Last night Big Bore's channel surfing was turning into an episode of frustration until he finally hit the programming jackpot."Ah-ha! The Wizard of Oz!!" he happily announced--like we both hadn't seen the classic a billion times previously, the most recently being earlier in the week. But there's always something new to fascinate us about this wonderful movie, and this time it was Toto.
"I wonder how they trained that dog to stick with Dorothy and not run wild on the set," I posed to BB. Most terriers I've been around bark like little maniacs, especially around strangers, and nothing is stranger than munchkins and flying monkeys.
"Dorothy must have had a steak sandwich in her basket," BB summised about how the real-life Terry the Terrier faithfully stays with Judy Garland and behaves like a seasoned professional. No running around bonkers or lifting a leg on his co-stars. He acts and reacts to the other characters perfectly. Give that dog an Academy Award!
Without Toto, The Wizard of Oz is nothing. It is he, after all, who sets the action into motion when he infuriates Miss Gulch, causing Dorothy to run away from her Kansas farm. It is Toto who saves the day and leads the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion to rescue Dorothy from the Wicked Witch's castle, and it is Toto who leaps from the hot air balloon toward the end of the movie, resulting in the arrival of Glenda the Good Witch to tell Dorothy to click together her ruby slipppers. "There's no place like home. There's no place place like home." No Toto, no show.
When I retired from teaching four years ago, I gave away most of the loads of "stuff" in my two classrooms, including my two black witch hats and a Wizard of Oz poster, but I kept my Toto stuffed animal. Toto was a yearbook staff mascot of sorts, even being pictured and indexed in the several of the yearbooks, so Toto retired with me and now stands guard over some plants on my desk at home. I'm strictly a cat person, not too keen on dogs since I've been bitten by them more times than I can count on my fingers, but my Toto is quiet and obedient and has never tried to attack me, in spite of my periodic witchy ways.
So, here's to you, sweet Toto--the best supporting actor a girl ever had!
2 comments:
Nancy, I didn't see an email address for you so I'm leaving a comment, hope you see this. Great blog post. I have a Google news alert tell me when someone is writing about Toto, that's how I saw your post. I live in the Los Angeles area. Not sure you know the story but Toto living on trainer Carl's Spitz ranch in Studio city during the filming and after, of the movie. Toto died in 1945 and in 1958 the state took the property to build the Ventura freeway, the grave site on the ranch was destroyed. I have a facebook page up to raise funds to get Toto a Memorial Marker in a pet cemetery in the area that has lots of celebrity pets. Please come and join our cause, you sound like a really big fan. Here is the link to our page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toto-Canine-Movie-Star-Memorial-Marker/122059101185330
Toto has no memorial? What a travesty. I shall check out the website. Thanks for reading my blog.
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