Celebrating The Oz-ian Anniversary Of A Blockbuster Film

The Wizard of Oz was released 75 years ago today, on August 15, 1939. Though it inspired a fair amount of memorabilia at the time, more merchandise based this classic film seems to have been created in the decades since. A relatively recent example of Oz memorabilia are the figures offered  by Blockbuster Video (remember them?) as a premium to coincide with the 1997 release of the classic film on DVD. These well-designed and crafted toys were designed to fit together and in so doing formed a Yellow Brick Road "train." Push the train and each of the famous foursome perform an action. One reason I like these figures is that, though faithful likenesses of these iconic characters, the actions are not necessarily literal to action in the film. For example, the Cowardly Lion pops up and down from behind a shrub. These relatively simple toys, basically giveaways, capture not only the colorful characters but the essence of The Wizard of Oz.