#mgm lions

[gifs-of-puppets]

The Muppets Go to the Movies (1981)

[roses-in-hollywood]

MGM ads in The New Movie Magazine (1933-1934). These would feature MGM’s mascot Leo the Lion conversing with his stars such as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, and John Barrymore.

[archiveofaffinities]

MGM Grand Opening Day, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1993

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

Greta Garbo poses with MGM's 'Leo the Lion,' 1926.

[jjyubi]

juyeon on hyunjae’s hyunjae

[mask131]

So you want to know about Oz! (4)

Now that we got the topic of the Oz books out of the way, let's talk about... The MGM musical! The 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz"!

Or rather, let's NOT talk about it. Let's talk about... its alternate continuity.

"Alternate continuity" or "alternate Oz" are terms cherished by Oz fans and scholars, because they allow one to navigate through the maze of Oz adaptations.

I don't want to talk here about the MGM movie per se, because A) there's way too much to say and B) everybody knows it or saw it, so I don't need to explain what it is as thoroughly. But I want to insist on a specific and given point... The 1939 musical COMPLETELY changed the game.

It is an adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", yes. And it is the most famous and acclaimed Oz adaptations that ever was - to the point it is a landmark of American cinema, and a key part of American popular culture. But, and here's the important part: it is also not at all a faithful adaptation of Baum's novel. It is a very loose adaptation that omitted, reinvented and added MANY, many things - and the problem is that, since the movie is much more famous and well-known than the original novel, it created its own "alternate continuity" of Oz works, completely dissociated from the original novels by Baum (and other authors). These are two different worlds, that start from the same story-point but diverge in many, many ways.

In this post, I want to look at all the works, movies and adaptations that present themselves as prequel or sequels to the MGM movie, and that build together this "alternate Oz continuity" that is the 1939 continuity.

How do you recognize these works, and separate them from the ones more aligned with the old novels? Simple! All you need is to look out for key details that were introduced by the MGM musical!

The Wicked Witch of the West is considered the supreme evil of Oz, and is depicted as having a green skin and being clad in black.

There is only one Good Witch, Glinda Good Witch of the North.

The magical slippers are Ruby Slippers, not Silver Slippers.

Insistence on Oz being a "dream lord" paralleling the real-world

The Wicked Witches are sisters, and not just unrelated allies in wickedness

And other details of the sort. Alright! Ready? Let's go!

Let me begin with something a bit obscure... The 1990 cartoon "The Wizard of Oz".

In 1990, a Wizard of Oz cartoon started airing on television. This animated series proposed itself as the direct sequel to the MGM movie. Dorothy, still with the ruby slippers, returned to the Land of Oz, called by Glinda due to new troubles brewing in Oz: the Wicked Witch of the West was resurrected. The series is mostly about the group of heroes travelling through Oz, encoutering various Oz folks (purely invented for the series) and defeating the various schemes of the Wicked Witch, while trying to catch up with the Wizard of Oz, whose hot air balloon is tormented by the West Wind...

Unfortunately, due to poor ratings, the series was never renewed beyond its first season. Even worse, it just... kind of stopped mid-season. 13 episodes were created (I am not even sure all were aired?) and... the show just stops. No conclusion, no ending, it just stops. Sometimes, the two-part opening episode "The Rescue of the Emerald City" is edited as one short animated movie.

Much more famous: the Disney movie "Return to Oz", from 1985. One of thes "obscure Disney movies", one of those "weird fantasy sequels", one of those "dark 80s children movies"... There's multiple reasons why this piece became a cult-classic today.

It is most notably one of the many instances of Disney trying to create an Oz product in line with the MGM movie, despite not having the rights to do so, and thus playing around with the public domain of the Oz novels. This movie presents itself as a sort-of-sequel to the MGM movie (sort-of because, since they couldn't make an actual sequel, they have things that do not match - like Dorothy's new appearance - and things that do match - the slippers are ruby). In terms of inspiration, it is mostly a retelling of the third Oz novel, "Ozma of Oz", but with various elements taken from the second Oz novel "The Marvelous Land of Oz". For example, one of the villains of the movie is Mombi, the witch from "The Marvelous Land of Oz", but her behavior and appearance are those of Princess Langwidere, a secondary antagonist of "Ozma of Oz".

Another famous attempt by Disney at gaining their ground on the MGM-Oz domain is this movie:

2013's "Oz: The Great and Powerful". Meant to be a prequel to the MGM Wizard of Oz (but stll placing itself in its own continuity, since it couldn't be an ACTUAL prequel), it tells the story of how Oscar (the Wizard) arrived in Oz, and how the power-struggle between the three Ozian witches put itself in place. And it was... it was not a great success. In term of Oz adaptations it is recognized today to be between "mid" and "failure". (It is still VERY pretty though)

Speaking of Oz failures...

Do you remember THIS movie? "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return"? Oh that's one messy story...

"Dorothy's Return" (2013) was an animated movie adapting one of the novels written by Roger S. Baum, L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, called "Dorothy of Oz" (1989). And it did... VERY poorly, despite the huge amount of money and advertisement put in it. But you know what's even funnier? Why does the movie has such a long title? Because "Legends of Oz" was actually a HUGE franchise project. There was this plan to create a big line of animated movies and derived products, of which "Dorothy's Return" would have been just the first step. The movie came out, did poorly... and the entire franchise was canceled. But not without a lawsuit being opened for the shady practices and financial ruins behind this project... Yeah it is QUITE a story!

Still within the domain of modern Oz movies people do not particularly like...

The Tom and Jerry Oz movies!

These animated pieces are part of the modern trend of putting Tom and Jerry in famous movies (there is also the very unfamous Tom and Jerry + Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie). The first movie, "Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz" was basically just Tom and Jerry being present during the MGM movie. And... that was it. Oh yes, they did include the Jitterbug deleted scene but you know. It was just that.

Less known is this movie's direct sequel, "Tom and Jerry Back to Oz". It was less talked about than the first one, despite being at least more original! It is notably a loose adaptation of the third Oz novel, "Ozma of Oz".

More successful and beloved: 2017's "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz".

Just like the 1990s series, it is a children cartoon presenting itself as a direct sequel to the MGM movie, but unlike the 1990s series it was HUGELY successful. It aired for three full seasons, and while it is placed within the MGM continuity, it notably modifies several details so kids could be able to get into the story more (Dorothy is a little girl, the Wicked Witch is replaced by her daughter), and sprinkles several elements from the novels (Ozma, queen of Oz, is a recurring character). It is mostly a... I'll say "slice-of-life" type of show, about Dorothy and her friends just... living in Oz, solving problems if they are, avoiding the various schemes of the Wicked Witch's daughter.

Now that we looked at all the most "recent" incarnations, let's take a look at an older classic: 1972's Journey Back to Oz.

This animated movie is a loose adaptation of the second Oz novel, "The Marvelous Land of Oz", but presented as a sequel to the MGM movie. Tip is replaced by an MGM-looking Dorothy as the protagonist, Mombi is depicted as a green-skinned witch and the cousin of the deceased Wicked Witches of The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy's voice is provided by Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland.

And to conclude it all a movie that... nobody seems to have noticed upon its release?

2000's Lion of Oz. An animated musical movie for children, adapted from Roger S. Baum's novel (yes, still him) "The Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage" (1995) ; but still placing itself, by the characters' design, under the legacy of the MGM movie.

This movie presents the backstory of the Cowardly Lion, who, as it turns out, was a lion Oscar Diggs brought with him to Oz, and who, before meeting Dorothy, underwent a quest to fight the nefarious plans of the Wicked Witch of the East...

[rat-at-heart]

Nepo baby voice actor (his great-grandfather did the roar for MGM)

[thefirstthinguc]

More Leos than there are in heaven. M-G-M's celebrated King of Beasts makes a floating head cameo in the trailer from Rosalie (1937).

[the-patchwork-girl-of-oz]

I just rewatched the MGM’s Wizard of Oz and I love how all 3 of Dorothy’s companions are just operating on pure stupidity and pure stupidity alone, both as Ozians and as the farmhands. They have one braincell they share between them and it goes boioioioioing! as it bounces from person to person.

Look at them.

There’s not a single thought anywhere. In any of these heads.

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1919 – The birth of Cairbre, the MGM lion, in Dublin Zoo. He wasn’t African or even Californian, he was a genuine Dub and was named after Cú Chulainn’s charioteer, or a High King of Ireland.

Cairbre, later re-christened Leo and the first MGM lion to roar on the silver screen. The problem is, there were at least 5 MGM lions, all of whom were rechristened Leo. The most likely candidate is this one, photographed being filmed in the early 1930s. Hear him roar (or gently growl) in the MGM video. Cairbre is recorded in the RDS records as having sired 24 cubs, before being put down in 1944…

[poppies-from-oz]

There’s this moment in the MGM Oz movie that I am absolutely obsessed with and it happens entirely off-screen.

So it’s after the Lion joins, everyone’s singing “Off To See The Wizard,” we’re feeling good, we’re having fun...

...and then the Scarecrow falls on his face again and you can see the Tin Man get visibly annoyed. I can’t tell if he was trying to pull Scarecrow back on his feet or nudge him off, but you can see Scare get offended!

When we cut back to them you can see Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Lion looking in Scarecrow’s direction who, though he’s harder to make out, can be seen gesticulating about something.

In the next scene, Scarecrow is the only person not walking with the group and he shoots two very pointed looks in Nick’s direction.

I have no idea what went down when they were offscreen, but these two are so passive-aggressive and I love it.

[wellntruly]

Blogging, vol. iv

Have had a strange week. It's been our summer break from work, and after traveling so much in July and then on into August, decided to do nothing and lounge, and then promptly slipped into a kind of lethargic, distracted fugue state. I at least managed to get to a bunch of movies, Hot 70s Summer! etc. It's been actually rather hot some days, and also hazy off and on too, like my mind, and I'm grateful for the air conditioning unit I finally got into a window upstairs, though it must be said, the AC does sap the romance somewhat. Romance can be not good, you know? Sometimes in August I want to just be a bit over-warm and under-slept in a slip on the couch, drinking cold sticky guava juice on ice and wondering vaguely if I'm going to watch something else, and if this fuzzy feeling will ever turn into a headache, which it never quite does.

Here are some links:

- I had a lil house party last weekend when time still had meaning and I made this tabbouleh, my favorite tabbouleh, and want you to know about it too. You can definitely make this with less fine bulgur, I usually do, and just follow the package simmering instructions. I chop the parsley with a food processor, start with one lemon then add to taste, and always end up pairing it with fried halloumi ho ho.

- The third time I heard the construction "I don’t know from" or "I know from" in about as many weeks, I was like what is this, I don't have that construction but I still know it's something out there, and does it mean anything that 100% of the people I've heard using it are actors from New York City, and that last answer was yes: it's from Yiddish

- Been thinking about eau de Nil again

- Been watching enough movies with the MGM lion roaring at the opening to wonder what that lion's name is, and did you know there have been SO many lions and the first one we have a biography for was named Slats??

Slats!

Truly though the MGM lions Wikipedia page is one of my favorites in ages, tune in for lions surviving 1930s plane crashes, lions named Coffee, and many lines that will refer to uses of particular lion logos as "his most famous films," as if the lion worked on them.

[389]

The beginning of the Hollywood era Filming of the MGM screen credits, 1928.

[disneyparksattractionstournament]

Favorite Disney Parks Attraction Showdown: Round 1 - Group D1

Videos and propaganda under the cut!

Festival of the Lion King: WDW Animal Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong version:

Fantasmic!: Disneyland, WDW Hollywood Studios, Tokyo DisneySea (2011-2020)

Propaganda:

(Disneyland old version) "Peter Pan is more magical, the end. But also, Disneyland's is far superior simply BECAUSE they utilize a daytime walking space and turn it into a theater. It's brilliant. Or I should say it WAS brilliant..."

Disney World:

Disneyland:

Tokyo DisneySea:

[pretty-little-fools]

[ryanhamiltonwalsh]

In the late 1920's MGM Studios started sending their famous lion mascot on promotional tours. But when they got to Boston in 1932, this particular lion ("King Leo") had enough and flipped out in WBZ studios TWICE causing pure chaos and panic.

King Leo was simply supposed to roar over the airwaves.

After they got him under control, they continued with the plan, which was insane, as soon Leo escaped and rampaged once again.