The Wizard of Oz (Selig, 1910)

This is the earliest surviving film version of the L. Frank Baum children's novel, produced by Selig Polyscope in 1910. The film shows influence both from the 1902 Broadway musical, - dancing girls form part of the Wizard's royal guard, - and Baum's 1900 novel, as well as it's 1904 sequel, The Marvelous Land of Oz. In addition to her dog Toto, Dorothy is accompanied by a cow, as she is in the 1902 musical. The main villian, as in the more familiar 1939 version, is the Wicked Witch, here named "Momba," a variation of "Mombi," the witch in the second Oz book. Glinda also appears, and is seen floating away in a manner similar to the way she floats away in a bubble in MGM's take on the tale. Like Margaret Hamilton's witch, Momba rides a broomstick, something the witch in Baum's book did not do. A nine year old Bebe Daniels plays Dorothy.