Oz, the Great and Powerful

[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”B00C7JGDBW” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61EeJ2r-oJL._SL160_.jpg” width=”114″]Set 20 years before the events in the famed Wizard of Oz, [easyazon-link asin=”B00C5W3SBE” locale=”us”]Oz the Great and Powerful[/easyazon-link] depicts the humble origins of the Wizard as a 1905 circus magician. After successfully performing a levitation illusion on stage, the unsophisticated audience of rubes is convinced that his powers are real, and a little girl in a wheelchair implores him to “make me walk!”. Her family offers him all their money to cure her, but he knows he cannot.

After escaping an angry mob in a hot air balloon and winding up in Oz, Oscar soon comes across a weeping China Doll with broken legs. Her small crockery village has been trampled and reduced to dust, but Oscar has the power to fix her legs with a handy tube of glue. She sees this as nothing short of miraculous, and believes he’s truly a great wizard.

A movie about Oz would not be complete without the famous Munchkins, one of the peoples under the protection of Glinda the Good Witch. They sing and dance to welcome Oscar, as in the original Wizard of Oz, but this time are also shown in more quotidian capacities such as tailors and tinkers.

Margaret Pellegrini, One of the Last ‘Wizard of Oz’ Munchkins, Dies at 89

From MovieTalk on Yahoo Movies: http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/margaret-pellegrini-one-last-wizard-oz-munchkins-dies-215456610.html
Margaret Pellegrini, One of the Last ‘Wizard of Oz’ Munchkins, Dies at 89
By Matt McDaniel | Movie Talk – Wed, Aug 7, 2013 5:54 PM EDT
Margaret Pellegrini, who staked a claim in cinematic history when she was just 16 years old as one of the residents of Munchkinland in “The Wizard of Oz,” died Wednesday at the age of 89 in Arizona. According to a spokesperson for the few surviving actors who appeared in the 1939 classic, Pellegrini was best known as one of the “Flower Pot” Munchkins who greet Dorothy (Judy Garland) when her house lands in Oz.
Pellegrini told CBS5 in Phoenix earlier this year that she was spotted by a talent scout at a state fair when she was only 13, and a few years later she was invited to take a train to Hollywood to appear in the movie. She actually shows up in the Munchkinland sequence twice, once with a hat shaped like a flower pot and later as one of the “Sleepyheads.”
Pelligrini continued to take part in “Oz” related events throughout her life. She was present in 2007 when the remaining Munchkins were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was also named the Grand Marshall of this year’s annual “Oz-Stravaganza” parade in Chittenango, NY, but health issues prevented her from attending. Pelligrini was a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Of the 124 actors who appeared as Munchkin’s in the original production, there are now only two known survivors 95-year-old Ruth Duccini (who played a villager) and 93-year-old Jerry Maren (who was the green-clad middle member of the Lollipop Guild).