If you don’t read anything else today, be sure you read this funny, whimsical, insightful, touching post from Andy Hardy Writes a Blog, “Shlepping Over the Rainbow” In the post blogger Danny Miller remembers the annual viewing of The Wizard of Oz, complete with commentary from his grandfather who fled Poland to escape the Nazis. Just brilliant.
I don’t think it’s an accident that his grandfather should see his own story and the story of the Jews in the movie. The book, of course, is a classic: light, funny, and gently satirical. I’ve always felt it had a kind of genuine Yankee quality to it. The movie, however, is in many ways better than the book. It’s deeper, wiser, and truer. Quite a bit of that comes from the music written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by the incomparable E. Y. Harburg—both Jews.
The Wizard was masterfully portrayed by one of the greatest character actors in Hollywood, Frank Morgan. Morgan’s real name was Francis Wuppermann (of the family that distributed Angostura bitters). Morgan was a member of the famous “Irish mafia” of Hollywood of the 1930’s that included Jimmy Cagney, Spencer Tracey, and Pat O’Brien. I don’t know this for a fact but I’ve always suspected that Morgan was one of those great Irish/Jewish characters.
Anyhow check out this fabulous post.
Hat tip: AmbivaBlog
