The Wonderful World of Oz

Lyman Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, quickly became one of the country’s best-selling children’s books. It was eventually translated into several foreign languages and gained worldwide popularity. Its greatest success, however, was the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, in which she made the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow a national hit. In 2014, on the 75^th anniversary of the film, Warner Brothers will rerelease The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. To celebrate the anniversary, the Farnsworth will present an exhibition that will help bring to life one of America’s most beloved movies and all its characters. The show will include one of Dorothy’s dresses, the only surviving complete munchkin costume, examples of the many illustrated versions of Baum’s books, movie posters, and a remarkable array of Oz memorabilia, all from the Willard Carroll and Tom Wilhite Collection.

Carroll’s fascination for Oz began as a young boy after seeing the 1939 movie on television, spurring a collecting bug that is still with him. He also made his passion part of his professional work:  he has authored three Oz-related books and created The Oz Kids animated movie series for Paramount. A graduate of the USC School of Cinema and Television, he began his career in the story departments at ABC Motion Pictures, Orion Pictures, and Zoetrope Studios before joining Walt Disney Pictures as a development executive. He is an Emmy Award-winning producer who wrote and directed Miramax’s all-star drama, Playing by Heart, with Sean Connery, Angelina Jolie, Dennis Quaid, and Jon Stewart.  Most recently Carroll wrote and directed the romantic musical comedy, Marigold, starring Ali Larter and Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, filmed entirely in Indiana. He is in pre-production for his original psychological thriller, Crawl.  Previously Carroll directed his adaptation of Philippa Pearce’s classic English children’s novel, Tom’s Midnight Garden, starring Greta Scaachi and Joan Plowright.