Another Look at Oz
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Day 2: March 31, 2026 Another Look at Oz Comment via blog |
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The first stop of the day was in Topeka, KS, to see friend and road fan
Fred Zander. This was my first time seeing Fred's impressive collections.
The majority of items are Route 66 related, but other roads are also well
represented, and some items, like a large number of clocks, aren't
connected with roads at all.
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After looking over all that memorabilia and leafing through a notebook
stuffed with Bob Waldmire art and articles (There are other notebooks!),
I went with Fred to
Bobo's Drive In for a cheeseburger and a large order
of onion rings. Actually I didn't order rings at all but Fred donated a
couple for tasting. Burger and rings were both great. On
my only previous
visit, I did order onion rings.
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Then I was off to complete my Wizard of Oz trifecta. Readers of my blog
might remember that I attended a
Wizard of Oz play a couple of weeks ago, and watched
the 1939 movie a couple of weeks before that. I'm now
at the Wizard of Oz
Museum in Wamego, KS. Apparently this museum is in Wamego because it
was started with a collection of artifacts belonging to Wamego native
Tod Machin,
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Some of the things I liked most weren't artifacts at all. I'm not showing
these lifelike and life size statues in the order I found them, but in the
order of the character's appearance in the movie. Actually, none of the
museum photos are shown in sequence I took them, but in groups that I
could write about.
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These are items from the 1939 movie. There was a Broadway play and at
least one movie made before the 1939 MGM classic, and many adaptations of
the story since then. The museum contains Oz related memorabilia not
connected to the 1939 film, but I tried to find stuff from my
favorite movie.
The Munchkin jacket was worn by 3' 8" Lewis Croft. The wall sconces are displayed in two different cases. The "gun" was carried by Frank Morgan. I read a placard about the Winkie spear being in the movie but failed to get a photo. |
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It seems this might be the actual model used in the movie, but regardless
of whether or not it is,, the story of filming the house's flight from
Kansas to Oz is a good one.
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There's a theater inside the museum where it appears the movie is playing
non-stop. That should gen up another generation or two of fans.
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There is, of course, a gift shop, with plenty of books and ruby red
slippers.
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There are a number of decorated Totos around town including right in front
of the museum. Although the Yellow Brick Road is directly across the
street from the museum, the two are not formally connected in anyway. Of
course, it is informally connected, and lined with murals and Totos. I
followed the Yellow Brick Road to its end, then returned and grabbed a
parting shot of the museum before heading out of town.
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I didn't realize I was so close to Lucas, KS, when I stayed at the Midland
Railroad Hotel in Wilson
in 2024. However,
when I searched for lodging near Lucas, the Midland always appeared near
the top of the list, so I decided to return. Even though I've stayed here
before, here's a look at my room since not all
Midland rooms are alike and this is the first night on this trip I've not
been in a cookie-cutter chain.
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