The original Wizard of Oz book by L. Frank Baum was illustrated by WW Denslow and it was his drawings that first delineated this icon of fear.
But it was Baum who creeped us out with a vision of a sky darkened with a rumbling and rushing of wings, a great chattering and laughing of monkeys with immense and powerful wings:
And just what these creatures were capable of:
BUT, it was the MGM production of the movie in 1939 that brought the nightmare to life:
Hrrmmm. Bat wings. But see the power cord down there? These wings were mechanisms, the final ones powered by battery packs. It was just movie making. They weren't real!
But it was Baum who creeped us out with a vision of a sky darkened with a rumbling and rushing of wings, a great chattering and laughing of monkeys with immense and powerful wings:
And just what these creatures were capable of:
BUT, it was the MGM production of the movie in 1939 that brought the nightmare to life:
Hrrmmm. Bat wings. But see the power cord down there? These wings were mechanisms, the final ones powered by battery packs. It was just movie making. They weren't real!See? See? We've faced our fears and seen the 'man behind the curtain', so to speak.
There, now don't you feel better having faced your fears?
Hrrmm. Neither do I.
Oh, man... Flying Monkeys everywhere! Those hideous illustrations! What are they doing to the cowardly lion? No! And those Bat Wings!
ReplyDeleteWaaaah! I want my Mommy!
Curse, you Thom Buchanan! (And that little mutt of yours, too!)
Actually, the adult me (the one that is afraid of nothing and can chew iron bars for breakfast) really loves the illustrations. I've never seen those before.
ReplyDeleteThere was a story I remember reading a couple of years ago. I think it was at Scifiction.com, about the winged monkeys and how they coped as a society after the wicked witch was gone. It was an amazing story and made your heart ache for those poor monkeys.