1979 Winkie Convention

Fred Meyer, the Oz Club's Secretary and a faithful long-distance Winkie (he took the train each year from Escanaba, Michigan, to the West Coast for the occasion), served as program chair in 1979. Energetic Virginia Fowler presided over the Winkie punch bowls, making sure that younger Winkies didn't accidentally sample the bowl laced with the Waters of Oblivion from Ozma's garden. A significant program event was a panel discussion on collecting Oz books. This type of forum proved popular for a number of years and was resurrected many years later as part of a seminar series at Asilomar Conference Grounds. Rob Roy MacVeigh, animator and artist from Seattle, presented a multi-media presentation on the 1939 MGM movie. Evelyn MacDonald, another Seattle-area Winkie, reported on a stage production of THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ produced in Seattle. Dick Rutter won the costume award for a costume that looked remarkably like John R. Neill's depiction of the Wizard in DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ (the 1908 Oz book). Warren Hollister returned as Winkie auctioneer, and Jack Werre of San Francisco won the competition to complete an unfinished Oz story.

From Winkie Newsletter Vol 2 #5, Written by Peter Hanff