Tales of the Wizard of Oz

Tales of the Wizard of Oz is a 1961 cartoon series, featuring short cartoon skits based on the Land of Oz. The series was later followed up by a sequel movie, Return to Oz.  It was produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass, Larry Roemer, Antony Peters, and Bernard Cowan, and made at Crawley Films (Canada).  Concieved by Frank Radford "Budge" Crawley.

Plot

The premise of the series surrounds Dorothy'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

The entire series is believed to consist of 150-200 shorts which starred such notable characters from the books and films as 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, the all-green, long-nosed complete-with-wart Wicked Witch of the West (named "Wicked", esp. multiple times in the episode called "The Reunion" [1]), 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

(an official listing has never been complied so this at least partial of all known shorts in no pacticular order)

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 intial airings:

• Rusty the Tin Man - Larry D. Mann
• Wicked Witch - Peggi Loder and Larry D. Mann 
• Socrates the Scarecrow - Alfie Scopp 
• Dandy Lion - Carl Banas 
• The Wizard of Oz - Carl Banas 
• Dorothy Gale - Susan Conway and Corinne Conley

Live segment

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!