Back to Journey Back to Oz

Today is supposed to be the official release date of Journey Back to Oz on DVD. This was an animated movie made in the 1960s, after The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) had gone into the public domain, and it rewrites that book with Dorothy as its heroine, decades before Return to Oz did something similar.

The most notable aspect of the movie is that for the voice of Dorothy the makers turned to the young daughter of Judy Garland, who had played the role in 1939. When she recorded her lines and songs in the early 1960s, Liza Minnelli was no star. Years later, after she'd won almost every type of award and Journey Back to Oz was finally released, Liza got top billing. And that in a cast which included Mickey Rooney, Margaret Hamilton (this time as Aunt Em), Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Danny Thomas, Paul Lynde--practically an entire Donny and Marie special!