Welcome to the History Tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

And here's your 30-second summary, courtesy of Movie Reviewer, Rick Palito.

Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets, then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

Let's talk about the Wizard of Oz.

But first, let's drop them into history. In 1900, Hawaii became a US territory.

The second modern Olympic Games opened in Paris. The boxer rebellion occurred and is subdued by an international force in China.

Carrie Nation publicly smashes her first bar in Wichita, Kansas. Agnes Morehead, Lord Mountbatten, and Spencer Tracy were born.

Frederick Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde, and Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Fame, died.

And in 1900, the world is introduced to a little girl named Dorothy Gail, who sets off on an epic adventure in the land of Oz.

Today, we're going to talk about the Wizard of Oz. And true, the Wizard does get top billing in the title, but we all know who the real heroine is.

A tough little prairie chicken named Dorothy Gail. And so now, without further ado, let's talk about the Wizard of Oz.

So, let's start out by giving you, as if you didn't know this already, the plot of the story.

Once upon a time, a little girl named Dorothy from Kansas was transported by a cyclone to the land of Oz.

There she is greeted by four little people, Munchkins, three men and a woman, who turns out to be the Wich of the North.

She learns that she has killed the evil Wich of the East, who has kept the Munchkins in bondage, but Dorothy only wishes to go home.

She has awarded magical silver shoes and instructed to find the Wizard in the Emerald City, because he can help her.

On her way there, she presents a scarecrow in need of a brain, a tin woodman in need of a heart, and a lion in need of courage.

Together, they face many perils, vicious colitas, who can tear someone to pieces, a rushing river that separates them, from which they're saved by a giant bird, and a sleep-inducing field of enchanted poppies, from which they're saved by a mouse queen,

and her thousands of subjects. At the Emerald City at last, they must all wear green glasses, because the dazzlingness of the city would blind them.

The Wizard sees them individually, manifesting himself as a giant head, a beautiful lady, a huge monster, and a ball of fire.

The Wizard grants them an audience, and they make their request to him, but he says that he will only grant their wishes if they kill the Wich of the West.

The Wicked Witch sees them coming, first she sends an army of wolves, then crows, then bees, then winkeys, which were her slaves, to stop them.

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