Dorothy Gale
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Gale is the protagonist
of many of the Oz
novels by American
author L. Frank Baum
, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma
. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
and reappears in most of its sequels. She also is the main character in various adaptations, notably the classic 1939 movie adaptation of the book, The Wizard of Oz
.
Dorothy's adventures continue. In later books, Oz
steadily becomes more familiar to her than her homeland of Kansas. Indeed, Dorothy eventually goes to live in an apartment
in the Emerald City
Palace, but only once her Aunt Em
and Uncle Henry have settled in a farmhouse
on the outskirts of the Emerald City, unable to pay the mortgage on their house in Kansas.
books of Lewis Carroll
. Although he found their plots incoherent, Baum identified their source of popularity as Alice herself, a child with whom the child readers could identify; this influenced his choice of a protagonist.
The name of the character possibly comes from Baum's own niece, Dorothy Louise Gage, who died in infancy. Baum's wife was deeply attached to the little girl and deeply grieved by her death, so there is speculation that he inserted her into his story as a memoriam. Elements of her character are possibly derived from Matilda Joslyn Gage
, Dorothy's grandmother. Dorothy Gage is buried in Evergreen Cemetery
in Bloomington
, Illinois
.
The fictional Dorothy's last name is never mentioned in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
or The Marvelous Land of Oz
, the first two Oz books. Not until the third book, Ozma of Oz
(1907), is it revealed. Dorothy's last name of Gale comes from Baum's script for the 1902 Broadway stage version of The Wizard of Oz.
In the Oz books, Dorothy is an orphan raised by her aunt and uncle in the bleak landscape of a Kansas
farm. It is never clarified in the books whether Aunt Em or Uncle Henry is Dorothy's blood relative. Uncle Henry makes reference to Dorothy's mother in The Emerald City of Oz, possibly an indication that Henry is Dorothy's blood relative. (It is also possible that "Aunt" and "Uncle" are affectionate terms of a foster family and that Dorothy is not related to either of them, although Zeb in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz claims to be Dorothy's second cousin, related through Aunt Em. No mention is made of what happened to Dorothy's real parents, other than a passing reference to her mother being dead.) She has a little black dog named Toto
. Dorothy and Toto are swept away by a tornado
to the Land of Oz and, much like Alice of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
, they enter a lively alternative world filled with talking creatures. In many of the Oz books, Dorothy is the main hero
of the stories. She is often seen with her best friend and the ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma
. Dorothy's surname
, Gale, is first mentioned in Ozma of Oz
. It appeared previously in the 1902 play
, where it was merely the setup for a joke, the punchline being "that accounts for your breezy manner." Her blue and white gingham dress is well-appreciated by the Munchkin
s because blue is their favorite color and white is worn only by good witches and sorceresses, which indicates to them that Dorothy is a good witch.
Dorothy is a forthright and take-charge character, exhibiting no fear when she slaps the Cowardly Lion
, and organizing the Winkies
' rescue mission of her friends who have been dismembered by the Winged Monkeys
, and more than willing to brazenly talk back to Princess Langwidere's threat to take her head for her collection--"Well, I b'lieve you won't." (Following Anna Laughlin's portrayal of the character in the popular 1903 Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz, Baum began to indicate that Dorothy speaks in childish contractions with Ozma of Oz
, and continued to do so throughout the series). This aspect of her character was somewhat lessened with the companionship of Ozma, in whom Baum placed the greater level of wisdom and dignity. Yet even this is complicated by her associations with her cousin, Zeb of Hugson's Ranch, a rugged, manly boy who does not take well to Oz and cannot think of anything much more interesting than defeating the Munchkins' wrestling champion, which he proves unable to do.
In The Emerald City of Oz
, Dorothy takes her Aunt and Uncle with her to Oz to stay when their farm is finally foreclosed on. While there Ozma tells the shocked adults that Dorothy is considered a princess of Oz and Ozma's life-long companion. The two are seen wandering the palace garden, holding hands and sharing kisses.
Dorothy has several other pets, including her white/pink/purple kitten, Eureka
. Popular in crossword puzzles is Dorothy's cow, Imogene, from the 1902 stage version
, and implicitly, though unnamed, in the 1910 film
. Eric Shanower
's novel, The Giant Garden of Oz
, features a cow named Imogene, but she is of Ozite origin, but otherwise Imogene appears strictly in adaptations.
In the sixth Oz book by Baum, The Emerald City of Oz
(1910), when Uncle Henry
and Aunt Em
are unable to pay the mortgage
on the new farmhouse built at the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy brings them to live in Oz; the bulk of their appearance in the book dealing with her and her aunt and uncle is their tour of Oz, showing them the marvelous, Utopia
n land in which they have escaped the troubles of Kansas.
Dorothy is a standard character, having at least a cameo role in thirteen of the fourteen Oz books written by L. Frank Baum (while she did not appear at all in The Marvelous Land of Oz, she is mentioned several times in that story) and is at least a frequent figure in the nineteen that followed by author Ruth Plumly Thompson
, getting at least a cameo in all her books except Captain Salt in Oz
(in which neither Oz nor any of its inhabitants appear, though they are mentioned). Major subsequent appearances by Dorothy in the "Famous Forty" are in The Lost Princess of Oz
, Glinda of Oz
, The Royal Book of Oz
, Grampa in Oz
, The Lost King of Oz
, The Wishing Horse of Oz
, Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
, and The Magical Mimics in Oz
. Most of the other books focus on different child protagonists, some Ozite, some from other Nonestican realms, and some from the United States
, and as such, her appearances in the main series become more and more limited as it progresses. In Jack Snow
's The Magical Mimics in Oz (1946), Ozma places Dorothy on the throne of Oz while she is away visiting Queen Lurline
's fairy band, demonstrating that she is Ozma's second-in-command.
The magic of Oz keeps Dorothy young. In The Lost King of Oz (1925), a Wish Way
carries Dorothy to a film set in Hollywood, California. She begins to age very rapidly to her late 20s, making up for at least some of the years that have already passed. The Wish Way carries her back to Oz and restores her to her younger self, but she learns then that it would be unwise for her ever to return to the outside world. Baum never states Dorothy's age, but he does state in The Lost Princess of Oz
that she is a year younger than Betsy Bobbin and a year older than Trot
, whose age was specified as 10 in Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Giant Horse of Oz
, a book full of controversial changes. This would make Dorothy eleven years old when she stopped aging. Her actual age would, of course, be much older.
As such, a cottage industry of Oz books by mostly amateur authors and small publishing houses have been made in which Princess Dorothy of Oz lives on even to our present day.
Thompson's Oz books have shown a certain intolerance in Dorothy. In The Cowardly Lion of Oz
, circus clown
Notta Bit More arrives in the Emerald City "disguised" as a traditional witch, and Dorothy immediately starts dumping bucket after bucket of water on him without provocation (although she reacted this way on the assumption that the "witch" Notta appeared to be was an evil witch like her old enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West). In The Wishing Horse of Oz
, she participates in some unsavory comments about the dark coloration Gloma and her subjects take on as a disguise, making them somewhat resemble black people
. This behavior is not characteristic of Dorothy in Baum's Oz books. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz
, she pushes and slaps through crowds of the black
Tottenhots to rescue the Scarecrow, whom they are tossing around, but this is more an example of the character's gumption than any sort of prejudice, as she is otherwise kind and polite to the Tottenhots, and accepting that their ways are different from those who dwell in the Emerald City.
The authorized sequels of Sherwood Smith
, The Emerald Wand of Oz
and Trouble Under Oz
, center on children Dori and Em, who live with their Aunt Susan. All three are indirect descendants of Dorothy, though their specific relationship to her has not been revealed.
, with Romola Remus
as Dorothy. This was followed by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, a motion picture short that Otis Turner
, one of the directors of Fairylogue, made without Baum as part of a contract fulfillment. In this film, Dorothy was played by Bebe Daniels
. It was followed by two sequels (the same year), Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz and The Land of Oz, both of which included Dorothy, but whether Daniels participated is unknown. Baum subsequently loosely adapted The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a 1914 motion picture directed by J. Farrell MacDonald
titled His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz with Violet MacMillan
as Dorothy.
Dorothy does not appear in The Patchwork Girl of Oz
(1914), although some film books claim that Mildred Harris
, who had yet to sign her contract with The Oz Film Manufacturing Company
, played the role. The character, is, in fact, eliminated from the film version, although she has a fairly large role in the novel.
portrayed Dorothy in the 1925 film Wizard of Oz
. In this film, Aunt Em (Mary Carr
) informs her on her eighteenth birthday that she was left on their doorstep and is really a princess of Oz destined to marry Prince Kynd (Bryant Washburn
), who has currently lost the throne to Prime Minister Kruel (Josef Swickard
), in a storyline similar to that of His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz, only with Dorothy as the love interest. In the end, the story proves to be the dream of a little girl who has fallen asleep listening to the story of Kynd and Kruel, said to be the story of "The Wizard of Oz."
In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz
, Dorothy was played by Judy Garland
. Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award
for her performance. She was sixteen years old when she performed the role, with a brace on her chest to make her look more youthful. In contrast to Baum's novel, Dorothy is more of a damsel in distress
figure. Since fantasy films generally were unsuccessful in that time, MGM
portrayed Oz as a head-trauma-induced delirium, instead of a real place. It is not actually confirmed that Oz is merely Dorothy's dream
; it is only implied, since she awakens in bed at the end, with Aunt Em telling her she had a dream, although Dorothy insists the experience was real.
film Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde
, in which Dorothy is the recurring character Ayşecik portrayed by seventeen-year-old child star
Zeynep Değirmencioğlu
.
Darlene Gillespie
played her in a 1957 pilot segment for the proposed Walt Disney
production, Rainbow Road to Oz
.
For the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz
, Dorothy (originated in The Wiz by Stephanie Mills
) is reimagined as a young African-American girl, though most of her other characteristics, as well as the general plot of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, remain intact. The story was altered for the 1978 Motown/Universal
film adaptation of The Wiz
, in which Dorothy (portrayed by Diana Ross
) is a shy 24-year-old schoolteacher who has never traveled far beyond the neighborhood she grew up in. This Dorothy's adventures in Oz force her to mature, as is the case for most versions of the Wizard of Oz story, although in this case, Dorothy is made to overcome a case of arrested development.
Philip José Farmer
's 1982 science-fiction novel A Barnstormer in Oz
tells the story of hotshot aviator Henry "Hank" Stover — who is not at all surprised one beautiful spring day in 1923 when he flies his Curtiss Jenny biplane through a strange green cloud and finds himself in a land populated by small people where animals talk and magic works. Hank knows right away that he is in Oz because his mother, Dorothy Gale-Stover, had been there back in 1890 and later told him (and L. Frank Baum
) of her experiences. Farmer's premise is that Dorothy only visited Oz once and told her story to a journalist called Frank Baum. This journalist would later create a series of books from Dorothy's only adventure in Oz. Like many Oz novels for adults, Farmer's Oz is a darker, more threatening place and in this case it is on the brink of both a civil war
and an invasion by the United States Army
.
In 1982, a Japanese animated version
depicted a blonde Dorothy in red shoes voiced by Aileen Quinn
. The film was made by Toho
with a script co-written by Yoshimitsu Banno
, with music co-written by Joe Hisaishi
and lyrics co-written by Sammy Cahn
.
In 1985, Walter Murch
directed the movie Return to Oz
distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
starring Fairuza Balk
as Dorothy. The plot was a combination of Ozma of Oz
and The Marvelous Land of Oz
. The film was not a wide success on its original release, although it has attained cult classic
status.
In the 1986 Japanese animated-version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz no Mahōtsukai), Dorothy is depicted with reddish-brown hair, much like the movie, but does not have pig-tails. Her blue and white farm dress slightly differs from how it was described in the books (in fact, it looks quite Alice in Wonderland-esque), but her anime design makes her appear young. She wears white "magic shoes".
Geoff Ryman
's evocation of Dorothy's childhood in Kansas
is the central thread of his 1992 novel Was
. His Dorothy (her surname spelled Gael) is given into the care of her aunt and uncle, Henry and Emma Gulch in Zeandale, Manhattan in 1875. Years of deprivation and abuse at their hands turn her into a disturbed young adult, retreating into a fantasy of her own past: the land of "Was". She encounters — and subsequently inspires — L. Frank Baum in a Kansas schoolroom. Alongside this theme are scenes from the infamous life of Judy Garland before, during and after her portrayal of the character in the 1939 movie, and the story of a homosexual man's investigation of the life of the "real" Dorothy as he combats AIDS
.
In the video for Blues Traveler
's 1994 hit song "Run-Around
", Dorothy is featured as an attractive young adult woman, trying to get into a club where the band is performing. She is portrayed by actress Diana Marquis.
While not exactly a villain, Dorothy is not the hero in Gregory Maguire
's revisionist
1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
. She is only involved in the drama towards the end of the novel. Although she is well-meaning, her innocence and unyielding desire to return back home to Kansas result in much trouble for the main character of the book, the Wicked Witch named Elphaba
, whom she melts by accident while trying to put out a fire.
In both Baum's original book and Maguire's revision, Dorothy spends her first night in Oz at the house of a munchkin farmer named Boq
. In the latter, it is revealed that the two discussed the etymology
of Dorothy's name. Boq finds it interesting that Dorothy's name
is the reverse of her land's "King" Theodore
— which means "gift of the gods" — and that Dorothy means "goddess of gifts."
While Dorothy is present in the Broadway musical
Wicked
(based on Maguire's book), she is never actually seen; when the main characters interact with her, they speak in the direction of the wings or into a trapdoor, as if she is sitting offstage and out of the view of the audience. Her crying is briefly heard in one scene. Her name is never mentioned; she is only referred to as "that farm girl". Dorothy does appear on the stage during a pivotal scene, but the audience sees only her silhouette.
Dorothy features somewhat more prominently in Son of a Witch
, Maguire's 2005 sequel to Wicked. In that novel, Elphaba's son Liir is briefly infatuated with Dorothy, and joins her party on their return to the Emerald City
. Maguire portrays Dorothy as good-natured, practical, single-minded, and slightly boring.
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
(1995) starred Jewel as Dorothy and Nathan Lane
as the Cowardly Lion
. This was a benefit performance for the Children's Defense Fund
.
A little known re-telling of The Wizard of Oz made for British channel Five starred Denise van Outen
as Dorothy and featured a cameo appearance by Zöe Salmon
of Blue Peter
fame.
Todd McFarlane
re imagined the story in the "Twisted Land of Oz" in which none of the characters are innocent. Dorothy is a straight A student, but naive socially, and is sexually tortured by two little sadomasochistic monsters.
In the 2005 made-for-television movie The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
Dorothy was portrayed as a gifted teenage singer (played by Ashanti
) who wanted nothing more than to get out of Kansas and sing with the Muppets Star Hunt tour.
In the VeggieTales
2007 episode The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's
, Dorothy was replaced by Darby (Junior Asparagus) with a pet pig (usually referred to as a dog) named "Tutu".
An adult Dorothy, along with Alice from Lewis Carroll
's (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
) and J. M. Barrie
's Wendy Darling
(from Peter Pan
), is a featured character in the 2006 sexually explicit graphic novel
Lost Girls
by Alan Moore
and Melinda Gebbie
, set in 1913.
Dorothy, Alice, Wendy, Susan Pevensie
(from The Chronicles of Narnia
), and Pollyanna
also feature in the comic The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles, set in 2005. Unlike the other characters, Dorothy is based on her movie counterpart, who stopped believing in Oz, as Susan, Alice, and Wendy stopped believing in their fairylands in both book and film versions.
In the 2007 Sci Fi Channel
miniseries
Tin Man
, a Dorothy Gale-type character (called "D.G.") was played by Zooey Deschanel
, while Dorothy Gale herself (a separate character) makes a brief appearance, played by Grace Wheeler. D.G. travels to the land of "The Outer Zone" (or "O.Z." for short), where she finds out that she and her sister Azkadellia are descendants of Dorothy Gale through their mother Queen Lavender Eyes. Ahamo, DG's father, tells DG that Dorothy Gale is her "greatest great grandmother." Dorothy Gale is legendary, and known as the first 'Slipper' (a title rather than an object) to slip to the Outer Zone. In the third episode of the miniseries, DG meets the original Dorothy Gale in a netherworld located within Gale's crypt which is reminiscent of Gale's farm as depicted in the 1939 film.
In 2010, Andrew Lloyd Webber
's searched for a girl to play the title character for his new production of The Wizard of Oz
. His talent-search show Over the Rainbow
discovered 19-year-old Danielle Hope
who is currently playing the role in the 2011 West End production.
The upcoming animated film Dorothy of Oz
stars Lea Michele
as the voice Dorothy Gale, who travels back to Oz to face more adventures and adversity with her friends.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of many of the Oz
Land of Oz
Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...
novels by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz .She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and L...
. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
and reappears in most of its sequels. She also is the main character in various adaptations, notably the classic 1939 movie adaptation of the book, The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
.
Dorothy's adventures continue. In later books, Oz
Land of Oz
Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...
steadily becomes more familiar to her than her homeland of Kansas. Indeed, Dorothy eventually goes to live in an apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
in the Emerald City
Emerald City
The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
Palace, but only once her Aunt Em
Aunt Em
Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lived together with them on a farm in Kansas...
and Uncle Henry have settled in a farmhouse
Farmhouse
Farmhouse is a general term for the main house of a farm. It is a type of building or house which serves a residential purpose in a rural or agricultural setting. Most often, the surrounding environment will be a farm. Many farm houses are shaped like a T...
on the outskirts of the Emerald City, unable to pay the mortgage on their house in Kansas.
Sources
An influence on the creation of Dorothy appears to be the AliceAlice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
Alice is a fictional character in the literary classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There. She is a young girl from Victorian-era Britain.-Development:...
books of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
. Although he found their plots incoherent, Baum identified their source of popularity as Alice herself, a child with whom the child readers could identify; this influenced his choice of a protagonist.
The name of the character possibly comes from Baum's own niece, Dorothy Louise Gage, who died in infancy. Baum's wife was deeply attached to the little girl and deeply grieved by her death, so there is speculation that he inserted her into his story as a memoriam. Elements of her character are possibly derived from Matilda Joslyn Gage
Matilda Joslyn Gage
Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage was a suffragist, a Native American activist, an abolitionist, a freethinker, and a prolific author, who was "born with a hatred of oppression".-Early activities:...
, Dorothy's grandmother. Dorothy Gage is buried in Evergreen Cemetery
Evergreen Cemetery (Bloomington, Illinois)
Evergreen Cemetery, in Bloomington, Illinois, is also known as Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.The cemetery was originally two separate cemeteries, adjacent to each other. The first was the Bloomington Cemetery, founded in 1850 by the Bloomington Cemetery Association; the other was Evergreen Cemetery,...
in Bloomington
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
.
The fictional Dorothy's last name is never mentioned in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
or The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This and the next...
, the first two Oz books. Not until the third book, Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L....
(1907), is it revealed. Dorothy's last name of Gale comes from Baum's script for the 1902 Broadway stage version of The Wizard of Oz.
Book series
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
farm. It is never clarified in the books whether Aunt Em or Uncle Henry is Dorothy's blood relative. Uncle Henry makes reference to Dorothy's mother in The Emerald City of Oz, possibly an indication that Henry is Dorothy's blood relative. (It is also possible that "Aunt" and "Uncle" are affectionate terms of a foster family and that Dorothy is not related to either of them, although Zeb in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz claims to be Dorothy's second cousin, related through Aunt Em. No mention is made of what happened to Dorothy's real parents, other than a passing reference to her mother being dead.) She has a little black dog named Toto
Toto (dog)
Toto is the name of a fictional dog in L. Frank Baum's Oz series of children's books, and works derived from them. The name is pronounced with a long "O", a homonym of "toe toe". The dog was originally a cairn terrier drawn by W.W. Denslow for the first edition of the Wizard of Oz...
. Dorothy and Toto are swept away by a tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
to the Land of Oz and, much like Alice of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
, they enter a lively alternative world filled with talking creatures. In many of the Oz books, Dorothy is the main hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
of the stories. She is often seen with her best friend and the ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz .She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and L...
. Dorothy's surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
, Gale, is first mentioned in Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L....
. It appeared previously in the 1902 play
The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)
The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was originally published in 1900...
, where it was merely the setup for a joke, the punchline being "that accounts for your breezy manner." Her blue and white gingham dress is well-appreciated by the Munchkin
Munchkin
The Munchkins are the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. They first appeared in the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which they are described as being somewhat short of stature, and wear only blue...
s because blue is their favorite color and white is worn only by good witches and sorceresses, which indicates to them that Dorothy is a good witch.
Dorothy is a forthright and take-charge character, exhibiting no fear when she slaps the Cowardly Lion
Cowardly Lion
The Cowardly Lion is the main character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is a Lion, but he talks and interacts with humans....
, and organizing the Winkies
Winkie Country
The Winkie Country is a division of the fictional Land of Oz. It is distinguished by the color yellow; this color is worn by most of the local inhabitants and predominates in the surroundings....
' rescue mission of her friends who have been dismembered by the Winged Monkeys
Winged monkeys
Winged monkeys are characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, of enough impact between the books and the 1939 movie to have taken their own place in popular culture, regularly referenced in comedic or ironic situations as a source of evil or fear.-Details:In the original Oz novels, these were...
, and more than willing to brazenly talk back to Princess Langwidere's threat to take her head for her collection--"Well, I b'lieve you won't." (Following Anna Laughlin's portrayal of the character in the popular 1903 Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz, Baum began to indicate that Dorothy speaks in childish contractions with Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L....
, and continued to do so throughout the series). This aspect of her character was somewhat lessened with the companionship of Ozma, in whom Baum placed the greater level of wisdom and dignity. Yet even this is complicated by her associations with her cousin, Zeb of Hugson's Ranch, a rugged, manly boy who does not take well to Oz and cannot think of anything much more interesting than defeating the Munchkins' wrestling champion, which he proves unable to do.
In The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em coming to live in Oz permanently...
, Dorothy takes her Aunt and Uncle with her to Oz to stay when their farm is finally foreclosed on. While there Ozma tells the shocked adults that Dorothy is considered a princess of Oz and Ozma's life-long companion. The two are seen wandering the palace garden, holding hands and sharing kisses.
Dorothy has several other pets, including her white/pink/purple kitten, Eureka
Eureka (Oz)
Eureka is a white kitten found by Dorothy Gale's Uncle Henry, that he gives to her telling her that the name means "I have found it!" She is introduced in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz....
. Popular in crossword puzzles is Dorothy's cow, Imogene, from the 1902 stage version
The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)
The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was originally published in 1900...
, and implicitly, though unnamed, in the 1910 film
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1910 silent fantasy film and the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input. It was created to fulfill a contractual obligation associated with Baum's personal bankruptcy caused by...
. Eric Shanower
Eric Shanower
Eric James Shanower is an American comics artist and writer, best known for his Oz novels and comics and the on-going retelling of the Trojan War as Age of Bronze.-Biography:...
's novel, The Giant Garden of Oz
The Giant Garden of Oz
The Giant Garden of Oz is a novel written and illustrated by Eric Shanower, first published in 1993 by Emerald City Press, a division of Books of Wonder. As its title indicates, the novel is a volume in the ever-growing literature on the Land of Oz, written by L...
, features a cow named Imogene, but she is of Ozite origin, but otherwise Imogene appears strictly in adaptations.
In the sixth Oz book by Baum, The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em coming to live in Oz permanently...
(1910), when Uncle Henry
Uncle Henry (Oz)
Uncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of orphan Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.-Oz Books:...
and Aunt Em
Aunt Em
Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lived together with them on a farm in Kansas...
are unable to pay the mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
on the new farmhouse built at the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy brings them to live in Oz; the bulk of their appearance in the book dealing with her and her aunt and uncle is their tour of Oz, showing them the marvelous, Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n land in which they have escaped the troubles of Kansas.
Dorothy is a standard character, having at least a cameo role in thirteen of the fourteen Oz books written by L. Frank Baum (while she did not appear at all in The Marvelous Land of Oz, she is mentioned several times in that story) and is at least a frequent figure in the nineteen that followed by author Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson was an American writer of children's stories.-Life and work:An avid reader of Baum's books and a lifelong children's writer, Thompson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began her writing career in 1914 when she took a job with the Philadelphia Public Ledger; she wrote...
, getting at least a cameo in all her books except Captain Salt in Oz
Captain Salt in Oz
Captain Salt in Oz is the thirtieth in the series of Oz novels created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the sixteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was illustrated by John R...
(in which neither Oz nor any of its inhabitants appear, though they are mentioned). Major subsequent appearances by Dorothy in the "Famous Forty" are in The Lost Princess of Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz is the eleventh canonical Oz book written by L. Frank Baum. Published on June 5, 1917, it begins with the disappearance of Princess Ozma, the ruler of Oz and covers Dorothy and the Wizard's efforts to find her...
, Glinda of Oz
Glinda of Oz
Glinda of Oz: In Which Are Related the Exciting Experiences of Princess Ozma of Oz, and Dorothy, in Their Hazardous Journey to the Home of the Flatheads, and to the Magic Isle of the Skeezers, and How They Were Rescued from Dire Peril by the Sorcery of Glinda the Good is the fourteenth Land of Oz...
, The Royal Book of Oz
The Royal Book of Oz
The Royal Book of Oz is the fifteenth in the series of Oz books, and the first to be written by Ruth Plumly Thompson after L. Frank Baum's death. Although Baum was credited as the author, it was written entirely by Thompson. Beginning in the 1980s, some editions have correctly credited Thompson,...
, Grampa in Oz
Grampa in Oz
Grampa in Oz is the eighteenth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fourth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson.-Plot:...
, The Lost King of Oz
The Lost King of Oz
The Lost King of Oz is the nineteenth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fifth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill.-Thompson's approach:...
, The Wishing Horse of Oz
The Wishing Horse of Oz
thumb|200px|Cover of The Wishing Horse of Oz.The Wishing Horse of Oz is the twenty-ninth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fifteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill...
, Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz is the thirty-third in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the nineteenth and last written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was illustrated by John R...
, and The Magical Mimics in Oz
The Magical Mimics in Oz
The Magical Mimics in Oz is the thirty-seventh in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the first written by Jack Snow. It was illustrated by Frank G. Kramer.-A new "Royal Historian":...
. Most of the other books focus on different child protagonists, some Ozite, some from other Nonestican realms, and some from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and as such, her appearances in the main series become more and more limited as it progresses. In Jack Snow
Jack Snow (writer)
John Frederick "Jack" Snow was an American radio writer and scholar, primarily of the works of L. Frank Baum. When Baum died in 1919, the twelve-year-old Snow offered to be the next Royal Historian of Oz, but was politely turned down by a staffer at Baum's publisher, Reilly & Lee...
's The Magical Mimics in Oz (1946), Ozma places Dorothy on the throne of Oz while she is away visiting Queen Lurline
Queen Lurline
Queen Lurline is a fictional character in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum and other authors.The name "Lurline" is a variant of Loreley, the Rhine nymph; the name has been used for ships, and has other associations.-Descriptions in the Oz books:...
's fairy band, demonstrating that she is Ozma's second-in-command.
The magic of Oz keeps Dorothy young. In The Lost King of Oz (1925), a Wish Way
Wish Way
A Wish Way is a device that appears in three of the Oz books of Ruth Plumly Thompson, The Royal Book of Oz, The Hungry Tiger of Oz, and The Lost King of Oz. Two Wish Ways are found in distinctly different locations, both in the Winkie Country....
carries Dorothy to a film set in Hollywood, California. She begins to age very rapidly to her late 20s, making up for at least some of the years that have already passed. The Wish Way carries her back to Oz and restores her to her younger self, but she learns then that it would be unwise for her ever to return to the outside world. Baum never states Dorothy's age, but he does state in The Lost Princess of Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz is the eleventh canonical Oz book written by L. Frank Baum. Published on June 5, 1917, it begins with the disappearance of Princess Ozma, the ruler of Oz and covers Dorothy and the Wizard's efforts to find her...
that she is a year younger than Betsy Bobbin and a year older than Trot
Trot (Oz)
Trot is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz.Trot is introduced in the novel, The Sea Fairies and first appears in an Oz book in The Scarecrow of Oz . Trot is a little girl with big solemn eyes and an earnest, simple manner. Her real name is Mayre Griffiths...
, whose age was specified as 10 in Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Giant Horse of Oz
The Giant Horse of Oz
The Giant Horse of Oz is the twenty-second in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the eighth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R...
, a book full of controversial changes. This would make Dorothy eleven years old when she stopped aging. Her actual age would, of course, be much older.
As such, a cottage industry of Oz books by mostly amateur authors and small publishing houses have been made in which Princess Dorothy of Oz lives on even to our present day.
Thompson's Oz books have shown a certain intolerance in Dorothy. In The Cowardly Lion of Oz
The Cowardly Lion of Oz
The Cowardly Lion of Oz is the seventeenth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the third written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was illustrated by John R. Neill.-Plot:...
, circus clown
Circus clown
Clowns have always been an integral part of the circus, offering a source of amusement for patrons and providing relief from the array of animal acts and performances by acrobats and novelty artistes....
Notta Bit More arrives in the Emerald City "disguised" as a traditional witch, and Dorothy immediately starts dumping bucket after bucket of water on him without provocation (although she reacted this way on the assumption that the "witch" Notta appeared to be was an evil witch like her old enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West). In The Wishing Horse of Oz
The Wishing Horse of Oz
thumb|200px|Cover of The Wishing Horse of Oz.The Wishing Horse of Oz is the twenty-ninth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fifteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill...
, she participates in some unsavory comments about the dark coloration Gloma and her subjects take on as a disguise, making them somewhat resemble black people
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
. This behavior is not characteristic of Dorothy in Baum's Oz books. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum, is a children's novel, the seventh set in the Land of Oz. Characters include the Woozy, Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt, Scraps , and others. The book was first published on July 1, 1913, with illustrations by John R. Neill...
, she pushes and slaps through crowds of the black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
Tottenhots to rescue the Scarecrow, whom they are tossing around, but this is more an example of the character's gumption than any sort of prejudice, as she is otherwise kind and polite to the Tottenhots, and accepting that their ways are different from those who dwell in the Emerald City.
The authorized sequels of Sherwood Smith
Sherwood Smith
Sherwood Smith writes fantasy and science fiction for young adult as well as adults. She has participated in and organized writing groups for many years.Smith's works include the YA novel Crown Duel...
, The Emerald Wand of Oz
The Emerald Wand of Oz
The Emerald Wand of Oz is a 2005 book by Sherwood Smith and is a continuation of the Oz series that was started by L. Frank Baum in 1900. The book is illustrated by William Stout and published by HarperCollins....
and Trouble Under Oz
Trouble Under Oz
Trouble Under Oz is a 2006 novel by Sherwood Smith, illustrated by William Stout and published by HarperCollins. It is a sequel to Smith's 2005 novel The Emerald Wand of Oz and a further continuation of the Oz series originally started by L. Frank Baum in 1900.Dori and Em, Dorothy Gale's modern-day...
, center on children Dori and Em, who live with their Aunt Susan. All three are indirect descendants of Dorothy, though their specific relationship to her has not been revealed.
1908, 1910, and 1914 film adaptations
In 1908 L. Frank Baum adapted his early Oz novels as The Fairylogue and Radio-PlaysThe Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
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...
, with Romola Remus
Romola Remus
Romola Remus portrayed Dorothy Gale in the multimedia stage/film production, The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, in which she worked directly with author L. Frank Baum. She was the first ever to play the role on film, though not the first to play it on stage...
as Dorothy. This was followed by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1910 silent fantasy film and the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input. It was created to fulfill a contractual obligation associated with Baum's personal bankruptcy caused by...
, a motion picture short that Otis Turner
Otis Turner
Otis Turner was an American director, screenwriter and producer. Between 1908 and 1917, he directed 133 motion pictures and wrote 40 scenarios.He was born in Fairfield, Indiana, and died in Los Angeles, California....
, one of the directors of Fairylogue, made without Baum as part of a contract fulfillment. In this film, Dorothy was played by Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain...
. It was followed by two sequels (the same year), Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz and The Land of Oz, both of which included Dorothy, but whether Daniels participated is unknown. Baum subsequently loosely adapted The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a 1914 motion picture directed by J. Farrell MacDonald
J. Farrell MacDonald
Joseph Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. MacDonald, who was sometimes billed as "John Farrell Macdonald", "J.F...
titled His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz with Violet MacMillan
Violet MacMillan
Violet MacMillan , was an American actress in Broadway theatre productions, vaudeville, and silent motion pictures. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.-Tiny feet:...
as Dorothy.
Dorothy does not appear in The Patchwork Girl of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914 film)
The Patchwork Girl of Oz is a silent film made by L. Frank Baum's The Oz Film Manufacturing Company. It was based on the book The Patchwork Girl of Oz....
(1914), although some film books claim that Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris
Mildred Harris was an American film actress. Harris began her career in the film industry as a popular child actress at age eleven. At the age of fifteen, she was cast as a harem girl in D. W. Griffith's Intolerance . She appeared as a leading lady through the 1920s but her career slowed with...
, who had yet to sign her contract with The Oz Film Manufacturing Company
The Oz Film Manufacturing Company
The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an independent film studio from 1914-1915. It was founded by L. Frank Baum , Louis F. Gottschalk , Harry Marston Haldeman , and Clarence R. Rundel as an offshoot of Haldeman's social group, The Uplifters, that met at the Los Angeles Athletic Club...
, played the role. The character, is, in fact, eliminated from the film version, although she has a fairly large role in the novel.
The 1925 movie
Dorothy DwanDorothy Dwan
Dorothy Dwan was an American film actress. She appeared in 40 films between 1922 and 1930.Born Dorothy Ilgenfritz in Sedalia, Missouri, she married three times...
portrayed Dorothy in the 1925 film Wizard of Oz
Wizard of Oz (1925 film)
Wizard of Oz is a 1925 silent film directed by Larry Semon, who also appears in a lead role. The first major film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this film features a young Oliver Hardy as the "Tin Woodsman."-Plot:...
. In this film, Aunt Em (Mary Carr
Mary Carr
Mary Carr was an American film actress and was married to the actor William Carr . She appeared in 144 films between 1915 and 1956...
) informs her on her eighteenth birthday that she was left on their doorstep and is really a princess of Oz destined to marry Prince Kynd (Bryant Washburn
Bryant Washburn
Born Franklin Bryant Washburn , Bryant Washburn was an American film actor. He appeared in 330 films between 1911 and 1947....
), who has currently lost the throne to Prime Minister Kruel (Josef Swickard
Josef Swickard
Josef Swickard was a German-born veteran stage and screen character actor, who had toured with stock companies in Europe, South Africa, and South America.-Career:...
), in a storyline similar to that of His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz, only with Dorothy as the love interest. In the end, the story proves to be the dream of a little girl who has fallen asleep listening to the story of Kynd and Kruel, said to be the story of "The Wizard of Oz."
1939 film adaptation
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, Dorothy was played by Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
. Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award
Academy Juvenile Award
The Academy Juvenile Award, also known as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to specifically recognize juvenile performers under the age of eighteen for their "outstanding...
for her performance. She was sixteen years old when she performed the role, with a brace on her chest to make her look more youthful. In contrast to Baum's novel, Dorothy is more of a damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
figure. Since fantasy films generally were unsuccessful in that time, MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
portrayed Oz as a head-trauma-induced delirium, instead of a real place. It is not actually confirmed that Oz is merely Dorothy's dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
; it is only implied, since she awakens in bed at the end, with Aunt Em telling her she had a dream, although Dorothy insists the experience was real.
Recent works
The novel is adapted in the TurkishCinema of Turkey
Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....
film Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde
Aysecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde
Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde is a 1971 film by Turkish film director Tunç Başaran, an uncredited and very close adaptation by Hamdi Değirmencioğlu of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
, in which Dorothy is the recurring character Ayşecik portrayed by seventeen-year-old child star
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Zeynep Değirmencioğlu
Zeynep Degirmencioglu
Zeynep Değirmencioğlu is a Turkish actress.-Biography:She was born in Istanbul in 1954. She made her first appearance as a one year old baby in "Papatya" and established herself as a childstar with appearances in films like "Duvaklı Göl" and "Fırtına". In 1960 she acted in "Ayşecik"...
.
Darlene Gillespie
Darlene Gillespie
Darlene Faye Gillespie is a former child actor. She is best known for having been a singer and dancer on the original Mickey Mouse Club television show from 1955 to 1958. Her Irish father and French-Canadian mother were a former vaudeville dance team...
played her in a 1957 pilot segment for the proposed Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
production, Rainbow Road to Oz
Rainbow Road to Oz
Rainbow Road to Oz is a proposed, but never finished, Walt Disney live-action film about characters in the Land of Oz. Inspired by L. Frank Baum's Oz books, the film supposedly was to have starred some of the Mouseketeers, including Darlene Gillespie as Dorothy and Annette Funicello as Ozma...
.
For the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
, Dorothy (originated in The Wiz by Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
) is reimagined as a young African-American girl, though most of her other characteristics, as well as the general plot of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, remain intact. The story was altered for the 1978 Motown/Universal
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
film adaptation of The Wiz
The Wiz (film)
The Wiz is a 1978 musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz was adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical...
, in which Dorothy (portrayed by Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
) is a shy 24-year-old schoolteacher who has never traveled far beyond the neighborhood she grew up in. This Dorothy's adventures in Oz force her to mature, as is the case for most versions of the Wizard of Oz story, although in this case, Dorothy is made to overcome a case of arrested development.
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
's 1982 science-fiction novel A Barnstormer in Oz
A Barnstormer in Oz
A Barnstormer in Oz: A Rationalization and Extrapolation of the Split-Level Continuum is a 1982 novel by Philip José Farmer and is based on the setting and characters of L...
tells the story of hotshot aviator Henry "Hank" Stover — who is not at all surprised one beautiful spring day in 1923 when he flies his Curtiss Jenny biplane through a strange green cloud and finds himself in a land populated by small people where animals talk and magic works. Hank knows right away that he is in Oz because his mother, Dorothy Gale-Stover, had been there back in 1890 and later told him (and L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
) of her experiences. Farmer's premise is that Dorothy only visited Oz once and told her story to a journalist called Frank Baum. This journalist would later create a series of books from Dorothy's only adventure in Oz. Like many Oz novels for adults, Farmer's Oz is a darker, more threatening place and in this case it is on the brink of both a civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
and an invasion by the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
In 1982, a Japanese animated version
The Wizard of Oz (1982 film)
is a 1982 Japanese anime feature film directed by Fumihiko Takayama, from a screenplay by Yoshimitsu Banno and Akira Miyazaki, which is based on the 1900 children's novel by L...
depicted a blonde Dorothy in red shoes voiced by Aileen Quinn
Aileen Quinn
Aileen Marie Quinn is an American actress. She is best-known for having played the title role in the film Annie .-Biography:...
. The film was made by Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
with a script co-written by Yoshimitsu Banno
Yoshimitsu Banno
is a Japanese director, best known for the cult-classic Godzilla vs. Hedorah, which he directed and co-wrote. Banno was a special guest at G-Fest XII in 2005. He is currently co-producing a new Godzilla film with Legendary Pictures.-Directing Credits:...
, with music co-written by Joe Hisaishi
Joe Hisaishi
, known professionally as , is a composer and director known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981.While possessing a stylistically distinct sound, Hisaishi's music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, including minimalist, experimental electronic,...
and lyrics co-written by Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
.
In 1985, Walter Murch
Walter Murch
Walter Scott Murch is an American film editor and sound designer.-Early life:Murch was born in New York City, New York, the son of Katharine and Canadian-born Walter Tandy Murch , a painter. He went to The Collegiate School, a private preparatory school in Manhattan, from 1949 to 1961...
directed the movie Return to Oz
Return to Oz
Return to Oz is a 1985 film which is an unofficial sequel to Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz...
distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
starring Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Alejandra Balk is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz...
as Dorothy. The plot was a combination of Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L....
and The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This and the next...
. The film was not a wide success on its original release, although it has attained cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
status.
In the 1986 Japanese animated-version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz no Mahōtsukai), Dorothy is depicted with reddish-brown hair, much like the movie, but does not have pig-tails. Her blue and white farm dress slightly differs from how it was described in the books (in fact, it looks quite Alice in Wonderland-esque), but her anime design makes her appear young. She wears white "magic shoes".
Geoff Ryman
Geoff Ryman
Geoffrey Charles Ryman is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic or "slipstream" fiction.Ryman currently lectures in Creative Writing for University of Manchester's English Department. His most recent full-length novel, The King's Last Song, is set in Cambodia, both at the time of...
's evocation of Dorothy's childhood in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
is the central thread of his 1992 novel Was
Was (novel)
Was is a WFA nominated 1992 parallel novel by Geoff Ryman focussing on the lives of disparate individuals linked to one another by L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the musical film version...
. His Dorothy (her surname spelled Gael) is given into the care of her aunt and uncle, Henry and Emma Gulch in Zeandale, Manhattan in 1875. Years of deprivation and abuse at their hands turn her into a disturbed young adult, retreating into a fantasy of her own past: the land of "Was". She encounters — and subsequently inspires — L. Frank Baum in a Kansas schoolroom. Alongside this theme are scenes from the infamous life of Judy Garland before, during and after her portrayal of the character in the 1939 movie, and the story of a homosexual man's investigation of the life of the "real" Dorothy as he combats AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
In the video for Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler is a rock band, formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. The band has been influenced by a variety of genres, including blues-rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul, and Southern rock...
's 1994 hit song "Run-Around
Run-Around
"Run-Around" is a song by American jam band Blues Traveler, featured on the 1994 album Four. Blues Traveler won their first Grammy Award for the song in 1995.The song was the band's breakthrough hit, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100....
", Dorothy is featured as an attractive young adult woman, trying to get into a club where the band is performing. She is portrayed by actress Diana Marquis.
While not exactly a villain, Dorothy is not the hero in Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire is an American writer. He is the author of the novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and many other novels for adults and children...
's revisionist
Revisionism (fictional)
In fiction, revisionism is the retelling of a story or type of story with substantial alterations in character or environment, to "revise" the view shown in the original work. Unlike most usages of the term revisionism, this is not generally considered pejorative...
1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, is a parallel novel published in 1995 written by Gregory Maguire and illustrated by Douglas Smith. It is a revisionist look at the land and characters of Oz from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, its sequels, and the...
. She is only involved in the drama towards the end of the novel. Although she is well-meaning, her innocence and unyielding desire to return back home to Kansas result in much trouble for the main character of the book, the Wicked Witch named Elphaba
Elphaba
Elphaba Thropp is a fictional character in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway and West End adaptations, Wicked. In the original L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West is unnamed and little...
, whom she melts by accident while trying to put out a fire.
In both Baum's original book and Maguire's revision, Dorothy spends her first night in Oz at the house of a munchkin farmer named Boq
Boq
Boq is a minor character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. He becomes a more prominent character in Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which purports to show the lives of some of Baum's characters from another perspective, and more...
. In the latter, it is revealed that the two discussed the etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of Dorothy's name. Boq finds it interesting that Dorothy's name
Dorothy (given name)
Dorothy is a female given name from Greek Δωροθέα which is derived from the Greek phrase Δώρων Θεός meaning "Gift of God." Although much less common, there are also male equivalents in English such as "Dorie" from the Greek masculine Δωροθέος...
is the reverse of her land's "King" Theodore
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
— which means "gift of the gods" — and that Dorothy means "goddess of gifts."
While Dorothy is present in the Broadway musical
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
(based on Maguire's book), she is never actually seen; when the main characters interact with her, they speak in the direction of the wings or into a trapdoor, as if she is sitting offstage and out of the view of the audience. Her crying is briefly heard in one scene. Her name is never mentioned; she is only referred to as "that farm girl". Dorothy does appear on the stage during a pivotal scene, but the audience sees only her silhouette.
Dorothy features somewhat more prominently in Son of a Witch
Son of a Witch
Son of a Witch is a fantasy novel written by Gregory Maguire. The book is Maguire’s fifth revisionist story and the second set in the land of Oz originally conceived by L. Frank Baum. It is a sequel to Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West...
, Maguire's 2005 sequel to Wicked. In that novel, Elphaba's son Liir is briefly infatuated with Dorothy, and joins her party on their return to the Emerald City
Emerald City
The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
. Maguire portrays Dorothy as good-natured, practical, single-minded, and slightly boring.
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True was a 1995 musical performance based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz . The book and score of the film were performed on stage at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund...
(1995) starred Jewel as Dorothy and Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...
as the Cowardly Lion
Cowardly Lion
The Cowardly Lion is the main character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is a Lion, but he talks and interacts with humans....
. This was a benefit performance for the Children's Defense Fund
Children's Defense Fund
The Children's Defense Fund is an American child advocacy and research group, founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. Its motto Leave No Child Behind reflects its mission to advocate on behalf of children...
.
A little known re-telling of The Wizard of Oz made for British channel Five starred Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen is an English actress, singer and television presenter. Her most notable roles to date are as a presenter on The Big Breakfast, and as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on both the West End and on Broadway.- Early life :Born Denise Kathleen Outen in Basildon, Essex, she is the...
as Dorothy and featured a cameo appearance by Zöe Salmon
Zöe Salmon
Zöe Salmon is a television presenter who hosted the children's television show Blue Peter from 23 December 2004 to 25 June 2008. She also appeared on Dancing on Ice in early 2009.-Life and career:...
of Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
fame.
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
re imagined the story in the "Twisted Land of Oz" in which none of the characters are innocent. Dorothy is a straight A student, but naive socially, and is sexually tortured by two little sadomasochistic monsters.
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz is a 2005 musical telefilm directed by Kirk Thatcher and starring Ashanti and The Muppets. The film was produced by Bill Barretta and written by Debra Frank, Steve L. Hayes, Tom Martin, and Adam F...
Dorothy was portrayed as a gifted teenage singer (played by Ashanti
Ashanti (singer)
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model. She rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release...
) who wanted nothing more than to get out of Kansas and sing with the Muppets Star Hunt tour.
In the VeggieTales
VeggieTales
VeggieTales is an American series of children's computer animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables in stories conveying moral themes based on Christianity...
2007 episode The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's
The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's
The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's is the 33rd episode in the VeggieTales series, and was released on DVD on October 6, 2007 in Christian Bookstores and on October 9, 2007 in other stores. It is based on the parable from the Bible, The Prodigal Son, and a parody of The Wizard of Oz film adaptation...
, Dorothy was replaced by Darby (Junior Asparagus) with a pet pig (usually referred to as a dog) named "Tutu".
An adult Dorothy, along with Alice from Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
) and J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's Wendy Darling
Wendy Darling
Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional character, the female protagonist of Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie, and in most adaptations in other media. Her exact age is not specified in the original play or novel by Barrie, though she is implied to be 12 or 13 years old or younger, as she is "just...
(from Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
), is a featured character in the 2006 sexually explicit graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Lost Girls
Lost Girls
Lost Girls is a graphic novel depicting the sexually explicit adventures of three important female fictional characters of the late 19th and early 20th century: Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz and Wendy Darling from Peter Pan...
by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie is an American comics artist and writer, probably best known for Lost Girls, the three-volume graphic novel she produced in collaboration with writer Alan Moore, published by Top Shelf.-Biography:...
, set in 1913.
Dorothy, Alice, Wendy, Susan Pevensie
Susan Pevensie
Susan Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series. Susan is the elder sister and the second eldest Pevensie child. She appears in three of the seven books—as a child in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, and as an adult in The Horse and His Boy...
(from The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
), and Pollyanna
Pollyanna
Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook. The book was such a success, that Porter soon produced a sequel, Pollyanna...
also feature in the comic The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles, set in 2005. Unlike the other characters, Dorothy is based on her movie counterpart, who stopped believing in Oz, as Susan, Alice, and Wendy stopped believing in their fairylands in both book and film versions.
In the 2007 Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
Tin Man
Tin Man (TV miniseries)
Tin Man is a 2007 four and a half hour miniseries co-produced by RHI Entertainment and Sci Fi Channel original pictures that was broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel in three parts. The first part aired on December 2, and the remaining two parts airing on the following nights...
, a Dorothy Gale-type character (called "D.G.") was played by Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...
, while Dorothy Gale herself (a separate character) makes a brief appearance, played by Grace Wheeler. D.G. travels to the land of "The Outer Zone" (or "O.Z." for short), where she finds out that she and her sister Azkadellia are descendants of Dorothy Gale through their mother Queen Lavender Eyes. Ahamo, DG's father, tells DG that Dorothy Gale is her "greatest great grandmother." Dorothy Gale is legendary, and known as the first 'Slipper' (a title rather than an object) to slip to the Outer Zone. In the third episode of the miniseries, DG meets the original Dorothy Gale in a netherworld located within Gale's crypt which is reminiscent of Gale's farm as depicted in the 1939 film.
In 2010, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's searched for a girl to play the title character for his new production of The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (2011 musical)
The Wizard of Oz is a musical based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The adaptation is by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams. The musical uses all of the Harold Arlen and E. Y...
. His talent-search show Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow (2010 TV series)
Over the Rainbow is a British television talent series which aired on BBC One from March to May 2010. It documents the search for a new, undiscovered musical theatre performer to play the role of Dorothy in the forthcoming Andrew Lloyd Webber stage production of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and a...
discovered 19-year-old Danielle Hope
Danielle Hope
Danielle Hope is an English actress and singer. She is the winner of the BBC talent contest Over The Rainbow and as a result is currently playing the part of Dorothy in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, which began performances in the West End at the London Palladium in...
who is currently playing the role in the 2011 West End production.
The upcoming animated film Dorothy of Oz
Dorothy of Oz (film)
Dorothy of Oz is an upcoming computer-animated film based on the book by Roger Stanton Baum by the same name. It is being produced by Summertime Entertainment, the family entertainment division of Alpine Pictures. The film is scheduled for a 3D U.S. theatrical release on August 3, 2012....
stars Lea Michele
Lea Michele
Lea Michele Sarfati , known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele began working professionally as a child actress on Broadway in productions such as Ragtime and Les Misérables. She originated the role of Wendla in the musical Spring Awakening and currently plays...
as the voice Dorothy Gale, who travels back to Oz to face more adventures and adversity with her friends.
Portrayals
- The Wizard of Oz (1902 Broadway musical): Anna Laughlin
- The Fairylogue and Radio-PlaysThe Fairylogue and Radio-PlaysThe 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...
(1908): Romola RemusRomola RemusRomola Remus portrayed Dorothy Gale in the multimedia stage/film production, The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, in which she worked directly with author L. Frank Baum. She was the first ever to play the role on film, though not the first to play it on stage... - The Wonderful Wizard Of OzThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1910 silent fantasy film and the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input. It was created to fulfill a contractual obligation associated with Baum's personal bankruptcy caused by...
(1910): Bebe DanielsBebe DanielsBebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain... - His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914): Violet MacMillanViolet MacMillanViolet MacMillan , was an American actress in Broadway theatre productions, vaudeville, and silent motion pictures. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.-Tiny feet:...
- The Wizard of OzWizard of Oz (1925 film)Wizard of Oz is a 1925 silent film directed by Larry Semon, who also appears in a lead role. The first major film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this film features a young Oliver Hardy as the "Tin Woodsman."-Plot:...
(1925): Dorothy DwanDorothy DwanDorothy Dwan was an American film actress. She appeared in 40 films between 1922 and 1930.Born Dorothy Ilgenfritz in Sedalia, Missouri, she married three times... - The Land of Oz, a Sequel to the "Wizard of Oz" (1932): Maryeruth Boone
- The Wizard Of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
(1939): Judy GarlandJudy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage... - Fantasía... 3 (1960): Maribel Martín (Sylvia)
- Tales of the Wizard of OzTales of the Wizard of OzTales of the Wizard of Oz is a 1961 animated television series, produced by Crawley Films for Videocrafts . This is the second animated series produced by the studio, and the first by Rankin/Bass to feature traditional animation.The series features stories derived from characters created in L...
(1961): Corinne Conley - Return to OzReturn to Oz (TV program)Return to Oz is an animated television special produced by Crawley Films for Rankin/Bass . It first aired 9 February 1964 in the United States on NBC's General Electric Color Fantasy Hour. It was directed by F.R...
(1964): Susan ConwaySusan ConwaySusan Conway Mitchell is a Canadian actress.- Television series :* 1963-1966: The Forest Rangers as Junior Ranger Kathy * 1966: The King Kong Show as Susan Bond... - Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar ÜlkesindeAysecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar ÜlkesindeAyşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde is a 1971 film by Turkish film director Tunç Başaran, an uncredited and very close adaptation by Hamdi Değirmencioğlu of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
(1971): Zeynep DeğirmencioğluZeynep DegirmenciogluZeynep Değirmencioğlu is a Turkish actress.-Biography:She was born in Istanbul in 1954. She made her first appearance as a one year old baby in "Papatya" and established herself as a childstar with appearances in films like "Duvaklı Göl" and "Fırtına". In 1960 she acted in "Ayşecik"...
(Ayşecik) - Journey Back to OzJourney Back to OzJourney Back To Oz is a 1974 animated film and the official sequel to the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. It is loosely based on L. Frank Baum's second Oz novel, The Marvelous Land of Oz, although Baum received no screen credit. However, the Wizard was nowhere to be found, at least in the...
(1971): Liza MinnelliLiza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli.... - OzOz (1976 film)Oz is a 1976 Australian film written, directed and co-produced by Chris Löfvén. It stars Joy Dunstan, Graham Matters, Bruce Spence, Gary Waddell, and Robin Ramsay; and received four nominations at the 1977 AFI Awards...
(1976): Joy DunstanJoy DunstanJoy Dunstan is a retired Australian film and television actress. She is best remembered as the teenage star of Chris Löfvén's 1976 film Oz, a modern-day remake of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, with Graham Matters, Bruce Spence, Gary Waddell, and Robin Ramsay.The then 25-year-old former school... - The WizThe WizThe Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
(1975): Stephanie MillsStephanie MillsStephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times... - The WizThe Wiz (film)The Wiz is a 1978 musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz was adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical...
(1978): Diana RossDiana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway... - The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1982 film)is a 1982 Japanese anime feature film directed by Fumihiko Takayama, from a screenplay by Yoshimitsu Banno and Akira Miyazaki, which is based on the 1900 children's novel by L...
(1982): Aileen QuinnAileen QuinnAileen Marie Quinn is an American actress. She is best-known for having played the title role in the film Annie .-Biography:... - Return to OzReturn to OzReturn to Oz is a 1985 film which is an unofficial sequel to Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz...
(1985): Fairuza BalkFairuza BalkFairuza Alejandra Balk is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz... - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Sumi ShimamotoSumi Shimamoto, real name , is a veteran Japanese voice actress born on December 8, 1954, in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the Toho Gakuen School of Music, she joined Gekidan Seinenza, a theatrical acting troupe...
(1986 Japanese track), Morgan Hallet (1987 Canadian English track) - Dorothy Meets Ozma of OzDorothy Meets Ozma of OzDorothy Meets Ozma of Oz is a short film introduced through Michael Gross of Family Ties. It is based on Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum.-Plot:...
(1987): Janice KawayeJanice KawayeJanice Kawaye is a Japanese-American actress, notable for providing the voice of Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman on My Life as a Teenage Robot, Ami on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah on Invader Zim, Gi on Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Kioko and Julia on All Grown Up! and Yuzu Kurosaki on Bleach... - The Wonderful Galaxy of OzThe Wonderful Galaxy of OzThe Wonderful Galaxy of Oz is a 1990 futuristic adaptation of the classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was originally released in the 1990s in Japan as a television series, Space Oz no Bōken , and consists of 26 episodes. The plot parallels the original but imposes a science fiction theme. ...
(1990): Mariko Kouda - The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum StoryThe Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum StoryThe Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story is a 1990 film that stars John Ritter as Lyman Frank Baum, the man who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and thirteen of the other Oz books. Also starring in this TV movie was Annette O'Toole as Baum's supportive wife Maud, and Rue McClanahan who played...
(1990): Courtney Barilla (as Dorothy Gage and Dorothy Gale) - The Wizard of Oz (1991): Liz Georges
- The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (adaptations)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...
(stage show) (2001): Nikki WebsterNikki WebsterNikki Webster is an Australian pop performer. She is best known for her starring role in the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony and her single "Strawberry Kisses".-Recording career:... - The Muppets' Wizard of OzThe Muppets' Wizard of OzThe Muppets' Wizard of Oz is a 2005 musical telefilm directed by Kirk Thatcher and starring Ashanti and The Muppets. The film was produced by Bill Barretta and written by Debra Frank, Steve L. Hayes, Tom Martin, and Adam F...
(2005): AshantiAshanti (singer)Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model. She rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release... - The Wonderful Wizard of Ha'sThe Wonderful Wizard of Ha'sThe Wonderful Wizard of Ha's is the 33rd episode in the VeggieTales series, and was released on DVD on October 6, 2007 in Christian Bookstores and on October 9, 2007 in other stores. It is based on the parable from the Bible, The Prodigal Son, and a parody of The Wizard of Oz film adaptation...
(2007): Lisa Vischer as Junior Asparagus as Darby (replacing Dorothy) - Tin Man (TV miniseries)Tin Man (TV miniseries)Tin Man is a 2007 four and a half hour miniseries co-produced by RHI Entertainment and Sci Fi Channel original pictures that was broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel in three parts. The first part aired on December 2, and the remaining two parts airing on the following nights...
(2007): Zooey DeschanelZooey DeschanelZooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...
as DG; Rachel Pattee & Alexis Llewellyn as Young DG; Grace Wheeler as the Grey Gale - The Wizard of Oz (2011 musical)The Wizard of Oz (2011 musical)The Wizard of Oz is a musical based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The adaptation is by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams. The musical uses all of the Harold Arlen and E. Y...
: Danielle HopeDanielle HopeDanielle Hope is an English actress and singer. She is the winner of the BBC talent contest Over The Rainbow and as a result is currently playing the part of Dorothy in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, which began performances in the West End at the London Palladium in... - Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of OzTom and Jerry and the Wizard of OzTom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz is a 2011 animated direct-to-video film starring Tom and Jerry, produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is a crossover film version of MGM's famed 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, with characters from the Tom and Jerry/Droopy universe sharing screen with Dorothy and her...
: Grey DeLisleGrey DeLisleGrey DeLisle is an American voice actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. To date, she has released four solo albums and has featured on the tribute album Anchored in Love: A Tribute to June Carter Cash and film soundtrack of Loggerheads... - Dorothy of Oz (film)Dorothy of Oz (film)Dorothy of Oz is an upcoming computer-animated film based on the book by Roger Stanton Baum by the same name. It is being produced by Summertime Entertainment, the family entertainment division of Alpine Pictures. The film is scheduled for a 3D U.S. theatrical release on August 3, 2012....
: Lea MicheleLea MicheleLea Michele Sarfati , known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele began working professionally as a child actress on Broadway in productions such as Ragtime and Les Misérables. She originated the role of Wendla in the musical Spring Awakening and currently plays... - various actresses in myriad stage productions