After hearing about Rue McClannigan's death, I remember her role playing the mother in law (whose based on The Wiched Witch of the West). She disliked Frank for being an actor, but then after reading his books, she admits that he's got talent for imagination.So I dug up the vcr tape & saw that movie. The 2nd time NBC aired it, they deleted some scenes. One is when Frank, his wife & mother in law, discussed ideas for titling the story (since it's superstitious to have a name of a jewel in a book title).NBC should've aired this movie the week CBS had The Wizard of Oz, which would be tradition (until cable took it away from CBS).

This film deserves to available on video or DVD. As far as I know, this is one of the few versions of the life of Lionel Frank Baum, the author of the Oz series. The film, a made-for-TV film with John Ritter, treats the subject of L. Frank Baum's creating the Wizard of Oz book. The story is largely a fictionalized version of Baum's odyssey to creating the book and Baum purists (myself included) may be tempted to snort at the inclusion of issues that have been added into the mythology of the creation of the Oz books. However, this little slips are forgivable in the overall presentation of the life of a gentle man who truly loved children and whose works remain classics to this day. Baum was a complex individual whose works-- particularly the earlier ones-- were more complex than meets the eye. His themes touched on female voter issues (a hot issue in the turn of century, pre-feminist days), the ethics of creating life and the responsibility of science. This little movie does not go into these issues, nor should it have, for that matter. But, in any case, it should be available for those of us who would like to see it again.

I haven't seen this in 10 years, but I remember it quite fondly. The sequences where he is visualizing the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Lion, etc are realized very well, with depth and feeling. And Baum's hard luck life was finally turned to gold after they found a publisher(after 23 attempts...)-his true life story was quite involving itself.Strange, I remember quite clearly seeing Avery Schreiber play the artist who illustrates Baum's books and helps bring them to life-but failed to see him mentioned in the credits. Was he unbilled or was I wrong? Oh well. No biggie.Very good show-*** outta ****

This movie is as good as, or better than, the original "Wizard of Oz". I find that this movie has more story to it. It's fascinating how the story book of the Wizard of Oz comes about and builds throughout the movie. John Ritter is great in this movie. I would like to see this movie on TV again soon.