Back To Oz

This Friday, the much-ballyhooed 3D movie, Oz The Great and Powerful, a prequel to the classic 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz,” opens across the country.

Back to Oz--and coming to a theater near you.

It stars James Franco as Oz. Here’s the video trailer.

Which, of course, reminds us that veteran actor Frank Morgan reached the pinnacle of his career when he played the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Morgan is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in section 168, lot 14447. That lot is the Wuppermann family lot–Frank Morgan was his stage name–and his brother Ralph (who is interred next to him), also took the name Morgan as a stage name, was an actor, and served as president of Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Here, from Green-Wood’s archives, is a letterhead of the Wuppermann family business:

The Wuppermann family was in the "Fine Cordials and Gins" business. They also produced actors.

And here is Frank Morgan as he appeared in “The Wizard of Oz:”

 
Frank Morgan, the Wizard of Oz.
An ad for one of the greatest movies ever, "The Wizard of Oz," showing the stars, including Frank Morgan. Morgan played five roles in the movie, including the title character--the Wizard.
The stars of "The Wizard of Oz," gathered around Frank Morgan.

Here is a blog post from 2009, “Wizard of Oz: Happy 70th!” And here’s a more recent blog post on Frank Morgan: “The Wizard of Juggling.”

 

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