1974 Winkie Convention

Elsa Wentler, a relative new-comer to the Oz crowd, but a major enthusiast and collector, chaired the Winkie Convention at Cambria Pines Lodge in 1974. Her husband, Rod Wentler, and Peter Hanff put together a dazzling slide show (remember this was the era of Kodachrome and 35mm film slides) entitled "L. Frank Baum's Discovery of Oz." The Wentlers were television news film-editors and the visuals throughout the weekend were memorable. Once again the Winkies turned their attention to one of the movies produced by L. Frank Baum's Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914. This was The Magic Cloak of Oz, which was Baum’s adaptation of his 1905 novel, Queen Zixi of Ix. The crowd was fascinated by the movie's special affects, such as the Rolly Rogues [sic], villains of both book and film, as they rolled down from their high Mesa into Noland. The figures, clearly made of clay, bounced and rolled (just as described in the book), but they also burst and split in half in a few instances, showing that they really had feet of clay. And later, as they were banished magically by Queen Zixi, no one failed to note that all the Rolly Rogues that had broken earlier, magically reassembled as they rolled back up the hill again (through the simple expedient of reversing the motion of the film for that section).

So in the four years that the Winkie Convention was held at Cambria Pines Lodge, the enthusiastic crowd grew larger, craved to return year after year to renew acquaintance and conversation, and looked forward with anticipation to traditions that had become firmly established in these wonderful Cambrian years. Alas, months after the 1974 convention, Cambria Pines Lodge experienced bankruptcy, and the Winkies had to look for a new home. But Ozma and Glinda must have taken the Winkie plight into consideration for by 1975, the Winkies had found a new, and even more glorious home at Wawona. Wonderful Winkie Wawona years will be described in the next installment of our history.

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