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Remember when the Wizard of Oz being on TV once a year was a big deal?

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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:19 PM
Original message
Remember when the Wizard of Oz being on TV once a year was a big deal?
That was awesome. Just started on TNT.

I remember getting SO excited for that night, and staying up late to watch it. :)

:hi:
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fizzgig Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:21 PM
Response to Original message
1. very vaguely
my mom called me earlier tonight to tell me she was watching it. she was so excited...it was kinda cute
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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:24 PM
Response to Original message
2. Yes. It was always on in the early summer. Once a year.
We had a black-and-white set, so I didn't know that it turned into technicolor when Dorothy stepped out of the house until years later.
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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Exactly...That was always a special night
:hi:
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riverdale Donating Member (881 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:59 AM
Response to Reply #2
22. ive still never seen it in color!
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harmonicon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:28 PM
Response to Original message
4. yep
that was nice - watching movies at home was a big deal 25 years ago.
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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:31 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. I know...I miss that
We'd all sit in the livingroom...Me, Mom, Dad, and lil Bro...Good memories. :hi:
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harmonicon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:37 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. for sure
It was even the case when we first got a VCR, I think in 1983 or something. We were the first family that I knew who had one, and it was a big deal, but it was almost impossible to actually get videos, so we mostly recorded movies from TV. The remote wasn't wireless - it was on like a 10 foot cord, and only my dad was allowed to touch it.
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Rhiannon12866 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:12 PM
Response to Reply #8
39. I had the same type of VCR, think I got it in 1985.
It was a Panasonic, cost me $412, my first big purchase, and it still works...:-)
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harmonicon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:16 PM
Response to Reply #39
40. ours probably would still work, but I destroyed it
:( It was when I was a teenager and fascinated with electronics. The VCR wasn't working, so I took it apart, completely breaking it. The culprit was a label from a VHS tape that had come off and gotten stuck in a wheel - it would have been an easy fix, but not after I was done taking every little electronic bit apart before finding that out. I still feel guilty about it, especially since I never really did learn about electronics and now leave those things to the pros - I certainly left a lot of otherwise working electronic gadgets dead in my wake.
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Rhiannon12866 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #40
43. Awww. But you probably learned something.
I am a technological neophyte, wasn't ever even on-line until 2002, just missed being the computer generation. We lost power here over the weekend, and I had to wait for somebody who knows more about computers than I do to get mine going again...:eyes:

But I was ahead of the curve with my VCR, LOL. My technologically savvy friend told me that the prices were coming down, so I should buy one...:D
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harmonicon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #43
44. I did learn something:
if something electrical isn't working, take it to someone who knows what they're doing!!
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Rhiannon12866 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:55 PM
Response to Reply #44
45. I'm the same way, don't trust myself with anything electronic,
but I am pretty mechanical. When I was in school, I worked at an amusement park in the summers, drove a train around the park. It was old, bought used in 1952, held together with duct tape and bumper sticker wire, but I took great pride that I could always bring it back to the station, unless it derailed...:D
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LostInAnomie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:30 PM
Response to Original message
5. I remember every Easter they used to show the 10 Commandments.
I used to love watching that movie.
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Rhiannon12866 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 02:50 AM
Response to Reply #5
24. That is one long movie, used to show it every Easter on ABC.
The first time I saw it was at a drive-in, as a little kid with my parents. They had no idea how long it was, so we kids fell asleep in the back seat, since it lasted well past midnight...:-)
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gmoney Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 08:00 AM
Response to Reply #24
30. Think they still show it on Easter
Edward G Robinson cracks me up in that one...
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Rhiannon12866 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:37 AM
Response to Reply #30
34. I was around seven, so I fell asleep, but I know that it was standard Easter fare when I worked with
the networks. It has become a little dated, and I agree with you about Edward G. Robinson...:-)
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fishwax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:31 PM
Response to Original message
6. I remember the whole family getting excited for it
I remember my mom popping up buckets of popcorn for it :)

Seems like the original Willy Wonka used to be an annual showing too ...
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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:38 PM
Response to Original message
9. Oh, yeah. And we never got tired of it.
Frankly, I'm still not tired of The Wizard of Oz.

I also have extremely fond memories of the Thanksgiving day screenings of March of the Wooden Soldiers (with Laurel and Hardy) shown on one of the New York stations. It may have been WPIX.
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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:56 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Same here! Watching it now...I love this film
:hi:
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Aristus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 09:44 PM
Response to Original message
10. I used to like it when I was a kid. It started to really suck when the network would
go to commercial every fifteen seconds for the last forty-five minutes of the show. God bless the DVD.
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cordelia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 10:14 PM
Response to Original message
12. It was a big deal at our house.
Thanks for bringing back some sweet memories.

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stuntcat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 10:16 PM
Response to Original message
13. I watched it tonight too!
Edited on Sun Jul-27-08 10:23 PM by stuntcat
(well it's still on.. in there I hear :blush:)

I remember what a big deal it was, and the Sound of Music too.
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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 10:27 PM
Response to Original message
14. I was a special family night. I remember it well.
Now I have the DVD that has it with the Dark Side Of The Moon music soundtrack.

That really works, you know... :evilgrin:
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Whoa_Nelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 10:34 PM
Response to Original message
15. When I was a kid ('early '60s)
Was a real treat night!

Special treat of cheeseburger's from Cherry's Drive-In, and the enjoyment of the ultimate color wonder, especially since we had only gotten our first color TV Xmas 1960.

Took me years before I realized that the Wizard played so many parts throughout the movie :eyes:

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begin_within Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 10:37 PM
Response to Original message
16. It was the first time I saw color TV.
About 1965 or 1966, we only had a B/W TV, so our friends down the street invited us over to watch The Wizard of Oz on their color TV. When the movie changed from B/W to color, we went "Ooooooooh!" as we had never seen color TV before that moment. However, when the Wicked Witch came on the screen, I ran out of the room terrified (I was only 5 or 6).
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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 10:38 PM
Response to Reply #16
17. That's a cool memory...
:)
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JeanGrey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-27-08 11:16 PM
Response to Original message
18. I've been watching tonight as well. I know every song and
every word of dialogue! LOL I still remember when we got our first color TV and we could see Munchkinland in color for the first time.....................
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libodem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:13 AM
Response to Original message
19. yes
I was so scared of those flying monkeys!
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:35 AM
Response to Original message
20. Yep. All during the 70's. "Gone with the wind" was a big deal too
but more for the "grown ups" than us kids. There was also "the sound of music". I spent much of my childhood without a TV, but I'd always go to my best friend's house for a sleep over on those nights!
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Critters2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:52 AM
Response to Original message
21. It was on when I was in the hosp recovering from getting my tonsils out.
My parents made special arrangements so the nurses would let my sister come up to my room--so we could watch it as a family. Otherwise, she was too young to visit.

A lot of things have changed since then!!
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Rhiannon12866 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 02:47 AM
Response to Original message
23. I sure do. When I was a kid, my favorite night was when "The Wizard of Oz" was on, on a Sunday night
and my mother made chicken and rice. That was a perfect night for me. How old am I, anyway? LOL. :hi:

BTW, my previous pup was a Cairn Terrier, like Toto, only lighter in color. He almost made it to his 19th birthday. I used to watch "The Wizard of Oz" with him and ask him why I couldn't carry him under one arm, like Dorothy did Toto. My pup was just a bit bigger...:D
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alphafemale Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 02:52 AM
Response to Original message
25. The first time I watched. When Auntie Em turned into the witch in the crystal ball I freaked out.
I was probably four or five.
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Heidi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 03:00 AM
Response to Original message
26. Yep. My little brother always spent the night with our grandparents on WOO night,
cuz he was scared of the flying monkeys. :scared:

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Number23 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 05:33 AM
Response to Original message
27. I was in my 20's the first time I saw The Wizard of Oz....
and wasn't scared.... :scared:
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Angleae Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 05:56 AM
Response to Original message
28. I have it on DVD
I can watch it anytime I want.
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conscious evolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 07:51 AM
Response to Original message
29. Monkeys still freak me out
because of that movie.
Won't watch it.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 08:31 AM
Response to Original message
31. The tornado still amazes me
I'd say that it stands up very well as one of the all-time greatest special effects in film. The scene is so well correographed, lit, and shot that it's almost hard to believe that it was shot on a sound stage 75 years ago, in the early years of CGI.


(ha ha)


The early scene with Dorothy and the Mentalist is about the most perfect and concise debunking of psychic readings that I've ever seen on film. Also "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" is among the finest lines in the history of American cinema.


And I do remember when it was a once-a-year event. Long ago.
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av8rdave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:27 AM
Response to Original message
32. I still watch it once a year, although...
I turn the sound off and watch it to Dark Side of the Moon. The synchronicity is amazing.
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bikebloke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:36 AM
Response to Original message
33. Never seen it in colour.
But I knew about the change from black & white because Danny Kaye warned us while introducing it.
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Inchworm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:37 AM
Response to Original message
35. Yup
I did that to my daughter even though it wasn't such a big deal any more and it was on all year.

Good times.

:hi:
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Midlodemocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
36. Sure do. And, I remember my four younger brothers being
terrified of the flying monkeys. :rofl:
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ThoughtCriminal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:48 AM
Response to Original message
37. As a child, we only had a B&W TV set
So I was almost an adult before I found out that Kansas was B&W and Oz was color. Until then, I didn't really get the "Horse of a different color" line.


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Amerigo Vespucci Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 10:52 AM
Response to Original message
38. No cable TV...just ABC, NBC, CBS...so that was one of the biggest events if the year
Probably the reason why I bought this:



http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Oz-Three-Disc-Collectors/dp/B000ADS64E/

DVD features
The Wizard of Oz DVD released in 1999 was loaded with extra features, but it's now safe to throw away that version in all its cardboard-package glory in favor of the new three-disc edition. First things first: All the bonus material from the earlier disc is there. That includes the Angela Lansbury-hosted documentary The Making of a Movie Classic; the outtakes and deleted scenes, including Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" reprise and the home-movie recording of "The Jitterbug"; the sketches and stills and composer Harold Arlen's home movies; the audio underscores and radio programs; the 1979 interviews with Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, and Jack Haley; and other items too numerous to mention. (Some text introductions to the features have been replaced by narration by Lansbury, for whatever reason.) Brand-new to the 2005 edition is a sharp restoration using Warner's Ultra Resolution process and an accompanying featurette on how it's done. The technicians also discuss how the sound was remixed, though that would have been more effective had it included surround-sound demonstrations (the featurette is in 2.0). Other features on the new set include a commentary track by critic John Fricke supplemented by vintage cast interviews (he offers a lot of trivia, and debunks the myth that Shirley Temple was ever close to getting the Dorothy role); profiles of nine cast members and clips of other movies they appeared in (including Toto); a lightly animated 10-minute storybook again narrated by Lansbury; 2001 and 2005 behind-the-scenes featurettes; and a 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast.

The 1999 disc also included one-minute excerpts of three early treatments of The Wizard of Oz. The third disc of the three-disc collector's edition includes the complete versions of those treatments and more. They are four silent films: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1910, 13 min.), "The Magic Cloak of Oz" (1914, 38 min.), His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914, 59 min., written and directed by Baum himself), The Wizard of Oz (1925, 72 min., Larry Semon). The fifth treatment is Ted Eshbaum's 1933 Technicolor cartoon short which has songs and sound, and is the first depiction of Kansas in black and white and Oz in color. The third disc also has a 38-minute biography of L. Frank Baum, and collector's-edition supplements include a gorgeous set of photo cards among other materials. --David Horiuchi

Product Description
An All-New Wizard of Oz With State of The Art Ultra-Resolution Picture Quality and Over 10 Hours of Bonus Extras.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by John Fricke and multiple cast and crew members.
Biographies:We Haven't Really Met Properly - includes 9 orginal cast biographies
Deleted Scenes:If I Only Had a Brain; If I Only Had a Heart; Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Over the Rainbow; The Jitterbug
Documentaries:L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain; Memories of Oz -2001 TCM documentary
Featurette:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook; Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz; The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz; Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz
Music Clips:Audio Vault Includes: Over the Rainbow; Munchkinland Medley Rehearsal Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Sequence Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Voice Tests; If I Only Had a Brain; We're Off to See the Wizard; If I Only Had a Heart; If I Only Had the Nerve/We're Off to See the Wizard; Emerald City/The Merry Old Land of Oz; If I Were King of the Forest; The Jitterbug; Over the Rainbow/Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Kansas Underscoring; Munchkinland Underscoring; and more
Music Only Track:Audio Vault Includes: Over the Rainbow; Munchkinland Medley Rehearsal Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Sequence Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Voice Tests; If I Only Had a Brain; We're Off to See the Wizard; If I Only Had a Heart; If I Only Had the Nerve/We're Off to See the Wizard; Emerald City/The Merry Old Land of Oz; If I Were King of the Forest; The Jitterbug; Over the Rainbow/Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Kansas Underscoring; Munchkinland Underscoring; and more
Newsreel:Cavalcade of the Academy Awards Excerpt - 1939 newsreel
Other:The Wizard of Oz - 1910 short; The Magic Cloak of Oz - 1914 short; His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz - 1914 feature; The Wizard of Oz - 1925 feature; The Wizard of Oz - 1933 animated short; and more
Photo gallery:Oz on Broadway; Pre-MGM; Sketches and Storyboards; Costume and Make-up Tests; Richard Thorpe's Oz; Buddy Ebsen; Oz Comes to Life; Behind the Scenes; Portraits; Special Effects; Post Production; Deleted Scenes; Original Publicity
TV Special:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic - 1990 TV special
Theatrical Trailer:1939 What is Oz? Teaser; 1940 Loews Cairo Theater Trailer; 1949 Re-issue Trailer; 1949 Grownup Re-issue Trailer; 1970 Children's Matinee Re-issue Trailer; 1998 Warner Bros. Re-issue Trailer; Texas Contest Winners (1939 trailer)
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racaulk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:21 PM
Response to Original message
41. Yes!!!
"The Wizard of Oz" and "Rudolph: The Red-Nosed Reindeer" were two movies that I always looked forward to seeing every year as a kid! :)
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BarenakedLady Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 12:22 PM
Response to Original message
42. Yup
I got to stay up late to watch it and then proceed to have nightmares of the wicked witch flying by my window for the next two weeks.
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MadrasT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-28-08 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
46. Sure do
I sort of miss those "big event" annual movies. They always turned into a "family event night"... Wizard, Gone With The Wind, Frosty the Snowman... it's just not the same now that you can watch them any time you want.
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