My Oz collection

People collect all kinds of things. Typical items people collect are coins, dolls, sports cards, comic books, etc.

Currently, I collect shotglasses (although I do love snow globes too!), but for me as a kid (and even still) I collected Wizard of Oz stuff.

I loved the movie and wanted to be Dorothy - I'd have my mom put my hair in braided pigtails just like hers and I had little woven straw purse that I would a carry a grey Pound Puppy around in, calling him Toto. Discussing it recently with my mom, we realized I never actually dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween though! I figure that it was probably because I spent every other day running around the house, dressing and acting the part so dressing up for Halloween would have been the same as any other day!

I first saw the movie back in the late 80s, as the movie was being re-released for the 50th Anniversary, so naturally, there was a surge of related merchandise available.

I have these really neat Effanbee collectors dolls from the late 80s, prior to Madame Alexander buying out the line and shrinking them down in size. The only 2 I am missing are the little Munchkin boy and girl, as my mom wanted to focus on getting all the main characters first and by the time we did, we could no longer find these 2. Mom told me if I ever found them online, like on eBay or Amazon or from some collector, to let her know, as she'd buy them for me to complete my Wizard of Oz doll collection.

(sorry about the glare!)

Also, notice in the photos, there are smaller figurines at the bottom of each doll (as well as a basket with Toto, and a few other random figurines that are on display in my doll case). There was a Country Accents store in one of the smaller local malls and they would carry these from time to time. Each time we went in, mom would often let me pick one figure to add to my collection. I think I got all of them, however the end of the Witch's broom broke off when I was playing with it. We tried to glue it back on, but it would never stay.

 This postcard is also displayed in my doll case (it's behind the Tin Man doll). One of my best friends from Pre-school and Kindergarten sent me this, with her mom translating the message in small print underneath that they saw this and thought of me and had it to send it.

I also had a plastic Wizard of Oz snowglobe, however, being plastic, it got dropped and shattered. While looking online, I think I found it, but it's been over 20 years, we're not sure if this is the exact one or not, but my mom recalls the red base with the label and I remember the yellow brick with the cast walking on it (although I recall the cast looked more like the movie cast). We have an inkling this might be it though and I found a seller and inquired, so I might get my old snow globe back! Yay!

The Board Game. So this isn't the exact one that I have - it's buried somewhere in my parents basement if I had to guess, unless I stupidly sold it at a garage sale way back when (like I did with my case full of Ninja Turtle figures - yes, I still kick myself from time to time over that act of stupidity). It was your basic late-80s/early 90s board game - spin the flimsy spinner to tell you how many turns to go, move your piece around the board, lose a turn or go back several spaces, first one to the end wins! I hated that spinner though!

This is a poster that hung in the basements of the 2 houses I lived in growing up. It was actually still hanging in the current basement until recently too. It was a promotional one for the 50th Anniversary re-release.

This is a glass ruby red slipper that my grandma (dad's mom) had on display at their house. Since they live out in Pennsylvania, and we're in Illinois, I'd only get to see them maybe once a year when we visited. Grandma knew just how much I was into the Wizard of Oz and I used to always play with this glass slipper when I was at their house - I could even somehow squeeze my foot in it and try to walk in it! (LOL). Eventually she gave it to me and it's currently displayed on our shelf with my shotglass collection.


Here are my movies. Yes, you'd think I would have more. Here is the original 50th Anniversary VHS, which the front cover is actually an attached booklet flap with a 32 page color spread which has all sorts of behind the scenes info and actor bios, etc. On the VHS, at the end, is the behind the scenes commentary featuring clips of deleted scenes (including the infamous "lost" Jitterbug) and rehearsal footage too. I also have the 70th Anniversary DVD 2-disc set which I got for this past Christmas - I almost bought the single disc one years prior while in college, after realizing I only had the movie on VHS, but I'm glad I waited, as this one has a lot more special features than the other DVD did. I also have the Tin Man miniseries that was made by SyFy, starring Zooey Deschanel as DG, who turns out to be a descendant of Dorothy's and the film takes place in a future OZ, ruled by a mind-controlled evil Queen who wants to put OZ in eternal darkness. For a being a sort of sequel to the series as well as re-imagining, it was actually pretty good - corny in the sense of how they tied in some of the classic phrases and objects, but still good. Unfortunately I never got around to buying the Disney sequel Return to Oz, starring a young Fairuza Balk, but I plan on changing that! This one used to creep me out as a kid though, as the Wheelers were really scary!

I also need to get myself a copy of The Wiz - the 1978 "urban" musical verison of the Wizard of Oz starring Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor and Diana Ross as well as 1974's animated Journey Back to Oz, featuring Liza Minnelli as the voice of Dorothy (she sounds so much like her mother, Judy Garland, in this movie!), both of which I used to rent frequently from the video store when I was a kid.

And the books. I recently acquired a copy of the original story, realizing I didn't have one. I remember reading one as a kid, but I have no idea what happened to that copy. Also here, is the Grimmerie coffee table book from the musical Wicked, which is based off the book by Gregory MacGuire and tells us the side of the story from the Wicked Witch of the West and how she came to get her title. (Note, the book and the musical are completely different - don't let kids read the book. Even though the musical is pretty PG, the book is very R-rated). I also have the first 3 books in the Wicked series - Wicked, Son of a Witch, and Lion Among Men. I recently finished the second and the third sounds interesting, as it goes back and does for the Cowardly Lion what Wicked did for the Wicked Witch of the West. I also really want to get The Complete Oz, volumes 1 and 2, which has the entire original series written by Frank L. Baum.

When hubby and I went to Vegas for our honeymoon, we stayed at the Plaza at the end of Fremont Street and in the lobby was a 24hr McDonalds. This was how I discovered McDonald's had mini Wizard of Oz Madame Alexander toys! I got 2 while we were on our honeymoon and was able to get 2 different ones once we were back home, but unfortunately our McDonald's never got any different ones during the short period I had left to collect these. I see em on eBay from time to time though, so maybe someday I'll complete this 12 piece set. I have the Wicked Witch, the Wizard, The Scarecrow and the Ballerina Munchkin.

This piece I acquired last summer courtesy of my in-laws. We spent the 4th of July with hubby's family and out where they live, there's a lot of tents on the park grounds with different vendors selling handmade items. There was a lady who made several tin men and witches out of metal and soup cans. I saw these and knew the Tinman would be a great addition to my collection. My in-laws surprised me by buying to for me, wanting to help add to my collection. Right now it's just chillin' in our living room, as the majority of my collection is still at my parents house, but once we get a house of our own, I intend on setting up a whole display with all my Oz stuff.


Do you have a collection of anything?