1972 Winkie Convention

The success of the first weekend-long Winkie Convention at Cambria Pines Lodge in 1971 spurred the West Coasters to build on a fine new tradition. For 1972, Langley Brookes Brandt coordinated the program. As a lively ice-breaker a game of Oz bingo was held, a challenging quiz won by Kevin Harris proved yet again how erudite Winkies are, and a panel discussion of the mysteries of Oz and Oz-related problems explored anomalies, inconsistencies, and possible explanations of all. Claude Cain, from San Francisco, served as Winkie Auctioneer, and Fred Otto performed his first rhymed version of an Oz book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. The cadence and forced rhymes were so challenging that even their author occasionally stumbled, and the Winkies roared with laughter and delight at what he had accomplished. He designated the verse cycle, "The Oziad," and his efforts in subsequent years became an annual event of the Winkie Conventions. Once again, during the weekend, Winkies watched with amazement, amusement, and other sentiments another showing of two movies made by the Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914, The Patchwork Girl of Oz and The Scarecrow of Oz.

From Winkie Newsletter Vol 2 #3, Written by Peter Hanff