The elegant design of the Music Box Theatre provides a majestic, serene background for a screening of “The Wizard of Oz, ” held in conjunction with the Chicago History Museum’s “Oz-tober” celebration. Author Evan I. Schwartz is here to introduce the film, and promote his new book, “Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story.”
The middle row fills with people, eagerly awaiting the classic. “When you think of ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” says Schwartz, “sometimes you have to stand back in awe.” Schwartz became interested in “Oz” while reading the L. Frank Baum original to his daughter. “His novel was really the Harry Potter of its time, except there was a forty-year-gap between when the book was written and when the movie was made,” says Schwartz. “There was incredible anticipation.” Baum himself drew inspiration from Chicago. “He moved to Chicago in 1891, because of the Columbian exposition,” says Schwartz. “This was the city of hopes and dreams, but also the darkness and the fear.”
Schwartz’s book also outlines Baum’s tremendous spiritual influences. Baum held to the doctrine of Theosophy, a religion, Schwartz notes, related to many eastern philosophies, namely Buddhism and Hinduism. “Baum was really concerned with the golden path to enlightenment,” says Schwartz. Golden path? Yellow brick road? You decide. (David Stockdale)
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The elegant design of the Music Box Theatre provides a majestic, serene background for a screening of “The Wizard of Oz, ” held in conjunction with the Chicago History Museum’s “Oz-tober” celebration. Author Evan I. Schwartz is here to introduce the film, and promote his new book, “Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story.”
