Yesterday was the 70th (!!) anniversary...

Of the release of Warner's 'The Wizard of Oz'

That film is so iconic. The story is so unbeatable for being the 'best of all time'.....

(And yes, somehow it is very very gay.... but more on that in a minute...)

Yesterday, the Empire State Building was supposed to be lit green at the spire. (Emerald City, don'tcha know...) But got lit red, because of Iranians who were protesting Ach-my-gawwd-jamima whoever the fuck he is... I guess they were thinking of ruby slippers. At least that is Rachel Maddow's guess, she was all hopped up for it....

Rachel is half my age.

But I will bet you that if all Americans and people world-wide have one thing in common, it was seeing 'The Wizard of Oz' as a child.

Am not being snarky about this, really not. I can't remember how many years we had special showings at the cinema I worked in. Two weekend matinees, and we sold out 1400 seats on those weekends. And I and my friends would work overtime to put up over one thousand boxes of fresh popcorn for each one beforehand, it was a nightmare. But it was also a lovely experience to see a new generation see the film, if we had duty inside the cinema. Watching all the children's faces react to great story-telling, and being enrapt with pure magic on a big, big screen. I loved it when they went into wonderment, when the film went from black-and-white to technicolor and a whole new world opened up to them. And the terror, when the flying monkeys got led loose, and the joy when the wicked witch melted toward the end. Story-telling at its' very best, hey.

The gay references only surfaced much later. In the Fifties, one would ask, 'are you a friend of Dorothy's?', for instance. I never understood that, nor heard that one personally, by the way. For me it was the perfect fairy tale...

And to this day, I can't put my finger on what it was that made that film a gay icon. I guess they just seemed to embrace it, and what it was they identified with eludes me... wanting to be 'somewhere else'? 'I have a feeling we're not in Kansas any more.' Being bored and whisked off to a world of adventures you never imagined?' It has never made sense to me. Just Judy Garland? Pfft. I loved Bert Lahr.... just sayin'.

But whatever it was, it was the perfect children's film. I have a copy in my dvd collection, and believe it was the 60th anniversary of the film's release, with some amazing extras on it.

So I guess I will have to pull it out soon, and take another look at that masterpiece soon. Haven't been up for looking at anything lately. But it always cheers me up.

If you have a copy, take another look. Movie magic.

I wanted to find a good video of Garland telling about the wayward 'Munchkins', but came up with nothing. But this as good as it gets... And now I think I know why it hit something with the GLBT people. Not feeling you fit in, and wanting to be somewhere else....