Oz Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Talesofwizardofoz

Tales of the Wizard of Oz is a cartoon series, featuring short cartoon skits loosely based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It aired between September to December 1961 although reported to be three seasons with a one-shot comic published in 1962 as Four Color Issue #1308.

It was later followed up by a sequel television special in 1964 called Return to Oz which is not to be confused with the 1985 film of the same name.

It was produced by Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass, Larry Roemer, Antony Peters, and Bernard Cowan, and made at Crawley Films (Canada) as it was conceived by Frank Radford "Budge" Crawley. With the Rankin/Bass library of works before 1974 being obtained by DreamWorks Animation, the copyright of this series is owned by NBCUniversal which bought DreamWorks in 2016.

Plot[]

The premise of the series surrounds Dorothy Gale's constant desire for the Wizard to send her home, and while the Wizard works on a solution, we are treated to stories of the every day lives of each character, while they try to avoid the wrath of the Witch and her dragonette named Desmond, and their attempts to attack them even though she bore no real contempt for them at all.

Characters[]

Notable characters include Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow named "Socrates" portrayed as a buffoon, the Tin Woodman named "Rusty" portrayed as a bully, the Cowardly Lion named "Dandy" portrayed as a real fraidy-cat, Toto, and the all-green, long-nosed complete-with-wart Wicked Witch of the West named "Wicked", and the Wizard who can really perform no discernable magic beyond simple card and sleight-of-hand tricks, and speaks like W.C. Fields. The Munchkins were portrayed as small tear-shaped beings with arms and legs.

Episodes[]

Wiki Notice: These are in the process of getting their own pages.

An official listing has never been complied, so this is a partial list taken from Wikipedia of all known shorts in no particular order. It is unclear how they aired exactly as potentially they were packaged 30 minute episodes with segments:

  1. The Witch Switch
  2. Leapin' Lion
  3. The Magic Hat
  4. Machine-Gun Morris
  5. Movie Maid
  6. The Big Cake Bake
  7. Desmond's Dilemma
  8. The Raffle
  9. Be a Card
  10. The Great Oz Auto Race
  11. Well Done
  12. The Do-It-Yourself Heart
  13. The Hillies and Billies
  14. Love Sick
  15. The Wisdom Teeth
  16. The Brain
  17. Bake Your Cake and Eat it Too
  18. A Fish Tale
  19. The Last Straw
  20. Plug-In Courage
  21. Boomer Rang
  22. The Family Tree
  23. The Pudgy Lion
  24. The Great Laruso
  25. Beauty and the Beach
  26. The Wizard's Magic Wand
  27. The Balloon Buzz
  28. Shadow Shakes
  29. Misfire Miss
  30. Gung-Ho Gang
  31. Heart Burn
  32. Stuffed
  33. The Fountain of Youth
  34. The Rubber Man
  35. The Happy Forest
  36. Dandy's Dilemma
  37. The Search
  38. The Bag of Wind
  39. The Music Men
  40. To Bee or Not to Bee
  41. Have Your Pie and Eat it Too
  42. The Sound of Munchkins
  43. The Count
  44. Places, Please
  45. The Green Golfer
  46. The Flying Carpet
  47. The Monkey Convention
  48. The Cultured Lion
  49. The Jail Breakers
  50. The Reunion
  51. The Sucker
  52. The Bubble Champ
  53. Too Much Heart
  54. The Witch's Boyfriend
  55. The Clock Watchers
  56. Double Trouble
  57. The O.N.
  58. Going to Pieces
  59. Mail-Order Lover
  60. The School Marm
  61. An Optical Delusion
  62. Watch the Bouncing Bull
  63. All in a Lather
  64. The Green Thumb
  65. Leap Frog
  66. The Big Shot
  67. On the Wing
  68. To Stretch a Point
  69. The Flipped Lid
  70. Down in the Mouth
  71. The Gusher
  72. It's a Dog's Life
  73. The Munchkin Robin Hood
  74. The Wizard's Tailfins
  75. The Fallen Star
  76. Friends of a Feather
  77. Monkey Air Lift
  78. Guaranteed for Life
  79. The Skills of Bravery
  80. The Coat of Arms
  81. Roar, Lion, Roar
  82. The Inferior Decorator
  83. The Salesman
  84. The Cat's Meow
  85. The Yellow Brick Road
  86. Rusty Rusty
  87. The Scarecrow
  88. The Invisible Man
  89. Free Trade
  90. The Bull Fighter
  91. The Golden Touch
  92. The Long Hair
  93. Roll the Presses
  94. The Big Brother
  95. The Cool Lion
  96. Gabe the Gobbler
  97. The Strawman Twist
  98. The Dinner Party
  99. The Fire Chief
  100. The Green Tomato
  101. The Poet
  102. The Three Musketeers
  103. Get Out the Vote
  104. The Mail Man
  105. The Pony Express
  106. Chowy Mein
  107. The Super Duper Market

Cast[]

All actors were uncredited during initial airings:

Live segments[]

These are known to exist, but footage is believed to be lost. It is possible these aired in-between the cartoon shorts.

  • Host/ Performer - Fred Hall
  • Jerome The Lion - Fred Hall
  • Mr. Rags The Silent, sad faced Tramp Clown - Fred Hall
  • The Lone Musketeer - Fred Hall
  • Jungle Boy - Fred Hall

Opening Theme Lyrics[]

They're three sad souls, oh me, oh my!

No brains, no heart, he's much too shy

But never mind you three,

He's the Wizard as you can see

He'll fix that - 1, 2, 3!

In the funny place called the World of Oz

Oh, the World of Oz is a very funny place

Where everyone wears a funny funny face

All the streets are paved with gold

And no one ever grows old

In that funny land lives the Wizard of Oz!

Site-logoTelevision Shows, Specials and EpisodesSite-logo
TV Series Adventures in Oz with Cheryl (1999) • Lost in Oz (2002) • Tin Man (2007) • La Maga (2008) • Dorothy and the Witches of Oz (2011) • Emerald City (2017)
Animated Series and Specials Tales of the Wizard of Oz (1961) • Return to Oz (1964) • Dorothy in the Land of Oz (1980) • In the Magical Land of Oz (1983) • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1986) • Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz (1987) • The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz (1990) • The Wizard of Oz (1990) • The Oz Kids (1996) • Adventures in the Emerald City (1999) • Marchen Awakens Romance (2007) • Lost in Oz (2015-2018) • Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (2017-2020)
Guest Appearances Shirley Temple's Storybook Theater: "The Land of Oz" (1960) • Once Upon a Time (2011-2018) • Supernatural (2013-2015)
Pastiches, parodies, etc The World's Greatest SuperFriends: "The Planet of Oz" (1980) • Scooby-Doo (1981-) • Beetlejuice: "Wizard of Ooze" (1991) • Animaniacs: "Buttons in Ows" (1995) • Earthworm Jim: "Wizard of Ooze" (1996) • Rugrats: "No Place Like Home" (1999) • MadTV (2000-2004) • Futurama: "Anthology of Interest II" (2002) • That's So Raven (2003-2006) • Phineas and Ferb: "Wizard of Odd" (2010) • Dora the Explorer : "Book Explorers" (2012) • The Fresh Beat Band: "The Wizard of Song" (2012) • Victorious: "April Fools Blank" (2012) • "Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Brick Road" (2012) • Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: "Minnie's The Wizard Of Dizz" (2013) • Dino Dan/Trek's Adventures "The Wonderful Wizard of Dinoz" (2014) • Black Dynamite: "The Wizard of Watts" (2015) • Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn: "The Wonderful Wizard of Quads" (2017)
Reality TV Project Runway (2004) • America's Got Talent (2006 – present) • Face Off (2011)
Shorts and others Beef Ravioli commercials (2006) • Unknown, Lost, or non-English Adaptations
Advertisement