THE WIZARD OF OZ & MANHATTAN SHARE A BIRTHDAY

THE WIZARD OF OZ TURNS A PROBLEMATIC 70

This week America gets to see a fully-restored theatre version of the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz. There's a rich recipe of reasons why this 70-year-old movie has earned the name classic. Not the least of which is Judy singing what everyone hopes to find over their rainbow.....!

You can discover what distinguishes a classic from the mundane on virtually every page of every newspaper every day. If you live long enough, you begin to recognize all the stories are all the same. Year after year, there's a cycle of repetitive news in which all that really changes are the names and the dates. Doubts? Check how the exact same themes recur again and again and again. Presidents and quarterbacks in trouble... sensational local fires, burglaries and floods...elected officials and celebrities caught in salacious scandal...expose of pensioners living off the fat of your taxes....patented photos of families in weeping post-trauma anguish...and of courses tax protests which have been standard headlines ever since we dumped King George III back in 1776.

When Uncle Charlie grumbles been-there-done-that, nephews Andrew and Matthew wonder why the old guy doesn't share their passion. "Uncle Charlie, this political fight is changing history!" or "If we don't get the Olympics, Chicago will never be the same!"

What we have here is another classic: A failure to communicate. The elderly have the perspective of having been there before, but risk the danger of lethargy disguised as wisdom. The young have the passion of purpose, but not the vision to fully understand the purpose. Sometimes it takes a Wizard to bridge this gap. A lot of people apply for the job -- in governing, teaching, coaching, even in making movies -- but there are far too few who qualify.

And far too few of us who recognize the real ones when we find them behind that curtain!

MEANWHILE, MANHATTAN TURNS AN EVEN MORE PROBLEMATIC 400

While the Wizard of Oz turns 70 this year, the island of Manhattan celebrates the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's landing there. From what we know, the island back then was an Eden of hilly forests, bird-filled wetlands, and stream-crossed meadows. They calculate there was more animal and plant life there than in modern day Yellowstone and Yosemite. The question is, is Manhattan better off today...?

Well it's true, it houses one of the world's great cities and is the financial capital of the world. From 600 Native Americans, its population is in the multi-ethnic millions. It even has magnificent Central Park as a desperate reminder of what once was.

How does a nation measure the trajectory of 400 years from Eden to electronics? Progress? Regression? Simply a matter of evolution? If Henry Hudson or fellow New Yorker Rip Van Winkle were to wake up today, what might be their first thoughts?

Walking down 5th Avenue, it might be: "I can't believe it -- everything's changed!" Meeting a confrontation between a New York cabbie and a pedestrian, it might be: "I can't believe it -- nothing's changed!"