document_title: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

question_text: where did the idea for the wizard of oz come from

text: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

text: Publication[edit]

text: The book was published by George M. Hill Company. Its first edition had a printing of 10,000 copies and was sold in advance of the publication date of September 1, 1900. On May 17, 1900, the first copy of the book came off the press; Baum assembled it by hand and presented it to his sister Mary Louise Baum Brewster. The public saw the book for the first time at a book fair at the Palmer House in Chicago, July 5–20. The book's copyright was registered on August 1; full distribution followed in September.[1] By October 1900, the first edition had already sold out and the second edition of 15,000 copies was nearly depleted.[2]

text: In a letter to his brother Harry, Baum wrote that the book's publisher George M. Hill predicted a sale of about 250,000 copies. In spite of this favorable conjecture, Hill did not initially predict that the book would be phenomenally successful. He agreed to publish the book only when the manager of the Chicago Grand Opera House Fred R. Hamlin committed to making The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a musical stage play to publicize the novel. The play The Wizard of Oz debuted on June 16, 1902. It was revised to suit adult preferences and was crafted as a "musical extravaganza", with the costumes modeled after Denslow's drawings. Hill's publishing company became bankrupt in 1901, so Baum and Denslow agreed to have the Indianapolis-based Bobbs-Merrill Company resume publishing the novel.[3]

text: Baum's son Harry Neal told the Chicago Tribune in 1944 that L. Frank told his children "whimsical stories before they became material for his books". Harry called his father the "swellest man I knew", a man who was able to give a decent reason as to why black birds cooked in a pie could afterwards get out and sing.[4]

text: By 1938, more than one million copies of the book had been printed.[5] Less than two decades later in 1956, the sales of his novel had grown to three million copies in print.[3]

text: Plot[edit]

text: Dorothy is a young girl who lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and her little dog Toto on a farm in the Kansas prairies. One day, Dorothy and Toto are caught up in a cyclone that deposits her farmhouse into Munchkin Country in the magical Land of Oz. The falling house has killed the Wicked Witch of the East, the evil ruler of the Munchkins. The Good Witch of the North arrives with three other grateful Munchkins and gives Dorothy the magical Silver Shoes that once belonged to the Wicked witch. The Good Witch tells Dorothy that the only way she can return home is to go to the Emerald City and ask the great and powerful Wizard of Oz to help her. As Dorothy embarks on her journey, the Good Witch of the North kisses her on the forehead, giving her magical protection from harm.

text: On her way down the yellow brick road, Dorothy attends a banquet held by a Munchkin man named Boq. The next day, Dorothy frees the Scarecrow from the pole on which he is hanging, applies oil from a can to the rusted connections of the Tin Woodman, and meets the Cowardly Lion. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Woodman wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wants courage, so Dorothy encourages the three of them to journey with her and Toto to the Emerald City to ask for help from the Wizard. After several adventures, the travelers enter the gates of the Emerald City and meet the Guardian of the Gates, who asks them to wear green tinted spectacles to keep their eyes from being blinded by the city's brilliance. Each one is called to see the Wizard. The Wizard appears to Dorothy as a giant head on a marble throne, the Scarecrow as a lovely lady in silk gauze, the Tin Woodman as a terrible beast, and the Cowardly Lion as a ball of fire. The Wizard agrees to help them all if they kill the Wicked Witch of the West, who rules over Oz's Winkie Country. The Guardian warns them that no one has ever managed to defeat the witch.

text: The Wicked Witch of the West sees the travelers approaching with her one telescopic eye. She sends a pack of wolves to tear them to pieces, but the Tin Woodman kills them with his axe. She sends wild crows to peck their eyes out, but the Scarecrow kills them by breaking their necks. She summons a swarm of black bees to sting them, but they are killed trying to sting the Tin Woodman while the Scarecrow's straw hides the other three. She sends her Winkie soldiers to attack them, but the Cowardly Lion stands firm to repel them. Finally, she uses the power of the Golden Cap to send the winged monkeys to capture Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion, unstuff the Scarecrow, and dent the Tin Woodman. Dorothy is forced to become the Wicked Witch's personal slave, while the witch schemes to steal Dorothy's Silver Shoes.

text: The Wicked Witch successfully tricks Dorothy out of one of her Silver Shoes. Angered, Dorothy throws a bucket of water at her and is shocked to see the witch melt away. The Winkies rejoice at being freed of the witch's tyranny and help restuff the Scarecrow and mend the Tin Woodman. They ask the Tin Woodman to become their ruler, which he agrees to do after helping Dorothy return to Kansas. Dorothy finds the Golden Cap and summons the Winged Monkeys to carry her and her companions back to the Emerald City. The King of the Winged Monkeys tells how he and the other monkeys are bound by an enchantment to the cap by the sorceress Gayelette from the North, and that Dorothy may use the cap to summon the Winged Monkeys two more times.

text: When Dorothy and her friends meet the Wizard of Oz again, Toto tips over a screen in a corner of the throne room that reveals the Wizard. He sadly explains he is a humbug—an ordinary old man who, by a hot air balloon, came to Oz long ago from Omaha. The Wizard provides the Scarecrow with a head full of bran, pins, and needles ("a lot of bran-new brains"), the Tin Woodman with a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Cowardly Lion a potion of "courage". Their faith in the Wizard's power gives these items a focus for their desires. The Wizard decides to take Dorothy and Toto home and leave the Emerald City. At the send-off, he appoints the Scarecrow to rule in his stead, which he agrees to do after Dorothy returns to Kansas. Toto chases a kitten in the crowd and Dorothy goes after him, but the tethers of the balloon break and the Wizard floats away.

text: Dorothy summons the Winged Monkeys to carry her and Toto home, but they explain they cannot cross the desert surrounding Oz. The Soldier with the Green Whiskers informs Dorothy that Glinda the Good Witch of the South may be able to help her return home, so the friends begin their journey to see Glinda, who lives in Oz's Quadling Country. On the way, the Cowardly Lion kills a giant spider who is terrorizing the animals in a forest. The animals ask the Cowardly Lion to become their king, which he agrees to do after helping Dorothy return to Kansas. Dorothy summons the Winged Monkeys a third time to fly them over a mountain to Glinda's palace. Glinda greets the travelers and reveals that the Silver Shoes Dorothy wears can take her anywhere she wishes to go. Dorothy embraces her friends, all of whom will be returned to their new kingdoms through Glinda's three uses of the Golden Cap: the Scarecrow to the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman to the Winkie Country, and the Lion to the forest; after which the cap shall be given to the King of the Winged Monkeys, freeing them. Dorothy takes Toto in her arms, knocks her heels together three times, and wishes to return home. Instantly, she begins whirling through the air and rolling through the grass of the Kansas prairie, up to her Kansas farmhouse. She is now in her stocking feet; her shoes were lost forever in the desert. Dorothy runs to her Aunt Em, saying "I'm so glad to be at home again!"

text: Illustration and design[edit]

text: The book was illustrated by Baum's friend and collaborator W. W. Denslow, who also co-held the copyright. The design was lavish for the time, with illustrations on many pages, backgrounds in different colors, and several color plate illustrations.[citation needed] In September 1900, The Grand Rapids Herald wrote that Denslow's illustrations are "quite as much of the story as in the writing". The editorial opined that had it not been for Denslow's pictures, the readers would be unable to picture precisely the figures of Dorothy, Toto, and the other characters.[6]

text: The distinctive look led to imitators at the time, most notably Eva Katherine Gibson's Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch, which mimicked both the typography and the illustration design of Oz.[7] The typeface was the newly designed Monotype Old Style. Denslow's illustrations were so well known that merchants of many products obtained permission to use them to promote their wares. The forms of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard, and Dorothy were made into rubber and metal sculptures. Costume jewelry, mechanical toys, and soap were also designed using their figures.[8]

text: A new edition of the book appeared in 1944, with illustrations by Evelyn Copelman.[9] Although it was claimed that the new illustrations were based on Denslow's originals, they more closely resemble the characters as seen in the famous 1939 film version of Baum's book.[10]

text: Sources of images and ideas[edit]

text: Baum acknowledged the influence of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, which he was deliberately revising in his "American fairy tales" to include the wonder without the horrors.[11]

text: The Land of Oz and other locations[edit]

text: Local legend has it that Oz, also known as The Emerald City, was inspired by a prominent castle-like building in the community of Castle Park near Holland, Michigan, where Baum lived during the summer. The yellow brick road was derived from a road at that time paved by yellow bricks. These bricks were located in Peekskill, New York, where Baum attended the Peekskill Military Academy. Baum scholars often refer to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair (the "White City") as an inspiration for the Emerald City. Other legends suggest that the inspiration came from the Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego, California. Baum was a frequent guest at the hotel and had written several of the Oz books there.[12] In a 1903 interview with Publishers Weekly,[13] Baum said that the name "OZ" came from his file cabinet labeled "O–Z".[14]

text: Some critics have suggested that Baum may have been inspired by Australia, a relatively new country at the time of the book's original publication. Australia is often colloquially spelled or referred to as "Oz". Furthermore, in Ozma of Oz (1907), Dorothy gets back to Oz as the result of a storm at sea while she and Uncle Henry are traveling by ship to Australia. Like Australia, Oz is an island continent somewhere to the west of California with inhabited regions bordering on a great desert. One might imagine that Baum intended Oz to be Australia, or perhaps a magical land in the center of the great Australian desert.[15]

text: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland[edit]

text: Another influence lay in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A September 1900 review in the Grand Rapids Herald called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz a "veritable Alice in Wonderland brought up to the present day standard of juvenile literature".[6] Baum found Carroll's plots incoherent, but he identified the books' source of popularity as Alice herself, a child with whom the child readers could identify; this influenced his choice of a protagonist.[11] Baum was also influenced by Carroll's belief that children's books should have many pictures and be pleasurable to read. Carroll rejected the Victorian-era ideology that children's books should be saturated with morals, instead believing that children should be allowed to be children. Building on Carroll's style of numerous images accompanying the text, Baum combined the conventional features of a fairy tale (witches and wizards) with the well-known things in his readers' lives (scarecrows and cornfields).[16]

text: American fantasy story[edit]

text: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered the first American fairy tale because of its references to clear American locations such as Kansas and Omaha. Baum agreed with authors such as Carroll that fantasy literature was important for children, along with numerous illustrations, but he also wanted to create a story that had recognizable American elements in it, such as farming and industrialization.[17]

text: Baum's personal life[edit]

text: Many of the characters, props, and ideas in the novel were drawn from Baum's experiences. As a child, Baum frequently had nightmares of a scarecrow pursuing him across a field. Moments before the scarecrow's "ragged hay fingers" nearly gripped his neck, it would fall apart before his eyes. Decades later, as an adult, Baum integrated his tormentor into the novel as the Scarecrow.[18] According to his son Harry, the Tin Woodman was born from Baum's attraction to window displays. He wished to make something captivating for the window displays, so he used an eclectic assortment of scraps to craft a striking figure. From a washboiler he made a body, from bolted stovepipes he made arms and legs, and from the bottom of a saucepan he made a face. Baum then placed a funnel hat on the figure, which ultimately became the Tin Woodman.[19] John D. Rockefeller was the nemesis of Baum's father, an oil baron who declined to purchase Standard Oil shares in exchange for selling his own oil refinery. Baum scholar Evan I. Schwartz posited that Rockefeller inspired one of the Wizard's numerous faces. In one scene in the novel, the Wizard is seen as a "tyrannical, hairless head". When Rockefeller was 54 years old, the medical condition alopecia caused him to lose every strand of hair on his head, making people fearful of speaking to him.[20]

text: In the early 1880s, Baum's play Matches was being performed when a "flicker from a kerosene lantern sparked the rafters", causing the Baum opera house to be consumed by flames. Scholar Evan I. Schwartz suggested that this might have inspired the Scarecrow's severest terror: "There is only one thing in the world I am afraid of. A lighted match."[21]

text: In 1890, Baum lived in Aberdeen, which was experiencing a drought, and he wrote a witty story in his "Our Landlady" column in Aberdeen's The Saturday Pioneer[22] about a farmer who gave green goggles to his horses, causing them to believe that the wood chips that they were eating were pieces of grass. Similarly, the Wizard made the people in the Emerald City wear green goggles so that they would believe that their city was built from emeralds.[23]

text: During Baum's short stay in Aberdeen, the dissemination of myths about the plentiful West continued. However, the West, instead of being a wonderland, turned into a wasteland because of a drought and a depression. In 1891, Baum moved his family from South Dakota to Chicago. At that time, Chicago was getting ready for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Scholar Laura Barrett stated that Chicago was "considerably more akin to Oz than to Kansas". After discovering that the myths about the West's incalculable riches were baseless, Baum created "an extension of the American frontier in Oz". In many respects, Baum's creation is similar to the actual frontier save for the fact that the West was still undeveloped at the time. The Munchkins Dorothy encounters at the beginning of the novel represent farmers, as do the Winkies she later meets.[24]

text: Baum's wife frequently visited her niece, Dorothy Louise Gage. The infant became gravely sick and died on November 11, 1898, from "congestion of the brain" at exactly five months. When the baby, whom Maud adored as the daughter she never had, died, she was devastated and needed to consume medicine.[25] To assuage her distress, Frank made his protagonist of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz a female named Dorothy.[26] Uncle Henry was modeled after Henry Gage, his wife Maud's father. Bossed around by his wife Matilda, Henry rarely dissented with her. He flourished in business, though, and his neighbors looked up to him. Likewise, Uncle Henry was a "passive but hard-working man" who "looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke".[27] The witches in the novel were influenced by witch-hunting research gathered by Baum's mother-in-law, Matilda. The stories of barbarous acts against accused witches scared Baum. Two key events in the novel involve wicked witches who both meet their death through metaphorical means.[28]

text: Baum held different jobs, moved a lot, and was exposed to many people, so the inspiration for the story could have been taken from many different aspects of his life.[29] In the introduction to the story, Baum writes that "it aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out."[30] This is one of the explanations that he gives for the inspiration for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum, a former salesman of china, wrote in chapter 20 about china that had sprung to life.[23]

text: Influence of Denslow[edit]

text: The original illustrator of the novel, W. W. Denslow, could also have influenced the story and the way it has been interpreted. Baum and Denslow had a close working relationship and worked together to create the presentation of the story through the images and the text. Color is an important element of the story and is present throughout the images, with each chapter having a different color representation. Denslow also added characteristics to his drawings that Baum never described. For example, Denslow drew a house and the gates of the Emerald City with faces on them. In the later Oz books, John R. Neill, who illustrated all of the sequels, continued to include these faces on gates.[31]

text: Allusions to 19th-century America[edit]

text: Baum did not offer any conclusive proof that he intended his novel to be a political allegory. Historian Ranjit S. Dighe wrote that for 60 years after the book's publication, "virtually nobody" had such an interpretation until Henry Littlefield, a high-school teacher.[32] In his 1964 American Quarterly article, "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism",[33] Littlefield posited that the book contained an allegory of the late 19th-century bimetallism debate regarding monetary policy.[34]

text: Not only did Baum draw inspiration from the American land around him, but he also created Oz to display an American utopia where the issues of the day were solved. There is little distinction between utopia and fairy-tale land.[35] Baum believed that the imagination was the best tool for creating a striving society. In a later book in the Oz series, Baum writes: "imaginations and dreams are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent and, therefore, to foster civilization."[36] In this way, Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a modern fairy tale depicting Oz as an American utopia that displays numerous allusions and solutions to issues in the late 19th and early 20th century.

text: The realm of Oz very closely resembles America. It contains four countries, the Land of the North, East, West, and South, and the national capital, the Emerald City. America and its inhabitants are often divided into similar categories such as Midwestern, Southern, etc. These locations are also separated by an American color scheme that was relevant to America during the 19th century.[37] The color blue represents the industrial East known for the blue-collar jobs. The South is red for the red earth it contains or the "redneck" inhabitants. Yellow describes the West, denoting the California gold rush. Finally, the Emerald City as Washington D. C., denoting greenbacks and money of the country.

text: The villains of the story are the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wicked Witch of the East. The wicked witches use their power to control and enslave their subjects. There was an equal balance between good and evil, and until this balance was altered, there could be no change or development in Oz. This standoff can be seen as an allusion between the different political parties in America. The Wicked Witch of the West represents the American West, including the wealthy railroad, oil barons, and nature. The American West's greatest weapon in the 19th century, though, was nature, most malignantly the drought. The effects lasted longer than any fire or twister, and a long enough drought could ruin a whole year's worth of crops. Thus, water as the weapon to kill the Witch of the West is quite poetic. The brown mass the witch's remains turn into resembles mud after a heavy storm. Dorothy even cleans the melted witch off the floor and her shoes as if she had walked through a rainy puddle.

text: Baum's Wicked Witch of the East has been suggested to represent Eastern financial and industrial interests, such as Wall Street, which oppresses the agricultural citizens.[38] The Witch of the East enslaved her subjects much as industrialism was thought to enslave the working class in 19th-century Eastern America. Once Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch of the East the balance of power could be shifted. Both these groups opposed Populist efforts to move the U.S. to a bimetallic monetary standard since this would have devalued the dollar and made investments less valuable. Workers and poor farmers supported the move away from the gold standard, as this would have lessened their crushing debt burdens. The Populist party sought to build a coalition of Southern and Midwestern tenant farmers and Northern industrial workers. These groups are represented in the book by the Good Witches of the North and South.

text: At the beginning of the novel, Dorothy is swept from her farm to Oz by a cyclone, which was frequently compared to the Free Silver movement in Baum's time.[33] The yellow brick road represents the gold standard, and the Silver Shoes, which enable Dorothy to travel more comfortably, symbolizes the Populist Party's desire to construct a bimetallic standard of both gold and silver in place of the gold standard. "Oz" is the abbreviated form of ounce, a standard measure of gold.[39] When Dorothy and the Scarecrow walk through the forest, the road begins to be rough and patchy, causing the Scarecrow to trip and fall numerous times. The Scarecrow's falls on the yellow brick road resemble the damage farmers faced owing to deflation caused by the scarcity of gold. Dorothy, however, simply "walks around" the holes in the road, showing that the bimetallic standard works. Even when gold was scarce, the other metal in the bimetal system would be relatively cheap, therefore one bypasses deflation.[40] Throughout the book, most of the characters do not know the magic behind the silver shoes. It is not until Dorothy meets Glinda, the good Witch of the South, that she finds out that the silver shoes have had the power to transfer her back to Kansas all along. Baum is possibly alluding to the fact that the bimetallic standard has been a working solution to the economic crisis all along, though no one knows how to do it. Once Dorothy clicks her heels three times, she returns to Kansas, where she realizes that "The Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert." The silver shoes were lost, much like the fight for the bimetallic standard, which began to fade away in 1900.

text: The Wizard is the national leader of Oz, thus it is fitting for him to symbolize the President(s) of the United States during the 19th century.[38] Politicians have been known to have many faces; it is a must if they want to be able to be everything for everyone. The Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz agrees to meet with each traveler separately, allowing him to alter his appearance to best fit each character. When the gang returns having completed the Wizard's task, they discover that the Wizard is a fake and is actually just "a common man" who has made everyone believe he was powerful. The Scarecrow adds that he is a humbug, in which the Wizard gladly says that is he is exactly that. The Wizard made promises he could not keep, as did many 19th-century politicians. The Wizard later states: "How can I help being a humbug… when all these people make me do things that everyone knows can't be done," showing that he was able to deceive others because others were willing to be deceived.

text: While journeying to the Emerald City, Dorothy encounters a scarecrow, who represents a farmer. The Scarecrow believes he is a fool, since his head is full of straw and not brains. Four years before the book's release, William Allen White, a journalist from Chicago, published an article titled "What's the Matter With Kansas?" In the article White questions why Kansas is unsatisfied and sarcastically answers saying America needs "fewer white shirts and brains", implying Western farmers were ignorant, lazy and bad businessmen.[41] The Scarecrow shares this opinion and doubts himself, believing he is inferior without a brain. In the same year White published his article, William Jennings Bryan delivered his famous "Cross of Gold speech" at the 1896 Democratic Convention. Bryan fought for the farmers and argued against such accusations made by White, exclaiming: "The farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, begins in the spring and toils all summer, and by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of this country creates wealth, is as much a businessman as the man who goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain."[42] Baum shares Bryan's view on American farmers by showing that the Scarecrow is sharp and capable by his actions throughout the book. The book ends with "farm interests achieving national importance" and farmers' true potential in politics being revealed once the illusion of ignorance has been removed.

text: The next companion Dorothy meets on the yellow brick road is the Tin Woodman who has been cursed by the now deceased Wicked Witch of the East. He was once a hard worker yearning to earn money to start a family with a Munchkin girl. The witch enchanted his axe so that the Woodman chopped off each of his limbs and eventually his body. Each time a tinner healed the Woodman by replacing his body with tin, however once the Tin Woodman's heart was removed he could no longer love. The Tin Woodman symbolizes the Eastern working man competing in an industrialized society. The 19th-century man had to keep up with the machine in order to be useful and relevant. In this way the Witch of the East's curse "dehumanized a simple laborer so that the faster and better he worked the more quickly he became a kind of machine."[38] The Tin Woodman was caught in the rain and rusted in the same position for one year before Dorothy oils his joints to set him free. The Tin Woodman's year of waiting is parallel to the unemployment of Eastern workers during the severe depression of 1893-1897. His calls of help that were never heard relate to President Grover Cleveland's "hard-hearted refusal" to take action during this time to reinstate the economy.[38] While the Tin Woodman stood still for a year, he finally slowed down enough to ponder life. During this time, he discovers that "the greatest loss [he] had known was the loss of [his] heart" for without it he cannot love. Baum portrays the Tin Woodman as an Eastern worker who lost sight of family values for a moment. Part of the Progressive movement in the 19th century was to reestablish the family as the center of American life. The curse of the Tin Woodman by the Wicked Witch of the East is consistent with the depiction of the witch representing Wall Street and other Eastern big businesses during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

text: The final addition to the traveling party is the Cowardly Lion. This character is hypothesized to be the famous Populist politician William Jennings Bryan. The muscular, six-foot-tall (183 cm) political figure was known as a compassionate but powerful speaker, which could be compared to a lion's roar.[43] Throughout the book, Baum is mostly sympathetic towards populist characters such as the Scarecrow; thus it seems odd that Baum would refer to the character portraying Bryan as cowardly.[44] However, the late 19th century began an age of American expansionism in which the United States struggled to gain control of countries like Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spain. Bryan's non-violent and anti-imperialist stance on the popular Spanish–American War of 1898 was often referred to as unpatriotic and cowardly. Baum seems to take this criticism and turn it into a complaint towards Bryan, showing that although the Lion is the King of the Beasts it shows more bravery to stand by than to run in towards unnecessary obstacles, no matter how popular. The Cowardly Lion's first encounter with the Tin Woodman shows support for both of their characters being based on Bryan and Eastern industrial workers, respectively. When they meet, the Cowardly Lion strikes the Tin Woodman with his sharp claws, but to his surprise "he could make no impression on the tin, although the Woodman fell over in the road and lay still." This refers to Bryan's inability to get votes in the 1896 presidential election from Eastern workers owing to pressure from their employers to vote for McKinley.[38] Bryan himself said, "During the campaign I ran across various evidences of coercion, direct and indirect."[45] Other historical sources share this opinion noting, "for some reason labor remained singularly unimpressed." Thus, the Cowardly Lion's claws did not pierce the Tin Woodman body, just as Bryan's roar did not leave an impression with Eastern industrial workers.

text: Baum's fairy tale contains many other allusions to American life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For instance, Dorothy's loyal companion, Toto, could be a play on "teetotalers" which is a person who never drinks alcohol.[46] The prohibitionists deemed alcohol consumption should be unlawful and they were longtime political allies of Populists during the late 19th century. Toto trots "soberly" behind Dorothy on their adventure. The Winged Monkeys have been thought to resemble the Plains Indians who were "once free people" but were now enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the West. Their actions can be good or bad depending on how they are controlled; however, they "belong to this country alone" and therefore cannot leave, as can be said for American Indians.[38] The Yellow Winkies that inhabit the Land of the West could represent Asian workers in California during the gold rush; their harsh work environment can be seen as enslavement.[38] The lenses that the groups must wear before entering the City of Oz to dim the emeralds' shine turn out to be fake, like the Wizard. The Emerald City is not a city made of emeralds but a plain, white city where the emerald color lenses cast a green hue on everything and everyone. This shows that anything can be made to look spectacular if you allow yourself to be tricked. Baum traveled all over the United States and would have been introduced to all these events in the 19th century, making it very likely that he drew inspiration from the land around him.

text: Baum's modernized fairy tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ends with both the Wicked Witch of the East and West defeated and Dorothy, Toto and the Wizard returning to the United States. The Scarecrow reigns over the Emerald City; thus farmers achieve national importance. The Tin Woodman brings industrialization to the Land of the West. The Cowardly Lion becomes the protector in the Grand Old Forest, as Bryan commanded a smaller number of politicians.[38]

text: Littlefield's thesis achieved some support, but has been strenuously attacked by others.[47][48][49]

text: Cultural impact[edit]

text: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has become an established part of multiple cultures, spreading from its early young American readership to becoming known throughout the world. It has been translated or adapted into well over fifty languages, at times being modified in local variations. For instance, in some abridged Indian editions, the Tin Woodman was replaced with a horse.[50] In Russia, a translation by Alexander Melentyevich Volkov produced six books, The Wizard of the Emerald City series, which became progressively distanced from the Baum version, as Ellie and her dog Totoshka travel throughout the Magic Land. The 1939 film adaptation has become a classic of popular culture, shown annually on American television from 1959 to 1991 and then several times a year every year beginning in 1999.[51] More recently, the story has become an American stage production with an all-black cast, set in the context of modern African-American culture.[52][53]

text: Critical response[edit]

text:
This last story of The Wizard is ingeniously woven out of commonplace material. It is, of course, an extravaganza, but will surely be found to appeal strongly to child readers as well as to the younger children, to whom it will be read by mothers or those having charge of the entertaining of children. There seems to be an inborn love of stories in child minds, and one of the most familiar and pleading requests of children is to be told another story.

The drawing as well as the introduced color work vies with the texts drawn, and the result has been a book that rises far above the average children's book of today, high as is the present standard....

The book has a bright and joyous atmosphere, and does not dwell upon killing and deeds of violence. Enough stirring adventure enters into it, however, to flavor it with zest, and it will indeed be strange if there be a normal child who will not enjoy the story.
“
”

The New York Times, September 8, 1900[54]

tag: div

text: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz received positive critical reviews upon release. In a September 1900 review, The New York Times praised the novel, writing that it would appeal to child readers and to younger children who could not read yet. The review also praised the illustrations for being a pleasant complement to the text.[54]

text: During the first 50 years after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz's publication in 1900, it received little critical analysis from scholars of children's literature. According to Ruth Berman of Science Fiction Studies, the lists of suggested reading published for juvenile readers never contained Baum's work. The lack of interest stemmed from the scholars' misgivings about fantasy, as well as to their belief that lengthy series had little literary merit.[55]

text: It has frequently come under fire over the years. In 1957, the director of Detroit's libraries banned The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for having "no value" for children of his day, for supporting "negativism", and for bringing children's minds to a "cowardly level". Professor Russel B. Nye of Michigan State University countered that "if the message of the Oz books—love, kindness, and unselfishness make the world a better place—seems of no value today", then maybe the time is ripe for "reassess[ing] a good many other things besides the Detroit library's approved list of children's books".[56]

text: In 1986, seven Fundamentalist Christian families in Tennessee opposed the novel's inclusion in the public school syllabus and filed a lawsuit.[57][58] They based their opposition to the novel on its depicting benevolent witches and promoting the belief that integral human attributes were "individually developed rather than God given".[58] One parent said, "I do not want my children seduced into godless supernaturalism".[59] Other reasons included the novel's teaching that females are equal to males and that animals are personified and can speak. The judge ruled that when the novel was being discussed in class, the parents were allowed to have their children leave the classroom.[57]

text: Leonard Everett Fisher of The Horn Book Magazine wrote in 2000 that Oz has "a timeless message from a less complex era, and it continues to resonate". The challenge of valuing oneself during impending adversity has not, Fisher noted, lessened during the prior 100 years.[60]

text: In a 2002 review, Bill Delaney of Salem Press praised Baum for giving children the opportunity to discover magic in the mundane things in their everyday lives. He further commended Baum for teaching "millions of children to love reading during their crucial formative years".[16]

text: The Library of Congress has declared The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to be "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale", also naming it the first American fantasy for children and one of the most-read children's books.[61]

text: Editions[edit]

text: After George M. Hill's bankruptcy in 1902, copyright in the book passed to the Bobbs-Merrill Company. The editions they published lacked most of the in-text color and color plates of the original. It was not until the book entered the public domain in 1956 that new editions, either with the original color plates, or new illustrations, proliferated. Notable among them are the 1986 Pennyroyal edition illustrated by Barry Moser, which was reprinted by the University of California Press, and the 2000 Annotated Wizard of Oz edited by Michael Patrick Hearn, which was published by W.W. Norton and included all the original color illustrations, as well as supplemental artwork by Denslow. Other centennial editions included University Press of Kansas's Kansas Centennial Edition, illustrated by Michael McCurdy with black-and-white illustrations, and Robert Sabuda's pop-up book.

text: Sequels[edit]

text: Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz without any thought of a sequel. After reading the novel, thousands of children wrote letters to him, requesting that he craft another story about Oz. In 1904, he wrote and published the first sequel, The Marvelous Land of Oz, explaining that he grudgingly wrote the sequel to address the popular demand.[62] Baum also wrote sequels in 1907, 1908, and 1909. In his 1911 The Emerald City of Oz, he wrote that he could not continue writing sequels because Ozland had lost contact with the rest of the world. The children refused to accept this story, so Baum, in 1913 and every year thereafter until his death in May 1919, wrote an Oz book, ultimately writing 13 sequels. The Chicago Tribune's Russell MacFall wrote that Baum explained the purpose of his novels in a note he penned to his sister, Mary Louise Brewster, in a copy of Mother Goose in Prose (1897), his first book. He wrote, "To please a child is a sweet and a lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward."[3] After Baum's death in 1919, Baum's publishers delegated the creation of more sequels to Ruth Plumly Thompson who wrote 21.[16] An original Oz book was published every Christmas between 1913 and 1942.[63] By 1956, five million copies of the Oz books had been published in the English language, while hundreds of thousands had been published in eight foreign languages.[3]

text: Adaptations[edit]

text: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been adapted to other media numerous times, most famously in The Wizard of Oz, the 1939 film starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr. Until this version, the book had inspired a number of now less well known stage and screen adaptations, including a profitable 1902 Broadway musical and three silent films. The 1939 film was considered innovative because of its songs, special effects, and revolutionary use of the new Technicolor.[64]

text: The story has been translated into other languages (at least once without permission) and adapted into comics several times. Following the lapse of the original copyright, the characters have been adapted and reused in spin-offs, unofficial sequels, and reinterpretations, some of which have been controversial in their treatment of Baum's characters.[citation needed]


document_title: Ted (film)

question_text: who's the voice of ted the bear

question_tokens: who 's the voice of ted the bear

root

text: Ted (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 1985, eight-year-old John Bennett is an only child living in Norwood, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, who wished for his new Christmas gift—a jumbo teddy bear named Ted—to come to life and become his friend. The wish coincides with a shooting star and comes true; word spread and Ted was briefly a celebrity.

tag: p

text: 27 years later, John (now 35) and Ted are still living in Boston, and are still staunch companions enjoying a hedonistic life. John is dating Lori Collins, who is from Philadelphia. As their anniversary approaches, Lori hopes to marry John but feels he could not move forward with Ted around. John is hesitant about making Ted leave, but he is persuaded to act when they find Ted at home with four prostitutes.

text: John finds Ted his own apartment and a job at a grocery store, where Ted begins dating his co-worker Tami-Lynn. Lori learns that John has been skipping work, using her as an excuse, to continue to spend most of his time with Ted. John and Lori are invited to a party put on by Lori's womanizing manager Rex, but Ted lures John away to a party at his apartment with the offer to meet Sam J. Jones, the star of their favorite film, Flash Gordon. John intends to stay only a few minutes but gets caught up in the occasion. Lori finds John there and breaks up with him. John blames Ted for ruining his life and banishes him.

text: John and Ted confront each other about their ruined friendship and they fight but manage to reconcile after a violent brawl in their hotel room. To repair John's relationship with Lori, Ted arranges for an old lover, singer Norah Jones, to help by having John express his love for Lori with a song during her concert. He does an off-key rendition of Octopussy theme song, All Time High, by Rita Coolidge and is booed offstage. Lori is touched by the attempt and returns to her apartment where Ted confesses about his role in John's relapse and offers to leave them alone forever if she talks to John.

text: Lori is persuaded, but Ted is kidnapped by Donny, an obsessive stalker who idolized Ted as a child. Donny plans to make Ted his brutish son Robert's new toy. Ted manages to reach a phone to contact John but is immediately recaptured. Realizing Ted is in danger, John and Lori locate Donny's residence and track him to rescue Ted. The chase leads to Fenway Park, where John punches Robert, but during the chase, Ted is damaged and falls onto the field ripped entirely in half. A police car arrives, forcing Donny to flee. John and Lori gather Ted's stuffing and Ted relays his wish that John be happy with Lori before dying from his injuries.

text: Unable to accept Ted's death, a distraught John and Lori attempt to repair Ted, which proves useless. Feeling saddened about the incident, Lori makes a wish on a shooting star. The next morning, John hangs his head while looking over Ted's dead body. Fortunately, Ted is magically restored and reconciles with John and Lori, encouraging them to resume their relationship. John and Lori are married (with Sam Jones as the presiding minister), and Ted comfortably accepts having a life of his own as he and Tami-Lynn continued their love affair. Sam Jones attempts to restart his career and moves into a studio apartment with Brandon Routh. Rex gives up his pursuit of Lori, goes into a deep depression, and dies of Lou Gehrig's disease. Donny gets arrested by the Boston Police Department for kidnapping Ted, but charges are dropped because they can't arrest him with kidnapping an insentient stuffed bear. Robert hires a personal trainer, loses a significant amount of weight, and goes on to become Taylor Lautner.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett, Ted's best friend

Colton Shires as teenage John Bennett
Bretton Manley as young John Bennett

Seth MacFarlane as Ted (voice and motion capture), John's teddy bear and best friend

Zane Cowans as young Ted's voice.[3][full citation needed]
Tara Strong (uncredited) as Ted's "I Love You" function[3]

Mila Kunis as Lori Collins, John's girlfriend
Joel McHale as Rex, Lori's boss
Giovanni Ribisi as Donny, Ted's stalker
Aedin Mincks as Robert, Donny's son
Patrick Warburton as Guy, John's co-worker
Laura Vandervoort as Tanya, John's co-worker
Matt Walsh as Thomas Murphy, John's boss
Jessica Barth as Tami-Lynn McCafferty, Ted's girlfriend and co-worker
Bill Smitrovich as Frank Stevens, Ted's boss
Alex Borstein as Helen Bennett, John's mother
Ralph Garman as Steve Bennett, John's father
Jessica Stroup as Tracy, Lori's co-worker
Sam J. Jones as himself
Ryan Reynolds (uncredited) as Jared, Guy's boyfriend
Norah Jones as herself
Tom Skerritt as himself
Mike Henry as a Southern newscaster
Robert Wu as Quan Ming/Ming the Merciless
Ted Danson (uncredited) as himself
Patrick Stewart as Narrator[3]

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Seth MacFarlane's directorial debut is a live-action effort, with computer animation handled by visual effects facilities Tippett Studio and Iloura. MacFarlane wrote the screenplay with his Family Guy colleagues Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild.[4] In a "behind the scenes" video, it was revealed that MacFarlane originally wanted to make Ted into an animated TV show, much like his previous works Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show.

text: Originally, 20th Century Fox was offered to finance and distribute the movie, given its collaboration with MacFarlane for shows like Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show. However, MacFarlane wanted a $65 million budget for the movie, which Fox considered the price to be too high for the R-rated comedy film, let alone for a first-time director, and was skeptical about the film's future success owing to its R-rating. Subsequently, Fox backed out and MacFarlane began to take the project somewhere else.[5] On April 12, 2010, Universal Pictures announced that it had acquired the full rights to Ted after it agreed to a $65 million budget he requested.[6]

text: On October 26, 2010, Mark Wahlberg joined in the project as the lead actor.[4] Two months later on December 14, Mila Kunis, the voice actress for Meg Griffin from Family Guy, also joined in the cast.[7] On February 23, 2011, Giovanni Ribisi joined Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis in Ted.[8] Filming began in May 2011 in Boston, Norwood and other locations in Massachusetts.[9]

text: The film was scheduled for release in the United States on July 13, 2012, but it was moved up to June 29, both to avoid competition with Ice Age: Continental Drift (20th Century Fox) and following the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Paramount Pictures/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).[10] Internationally, the film was released in Australia on July 5, 2012,[11] and on August 1, 2012 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[12]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Ted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Soundtrack album by Walter Murphy and Various Artists

Released
June 26, 2012 (2012-06-26)

Genre
Film score, jazz, rock

Length
56:24

Label
Universal Republic

Producer
Hans Zimmer

Walter Murphy and Various Artists chronology

Ted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2012)
Ted 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2015)Ted 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack2015

tag: table

text: The film's soundtrack was released by Universal Republic Records on June 26, 2012. It features the score by Walter Murphy and songs by various artists such as Norah Jones and Queen. Seth MacFarlane co-wrote the opening theme "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" with Murphy.[13] The song was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 85th Academy Awards.[14]

text: All tracks by Walter Murphy except where indicated.

text:
[show]Track listing

No.
Title
Writer(s)
Performer(s)
Length

1.
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend"
Seth MacFarlane and Walter Murphy
Norah Jones
2:28

2.
"The Power of Love"

3:11

3.
"Thunder Buddies for Life"

1:56

4.
"John & Lori at Work / A Walk in the Park"

1:36

5.
"Magical Wish"

0:51

6.
"Rex's Party (Everybody Needs a Best Friend)"

2:30

7.
"The Breakup"

1:01

8.
"Never be Scared of Thunder Again"

1:06

9.
"Ted is Captured"

3:48

10.
"The Car Chase / Fenway Pursuit"

3:27

11.
"Climbing the Tower / She's Your Thunder Buddy Now"

3:59

12.
"Saving Ted / Lori's Wish"

3:39

13.
"The Proposal / The Wedding"

2:56

14.
"End Titles"

5:14

15.
"Flash's Theme"
Brian May
Queen
2:31

16.
"Sin"
Mike Burdge, Scott Garapolo & Tim Mercer
Daphne
2:23

17.
"Only Wanna Be with You"
Mark Bryan, Everett Felber, Darius Rucker & James Sonfeld
Hootie & The Blowfish
3:48

18.
"Come Away with Me"
Norah Jones
Norah Jones
3:07

19.
"All Time High"
John Barry
Rita Coolidge
3:03

20.
"I Think We're Alone Now"
Ritchie Cordell
Tiffany
3:46

21.
"Thunder Buddies for Life"
Walter Murphy
Seth MacFarlane & Mark Wahlberg
0:14

Total length:
56:34

text: Other songs which do not appear on the soundtrack but are featured in the film include songs from Queen's Flash Gordon soundtrack: "Football Fight", "Battle Theme", and "The Hero", as well as the "Knight Rider Theme" by Stu Phillips, "Stayin' Alive" by "Bee Gees", "Kiss Kiss" by "Chris Brown" and "The Imperial March" by John Williams. The film trailers used the songs "Best Friend" by Harry Nilsson and "How You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy.

text: Marketing[edit]

text: To promote the film, Universal Pictures teamed up with Axe in a marketing campaign that involved the title character and the brand's hair care product Axe Hair.[15] In one commercial, Ted takes a woman on a date to a fancy restaurant, where he brings her to orgasm under the table before handing another man a box of Axe Hair gel.[16]

text: In February 2013, Wahlberg and Ted made an appearance at the 85th Academy Awards, which MacFarlane hosted.[17]

text: Release[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Ted grossed $218.8 million in North America and $330.6 million overseas for a total gross of $549.4 million, against a budget of $50 million.[1] It was Universal's highest-grossing film in 2012, ahead of Snow White and the Huntsman and Battleship[18] (the only one to pass the $400 million mark[19]), and the 12th-highest-grossing film of 2012.

text: Ted debuted in first place in Taiwan and got the best comedy opening ever there.[20] It also debuted in Hong Kong, with $1.4 million, and grossed $571,000 in its first week in South Korea,[21] eventually grossing $8 million, $3.8 million and $1.8 million respectively.[22] It also grossed $2.1 million in both Indonesia and Singapore, and $1.4 million in Thailand.[22]

text: In January 2013, the film opened at number one in Japan, its final market, with $4.5 million, the best start ever for an R-rated comedy there. In comparison, it grossed more in its opening weekend than The Hangover Part II made in its entire run.[23] The following weekend, it retained the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive frame, grossing $3.6 million at 137 dates, for a 10-day market cumulative total of $11.2 million.[24] By its third weekend, the film stayed at the No. 1 spot for a third week, with earning down less than 10%, pushing Ted's overseas total past the $300 million mark, and making it the top grossing R-rated comedy of all time in Japan.[25] It then had its fourth consecutive weekend at No. 1, drawing another $3 million at 354 locations in the country.[26] Its cumulative total stands at $44 million grossed.[27]

text: Ted debuted with $14.3 million in the United Kingdom, making it the third-best debut ever for a Universal film behind Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and King Kong,[28] eventually grossing over $48.9 million in the country. Ted was released in cinemas across the United Kingdom on August 3.[22]

text: The film had a $7.4 million launch in Germany,[28] holding #1 spot for three-straight weeks,[29] eventually grossing over $31.4 million.[22]

text: In Spain, it opened with $2.3 million, which is the highest ever for an original R-rated comedy there,[30] eventually grossing over $14.3 million.[22]

text: The film also had the best Hollywood comedy debut ever in Russia, grossing $5.5 million,[28] eventually grossing $17 million.[22]

text: Ted spent its first 4 weeks atop the weekend box office in both the Netherlands,[31] and Austria,[32] eventually grossing $8.4 million, and $6.2 million in those countries respectively.[22] The movie also opened at No. 1 in Belgium, with $587,000, eventually grossing $4.4 million.[22]

text: In Italy, the film had a second place start, grossing $3.3 million in its opening weekend there,[33] moving up to no. 1 on its second week, with $4.2 million grossed.[34] It has since grossed $14.1 million there.[22]

text: In France, the film debuted at No. 2, grossing $3 million in 348 theatres during its opening weekend,[35] eventually grossing $11.5 million in the country.[22]

text: Ted earned $2.6 million in midnight showings in the United States and Canada.[36] For its opening day, Ted scored one of the best R-rated comedy debuts ever since The Hangover with an estimated $20.2 million.[1][37] The film earned a total of $54.4 million in its opening weekend, well over second-place R-rated Magic Mike's $39.2 million.[38] Its overall weekend gross set a record for the highest original R-rated comedy opening in history.[39] It was the first time two R-rated films grossed more than $21 million each during a weekend.[40]

text: In Mexico, the film debuted in first place with $2.1 million,[19] grossing $13.4 million.[22]

text: Ted also debuted at #1 in Australia and New Zealand, grossing over $35.5 million and $3.5 million respectively.[22] Its $13.1 million opening in Australia, of which $4.5 million were from previews, was Universal's biggest opening ever in the country.[20] In Australia, Ted was rated MA 15+,[41] whereas in New Zealand, it was rated R13 for its theatrical release and R16 for the DVD/Blu-ray release.

text: In Brazil, the film opened with $1.4 million at 273 sites,[42] moving up to 1st place in the country on its third week of release.[43] It has since grossed $8.8 million there.[22]

text: The film also grossed $4.6 million in Argentina, 2 million in Chile, 1.9 million in Peru, and 1.7 million in Colombia.[22]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 209 reviews with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ted's "romance versus bromance" plot is familiar, but the film's held aloft by the high-concept central premise and a very funny (albeit inconsistent) script."[44] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[45] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[46]

text: Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, citing the film as "the best comedy screenplay so far [this year]," also praising the film on the fact that it "doesn't run out of steam."[47]

text: Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave the film a "B" grade.[48] Brent McNight of Beyond Hollywood commented on the jokes: "Some of these jokes hit, some jokes miss."[49] On the other hand, A. O. Scott of The New York Times called Ted "boring, lazy and wildly unoriginal."[50]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
List of awards and nominations

Award / Film Festival
Category
Recipient(s) and nominee(s)
Result
Ref.

Teen Choice Award
(2012)
Choice Summer Movie: Comedy
Ted
Nominated
[51]

Choice Movie: Voice
Seth MacFarlane as Ted
Nominated

Choice Movie: Chemistry
Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg
Nominated

International Film Music Critics Association Award
(2012)
Best Original Score for a Comedy Film
Walter Murphy
Won
[52]

Phoenix Film Critics Society Award
(2012)
Breakthrough Performance Behind the Camera
Seth MacFarlane
Nominated
[53]

Jupiter Award
(2012)
Best International Film
Seth MacFarlane
Won
[54]

St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award
(2012)
Best Comedy
Ted
Won
[55]

People's Choice Award
(39th)
Favorite Comedy Movie
Ted
Won
[56]

Favorite Movie Actress
Mila Kunis
Nominated

Favorite Comedic Movie Actress
Mila Kunis
Nominated

Critics' Choice Movie Award
(18th)
Best Comedy
Ted
Nominated
[57]

Best Actor in a Comedy
Mark Wahlberg
Nominated

Best Actress in a Comedy
Mila Kunis
Nominated

American Cinema Editor Award
(2012)
Best Edited Feature Film – Comedy or Musical
Jeff Freeman
Nominated
[58]

Georgia Film Critics Association Award
(2013)
Best Original Song
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" — Seth MacFarlane and Walter Murphy
Nominated
[59]

Academy Award
(85th)
Best Original Song
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" — Seth MacFarlane and Walter Murphy
Nominated
[60]

Empire Award
(18th)
Best Comedy
Ted
Won
[61]

MTV Movie Award
(2013)
Movie of the Year
Ted
Nominated
[62]

Best Female Performance
Mila Kunis
Nominated

Best Shirtless Performance
Seth MacFarlane
Nominated

Best Kiss
Mila Kunis and Mark Wahlberg
Nominated

Best Fight
Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg
Nominated

Best On-Screen Duo
Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg
Won

Best WTF Moment
Seth MacFarlane
Nominated

Saturn Award
(39th)
Best Fantasy Film
Ted
Nominated
[63]

ASCAP Award
(2013)
Top Box Office Films
Seth MacFarlane and Walter Murphy
Won
[64]

Spike Guy's Choice Award
(2012/2013)
Guy Movie of the Year
Ted
Won
[65]

Best Fight Scene
Mark Wahlberg
Won

text: Home media[edit]

text: The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on December 11, 2012 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Both formats featured an unrated version of the film (112 minutes) and were also released in Australia on November 21, 2012, in an "Extended Edition".[66] It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2012.

text: On May 3, 2016, Ted vs. Flash Gordon: The Ultimate Collection was released on Blu-ray plus Digital HD, featuring Flash Gordon and the unrated versions of Ted and Ted 2.[67]

text: Sequel[edit]

text: During the 2012 American Dad! Comic-Con panel, MacFarlane stated that he would be open to a sequel to Ted.[68] In September 2012, chief executive Steve Burke said that the studio would be looking to make a sequel to Ted "as soon as possible".[69]

text: On Anderson Live, Wahlberg confirmed that a sequel was in the works and that it would be the first sequel in his career, while also revealing that he and Ted (as voiced by MacFarlane) would appear at the 85th Academy Awards.[70]

text: In February 2014, Deadline reported that Amanda Seyfried had been cast as the female lead, and that Kunis would not return.[71] On July 8, MacFarlane announced that work had officially begun on the sequel.[72] Ted 2 was released in the US on June 26, 2015.[73]


document_title: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

question_text: when is the third magnus chase book coming out

text: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

text: Books[edit]

text: The Sword of Summer [edit]

text: The Sword of Summer is the first book in the series, released on October 6, 2015 as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.[2] The novel is narrated by Magnus Chase, a homeless Bostonian orphan, who learns he is the son of a Norse god. On the same day, he is confronted by a fire giant named Surt, who wishes to claim a sword called "Sumarbrander" (the "Sword of Summer"). In the fight, Magnus is killed and carried to a modernized interpretation of the Norse afterlife by a valkyrie named Samirah al-Abbas (Sam). With the help of Sam, a dwarf named Blitz, and an elf named Hearth; Magnus foils the giant's plans to free the Fenris Wolf and hasten the end of the world.[4]

text: The novel has been well-received since its publication, but was not a "big front-runner" among other bestselling books in 2015.[5] It debuted at #1 on the New York Times Children's Middle Grade Hardcover Best Sellers list, and rose to #3 on Amazon's best-selling Children's Books list for 2015.[6][7][8] It also won the Goodreads Choice Award for Middle Grade & Children's books in 2015.[9] The Sword of Summer has been especially praised as an excellent continuation of author Rick Riordan's writing style, although some critics have expressed regret that the book only meets the expectations of fans, rather than surpassing them.[10][11]

text: The Sword of Summer was later published in several foreign-language editions, as well as UK edition with the same title (published by Puffin Books). Its foreign-language editions include ones in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Dutch, German, Bulgarian, Finnish, Polish, French, Norwegian, Chinese, Czech, Russian, Romanian, Indonesian and Hebrew. While the U.S. editions have cover art by illustrator John Rocco, most foreign editions have unique art created by other artists and illustrators.[12] In the U.S., several unique promotional editions were released by different booksellers during the initial publication; the mass-merchandiser Target, for example, released its books with an included poster of the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology.[13]

text: The Hammer of Thor[edit]

text: The Hammer of Thor is the second book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series and was released on October 4, 2016. In this book, Magnus receives a warning and discovers that the hammer of Thor, Mjolnir, is missing. He embarks on a quest with Samirah, Hearthstone, Blitzen, and Alex Fierro, a genderfluid child of Loki to retrieve it. However, Loki reveals that the giant Thrym has the hammer, and forces the group to retrieve the Skofnung Sword, the only sword which can free him. He arranges a marriage between Samirah and the giant so as to obtain the hammer and the sword as wedding presents. At the wedding, Alex takes Samirah's place and tries to prevent Magnus's Uncle Randolph from freeing Loki. However, they fail to do so, and Loki is freed. The group is honoured for recovering Mjolnir, but are given another mission to recapture Loki.[3]

text: The novel was awarded the 2017 Stonewall Book Award for children's literature.[14]

text: The Ship of the Dead[edit]

text: The Ship of the Dead is the third book in the 'Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard' series and was released on October 3, 2017.

text: Supplementary works[edit]

text: Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds[edit]

text: Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds is a supplementary work for the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series.[15] It was published as a hardcover on August 16, 2016.[16][17][18]

text: Characters[edit]

text:
Magnus Chase - The protagonist of the series, a 16-year-old demigod son of the god Frey as well as the cousin of Greek demigod Annabeth Chase.
Samirah (Sam) al-Abbas - An Arab American Valkyrie and demigod daughter of the god Loki.
Blitzen (Blitz) - A svartalf, son of Freya, and expert on clothing.
Hearthstone (Hearth) - A deaf-mute light elf from Alfheim
Alex Fierro - A genderfluid demigod child of Loki who wields a garrote capable of slicing even the most hardened rock. (S)he is first introduced in the second book, The Hammer of Thor.
Randolph Chase - Magnus's uncle, obsessed with Norse mythology.
Loki - Norse god of mischief, lies, and deceit. He is the father of demigods Samirah Al Abbas and mother of Alex Fierro.
Annabeth Chase - Magnus Chase's cousin. Also in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series. Demigod daughter of the Greek goddess Athena.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Publishers Weekly's review of The Sword of Summer stated that, "ten years after The Lightning Thief...[Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard's] sensibility is right in line with the Percy Jackson novels, and the audience will be just as large."[19]


document_title: Father of the Bride (1991 film)

question_text: who played the wedding planner in father of the bride

text: Father of the Bride (1991 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: George Banks (Steve Martin) is the owner of a successful athletic shoe company called Side Kicks in San Marino, California. His 22-year-old daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams) who just graduated from college, returns home from Europe, announcing that she is engaged to Bryan MacKenzie (George Newbern), a man from an upper-class family from Bel-Air, despite them only having known each other for three months. The sudden shock turns the warm reunion into a heated argument between George and Annie, but they quickly reconcile in time for Bryan to arrive and meet them. Despite Bryan's good financial status and likeable demeanour, George takes an immediate dislike to him while his wife, Nina (Diane Keaton), accepts him as a potential son-in-law. George does not want to let go of his daughter.

text: George and Nina meet Bryan's parents, John and Joanna MacKenzie. Though George feels comfort from John also expressing how shocked he had initially been at Bryan's engagement, he quickly gets into trouble when he begins nosing around and eventually ends up falling into the pool when cornered by the MacKenzies' vicious pet Dobermans. All is forgiven, however, and the Banks meet with an eccentric European wedding coordinator, Franck Eggelhoffer (Martin Short) and his assistant, Howard Weinstein (B. D. Wong), where George immediately begins complaining about the price of the extravagant wedding items. The high price, $250 a head, plus the problems of wedding invitations begin to take their toll on George and he becomes slightly insane. The last straw occurs when his wrongly sized suit, which he had struggled to put on, rips when he bends his back. He leaves the house to cool off, but ends up causing a disturbance at the supermarket. Fed up with paying for things he doesn't want, he starts removing hot dog buns from their 12-bun packets so as to match the 8-dog packets of hot dogs. He ends up getting arrested, but Nina arrives to bail him out on the condition that he stop ruining the wedding.

text: With help from Nina and Franck, George becomes more relaxed and accepting of the wedding, particularly when Annie and Bryan receive rather expensive gifts from extended family members, but the wedding plans are put on hold when they have a row over a blender he gave her as a gift, which only gets worse when she refuses to believe his story about George's antics at his parents' house when he fell in the pool. George takes Bryan out for a drink, initially intending to get rid of him for good, but seeing his heartbroken face and genuine claim that he loves Annie, George has a change of heart and finally accepts him. He confesses to Annie that what happened at the MacKenzies' house was true, and she and Bryan reconcile.

text: Despite some last minute problems with the weather, the wedding is finally prepared, almost one year after Bryan and Annie's first meeting. They marry and the reception is held at the house, despite a nosy police officer objecting to the number of parked cars in the street. Unfortunately, George misses Annie throwing her bouquet and is unable to see her before she and Bryan leave for their honeymoon in Hawaii. However, Annie calls him from the airport to thank and tell him that she loves him one last time before they board the plane.

text: With the house now empty and the wedding finished, George finds solace with Nina and dances with her.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Steve Martin as George Banks
Diane Keaton as Nina Banks
Kimberly Williams as Annie Banks-MacKenzie
Kieran Culkin as Matty Banks
George Newbern as Bryan MacKenzie
Peter Michael Goetz as John MacKenzie
Kate McGregor-Stewart as Joanna MacKenzie
Martin Short as Franck Eggelhoffer
B. D. Wong as Howard Weinstein
Richard Portnow as Al
David Pasquesi as Hanck
Chauncey Leopardi as Cameron
Eugene Levy as Singer at audition
Marissa Lefton as 3-year-old Annie
Sarah Rose Karr as 7-year-old Annie
Amy Young as 12-year-old Annie
Ira Heiden as Supermarket Stock Boy
Britt Leach as Assistant Manager of Supermarket (uncredited, his final film role to date)

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: The film's soundtrack was scored by Alan Silvestri and was influenced by jazz and Christmas instrumentations. It contains the following tracks:

text:
"Main Title"
"Annie's Theme"
"Drive to Brunch"
"Snooping Around"
"Pool Cue"
"Annie Asleep"
"Basketball Kiss"
"The Wedding"
"Snow Scene"
"Nina at the Stairs"
"The Big Day"
"Annie at the Mirror
"Pachelbel Canon"
"The Way You Look Tonight" - Alan Silvestri, Fields, Dorothy
"My Annie's Gone"
"The Way You Look Tonight (Reprise)"
"End Credits"

tag: ol

text: The following songs are also featured in the film:

text:
"My Girl" - The Temptations
"(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Going to Marry" - Darlene Love
"Chapel of Love" - The Dixie Cups

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film opened to generally favorable reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 73% of critics gave it a positive rating, based on 41 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. Its consensus states that "while it doesn't quite hit the heights of the original, this remake of the 1950 classic is pleasantly enjoyable, thanks in large part to winning performances from Steve Martin and Martin Short."[3] Contrastingly, it received 51/100 on Metacritic.[4]

text: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four and called it "one of the movies with a lot of smiles and laughter in it, and a good feeling all the way through. Just everyday life, warmly observed."[5] Desson Howe of The Washington Post praised Martin for his performance in it, writing that "it is so funny, it's almost sublime. The explanation is simple: It's all Steve Martin."[6]

text: The film drew $15 million on its debut.[7]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
1992; nominated, "Best Breakthrough Performance" - Kimberly Williams
1992; nominated, "Best Comedic Performance" - Steve Martin

text: 1993: won, "Best Movie" - Father of the Bride

text: 1993; nominated, "Best Young Actor Co-starring in a Motion Picture" - Kieran Culkin


document_title: Spoiler Alert (How I Met Your Mother)

question_text: how i met your mother ted's talkative girlfriend

question_tokens: how i met your mother ted 's talkative girlfriend

text: Spoiler Alert (How I Met Your Mother)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Ted thinks that he has found the perfect girl, Cathy (played by Lindsay Price), but the group disagrees. At first they refuse to give a reason so as not to "spoil" her for him, but eventually Marshall tells him that she talks too much. Now that Ted knows, he cannot stand her garrulousness. The five friends then let slip each other's flaws until all are "spoiled", and thus are more annoying to those who had previously not noticed the flaws:

text:
Lily: chewing loudly (pointed out by Ted to Marshall);
Marshall: singing about whatever he is doing at the moment, or nonsense (pointed out by Robin to Lily);
Ted: correcting people (pointed out by Lily to Robin);
Robin: overusing and misusing the word "literally" (pointed out by Ted);
Barney: speaking in a falsetto, using catch phrases, and spacing out when his friends are talking to him (pointed out by Marshall, Robin and Ted to Barney).

text: Whenever one or more of the group has these quirks pointed out to them, the sound of glass shattering is heard. This represents the shattering of their illusions about one another.

text: Meanwhile, Marshall's bar exam results have been released, but he cannot remember the password he needs to retrieve the results online (thus making him wait for three months for a notification by mail). Barney offers to help but this is only a ruse, and, with Marshall angry at Barney and the whole gang annoyed with one another, the arguments reach a climax. The argument is halted when the group mockingly sings one of Marshall's "nonsense" songs (Apple Orchard Banana Cat Dance 8 6 6 3); the song was actually a mnemonic device to help Marshall remember his password (aobcd8663 - it is not shown if it has upper or lower case letters) for the bar exam results website. He enters it and proudly announces "I'm a lawyer". The group then celebrates with champagne at MacLaren's with each sliding back into their bad habits (Lily crunching loudly on bar snacks, Ted making a correction on a comment, Robin using "literally" incorrectly, Barney saying "law-suit up!" in a high-pitched voice, and Marshall singing his own praises) which they all let go.

text: At the end, in a time leap three years forward, Ted runs into his overly loquacious ex-girlfriend with her deaf fiancé Daniel, and uses sign language to announce how Cathy talks too much. Even though the man is deaf and it does not affect him, Ted has "spoiled" Cathy to Daniel, and a subtitle displays "(Glass shattering)" as Ted walks away and Daniel looks on in despair.

text: Critical response[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2015)

text: Donna Bowman of the AV Club gave the episode a B rating.[1]

text: IGN rated the episode 8.6 out of 10.[2]

text: Omar G of Television Without Pity rated the episode A−.[3]


document_title: List of The Andy Griffith Show characters

question_text: cast of characters from the andy griffith show

text: The following is a list of characters of The Andy Griffith Show, an American sitcom television series, starring Andy Griffith. The series ran for eight seasons on CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968.

text: Main[edit]

text:
Character
Seasons
No. of
episodes
Actor
Brief description

Andy Taylor
1–8
249
Andy Griffith
Sheriff of Mayberry; father (widower) of Opie

Opie Taylor
1–8
209
Ronny Howard
Son of Andy Taylor

Barney Fife
1–8
141
Don Knotts
Deputy Sheriff of Mayberry

Aunt Bee
1–8
175
Frances Bavier
Andy's paternal aunt

text: Sheriff Andrew Jackson "Andy" Taylor is Sheriff and Justice of the Peace of Mayberry. He is genial, good-natured and endears himself to the townsfolk with an air of good will, polite charm and keeps the peace by using common sense. He refuses to wear a gun or formalize his uniform with a tie, as he feels a relaxed image makes him more approachable. Andy is a widower with a young son, Opie, and tries to raise him with good sense and good values. Also in his home is his paternal Aunt Bee who arrives in the home shortly after the previous housekeeper, Rose, marries and moves away. Although a widower, Andy has a steady string of girlfriends, but his longest-lasting relationship is with Helen Crump, Opie's teacher, whom he eventually marries, moves out of Mayberry with, becomes a U.S. Postal Inspector, and moves back to Mayberry and runs for Sheriff.

text: Opie Taylor is the son of Andy Taylor and his late wife. A good-hearted, normal little boy (about six when the series began), most of Opie's lessons come from his close relationship with his father, and his Great Aunt Bee. He is not prone to get into trouble and that probably has to do with spending a great deal of time around the jail. At one point, Aunt Bee considers this to be a bad influence and when Opie runs away from home briefly, she relents and allows him to visit the jail after school on a conditional basis.

text: Deputy Bernard Milton "Barney" Fife is Deputy Sheriff of Mayberry. Thin, wiry and high-strung, Barney fancies himself an expert lawman even though—in reality—he is actually a bumbling goof. In episodes 001 and 002, Andy refers to him as "Cousin Barney". In episode 025, his middle name is said to be "Oliver"; in episode 082, his middle name according to his high school yearbook is "Milton", in episode 157 (season 5) his middle initial is repeated as "P". He considers his position to be essential to keeping Mayberry safe. Even though the town has very little crime, he dubs the town: "Mayberry, Gateway to Danger". Andy keeps Barney's crime-fighting shenanigans to a reasonable level, but tries to never step on his ego. For safety reasons, he only allows Barney to carry one bullet, which he keeps in his shirt pocket until needed. Often, when the bullet is employed, Barney accidentally shoots the bullet into the floor, narrowly missing his own foot. Like Andy, he has a steady stream of girlfriends, but his longest lasting relationship is with Thelma Lou. In episode 028, Barney has just met Thelma Lou at the "Junction Diner". In season five, he takes a job as a detective in Raleigh, leaving Mayberry, but returns in seasons six through eight for guest appearances.

text: Beatrice "Aunt Bee" Taylor is Andy's paternal aunt. Aunt Bee is a spinster in her late-50s who raised Andy. She was living alone in West Virginia when Andy invited her to come to live with him and Opie, after their housekeeper Rose got married and moved away. Aunt Bee is a motherly figure who takes the place of Opie's late mother and dotes over the boy, caring for his welfare and taking care of Andy as well. She is prominent in town, a respected lady who spends her time helping with social functions and church events. She is prone to spend time with her friends gossiping about the town's citizens.

text: Recurring[edit]

text:
Name
Seasons
No. of
episodes
Played by
Brief character summary

Goober Pyle
4–8
86
George Lindsey
Auto mechanic and cousin of Gomer Pyle (Called Goober Beasley in Season 5 Episode 23 "TV or Not TV")

Floyd Lawson
1–7
80
Howard McNear
The barber

Helen Crump
3–8
66
Aneta Corsaut
School teacher and Andy's girlfriend in later episodes

Howard Sprague
6–8
37
Jack Dodson
The milquetoast county clerk

Otis Campbell
1–7
32
Hal Smith
The town drunk who lets himself into the jail to sleep it off

Clara Edwards
1–8
31
Hope Summers
aka Clara Johnson, Bertha Edwards; a widow who is Aunt Bee's best friend

Thelma Lou
1–6
26
Betty Lynn
Barney’s girlfriend. Her last name was never revealed.

Gomer Pyle
3–4
23
Jim Nabors
Dim-witted mechanic at Wally's Filling Station; a deputy when needed; joins the United States Marine Corps

Emmett Clark
8
16
Paul Hartman
Fix-it shop owner/operator

Ellie Walker
1
12
Elinor Donahue
Andy's first girlfriend of the series; pharmacist at drug store

Johnny Paul Jason
3–6
11
Richard Keith
Opie's best friend

Deputy Warren Ferguson
6
11
Jack Burns
Floyd's nephew; replaces Barney

Mayor Pike
1–2
11
Dick Elliott
Mayor of Mayberry

Jud Fletcher
1–7
8
Burt Mustin
Elderly citizen of Mayberry

Mayor Roy Stoner
3
7
Parley Baer
Mayor of Mayberry

Briscoe Darling
3–7
6
Denver Pyle
Head of The Darlings

Charlene Darling
3–7
5
Maggie Peterson
Briscoe Darling's daughter. Had a crush on Andy.

Reverend Hobart M. Tucker
3–8
6
William Keene
Pastor of All Souls Church

The Darling Boys
3–7
6
The Dillards
Musical brothers played by real-life bluegrass band

Ben Weaver
1–8
6
Will Wright/Tol Avery
Miserly old landlord and department store owner

Emma Watson
1–2
6
Cheerio Meredith
aka Emma Brand

Ernest T. Bass
3–6
5
Howard Morris
A troublemaking mountain man

Asa Breeney
3–5
5
Charles P. Thompson
The elderly (always sleeping) Mayberry Bank guard

John Masters
2–5
5
Olan Soule
Choir director and hotel manager

Leon
2–4
5
Clint Howard
Toddler in a cowboy outfit

Peggy McMillan
3
4
Joanna Moore
Andy's girlfriend and nurse

Sam Jones
8
4
Ken Berry
Widowed farmer

Rafe Hollister
2–3
3
Jack Prince
Local farmer and moonshiner

Wally
3
4
6
7
5
Trevor Bardette
Norman Leavitt (2)
Cliff Norton
Blackie Hunt
Owner of the filling station where Gomer and later Goober work

Martha Clark
8
3
Mary Lansing
Emmett's wife

Trey Bowden
4
3
David Alan Bailey
Opie's friend

Daphne
3–5
3
Jean Carson
One of “The Fun Girls”

Skippy
3–5
3
Joyce Jameson
The other “Fun Girl”

Malcolm Merriweather
3–6
3
Bernard Fox
English valet

text:
[hide]

v
t
e

The Andy Griffith Show

Characters
Episodes
Guest stars
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Mayberry R.F.D.
Return to Mayberry

text: Lists of actors by comedy television series