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:
- The Witch Switch
- Leapin' Lion
- The Magic Hat
- Machine-Gun Morris
- Movie Maid
- The Big Cake Bake
- Desmond's Dilemma
- The Raffle
- Be a Card
- The Great Oz Auto Race
- Well Done
- The Do-It-Yourself Heart
- The Hillies and Billies
- Love Sick
- The Wisdom Teeth
- The Brain
- Bake Your Cake and Eat it Too
- A Fish Tale
- The Last Straw
- Plug-In Courage
- Boomer Rang
- The Family Tree
- The Pudgy Lion
- The Great Laruso
- Beauty and the Beach
- The Wizard's Magic Wand
- The Balloon Buzz
- Shadow Shakes
- Misfire Miss
- Gung-Ho Gang
- Heart Burn
- Stuffed
- The Fountain of Youth
- The Rubber Man
- The Happy Forest
- Dandy's Dilemma
- The Search
- The Bag of Wind
- The Music Men
- To Bee or Not to Bee
- Have Your Pie and Eat it Too
- The Sound of Munchkins
- The Count
- Places, Please
- The Green Golfer
- The Flying Carpet
- The Monkey Convention
- The Cultured Lion
- The Jail Breakers
- The Reunion
- The Sucker
- The Bubble Champ
- Too Much Heart
- The Witch's Boyfriend
- The Clock Watchers
- Double Trouble
- The O.N.
- Going to Pieces
- Mail-Order Lover
- The School Marm
- An Optical Delusion
- Watch the Bouncing Bull
- All in a Lather
- The Green Thumb
- Leap Frog
- The Big Shot
- On the Wing
- To Stretch a Point
- The Flipped Lid
- Down in the Mouth
- The Gusher
- It's a Dog's Life
- The Munchkin Robin Hood
- The Wizard's Tailfins
- The Fallen Star
- Friends of a Feather
- Monkey Air Lift
- Guaranteed for Life
- The Skills of Bravery
- The Coat of Arms
- Roar, Lion, Roar
- The Inferior Decorator
- The Salesman
- The Cat's Meow
- The Yellow Brick Road
- Rusty Rusty
- The Scarecrow
- The Invisible Man
- Free Trade
- The Bull Fighter
- The Golden Touch
- The Long Hair
- Roll the Presses
- The Big Brother
- The Cool Lion
- Gabe the Gobbler
- The Strawman Twist
- The Dinner Party
- The Fire Chief
- The Green Tomato
- The Poet
- The Three Musketeers
- Get Out the Vote
- The Mail Man
- The Pony Express
- Chowy Mein
- The Super Duper Market
Cast[]
All actors were uncredited during initial airings:
- Rusty the Tin Man - Larry D. Mann
- Wicked Witch - Peggi Loder and Larry D. Mann
- Socrates the Scarecrow - Alfie Scopp
- Dandy the Lion - Carl Banas
- The Wizard of Oz - Carl Banas
- Dorothy Gale - Susan Conway and Corinne Conley
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!