Lions and tigers and bears... (Oh my!)

Well, it's that time of year, isn't it? The season when most people dress up, eat candy and scare themselves silly.

I, for one, do enjoy a little scare every now and again. Not the terrible, nasty kind (I don't watch horror films or read anything stronger than an Agatha Christie :), but the slightly eery, gives-you-goosebumps kind. I can conjure it up pretty easily with my imagination. Just give me a dark room and a couple of creaky floorboards... ;)

My siblings love to make fun of how easy it is to get me to scream. Even when I know that one of them is waiting to leap out and scare me, I still jump and shriek aloud. Just a few days ago my sister almost gave me a heart attack when she hid in a closet in my basement. Totally unexpected. ;)


Do you scare easily? And do you like to be scared?

I thought it fitting, considering the season, to use this month's Classic Actress Style post to share a classic, terribly scary moment from the silver screen. If you didn't get nervous as a child when the Cowardly Lion first made his appearance... you had better not wait around for the Wicked Witch. ;)

(Click to watch Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man scared out of their senses by the Cowardly Lion. ;)

Of course, Judy (or I should say, Dorothy) takes things just the way a plucky American girl should. She is startled and frighten by the CL's appearance, but when he threatens her dog... just watch how she springs into action!

She handles the Wicked Witch just as bravely; dousing the green fiend  in water while trying to save her friend. And then, like any polite child, she apologizes. It's a good thing that it came too late. ;)

Of course, the truly frightening moment is when the true Wizard of Oz is first revealed. Suddenly, everyone's big dreams don't look so attainable...

The Wizard of Oz was the first movie in which I saw Judy Garland (if you've been following the blog, I think you know how special she is to me :), and even before that, I loved Dorothy. She was my childhood heroine and I envied her the fantastical trip to the "merry old land of Oz." (Oh yes, and that sweet blue and white checked dress!) I have a fair share of  movie memorabilia, and Judy singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" still remains one of my favorite film moments of all time.

(Click to watch "Somewhere Over the Rainbow")

You know a movie is a classic when you re-watch it in your twenties and appreciate it as much as you did when you were ten years old... maybe even more.

Do you have fond memories of "Oz?" Anybody have a favorite classic (not really) scary film? ;)


Images: Doctor Macro / NYTimes