How about a little me, Scarecrow?

The umpteenth showing of "The Wizard of Oz," but this time the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Wicked Witch were in  the audience as well as on the screen.

"Ding-dong the witch is dead," sang 71-year-old Ray Bolger in harmony to the music as he sat watching himself cavorting as the Scarecrow through the 1938 classic. The Wicked Witch,' Margaret Hamilton, and the Tin Man, Jack Haley, along with Bolger and "Wizard of Oz" producer Mcrvyn Le Roy turned out "Monday in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria to wnlch clips of the movie that has been fascinating youngsters for 40 years.

"You never get tired of this picture," Bolger said, singing along and bursting into laughter repeatedly as he watched the movie in preparation for the evening show. "There will never be four personalities like that at one time," declared LcRoy, looking at the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the late Judy Garland as Dorothy and Bert Lahr as the Lion romping together. "Who the hell else can play a lion?" asked Haley out loud. "Only Bert Lahr," he answered himself.

 

Each star has a different  theory for the "Wizard of Oz" popularity. "It has the simplest philosophy of all," says Bolger. "There is no place like home. When Dorothy landed In the Land of Oz, with flowers 10 feettall, she wasn't happy, she realized she had to go home to Auntie."

For Margaret Hamilton, now 72 years old, "There's a tremendous opportunity for identification. "All of us have been through woods, all of us have had lions and tigers in our life.We've had dangers, difficulties."

"It's the fantasy, the wonderment," says Haley. "The children like to be scared and it all turns out happily."

The roles are not easily forgotten. Margaret Hamilton did the witch routine on demand recently at Emerson College and Bolger reports he keeps running into people who remember the film as a child. Extending a limp . arm,Bolger says, "I shake hands with them —like a scarecrow".

MegoMuseum Wizard of Oz Gallery

Spider-Man, The Cowardly Lion and Dr Cornelius visit Long Island.

When Mego celebrated a grand opening, they invited only A listers to the event, as evidenced by characters from the biggest lines of 1975, namely Wizard of Oz, World's Greatest Superheroes and Planet of the Apes. Note the wonderful assortment of product behind them. Click on the photo for a better view.

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Meet Spider-Man, the Wicked Witch and Cornelius the Ape at Gold Circle!

There is just so much to love about this vintage Mego store appearance ad, like the word Shaboom and the use of Aquaman and Tarzan in the toy ad. Below are some of the pieces of paper you would get from such an appearance.

Spidey would hand these little fliers to kids, fortunately kids saved them!

Lucky Apes kids would get this, a signed picture of Caesar acting as Cornelius, a McDowell is a McDowell to mego....

Mego Toyfair Showroom 1975

Toy Fair 1975: B. Goldberg and J. Romaine (presumably sales reps) show the new Wizard of Oz line from Mego. The Diorama featued makes you wonder what other displays looked like...

MOTD: The Witches Castle

The Witches Castle from Wizard of Oz is our Mego of the day. This playset which was exclusive to Sears, started out life in a different form, as a proposed playset for the Mego Super Knights.

Mego of The Day: Glinda

The Good Witch of the North from the Mego Wizard of Oz line is the spotlight today. A favourite of yours or something that will not grace your collection? Tell us about it at the Mego forum.

Mego at the 1975 UK Toyfair

At the 1975 US Toy Fair, Mego was making waves with it's new product lines and their fantastic launch party for their Wizard of Oz line. In the UK however, Mego had no toyfair presence other than the few companies that had picked up their lines for distribution, which resulted in a quieter presence. A

In 1975, the number one toyline in the UK (As voted by retailers) is Palitoy's Action Man with Pedigree's Sindy following a close second.

This article about Louis Marx mentions their new line of King Arthur and his Knights, what we all know to be the "World's Greatest Super Knights". Marx didn't create their own packaging, just merely put a sticker on the front window of the box, which are occasionally seen on the secondary market. What's curious is the mention that is a line of four figures and doesn't mention Launcelot, a journalistic error or did Louis Marx drop him from the line?

There is no mention of Superheroes, Planet of the Apes or any other Mego Lines in the 1975 Toyfair Highlights page but on the very last page of the magazine, we find a rather quick mention of Bradgates new "Startrek" line of action figures.

Palitoy (owner of Bradgate) would run with Star Trek for another two years, expanding into the Aliens.

The Waltons Go To Oz

Wonderful catalog spread today just added to the Mego Museum Department Store Gallery, this time it's a spread for the Walton's and Wizard of Oz. It's rare to see a back view from the Walton's farmhouse so I thought I'd showcase it here.

I'm not sure what John Boy is doing....

Childworld 1975: Mego Wizard of Oz Ad

For the remainder of the week, we'll be looking at some wonderful clippings from a 1975 newspaper circular for Childworld in 1975 with it's wonderfully recoloured Mego Reproduction Art. First up is Mego Wizard of Oz which was another big attraction in 1975 for Mego. Check back everyday this week for a new piece from this flyer.

For more about Mego Reproduction Art, visit the Museum Gallery Here.

Wizard of Oz Update

We have a new gallery addition to the Wizard of Oz Galleries thanks to the contributions of Mike "Mikeoz" Lopategui who contributed not only the great photos but the text as well to create the new Mego Munchkinland page. Come check out this very Mego play set.

The Megomuseum is always open to contributions, so if you anything you'd like to add to our galleries, drop us a line!