On Wed, 11 Feb 1998, Filmmuseum wrote:
 
> The first version of Baum's THE WIZARD OF OZ (1909?), based on his own
> stage play, was preserved at George Eastman House, Rochester, N.Y., in
> 1986, during my tenure as Senior Curator of Film.
This was made in 1910 and directed by Otis Turner and produced by William
Nicholas Selig to try to pick up some
of the funds lost after produciong _The Fairylogue and Radio Plays_
(1908), which had a different cast.  The four 1910 films (of which onlt
_The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ is known to survive.  The others were
_Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz_, _The Land of Oz_, and _John Dough and
the Cherub_.
 
>
> THE SCARECROW OF OZ (1914?) has been preserved at Library of Congress.
This is titled _His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz_, and is available on
video in several mostly complete versions.
 
>
> The Larry Semon film of THE WIZARD OF OZ is also preserved at George
> Eastman House, as is the 1939 version.
>
Unlike the 1910 film, which Eastman charges $1000 for a video copy (why
I've only seen clips), this is in the public domain and is available in
its completed form from several video distributors.
 
> Most of the films produced by Frank Baum himself no longer survivive in any
> form (along with 95% of all silent films), despite intensive searches by
> film preservationists.
 
I still have not found a record in all my research as to the names of the
two _Violet's Dreams_ shorts which were re-edited into the Franklin
Brothers' _Like Babes in the Woods_, which is also available from PD
dealers.
 
The question is finding out if a print of _Gray Nun_ exists.  I know
someone who says he saw it on video as a young child, which would coincide
with the short-lived existence of The Nostalgia Merchant.  If someone
knows anything about this manufacturer, please do not hesitate to e-mail
me.
 
Fred M. Meyer informed me that a sample reel of a stop-motion Oz film was
produced by Kenneth McLellan in 1938, which could not get the backing to
become the series of shorts it was intended.  Apparently, this still
exists, but he did not know where.
 
Does anyone know the status of Harry Smith's _Number 13_/_The Tin
Woodsman's Dream_.  Someone also researching Baum films said he heard it
was being exhibited around Europe.  Can anyone verify this?
 
Scott
 
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