When I was little we looked forward to the original film The Wizard of Oz shown on TV only once a year. My mother told me that in 1939, when the film first debuted, people were awed by the color. It was made more dramatic because the first part of the film is in black and white and it is not in color until Dorothy’s house lands in Oz. Dorothy opens the door to the house and sees, along with all of the viewers, the landscape in vivid colors. Think how amazing that would be to see color in a film for the first time and in that way. I read the original book by L. Frank Baum and many of the books in the Oz series. The word hobnob reminded me of the final speech of the wizard as he climbs into his hot air balloon to travel back to Kansas with Dorothy. I looked it up.

“I, your Wizard per ardua ad alta, am about to embark upon a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey into the outer stratosphere. To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards. And I hereby decree that until what time–if any–that I return, the Scarecrow, by virtue of his highly superior brains, shall rule in my stead…assisted by the Tin Man, by virtue of his magnificent heart…and the Lion–by virtue of his courage! Obey them as you would me! And-ah-well, that’s all.”

I love that phrase “per adua ad alta.” I did not study Latin in school, so I had to look it up on Wikipedia. It means “through difficulty to heights” or ” through hardship great heights are reached.” Is he referring to his upcoming journey in the hot air balloon or how he had led the people of Oz through many hardships?  There are many good lines in this script. I almost want to read the book again to see how closely it follows.

Another great part is when The Wizard is telling Dorothy how his hot air balloon drifted away from a carnival and he was lost.

Dorothy says, ” Weren’t you afraid?”

The Wizard answers:

 “Frightened? You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death—sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe. I was petrified.”

The Wizard was going to take Dorothy back home to Kansas in his hot air balloon but the Tin Man lets go of the rope and the balloon starts to fly away. I was upset when I thought Dorothy was left behind.

It would be nice if we could just click our heels three times and go back to those more innocent times.

The screenplay for The Wizard of Oz (1939) was written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allen Woolf. Film clip via Charles Cairnes on You Tube. Featured Image of Ruby Slippers by Insomnia Cured Now on Flickr.

This post is for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G. Hill. The prompt for today is “ho,” use a word with the letters -ho.