The Wizard of Oz celebrates its 85th Anniversary of release with return to the big screen and other events.

The Wizard of Oz celebrates its 85th Anniversary of release with return to the big screen and other events.

By: Kevin Vickery 

On Sunday, January, 28th the Wizard of Oz made a one day return to the big screen at AMC Theaters in Muncie, IN, presented by Fandom Events as part of their “Big Screen Classics” series.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to load up my kids, along with my friend and fellow columnist, Blaise the Baker, and head to Muncie to watch the classic film on the silver screen for the first time.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the movie’s plot line regarding Dorothy’s (Judy Garland) trip via a tornado to the Land of Oz and her quest to see the Wizard so she could return home to Kansas. Let’s face it, after eighty-five years since its release, we all know about the Scarecrow, the Tin-Man, the Cowardly Lion, Munchkins, the yellow brick road, and witches from various directions so I’ll not bore you with outlining it.

Even my thirteen and nine year old daughters have seen it at least a dozen times at home over the years and I couldn’t even guess how many times for me.  Despite that, we all thought it was nice to see it in an actual modern movie theater complete with reclining seats, and popcorn refills. My daughter, Delia Vickery said, “I thought it was really cool to see it that way, on a giant screen.”

That’s despite the fact that the experience was nearly derailed when we had a flat tire after we got “fancy like Applebees” on our way to the theater. However, I got the spare tire on in time for us to make it there before the end of the previews, and with my daughter’s help, Blaise even overcame his fear of the wicked witch’s flying monkeys. 

The film, originally released on August 10th, 1939 based off of the children’s fantasy novel from the 1900, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum has been a part of America culture for over eight decades and has been remade, reworked, and adapted into many other versions and styles including “The Wiz” which was originally a Broadway musical from 1974, later made famous in 1978 by a movie version starring Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Richard Pryor, among others.

There’s also the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, “Wicked”, focusing on the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West that’s currently touring the country and is based off the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, but unfortunately there are no Indianapolis dates currently on their schedule.

Personally, my favorite version of “The Wizard of Oz dates back to about 1995, when it was rumored that if you start Pink Floyd’s, “Dark Side of the Moon” album during the first roar of the MGM lion at the beginning of the movie, the album and film seem to synchronize in an uncanny way. Of course my friends and I had to try it and I’ll admit that it was a little spooky.  The video crew I was touring with at that time even made and distributed bootlegged VHS copies where it was already synced up and made it easy to view. The band members of Pink Floyd have denied any attempt on their part to create this effect which has been referred to as “The Dark Side of the Rainbow” or “The Wizard of Floyd”, but even still, my friends and I all thought it was pretty cool at the time, even though it’s probably just a coincidence and after about thirty minutes, it starts getting annoying to watch the film without dialogue.

The original and 6 time Academy Award winning film is being celebrated because of it’s 85th anniversary in various other ways so if you’re a fan of the movie, here are some other events coming up in the area.

From May 23rd through July 7th of 2024, Beef & Boards Dinner Theater in Indianapolis will be offering their stage adaptation of the iconic film and musical score. For more information go to:  beefandboards.com.

Also, on May 25th, 2024 “The Oz Escape: An Interactive Indianapolis Experience” will be held in the Capital City and is billed as an “outdoor escape room” type experience throughout the streets of the city that will become a magical world of Oz, where participants will use their phones to follow hidden clues, solve puzzles and complete challenges as they walk around the city.  For information on this event go to questapp.com

Henry County resident and Ball State alum, Kevin Vickery, is bassist and lead vocalist for The Cousin Brothers. He spent several years working in Nashville for some of the biggest names in Country Music before taking over the reins at his family business. If you have a story idea or an event that you think Kevin should cover, contact him at kevin.makesomenoise@yahoo.com