



Virtual OzCon 2020 Schedule



Saturday, July 18th







OzCon will be virtual this year due to COVID-19! Our programming will be a mix of pre-recorded and live segments. We hope this schedule will give regulars and newcomers alike the flavor of a full OzCon. On the Zoom platform, we will be presenting several live events throughout the afternoon and evening. Please join us and share your thoughts in the chat channels. We will also record those events for later.







On OzCon’s new YouTube channel, The OzConnection, we will release a series of videos exploring different aspects of Oz. All those videos will remain available for a week after OzCon. Some will stay up for longer, and we plan to add more. Please share your comments there or on OzCon’s Facebook page. All access links will be sent to registrants on Friday July 17th.







All times below are Pacific Time.







2:00 PM



Welcome virtual OzCon – Zoom (Live with Q&A) Chair Colin Ayres and co-chair Erica Olivera welcome you to OzCon 2020, talk through the schedule, and answer any questions.







The Patchwork Girl of Oz – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



This 1914 silent film made by L. Frank Baum’s Oz Film Manufacturing Company was based on his 1913 book The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Erica Olivera provides an informative and quirky commentary.







2:30 PM



Utopia to Oz – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



The year 2020 seems like it has been lifted from a dystopian novel, leading many of us to want to escape to Oz—but is Oz any better? While there are many scholars who define Oz as a utopian place, there are nearly as many who argue against Oz holding that classification. The term “utopia” originated in Sir Thomas More’s 1516 fictional work, Utopia, but what does it mean for a setting to be “utopian”? Applying More’s criteria for a utopia to Oz as the land evolves throughout Baum’s series, Dina Schiff Massachi will explore how Oz slowly verges on the utopian ideals defined by More and, hopefully, how we can apply this process to make our own world a better place.





3:00 PM



Matilda Joslyn Gage, Radical Suffragist – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



In her book Born Criminal: Matilda Joslyn Gage, Radical Suffragist, Angelica Shirley Carpenter describes the life of an author, leader, and organizer for the first fifty years of the women’s movement. Unlike her colleagues Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gage believed in equal rights for all, regardless of race, sex, or class. After Gage died in 1898, her so-called friends wrote her out of history. One author who did not forget her was her son-in-law L. Frank Baum, who described a strong American heroine in his most famous book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Carpenter also discusses her forthcoming picture book about Gage, The Voice of Liberty, with illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham, to be published in September 2020. (Books available on Amazon.)







Glinda of Oz at 100 – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



L. Frank Baum’s last Oz book Glinda of Oz, published just over a year after his death, turned one hundred years old on July 10th, 2020. Colin Ayres chats with some OzCon regulars about what they think of Baum’s final tale of Oz.







His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz –YouTube, The OzConnection channel



This 1914 film was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but in the screenplay he introduced many new characters and a large new story that later became the basis for his 1915 book The Scarecrow of Oz. Erica Olivera provides another informative and quirky commentary.







4:00 PM



OzCon Plans – Zoom (Live with Q&A)



Join Colin Ayres and Erica Olivera to discuss plans and themes for OzCon 2021. Find out more about the launch of our new YouTube channel, the OzConnection. Also, learn about the “To Oz” online festival and convention later this summer, featuring OzCon and several more Oz organizations.







Wonderful Books of Oz – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



Cindy Ragni, proprietor of WonderfulBooksofOz.com (an official sponsor of OzCon), chats with OzCon chair Colin Ayres about Oz, Oz collecting, and types of Oz items you’re likely to find for sale on her wonderful site.







Oz Piano Performance – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



Youtuber David Diket of LA Quadling performs four pieces of music from Oz media for OzCon goers’ enjoyment:



1: “Main Title” from MGM’s The Wizard of Oz (1939)

2: “Just a Simple Girl from the Prairie” from the Wizard of Oz stage extravaganza (1902)



3: “The Search for the Wicked Witch” from Tales from the Land of Oz (1932)



4: “Rag March” from Walt Disney’s Return to Oz (1985)







Animation in Oz Series – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



Oz has been interpreted into many animated forms over the years. In this video, Sam Milazzo and Colin Ayres talk about the Cinar/Pan Media Wonderful Wizard of Oz series from 1986. Future episodes of this ongoing show will discuss other animated Oz stories, so keep coming back to OzCon’s official YouTube channel, The OzConnection.







5:00 PM



Glinda the Good and Powerful – Zoom (Live with Q&A)



In honor of the centenary of the publication of L. Frank Baum’s last novel, Glinda of Oz, we’ll have a panel discussion about Glinda, one of the most important characters in the Oz mythos. Is Glinda a mother figure or a big sister? How much does she really know? Does she have a personal life? How has she been represented outside of the Oz books? Panelists include Mari Ness, Atticus Gannaway, Caroline Spector, and moderator J. L. Bell. Please send questions for possible discussion through OzCon’s Facebook page or in the chat during the session.







Following Our Own Yellow Brick Road – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



From California, USA, and Staffordshire, England, founding OzCon chair Peter Hanff and current chair Colin Ayres reminisce about OzCon’s 56-year journey and evolution. From a first “Winkie Convention” in the home of an avid Oz fan to Yosemite, Monterey, San Diego, Portland, Pomona, and now—due to these COVID-19 times—online!







The Magic Cloak of Oz – YouTube, The OzConnection channel



The last of L. Frank Baum’s Oz Film Manufacturing Company’s silent films from 1914, this one is based on his 1904 story Queen Zixi of Ix. Erica Olivera provides her final informative and quirky commentary while you watch.







6:00 PM



“No, I Killed the Nome King!” – YouTube, The OzConnection Channel



Director/Animator Doug Aberle gives insight into his role part of the team at Will Vinton Studios that helped create the Oscar-nominated effects for the 1985 Disney motion picture Return to Oz—namely, the clay animation that brought the Nome King and his minions to life.Doug animated the Nome King in

the destructive “Ornament Room” sequence, for which he can claim that “I killed the Nome King!”







​​6:30PM



Eliza Wren Returns to Oz - YouTube, The OzConnection Channel



Musician Eliza Wren created her Original rock score that accompanies the classic film Walt Disney film Return to Oz 1985, much like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Rainbow.



This soundtrack premiered at the Sundance Film Festival with host & star of the film, Fairuza Balk and recently screened at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin as a benefit for HAAM (Health Alliance for Austin Musicians) featuring live performances by: Suzanna Choffel, Lex Land, Jazz Mills, Chase Frank, Stephanie Macias, Jess Williamson & Eliza herself.



Sam Milazzo interviews Eliza exclusively for OzCon International followed by a review of the soundtrack by Sam.







7:00 PM



Return to Oz at 35 – YouTube, The OzConnection Channel



A short tribute video created by Jay Davis to the favorite movie of many an Oz fan, Walt Disney’s 1985 Return to Oz.







7:30 PM



The Winkie Awards and Chair’s Acknowledgements – Zoom (Live)



Eric Gjovaag presents the 2020 Winkie Award to an OzCon contributor who has gone above Oz and beyond. Colin Ayres gives thanks to those who have helped bring the 56th OzCon together virtually in extraordinary times.







8:00 PM



The Walt Disney OzConnection – YouTube, The OzConnection Channel



Walt Disney spent years trying to adapt Baum’s Oz stories, with mixed results. In this illustrated talk, Eric Shanower recounts the Disney projects related to Oz, including the well-known storybook record albums, Return to Oz (1985), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), as well as the little known efforts, such as Ruth Plumly Thompson’s Disney books, the aborted Oz ride at Disneyland, and the 1962 Return to Oz.







9:00 PM



Oz Quiz Time – Zoom (Live Interactive)



Test your knowledge of Ozzy trivia by joining in the annual Oz quiz, presented by Eric Gjovaag.







10:00 PM



Closing statements and Online After-Party – Zoom (Live interactive) Join us for a drink at the OzCon after-party. (Bring your own drink!) Let’s kick back and chat about Oz online together to finish the evening.







Program and guests subject to change.

