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The Wizard Of Oz (1925 Film)
''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1925 American silent fantasy-adventure comedy film directed by Larry Semon, who also performs in the lead role as a Kansas farmhand and later in the story disguised as the Scarecrow. This production, which is the only completed 1920s adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', costars Dorothy Dwan as Dorothy, Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman in a portion of the film, and Spencer Bell briefly disguised as a less "cowardly" Lion than in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer version of Baum's work, ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)''. In the film, Dorothy Gale (Dorothy Dwan), a Kansas farm girl is told a story about Uncle Henry ( Frank Alexander) not being her uncle after all. Suddenly a tornado blows into Kansas and whisks the farmhands and Dorothy to Oz, where Dorothy is discovered as Princess Dorothea by Kruel (Josef Swickard). The farmhands are disguised as a scarecrow, a tin man and lion. Plot A toy-maker (Semon) reads L. Frank ...
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Larry Semon
Lawrence Semon (February 9, 1889 – October 8, 1928) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter during the silent film era. In his day, Semon was considered a major movie comedian, but he is now remembered mainly for working with both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they started working together. He is also sometimes noted for directing (as well as appearing in) the 1925 silent film ''The Wizard of Oz'', which had a slight influence on the better-known 1939 talkie ''The Wizard of Oz'' released by MGM. The film was included in the 2005 three-disc DVD version of the 1939 film, along with other silent ''Oz'' movies. Early life Born in West Point, Mississippi, Semon was the son of a travelling Jewish vaudeville magician Zera Semon, who billed himself as "Zera the Great". His mother, Irene Semon (née Rea) worked as his assistant. Along with his older sister, Semon joined his parents' act until his father's death. After completing his education in Sav ...
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Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native Americans who lived along its banks. The tribe's name (natively ') is often said to mean "people of the (south) wind" although this was probably not the term's original meaning. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. The first Euro-American settlement in Kansas occurred in 1827 at Fort Leavenworth. The pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery deba ...
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Frederick Ko Vert
Frederick Kovert (sometimes written Ko Vert or KoVert) was an American female impersonator. Kovert appeared in drag in a number of comic roles in silent films of the 1920s. His first film role was in the 1920 film '' An Adventuress'', alongside Julian Eltinge, then the best-known female impersonator in the entertainment world. Kovert appeared in the 1925 '' The Wizard of Oz'', a silent film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', and also designed the film's costumes. Following the end of his career in film, Kovert became a physique photographer, operating under the name Kovert of Hollywood. Bob Mizer, who would go on to pioneer the physique magazine format with his ''Physique Pictorial'', apprenticed under Kovert in the 1940s. Kovert's nude photography business made him a target for the Los Angeles Police Department vice squad A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, devia ...
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Female Impersonator
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of gay culture. People partake in the activity of ''doing drag'' for reasons ranging from self-expression to mainstream performance. Drag shows frequently include lip-syncing, live singing, and dancing. They occur at events like LGBT pride parades, carnivals and drag pageants and in venues such as cabarets and nightclubs. Drag queens vary by type, culture, and dedication, from professionals who star in films and spend a lot of their time in their drag persona, to people who do drag only occasionally. Those who do occasional drag may be from other backgrounds than the LGBT community. There is a long history of folkloric and theatrical crossdressing that involves people of all orientations. Not everyone who does drag at some point in ...
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Wizard (Oz)
Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs (also known as the "Wizard of Oz" and, during his reign, as "Oz, the Great and Terrible" or the "Great and Powerful Oz") is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. The character was further popularized by a stage play and several films, including the classic 1939 film and the 2013 prequel adaptation. ''Oz'' books The Wizard is one of the characters in '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.'' Unseen for most of the novel, he is the ruler of the Land of Oz and highly venerated by his subjects. Believing he is the only man capable of solving their problems, Dorothy and her friends travel to the Emerald City, the capital of Oz, to meet him. Oz is very reluctant to meet them, but eventually each is granted an audience, one by one. In each of these occasions, the Wizard appears in a different form, once as a giant head, once as a beautiful fairy, once as a horrible monster, a ...
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Otto Lederer
Otto Lederer (April 17, 1886 – September 3, 1965) was a Czech-American film actor. He appeared in 120 films between 1912 and 1933, most notably '' The Jazz Singer'', the first full-length film to have sound sequences, and the Laurel and Hardy short '' You're Darn Tootin'''. In 1925, Lederer married Segunda Yriondo. They were divorced on July 10, 1929. He later married actress Gretchen Lederer. Otto is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Selected filmography * '' Captain Alvarez'' (1914) * '' A Natural Man'' (1915) * ''Captain of the Gray Horse Troop'' (1917) * '' The Flaming Omen'' (1917) * ''Aladdin from Broadway'' (1917) * ''The Magnificent Meddler'' (1917) * ''By Right of Possession'' (1917) * '' When Men Are Tempted'' (1917) * '' The Changing Woman'' (1918) * '' The Woman in the Web'' (1918) * '' Cupid Forecloses'' (1919) * ''Over the Garden Wall'' (1919) * '' The Little Boss'' (1919) * '' The Dragon's Net'' (1920) * '' The Spenders'' (1921) * '' The ...
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Land Of Oz
The Land of Oz is a fantasy world, magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow, W. W. Denslow. Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadling Country in the south, Munchkin Country in the east, and Winkie Country in the west. Each province has its own ruler, but the realm itself has always been ruled by a single monarch. According to ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'', this monarch is Princess Ozma. Baum did not intend for ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' to have any sequels, but it achieved greater popularity than any of the other fairylands he created, including the land of Merryland (Oz), Merryland in Baum's children's novel ''Dot and Tot of Merryland, Dot and Tot in Merryland'', written a year later. Due to Oz's worldwide success, Baum decided to return to it four years after ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' was published. For the next two dec ...
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The Wizard Of Oz (1925)
''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1925 American silent fantasy-adventure comedy film directed by Larry Semon, who also performs in the lead role as a Kansas farmhand and later in the story disguised as the Scarecrow. This production, which is the only completed 1920s adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', costars Dorothy Dwan as Dorothy, Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman in a portion of the film, and Spencer Bell briefly disguised as a less "cowardly" Lion than in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer version of Baum's work, ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)''. In the film, Dorothy Gale (Dorothy Dwan), a Kansas farm girl is told a story about Uncle Henry ( Frank Alexander) not being her uncle after all. Suddenly a tornado blows into Kansas and whisks the farmhands and Dorothy to Oz, where Dorothy is discovered as Princess Dorothea by Kruel (Josef Swickard). The farmhands are disguised as a scarecrow, a tin man and lion. Plot A toy-maker (Semon) reads L. Frank ...
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Josef Swickard
Josef Swickard (26 June 1866 – 1 March 1940) was a Prussian-born veteran stage and screen character actor, who had toured with stock companies in Europe, South Africa, and South America. Career Swickard emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1882. He was a stage actor several years before entering films with D.W. Griffith in 1912 and by 1914 was playing supporting roles for Mack Sennett. He appeared in Charles Chaplin's '' Laughing Gas'' and '' Caught in a Cabaret''. He remained with Sennett until 1917, when he settled into his prolific career of playing mostly aristocratic characters. Modern audiences are perhaps most familiar with his role of Marcelo Desnoyers, the well-intentioned but impractical French upper class father in Rex Ingram's 1921 film '' The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse''. His career in sound films was somewhat limited and he played in low-budget and action serial type films. He played the villainous Prime Minister Kruel in the 1925 film version ...
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Frank Alexander (actor)
Frank Dwight Alexander (May 25, 1879 – September 8, 1937) was an American silent film comedian and actor. He was occasionally billed as Fatty Alexander. Biography In the mid-1910s, Alexander acted in comedy roles for Keystone Studios, often with Sydney Chaplin. Alexander, who was morbidly obese (350 pounds), played villains in the films of Larry Semon, who are often the father of Semon's love interest. He is best known to contemporary audiences for portraying a villainous interpretation of Uncle Henry, eventually proclaimed "Prince of Whales" upon reaching the Emerald City in Semon's '' Wizard of Oz''. He was also part of the comedy team called " A Ton Of Fun" with two other large actors, Kewpie Ross and Hilliard Karr. Richard M. Roberts's article in ''Classic Images'' listed the top ten ingredients of a Larry Semon film, which began with these four: # Larry Semon # A heroine (usually Larry's current girlfriend or wife) # A fat guy (usually Oliver Hardy, to play the villa ...
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The Wizard Of Oz (1939 Film)
''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). An adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', the film was primarily directed by Victor Fleming (who left the production to take over the troubled ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind''), and stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton (actress), Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with the lyrics written by Yip Harburg, Edgar "Yip" Harburg. Characterized by its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, the film was considered a critical success and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Pictur ...
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of '' Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified into television production. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian bough ...
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