to come out.

[Fern]

The wizard of Oz is an amazing film it only ever comes on once a year at Christmas time and me and my mum never fail to watch it

[Mandy]

My favorite memory of my paternal Grandmother was that every year around Thanksgiving Wizard of OZ would air on t.v. I would spend the night with her and we would make Jiffy Pop over the stove eye then settle in on her pull-out sofa bed in the living room and watch OZ. She always held me tight at the first site of the Wicked Witch. LOL I was terrified. It seems so silly now ...but my Granny Mary made me feel completely safe. :)
~Mandy

[Alex Szollo]

I remember waiting in a lot of excitement for the movie to be on and when the Cowardly Lion came in, I'd hide behind mom and cried, that lion terrified me as a kid. I love this movie, almost know it by heart, and will always remember it as the movie that marked my childhood.

[Helga M]

Long before there were VHS tapes you could only see the WOZ once a year. I loved the movie and couldn't wait for it to come on. Since I knew I wouldn't get to see my fav movie for another year my mom suggested that I record the whole thing on an audio cassette. What a super idea! I set everything up...enjoyed the movie and was so excited with the thought that even though I couldn't see Dorothy and her friends I could hear it anytime. The movie went off and I get my cassette ready to play my movie but alas there was no sound. I was devastated. I 'm not sure what happened. I cried like a baby. My mother tried to soothe my feelings by saying" Don't worry. It will be shown next year again".... needless to say, I felt worse! A year was a long time. I got over it, and to this day., The Wizard of Oz remains my favorite movie!

[Trisha Cardwell]

I absolutely love The Wizard of Oz! It not only reminds me of when I was a child, but also of my grandmother! She used to watch it with me and I remember her hiding behind a pillow whenever the wicked witch came on. Now that my grandmother is gone, I carry on the tradition of watching this classic with my little girl!

[angel pritt]

I watched The Wizard of Oz every year as a child on an old B&W TV. The first time I saw it in color I was mesmerized!I own the VHS and DVD version but still watch it every year on TV.

[kelly]

Coming up on my 25 th birthday I look back at this movie as one of the most prominent things from my childhood. I refered to it as the greatest movie you'd never seen and every weekend when i went to my grandparents house I would hide in the back bedroom telling everyone they needed to come see this movie! My grandparents both recently passed but until their final days came they called me everytime it was on so I could turn on the greatest movie you'd never seen! When I finally get married I will be walking down the aisle in my very own pair of ruby slippers! Somewhere over the rainbow will be played for my father daughter dance!

[Sarah W]

I watched the Wizard of Oz with my family when I was really young; it's my aunt's favorite movie. I had several toys and I even had a Dorothy dress made for me. When I was in 5th grade, I did a report on the movie and wore my dress while I presented it. Just last fall, I was in the musical and played Auntie Em and Glinda. All the little kids that played munchkins would say "HI GLINDA!" every time they saw me and were in awe when they first met me. It was so precious to sign autographs and see how amazed the kids were when I let them hold my wand, and I loved taking pictures with little girls that came dress as Dorothy or Glinda. Now, I'm working on reading the whole series of books.

[Brittany Oliver]

The Wizard of Oz has always been my favorite movie since I was a very young child. I still get teased today for my love of the movie. As a child when my mom brought me to the grocery store, people would comment on how well behaved I was. When they asked me what my name was, I happily replied, Dorothy, Dorothy Gale! My mom would smile sheepishly and explain that that was not my name, I just loved The Wizard of Oz so much. I used to carry around a basket with a dog in it and was ecstatic when I was given a real Dorothy dress and ruby slippers. I used to think there was magic under Glindas dress that held it up underneath. And when our family bought two toy poodles, a white one for my sister and a black one for me, at sixteen years old, I decided the best name for him was Toto. I was Dorothy in a church led play that was a parody of The Wizard of Oz and was Glinda in a Wizard of Oz play. My family still teases me because I knew everyone lines and would get inwardly upset when others didn't remember their lines...I guess it makes sense after wearing out multiple Wizard of Oz VHS tapes. The Wizard of Oz had been a huge part of my life and thinking of it brings back so many memories. I wished that I, like Dorothy, could have a magical place to escape to somewhere over the rainbowand I look back on that magical time of my life where anything seemed possible and my best friends were a scarecrow, a tin man and a cowardly lion. <3

[Carol]

Everyone who knows me, knows how much I love The Wizard of Oz. I still remember watching it come on TV once a year. I would be devastated if I could not watch it when it was on. As a child, I had a neighbor who reminded me of the Wicked Witch. For years I was convinced they were related. :)

[Sharon Billingsly]

I'm from Kansas and I have watched The Wizard Of Oz since I was very small. Everytime it comes on my family calls me and let's me know. I have always been obsessed with this movie. It's a classic. My kids know that when I die that I want them to play, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." I have two many memories of this movie to mention. I have a few items I've boughten from the Wizard Of Oz collection. I've visited the museum in Ottawa and saw the balloon at York and still want to go to Liberal and see that museum. All the characters in this movie are wonderful and I really don't have a favorie unless it's Dorothy(Judy Garland).

[Bobbi Craig]

As most of you, in the early 60's we only watched The Wizard of Oz when it aired on TV once a year. So, every time it aired, I would notice something new I hadn't recalled seeing before! This once-a-year treat made its viewing even that more appealing and exciting! The anticipation of, and then the watching and reliving of the story year after year in my childhood is a tremendous part of the magic! My three brothers and I would march and sing "Oh We Um, Eoh Um" like the 'Winkies' non-stop the next day!

[Dawn Raney]

My dad was not a fan of musicals whatsoever, but he absolutely loved "The Wizard of Oz." It was the first video that my grandma bought me when we got our first VCR back in the early 80s. I cannot even try to count how many times we watched that movie. (We would still watch it when it came on television though). My dad knew all of these "behind the scenes" facts about Margaret Hamilton getting burned in the Munchkinland scene, and the first Tinman nearly going blind from the make-up, etc. When I went to MGM Studios in Orlando, I picked up a copy of the script and would ask people to pick any line in the movie, and I was able to complete it...not to mention the rest of the dialogue, scene, and film as a whole! It's such a classic, and I will certainly continue the tradition of introducing the film to my children. I only wish that my dad was still here to watch it with me, but having those amazing memories always makes it feel like home whenever and wherever I watch that movie.

[Dolores]

The Wizard of Oz is an amazing movie which provides wonderful memories! The movie came on once a year usually in the fall. It provided warmth, a little fear, love, and most of all a sense of home. I remember hurrying through supper eagerly waiting for the movie begin. I would ask over and over, "is it time, is it time"? My parent would threaten to not let me watch the movie if I continued to ask the questions over and over. I remember the way my soul stirred once I saw Dorothy walking down the road with Toto. And oh my when the music began, somewhere over the rainbow, well my little world was complete. I would be completely engrossed in the movie anxiously awaiting the next scene. Then comes the end and all the happiness rushes in. One because Dorothy was safely home and two because I knew this movie also meant the beginning of the wonderful holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. And we all know what Christmas was and is to a small child. It is hope...All the hopes of the world. Hope to receive a mountain of wonderful toys. Boys wanted a plane or train and girls wanted a pair of ruby slippers. The movie reminds me of a time when I was a little girl waiting to embrace and take on the big ol' world. I wanted to find and walk down my own yellow brick road. I wanted to gaze upon the emerald city while all the time wearing...yes you know...a pair of ruby slippers.

Now grown, I own a DVD of the movie and watch it most every time it is on television. So yes that little girl may have grown up and entered the world and no not on a yellow brick road. It is funny how life works. The older we become the more we reminisce our younger years. The movie when now watched allows this aging older woman to become that same little girl once again, anxiously awaiting her favorite movie. The same movie which again and again takes her home.

I humbly thank you Wizard of Oz!!!

[Stanley Salce]

One day while playing clarinet at a local rehability hospital here in Glendora, I had played the hit song of "Somewhere over the rainbow" and one this one elderly patients had told me that she went to High School with Judy Garland saying that her real name was Frances Gumm. Then shortly after I had entered a creative arts talent show at the Downtown L.A. Veterans hospital (Army Veteran) Playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and won first place.

[Anna]

When I was five, I was taken to the pediatrician for some sort of ailment (probably an ear infection). As we were leaving the doctor's office, my mother and I walked through the waiting room and my eyes wandered to the tiny TV screen. The children in the waiting room were watching a very colorful movie. Even though the screen was small, and I was across the room and my mother was hustling me out the door, I was enchanted by the colors and the beautiful lady in the pink dress, who was telling dozens of little people to "come out, come out, wherever you are..."
"WHAT'S THAT?" I asked my mom, thoroughly enchanted by the colors and music.
"That's the Wizard of Oz," she said. "It's too scary for you. It gave me nightmares when I was a little girl."
And out the door we went. I must have begged my mom to let me see the rest of the movie because she rented it soon after. It was the most wonderful movie my five-year-old eyes had ever seen. I had no nightmares, but instead discovered one of my favorite films. Twenty years later, the memory of the first few seconds of Oz in the waiting room is one of the clearest from my childhood.

[Mina]

From the time I was a little girl I have watched the Wizard of Oz at least once a year. What a treat it was for me. Today I am 54 and still watch it everytime it comes on. One day I hope to share it with my grandchildren as I have with my own children. This movie is by far my favorite and will be for a long time to come.

[leslie richards]

My favorite memory of this movie is on going... My daughter, as a child fell in love with this movie, she watched it at least 10 times a week, I had to refer to her as Dorthy and I was Glinda, I would have to ask her day after day..ARE YOU A GOOD WITH OR A BAD WITCH? Through the years it is well known her love for the movie and people have given her quit a collection of things wizard of oz related to collect. This year for her 24th birthday she even did a Theme party and yes you guessed it.I love the movie and my little Dorthy.I think you will enjoy these photos of party.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150290276033748.362284.771133747&type=3

[Karen Badyrka]

I patiently waited all year for that very special night when the movie was on. My dad would make me a plate of crackers with butter to snack on while I watched the movie. My mom, dad, grandmother and cousins would come over to watch. My cousin would always run and hide on the stairway when the witches face come on close up in the crystal ball when Dorothy was in the witches castle. And we always laughed when the lion ran down the hallway after the wizard yelled at him and he jumped out the window. This movie has such wonderful memories for me, I will never forget. Till this day, even though I own the DVD set, I still watch the movie whenever it is on tv, just because it brings back those great memories!