Last Month's News - Today
July 09, 2006
Site UpdatesAdded more Art!The “Other” section has about 20 new and exciting things!Added Oz lesson plans to the crafts section!
McPhee's "Rainbow" takes chart gold among "Oz" songsBy Fred Bronson
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - "The Wizard of Oz" had its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on August 15, 1939. Exactly 65 years and 11 months later, one of the songs from that film reaches its highest position ever on a Billboard pop singles chart.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (RCA) by fifth-season "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee has entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 12.
The song, written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (and usually titled "Over the Rainbow") was performed by McPhee on "Idol" when there were three contestants left, and again on the show's live finale, which originated at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, just steps away from the still-standing Grauman's Chinese.
The first Billboard pop singles chart was published in July 1940, so the original recording of "Over the Rainbow" by "Oz" star Judy Garland couldn't chart. A vocal group from the Bronx, the Demensions, took the song to No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 1960, and singer Gary Tanner had a 1978 single that peaked at No. 69.
McPhee's recording of "Rainbow" has missed out on being the highest-charting song from "The Wizard of Oz" soundtrack by one rung. In 1967, a group from Stamford, Conn., known as the Fifth Estate went to No. 11 with "Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead."
July 07, 2006
Site UpdatesAdded Munchkin Land sectionAdded comics sectionAdded Barbies sectionAdded Madame Alexander sectionAdded toddler sectionAdded Boyd’s Bear sectionAdded Oz Art section.Changed entrance page picture.Updated "other" section.
June 22, 2006
VacationI'll be on vacation through July 9!
June 21, 2006
Drew Barrymore to Play DorothyToto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. In fact, in a ''Wizard of Oz'' sequel in development at Warner Bros., Dorothy and Toto are in a place that may be even weirder than Oz: New York City. And Dorothy is played by someone with a little more mileage than Judy Garland had at 17 – namely, 27-year-old Drew Barrymore. According to Variety, the studio is going ahead with the aforementioned ''Oz'' sequel, ''Surrender Dorothy,'' with Barrymore attached to star.
It's not clear when the film might start shooting, as producer Robert Kosberg (''12 Monkeys'') has been developing this project with Barrymore since 1999. He's also got some other irons in the fire, including potential movies with Adam Sandler (baseball comedy ''Wild Pitch'') and Ben Stiller (''The Hardy Men,'' in which the sleuth siblings grow up). But Variety's report suggests that all these projects are going forward, even as Kosberg signs a new deal giving first-look rights to his future projects to Bungalow 78 Productions (''Patch Adams,'' ''Catch Me If You Can'').
In ''Surrender Dorothy,'' Barrymore would play an updated version of the heroine of the L. Frank Baum novels and the 1939 movie. Kosberg described the premise a couple years ago to writers'-clearinghouse website AbsoluteWrite.com. While Dorothy appeared to have dispatched the Wicked Witch by melting her with a bucket of water, Kosberg said, ''What if the Witch didn't die? What if it was all an act? And now it's the year 2000 and the Wicked Witch is still alive and well and mean and green and she's broken out of Oz Jail and she's on her way to New York to get those damn red slippers once and for all.''
June 20, 2006
Website Grand Opening!I'm so excited to finally present this little project! Remember, if you get lost along the yellow brick road, there's always a link to the home page in the bottom right hand corner of the site! Enjoy and be sure to email me with comments, ideas or questions!
Site UpdatesAdded more Art!The “Other” section has about 20 new and exciting things!Added Oz lesson plans to the crafts section!
McPhee's "Rainbow" takes chart gold among "Oz" songsBy Fred Bronson
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - "The Wizard of Oz" had its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on August 15, 1939. Exactly 65 years and 11 months later, one of the songs from that film reaches its highest position ever on a Billboard pop singles chart.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (RCA) by fifth-season "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee has entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 12.
The song, written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (and usually titled "Over the Rainbow") was performed by McPhee on "Idol" when there were three contestants left, and again on the show's live finale, which originated at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, just steps away from the still-standing Grauman's Chinese.
The first Billboard pop singles chart was published in July 1940, so the original recording of "Over the Rainbow" by "Oz" star Judy Garland couldn't chart. A vocal group from the Bronx, the Demensions, took the song to No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 1960, and singer Gary Tanner had a 1978 single that peaked at No. 69.
McPhee's recording of "Rainbow" has missed out on being the highest-charting song from "The Wizard of Oz" soundtrack by one rung. In 1967, a group from Stamford, Conn., known as the Fifth Estate went to No. 11 with "Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead."
July 07, 2006
Site UpdatesAdded Munchkin Land sectionAdded comics sectionAdded Barbies sectionAdded Madame Alexander sectionAdded toddler sectionAdded Boyd’s Bear sectionAdded Oz Art section.Changed entrance page picture.Updated "other" section.
June 22, 2006
VacationI'll be on vacation through July 9!
June 21, 2006
Drew Barrymore to Play DorothyToto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. In fact, in a ''Wizard of Oz'' sequel in development at Warner Bros., Dorothy and Toto are in a place that may be even weirder than Oz: New York City. And Dorothy is played by someone with a little more mileage than Judy Garland had at 17 – namely, 27-year-old Drew Barrymore. According to Variety, the studio is going ahead with the aforementioned ''Oz'' sequel, ''Surrender Dorothy,'' with Barrymore attached to star.
It's not clear when the film might start shooting, as producer Robert Kosberg (''12 Monkeys'') has been developing this project with Barrymore since 1999. He's also got some other irons in the fire, including potential movies with Adam Sandler (baseball comedy ''Wild Pitch'') and Ben Stiller (''The Hardy Men,'' in which the sleuth siblings grow up). But Variety's report suggests that all these projects are going forward, even as Kosberg signs a new deal giving first-look rights to his future projects to Bungalow 78 Productions (''Patch Adams,'' ''Catch Me If You Can'').
In ''Surrender Dorothy,'' Barrymore would play an updated version of the heroine of the L. Frank Baum novels and the 1939 movie. Kosberg described the premise a couple years ago to writers'-clearinghouse website AbsoluteWrite.com. While Dorothy appeared to have dispatched the Wicked Witch by melting her with a bucket of water, Kosberg said, ''What if the Witch didn't die? What if it was all an act? And now it's the year 2000 and the Wicked Witch is still alive and well and mean and green and she's broken out of Oz Jail and she's on her way to New York to get those damn red slippers once and for all.''
June 20, 2006
Website Grand Opening!I'm so excited to finally present this little project! Remember, if you get lost along the yellow brick road, there's always a link to the home page in the bottom right hand corner of the site! Enjoy and be sure to email me with comments, ideas or questions!
