Trace the Earliest Steps on the Yellow Brick Road

DC's Smithsonian museums (there are 17 of them here in the city) are among America's most treasured and visited places. But the Smithsonian also publishes a series of some of the most interesting, fact-filled blogs appearing anywhere on the internet. Each Sunday, The Prices Do DC re-posts an entry about the Smithsonian, many of which appeared in 1 of the institution's blogs. Hope you enjoy and maybe we'll see you soon at the Smithsonian.

The Ruby Slippers are in display in the Museum of American Histroy

We dimmed the lights. In our pajamas, we huddled together under a blanket. The annual television broadcast of The Wizard of Oz was a national ritual when we baby boomers were kids. It would be years before I saw the Technicolor land of Oz bloom outside Dorothy’s black-and-white farmhouse, as we didn’t have a color TV. Years, too, before I would come up with the idea for a novel, Wicked, which inspired the Broadway musical.

Thanks to MGM’s 1939 film, Dorothy’s adventure in Oz has become a foundation myth of American culture. On a recent afternoon in my study, I pored over a photocopy of a touchstone memento from the film—a typewritten studio script. The original, in the collections of the National Museum of American History and dated May 4, 1938, consists of about 100 pages. Though other writers, including lyricist E. Y. Harburg, who penned “Over the Rainbow,” would refine and polish the story, this draft is the work of Noel Langley. He based the script on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel for children, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

To continue reading this post, which 1st appeared in Smithsonian.com, click here.