From: Jasper
Date: 10/4/01
Time: 11:42:27 PM
Miss Marple,
There could be some Pippi Longstocking influence in the Fuhrman collection when it comes to the redheads in the lager part of The Smoking Gun 2. I don't know (I sure as hell didn't have a clue about the Peruvian dream doll). Scroll down about halfway to the picture of the "living doll" in Chapter 27: Charlie's Angels. You'll know the pictures when you see them. Maybe you can see something there that I don't.
The Smoking Gun 2, Chapter 20: The Good Witch has a lot to say and to show about The Wizard of Oz along with some pictures of the heroine's magic slippers (a dead woman's shoes) and the yellow brick road that takes her and her companions to the Emerald City. The Emerald city is in a county called Oz, found "somewhere over the rainbow."
Anyhow, Oz is pretty hard to get in and out of. Dorothy, the heroine, gets there by way of a cyclone that picks up her house with her and her dog inside and drops it on the Wicked Witch of the East. The Good witch of the North floats down in a bubble and magically transfers the dead witch's magic shoes (in the book they're silver; in the movie they are ruby) to Dorothy's feet just in time to keep them out of the clutches of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Dorothy's only wish is to go home. Glinda, The Good Witch of the North, advises her to "follow the yellow brick road" to get the help she needs from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the wealthy, gated and guarded Emerald City. On her way she picks out three companions who also think the wizard can give them something valuable. The Scarecrow has no brain, only straw. The Tin Man is like a big empty can with nothing but air inside. He want's a heart. The Lion had no courage.
To buy time, the fake Wizard sends them on a seek-and-destroy mission. He tells them that they have to bring him flying stick (sound familiar) of the Wicked Witch of the West. Even the Scarecrow (who is really the brains of the operation) knows that the only way they can get the stick is to kill the witch. So, that's what the set out to do. And they succeed, with the cheers and adulation of everyone in Oz.
In the end, Dorothy and her traveling companions learn that THEY HAD WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR BEFORE THEY STARTED LOOKING. The phony Wizard of Oz. gave the Scarecrow a diploma, the Tin Man a heart-shaped clock, and the Lion a medal. He gave each of them a cool speech before awarding them their prizes and the Good Witch showed up to tell Dorothy how to get back home using the magic shoes. All she had to do was click her heels three times and say the magic words, "There's no place like home, There's no place like home.
Dorothy opens her eyed to discover that her experience in Oz was a dream and key characters in her dream came from the people she knew in the real world.
Now, to answer the rest of our message…
YES! YES! YES! --Jasper