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On the Road: The Oz Club’s National Convention in Wamego and Manhattan, Kansas — 22 Comments

  1. I wonder what Hamilton Meserve looked like as a child when his mother was an actress. And who did he stay with while his mother was away working for the wizard of oz and other tv appearences?

    BTW, good job. I really enjoyed reading this and will add this to my favorits! god bless!

  2. Hamilton, or “Ham” as they all called him for short, was a beautiful blond-haired child. He showed us a few photos of himself with his mother roughly around the time she made “Wizard of Oz.” When I say “beautiful,” he really looked like a child model, and he said that the studios took notice and wanted to have him screen-tested for a potential studio contract. Maggie said no, though. She did all she could to ensure that Ham was raised as a normal kid. I think working around so many child stars, as she did in her career, opened her eyes to that kind of life. She didn’t want it for him. And later, he showed no real interest in being an actor. He played sports, etc, and was a “regular kid.”

    Maggie was a single mom, and while I don’t know specific details, I’m sure she had daycare for Ham while she was at the studios, just as single working mothers do. He mentioned in his presentation that she was careful not to show him her witch’s makeup while she filmed “Oz,” so she made sure all the green, etc., came off before she headed home. She didn’t want to scare him. I believe he was about five years old when she made that film. And when it was first released, she didn’t let him see it right away. But that didn’t last very long. Ham was invited to celebrate another child’s birthday, and they were showing “The Wizard of Oz” at the party. So he saw it with a group of young friends, and then he had lots of questions for her about it. One other thing he mentioned: when Maggie had her accident (she was badly burned while filming the scene in Munchkinland), he was taken only once to visit her in the hospital, and, even as a very young child, he remembers seeing his mom lying in the bed with her face completely bandaged up. She made sure she had healed enough before he saw her again. It was too traumatic. From everything he said, she was a wonderful mother who loved him very much and saw to it that he had as normal a life as any kid in growing up in Hollywood could have. She joined the Junior League and got involved in the local community as well. She wasn’t just a “movie actor” mom.

  3. Oh thats really awesome! are there any more interesting things about Ham and his life/relationship with his mom? And do you know why his parents divorced?

    Cheers!

  4. Hello again, Panda rocks! I don’t know the circumstances of why his mother Maggie was a single parent, only that she was when he was a young boy. Ham didn’t go into the details during his talk. But he did give us a marvelous presentation with photos on life with his mom from infancy to adulthood. She really was a remarkable person in so many ways, only one of which was on the silver screen as the iconic Wicked Witch of the West. I hope someday Maggie’s story will be told in a book. I know Ham is hoping that his son will be the one to write it and has gathered many fascinating photos and stories to tell.

    Here’s hoping it happens soon! I, for one, can’t wait to read it.

  5. Yeah. I love margaret hamilton. I’ve always been a huge fan of her. I hope someday her story would be told in a book too. Cuz i would defintley buy it!

    And u know Ham should do a website about his mother too. That will be cool.

  6. I love margaret hamilton too. She’s awesome and gorgeuos. I always wondered if she came down naked from the trap door while melting? since she left her costume behind. She must’ve had some kind of small dress under her costume. Down right embarrasing if she didn’t. :/

  7. LOL I’m sure she had some sort of witch-approved undergarments on! And actually, since they were pumping smoke and dry ice through the costume to give it that “steamy” look, while she melted, I’ll bet she was wearing something fairly protective to make sure her skin didn’t come in contact with those “smokey” effects.

  8. LOL, i see the purse on the picture where hamilton meserve chases the witch. But BTW, dude, whats up with being up at 3:58 AM. Are you working or somethin’? O_o

  9. That “purse” is actually a canvas tote bag for the convention with all kinds of swag in it for the attendees. Everybody got one. It does kind of look like a purse hanging there. As for the timestamp on my last response, I’m an early riser, but usually not that early! I get insomnia sometimes.

  10. Gee, i dunno if i have insomnia or not. I sometimes have trouble falling asleep sometimes. It can take me hours to fall alseep even if its perfectly quiet and i’m not disturbed. I don’t know whats up with that, but i hope it stops before ”prison” starts in the fall. Speaking of sleeping, i’m doing my own wizard of oz myself with my toys. I’m having around 50 littlest pet shop toys as munchkins (there like little toy animals with big heads) and just little dolls as the characters. Nobody except you and some other people know this, i don’t wanna be called a creep.

  11. Is that u in that picture where u give ur presentation as a kid? u looked like a cutie pie.

  12. Hi Paul!
    My name is Lianne (I write under the name Lianne Spiderbaby) and I write for FAMOUS MONSTERS MAGAZINE. I’m writing a feature on the WICKED WITCH, and we’d LOVE to have a brief interview with Hamilton Meserve. I’ve heard such incredible things about your book, and I figure you’d be a good place to start in terms of getting in touch with Mr. Meserve. If you can help me, please e-mail me, and I’d also love to do a short interview with you as well, about your book for the Famous Monsters website. This all goes to print in February, but I need to finish the interview (if Mr. Meserve is willing) before November.

    Thank you! Looking forward to hearing from you!
    Sincerely,
    Lianne

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