Girls, the great Bette Davis, "Mother Goddamn" herself, remarked once that she never thought about what happened to any of her characters, once their story on film ended. With one notable exception--"Now, Voyager." It was her belief that its heroine, Charlotte Vale, married Dr. Jaquith (played by Claude Rains) and with him ran the mental health clinic, Cascade. I have no problem with the second part of this theory, but not the first. Charlotte may have worked with Jaquith, but she never would have married him, because nowhere in the film is seen any evidence of a romantic attraction between the two, plus, with the iconic ending (Cigarette lighting--"Don't ask for the moon; we have the stars!") the film does have, there is no doubt that while life may go on for Charlotte, that while she may eventually marry someone, Jerry (played by Paul Henried) will always be the major player in her romantic life. Kind of like Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty at the close of "Splendor In The Grass"; Deanie and Bud may now be with others, but their torches for one another will always continue to burn!!!!!!!!!
Why am I musing on all this???? Because, lambs, film is such a time constrained medium. When the frame freezes on the final shot, that action, and those people in it, are frozen forever, always to be what they are when the moment was shot. Like "Bright Eyes," which I was discussing yesterday. After all the trauma and unhappiness, after the custody battle, Shirley, Uncle Ned, (he is an uncle, NOT a grandfather, as mentioned yesterday) James Dunn and his fiance, all end up living together, raising and loving Shirley in an endless childhood dream that, because of film, can go on forever!!!!!!! If only life were like this; unfortunately, it just keeps moving on!!!!!!!!!!
Which brings us to another film. All my girls here know that MY all-time favorite film was, is, and always will be--"The Wizard Of Oz." And that is one ending, you just HAVE to wonder about.
Dorothy awakens from her Technicolor MGM dream, with all her loved ones (Toto, too!!!!!) about her. She utters the closing line "there's no place like home," but what happens then? Because, as one writer pointed out about the film, the Miss Gulch-Toto crisis of the first reel remains unresolved. I would like to propose a theory, based on personal experience.
No, I am not talking of someone trying to take a "Toto" from me. If they had, honey, I am telling you, there would have been major trouble. You know, how in the film, Dorothy says to Miss Gulch, "...or I'll bite you myself"???? With me, there would have been no "OR" about it; I would have bitten, drawn blood, and chased that repressed spinster bitch out of the house!!!!!!!!!
I was crazy for this film when I was a kid, and all the details in it, from living on a farm to tornadoes. While very young, I was so convinced a tornado would knock me off to Oz, just like in the movie, that, one summer night, when I was abut seven or eight, there was a tornado watch in our area; it was to happen at eight o'clock. Instead of being fearful, I went up to my room, positioning my bed by the window in such a way that I would surely be struck on the head--and then shipped off to Oz!!!!!!!
At the height of this mania, during my eighth and ninth years, my parents gave me, as a birthday gift, a subscription to the Children's Theater Programs on Saturday morning, at the Paper Mill Playhouse, in Milburn, New Jersey!!!!!! Each season you could choose four shows, very much like an adult subscription, and go and see them. These shows were generally stage adaptations of well known children's stories. And the two I remember the most were, "Tom Sawyer," and--what else?--"The Wizard Of Oz."
Darlings, the Raving Queen was already being formed; I had enough sense to know the stage version could not, would not, replicate the film, but I was curious as to how the story would be depicted on stage. It was actually fascinating.
Dorothy and Toto ran in from stage right, similar to the film. Only they are followed head on by Miss Gulch, who stops them at the farm house. Auntie Em comes out, and there is a confrontation. Whereupon, sometime after this, the actress playing Dorothy, sits on her farmhouse porch, holding Toto, and sings "Over The Rainbow." (I cannot remember if the other film songs were used, but I DO recall this one, and had enough acumen to know that it was not done as well as Judy Garland!!!) From there, things quickly went to the Cyclone; the stage went dark, the farm house encased in light, swirls of wind appeared, the house spun around--and Dorothy landed in Oz!!!!!!!!
If you know the story, things pretty much happened as known from here. But, at the end, when Dorothy returns home to Auntie Em on the porch, she tells her "You don't have to worry about Miss Gulch anymore. The cyclone came, and picked her up, and nobody knows what happened to her." Interesting. And this provides some insight into the film.
The crisis in that film may be resolved, too, except only to the knowing. As Dorothy goes off into her dream, up in the air, she sees people and animals passing her by in the storm. Who can forget the sight of Miss Gulch on her bicycle, theme music playing, as she morphs into the Wicked Witch Of The East? A handy hint, to those who know the film, that some actors will be playing two roles, and a symbolic representation of the point precisely where Dorothy transitions from Kansas to Oz.
Well, it has occurred to me--if the Cyclone and dream are happening in
Real Time, what if what Dorothy sees is actually being witnessed in her unconscious??? In which case, what if Miss Gulch had been picked up and dispatched by the cyclone???? We last see her riding away from the Gale farm. But we never see her reach home; nor do we know how far that home is from the Gale farm. So, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the crisis was resolved, after all. And I think the creators of that long ago Paper Mill production, agreed, and took advantage of that fact!!!!!!!
Which would give Dorothy and Toto an easier time afterward, in the Film Hereafter!!!!!!
And Miss Gulch enjoyed an afterlife, too, back in 1983, when, posing as her, actor/singer Fred Barton brought her onstage in his one-man show, "Miss Gulch Returns," wherein we find her sitting in a bar, bemoaning her status from the film. Among other things, the show hypothesizes that MGM cut her big number, "I'm A Bitch" from the film. Now, THERE is a number I could perform, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!
It just goes to proof films do not always necessarily end when they end!!!!!
I mean, picture "The Sound of Music," where those Von Trapps were knocked off the Alps by mountain goats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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