The Wizard of Oz (1925 film)
LARRY SEMON in
"WIZARD
Of OZ"
Adapted from
L. FRANK BAUM'S
STORY
by
L. Frank Baum, JR.,
Leon Lee &
Larry Semon
Art Director
Robert Stevens
Titles by
Leon Lee
Assistant Director
William King
Edited by
The PLAYERS
Dorothy Dwan
Mary Carr
Virginia Pearson
Bryant Washburn
Josef Swickard
Charles Murray
Oliver N. Hardy
William Hauber
William Dinus
Frank Alexander
Otto Lederer
Frederick Ko Vert
Larry Semon
Once upon a time the Townsfolk of Oz awoke to find their baby Princess gone. And years bring added resentment and suspicion as we find them gathered in the palace.
The Kingdom had a treacherous, self-appointed ruler in the Prime Minister Kruel.
Kruel had an able aide in Lady Vishuss.
Kruel also had a willing cat's-paw in Ambassador Wikked.
Kruel's actions were arousing the townsfolk of Oz.
In all of Oz there was none more loved than Prince Kynd.
"As spokesman for my people, we demand the return of our rightful queen."
"What will we do?"
"What about the Wizard?"
"Wait! If the queen is to be found, let us call on the Wizard, he can do anything!"
The Wizard was just a medicine-show hokum hustler, but he fitted in nicely as the Prime Minister's "yes-man."
"I must have time to think—go thru the audience and distract them."
"Watch, ye skeptics, and see the great Wizard of black art perform. He has nothing up his sleeves nor under his coat. Neither has he anything under his hat!"
"What was that last wise crack?"
"Do your stuff, Wizzy!"
The Phantom of the Basket—
–Frederic Ko Vert
"That's a lot of applesauce!"
"Oh, Grammpy——I don't like that. Read me about Dorothy, the Tin Woodsman and the Scarecrow."
On a farm in Kansas there once bloomed a rose.
Dorothy.
A mother at heart was Dorothy's Aunt Em.
——while her Uncle Henry was just a distant relative.
With all the cinderelatives, there must be a Prince Charming.
Snowball—a promising case of meloncholic.
Hitting the hay while the sun shines.
In the spring a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of—lollypops.
"The way he treats me you would never think he was my uncle."
"Sweetheart, he isn't."
"It was this way, darling. Many years ago——"
TO BE OPENED
AT ONCE!
Hear ye———
The enclosed envelope is to be given to the child to be opened eighteen years from today at noon—and wealth and happiness follow.
—Opened before that times means Desolution—AND
——DEATH.
Patnia
"I have told her everything."
All of which made Dorothy more anxious than ever to learn who she really was.
"But what was in those papers and who was Dorothy?"
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, and the hoi polloi were making it tough for the Prime Minister
"Coronation day draws near and yet our rightful Ruler is not here."
"I give you until the new moon–otherwise, the dungeon."
"Either get the papers and destroy them, or do away with the girl."
"In a place called Kansas there are papers that will save us."
"Prepare for the journey!"
Bad news travels fast.
"Aw! Read me some more about Dorothy."
And then came an eighteenth birthday that promised a surprise party for Dorothy.
"Just think, boys, this is my birthday and Uncle Henry has promised to tell me a big, big secret."
"Uncle, you promised that today you would tell me all about that envelope, and everything."
"Years ago a sealed envelope was left here. I want it."
"It was left for the child to open and that she will do."
"She must never know its contents—perhaps we can make some financial arrangement."
"When I find out who I really am, you're the first one I'm going to tell."
"You——love the girl?"
"There is a certain paper here. If she finds it you can never marry her. Get it for me and untold wealth and the girl will both be yours."
——so Uncle Henry digs up the facts.
"Chief——let's tie her to the tower."
"You tell me where they are——or she'll never be able to read them."
"I wonder where we are!"
know ye all,
that
Dorothea
is the rightful ruler
of
The kingdom of Oz
and on her 18th Birthday she shall ascend to the throne.....To Rule until the Great Master calls...
Patria. Ry.
"You must prevent them from entering Oz—they have the papers and the girl is Queen Dorothy."
"They are trespassers in the Land of Oz."
"Change these people into something—anything—make monkeys of them–"
"Well, Kruel, at last we have found our Queen."
"What is this monkey business?"
"Who's going to change what to which?"
"Sh-h sh-h-h—I'm just a fake——I couldn't change a quarter."
"—but we've got to do something——or we're all in Dutch."
"True enough, Prince Kynd. She rules our fair kingdom, but I am still the Dictator."
"Stop! I have changed these three men——I have made them—invisible."
"Don't you see them egg? Meet Mr. Ham."
"Mr. Ham, meet Mr. Egg. Ham and Egg."
"Wait! You doubt my powers. Watch and see what changes I have made."
"The other fellow is in the tin pile."
—and so the prisoners were brought to their tribunal.
"I demand that these culprits who have kept our Queen from us be imprisoned in the dungeon."
"My good friends, I shall be compelled to temporarily confine the guilty one to the dungeon."
"I didn't do it, Prince. He did!"
"Well, Wikk, what's left for us to do?"
"You can still marry the queen-to-be."
Dorothy and happiness reign in the Kingdom of Oz while Prime Minister Kruel still moves his pawns in an effort to checkmate.
And the Tin Woodsman became the "Knight of the Garter"——so in the future no metal could touch him.
——and Uncle Henry was made the Prince of Whales.
"Everything will be okay if we can keep on fooling the Prince and if we can get rid of that cornfield shiek."
The Prime Minister kept a visiting room for undesirable visitors in the cellar of the Palace.
"You can help me to work the skin game on these folks."
"This whole thing is a frame-up and I'm afraid they're going to frame on Dorothy. I'm going to find her."
"Dorothy, I cross my heart they're crossing you. Look out for these people."
"Good-bye, Mr. Scarecrow. You're not going to have anything to crow about, but you're surely going to have lots to get scared about."
"I have heard that these alley cats like dark meat——personally, I'm not afraid!"
"Spare me!! I will tell everything. It was I who left the babe queen on the doorstep in Kansas!"
"A hostile faction meant you harm and I whisked you away to save you from them."
—and Queen Dorothy and her Prince lived happily ever after
The End
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1925, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1928, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 95 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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