The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Patchwork Girl of Oz


image_size =
caption =
director = J. Farrell MacDonald
producer = L. Frank Baum
Louis F. Gottschalk
writer = L. Frank Baum
narrator =
starring = Violet MacMillan
Frank Moore
Pierre Couderc
Fred Woodward
Raymond Russell
Dick Rosson
music = Louis F. Gottschalk
cinematography = James A. Crosby
editing =
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = 28 September, 1914
runtime = 81 minutes
country = USA
language = Silent
English intertitles
budget =
preceded_by = n/a
followed_by = "The Magic Cloak of Oz"
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0004457

"The Patchwork Girl of Oz" was a 1914 film made by L. Frank Baum's The Oz Film Manufacturing Company. It was based on the latest book in the series.

This silent film was written and produced by L. Frank Baum and directed by J. Farrell MacDonald. It makes almost no use of the dialog from the book in the intertitles. While there are a number of modest special effects, the movie relies largely on dancing (or rather cavorting), slapstick, and costuming. The Patchwork Girl uses acrobatics regularly with good effect. Dr. Pipt's daughter is added for love interest, as well as an additional plot thread: her boyfriend is turned into a small statue which women find irresistible. The plot omits the Glass Cat, the Shaggy Man, the Yoop, and the phonograph, but also adds Mewel, a donkey, and "The Lonesome Zoop", both slapstick animals.

Production

Much of the film was shot on the grounds of the Panama-California Exposition (1915). Other scenes were presumably filmed at The Oz Film Manufacturing Company's studio facilities in Los Angeles, located on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Notable cast members, one uncredited, were future producer/director Hal Roach and comedian Harold Lloyd. The two of them, after meeting on this film, would go on to work together for several years.

Baum cast acrobat Pierre Couderc in the title role because he was unable to find a woman with the level of acrobatic training to do the role, due to social restrictions.

Distribution and Preservation

The movie was a commercial failure, a fact which caused distribution problems for the other Oz Film titles that followed it. This would also contribute to the failing of The Oz Film Manufacturing Company.

The movie is one of three made by the Oz Film company that have not been lost. It is available inexpensively on DVD. Grapevine Video offered it on VHS for a time. Some versions contain uncredited narration by Jacqueline Lovell. The International Wizard of Oz Club [http://www.ozclub.org/default.asp] has extensive information on the production, for example in "The Baum Bugle", Christmas 1972.

Cast

Credited cast

* Violet MacMillan - Ojo, a Munchkin Boy
* Frank Moore - Unc Nunkie, Ojo's Guardian
* Raymond Russell - Dr. Pipt, the Crooked Magician
* Leontine Dranet - Margolotte, his wife, who makes the Patchwork Girl
* Bobbie Gould - Jesseva, his daughter, betrothed to Danx
* Marie Wayne - Jinjur, a Maid in the Emerald City
* Dick Rosson - Danx, a Noble Munchkin
* Frank Bristol - The Soldier with the Green Whiskers (Omby Amby)
* Fred Woodward - The Woozy, a Quaintness / The Zoop, A Mystery / Mewel, who is Everybody's Friend
* Todd Wright - The Wizard of Oz
* Herbert Glennon - The Scarecrow
* Al Roach - The Cowardly Lion / Tottenhot
* Andy Anderson - The Hungry Tiger
* Jessie May Walsh - Ozma of Oz, the Ruler of the Emerald City
* William Cook - The Royal Chamberlain
* Ben Deeley - Rozyn, the Village Fiddler
* Lon Musgrave - The Tin Woodman
* Pierre Couderc - Scraps, the Patchwork Girl (as The Marvelous Couderc)

Additional cast

* Vivian Reed - Ozma head logo (uncredited)
* Juanita Hansen - Bell Ringer (uncredited)
* Harold Lloyd - Tottenhot on the Jury (uncredited)
* Jacqueline Lovell - Narrator (1996 version) (voice)

Unconfirmed cast

* Charles Ruggles
**Ruggles appeared in Baum's play "The Tik-Tok Man of Oz" at the Majestic Theatre in Los Angeles in 1913. He began appearing on Broadway in 1914, making his appearance in the film unlikely.
* Blanch Lang
* Queenie Rosson

ee also

* Harold Lloyd filmography

External links

*imdb title|id=0004457|title=The Patchwork Girl of Oz