The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908)

Directed by

Otis Turner, Francis Boggs

Genre

silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h

Rating

1.2 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This early 1908 film mixed live actors, hand-colored slides, and movie footage to tell stories from L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Baum himself appeared on stage as a lecturer interacting with the characters. The show was well received but closed after two months due to high costs, and the film is now considered lost.

historicalexperimentalnostalgictheatricalfancifulpioneeringmelancholicephemeral

What happens

The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays was an early attempt to bring L. Frank Baum's Oz books to the motion picture screen. It was a mixture of live actors, hand-tinted magic lantern slides, and film. Baum himself would appear as if he were giving a lecture, while he interacted with the characters (both on stage and on screen). Although acclaimed throughout its tour, the show experienced budgetary problems (with the show costing more to produce than the money that sold-out houses could bring in) and folded after two months of performances. It opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 24, 1908. It then ran in Orchestra Hall in Chicago on October 1, toured the country and ended its run in New York City. There, it was scheduled to run through December 31, and ads for it continued to run in The New York Times until then, but it reportedly closed on December 16. Although today seen mostly as a failed first effort to adapt the Oz books, The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays is notable in film history because it contains the earliest original film score to be documented. The film is lost, but the script for Baum's narration and production stills survive. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz (1910)
• Ingomar, the Barbarian (1908)
• A Noble Jester; or, Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady (1908)
• The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914)
• The Airship; or, 100 Years Hence (1908)
• The Mummer's Daughter (1908)
• Breaking Into Society (1908)
• The Music Master (1908)