Wizard of Oz Fact #101: Oz Debuted in Chicago in 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in Chicago in May of 1900 by the George M. Hill Company. W. W. Denslow illustrated it with color plates, which made it an unusually lavish children’s book for its day. Loved this fact? Discover more…
Wizard of Oz Fact #86: Oz the Great and Powerful Used Hand‑Painted Backdrops To evoke the charm of early fantasy films, ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ incorporated hand‑painted scenic backdrops in several sequences. These traditional techniques blended with CGI to create a hybrid visual style. Loved this fact? Discover more Wizard of Oz lore in…
Wizard of Oz Fact #85: The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz Included Cameos from Classic Characters The 2005 Muppet adaptation features brief appearances from familiar Muppet characters in Oz roles, including Rizzo the Rat and Fozzie Bear. These cameos added layers of humor for longtime fans. Loved this fact? Discover more Wizard of Oz lore in…
Wizard of Oz Fact #84: OzLand Imagined Oz as a Post‑Apocalyptic Myth The 2015 indie film ‘OzLand’ follows two wanderers in a desolate future who interpret a surviving copy of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ as a sacred text. The story explores how myths evolve when rediscovered by people with no context for their original…
Wizard of Oz Fact #83: The Hammer-Heads Guarded the Hilltops of Oz In Baum’s first novel, the Hammer-Heads are creatures with extendable necks who strike intruders with their hard heads. Their bizarre design reflects Baum’s love of playful, nontraditional monsters. Loved this fact? Discover more Wizard of Oz lore in my new book – The…
Wizard of Oz Fact #82: The Horse of a Different Color Was Painted with Jell‑O To create the multicolored horse in the Emerald City, the production team used flavored gelatin powders to tint the animal’s coat. Because the horse kept licking the sweet mixture off, the crew had to work quickly and film each color…
Bible Fact #1: The Bible Wasn't Originally Split Into Chapters For over a thousand years, biblical texts had no chapter or verse divisions. Chapter breaks were added around 1205 AD by Stephen Langton, and verse numbers were introduced later, in 1551, by printer and scholar Robert Estienne. Enjoy these? Experience the full supernatural thriller in…
Horde Monster Fact #1: The Word 'Zombie' Has Haitian Roots The word “zombie” comes from the Haitian Kreyòl term “zonbi,” rooted in Vodou folklore about a person’s body or soul being reanimated or enslaved by a sorcerer. The shambling, flesh-hungry zombie most horde fiction uses today is a much later Hollywood invention. Love horde-monster lore?…
