80 years ago today, August 12, the film The Wizard of Oz had its world premiere in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin at the Strand Theater. Later this week there will be a celebration in downtown Oconomowoc with a showing of the film on a giant outdoor screen.
The images above are from a play based on another L. Frank Baum children’s novel The Patchwork Girl of Oz. This is the seventh in the series of Oz books. The play was performed on December 12, 1931, at the Milwaukee University School Auditorium. It was presented by the Junior League of Milwaukee. Some of the familiar characters that show up in the play and in the photographs above are the Tin Woodman and the Wizard of Oz. Also shown above are the Glass Cat and the Foolish Owl.
The images above are of a scrapbook found in the Junior League of Milwaukee Records (UWM Mss 106, box 21, folder 1).