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The
Wizard of Oz: when a nasty neighbor tries to have her dog
put to sleep, Dorothy takes her dog Toto and runs away.
As she does so a tornado appears and carries her to a magical
land. Wishing to return, she begins to travel to the great
city where a great wizard lives and on her way she meets
a Scarecrow who needs a brain, a Tin Man who wants a heart,
and a cowardly lion who desperately needs courage. They
all hope he will help them, before the Wicked Witch of the
West catches up with them.
Judy Garland: "That Old Man River keeps rolling along"
was one of the many songs that Judy Garland recorded. She
was born in the Upper Mississippi River town of Grand Rapids,
Minnesota, where the Judy Garland Museum takes up an entire
floor of the old grade school. A block away is the site
of the home where Garland spent the first five years of
her life. That spot is now occupied by a multiplex cinema
in the town's only shopping center. Garland's father operated
the only movie theater in Grand Rapids until he moved the
family to California in 1927. Garland made her stage debut
at that Grand Rapids theater with her two older sisters.
In 1934 the Gumm Sisters performed in Chicago during the
World's Fair there. That is where Frances Gumm was advised
to change her name to Judy Garland. Her voice got her into
film acting when she was 13 and kept her in demand for stage
and television performances after her film career was over.
The Judy Garland in the later movies was much slimmer than
the teenager who co-starred with Mickey Rooney and who played
Dorothy.
Click
here to see The Wizard of Oz Film Cells available...
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