Friends of Dorothy

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 11:54am

Could you help me dissect this line: "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with."

This has always been one of my fave quotes, but I'm not entirely sure what it means. I get the first part, that we don't need to venture far from home to find what matters most to us. But the second part throws me off. Is she saying you can't lose what you never had?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 11:57am

And do you know where the term "Friends Of Dorothy" started?

It WASN'T from 'The Wizard of Oz' at all...


There's a virtual drunk for the winner!

[artscallion]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 11:59am

Dorothy Parker

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:00pm

The Dorothy is Dorthy Parker, no?

Or is it Dorothy Hamill?

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:03pm

I think it's Dorothy Kilgallen.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:05pm

Cocktails for all Art and PRS.






Hamill, that made me laugh.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:05pm

I have on good authority that it's Dorothy Zbornak.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:06pm

Wow, I always thought it was the Dorothy in the WOZ b/c Judy was such a gay icon.
Interesting.

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 12:06 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:19pm

I found out when I was running the "Friend Of Dorothy' group when I worked on the cruise ship.

Lorna Luft was the singer that week and we talked about it.

I said, "Did you get a laugh when you saw "Friends Of Dorothy Meeting" in the daiily schedule."

"I saw it, but it has nothing to do with my mother. It was Dorothy Parker, when she threw her fabulous parties. Most of those folks were 'undergrounds', and she had a big gay following."

Me: "In case you didn't know, your mother has a HUGE gay following."

We looked at each other for a second of silence and then just burst out laughing!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:22pm

It may have originated with Dorothy Parker, but now I think it's more closely associated with THE WIZARD OF OZ.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:25pm

Liza once remarked "You haven't really lived until you stumble onto a roomful of men all dressed as your mother."

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:27pm

Now that's funny Joe!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:41pm

LOL!

But back to the original question.....I don't really get that second part either?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:44pm

The girl was just coming out of a coma from being hit in the head with a shutter! For Christ's sake cut her some slack!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 1:23pm

SNAFU - She stole a dead woman's shoes. Low-class opportunist is what she is.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 1:28pm

Plus the little brat couldn't even discipline her dog.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 1:48pm

i just assumed that it was dandridge and that i just wouldn't understand 'cuz it's a black thing.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:03pm

I think it means, "Aunt Em, bite me!"

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:07pm

I've known for a while it was Dorothy Parker and not Dorothy Gale--I was once corrected, rather harshly actually--but I didn't know this little tidbit, which I picked up on Wikipedia:

===

In the early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service was investigating homosexuality in the Chicago area. Agents discovered that gay men sometimes referred to themselves as "friends of Dorothy." Unaware of the historical meaning of the term, the NIS believed that a woman named Dorothy was at the center of a massive ring of homosexual military personnel. The NIS launched an enormous hunt for Dorothy, hoping to find her and convince her to reveal the names of gay servicemembers.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:13pm

I don't think the second half of the quote stands up to too much scrutiny. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

The bit of dialog that always threw me was when Dorothy first lands in Oz, and Glinda asks her if she's a good witch or a bad witch. Then five minutes later, she tells her that only bad witches are ugly.

Sooo . . . what're you saying, Glinda? Dorothy is so borderline, looks-wise, that you can't make the call?

[StockardFan]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:16pm

PJ, that's hilarious!

And Reg, I hadn't thought about that, but you're right!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:17pm

How about on Family Guy where they made fun of Dorothy saying goodbye...


"That was like cutting a great big fart and then just leaving the room."

"Yep, that's the way we'll remember you, as a great big fart."

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:21pm

Oh, right! When she says that she'll miss the Scarecros most of all.

Funny.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:23pm

I found it!
Fart Jokes are ALWAYS funny!

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 3:59pm

I didn't really "get" it until I was older and had ventured out into the world myself a bit. I kept thinking, this is my favorite movie, but the "big message" that Dorothy says to Glinda is totally confusing and vague. But then I got older.

Now, I (think I) understand...

She's saying that her "heart's desire" (i.e., the things that she longs and yearns for the most) are ultimately found within. We don't need to move to Paris, or Hollywood, or New York ... or Oz to find what is most important to us. We only need to look inside ourselves.

It's a variation on "Home is where the heart is."

Search within, rather than venturing out, to truly find yourself.

That's doesn't mean "don't travel!" It just means don't travel hoping to figure out who you are and what you really want in life. You'll find those things inside. The rest is just scenery and adventures.

I agree with that, generally. While I've learned a lot from leaving Kansas and living in NYC and then L.A. (21 years now!), and the events in my life in those cities have helped shape me, I really only need to look inside to know what is really most important to me: a sense of belonging, a solid family, friends, my own imagination, my own humor, my drive to move ahead, my soul. (Brains, heart and courage, basically.)

You can find those things "in your own backyard." You don't need to go to Oz looking for them. Or to ask others to help you get them.

The brains, the heart, the courage, and our "home" are all things that we already have inside us. We just need to find them.

"... because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with."

She thinks she has lost "home." She travels all around Oz trying to find her way home.

"Home" is ultimately wherever she is. It's there, in her "own backyard." "Home" is inside all of us.

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 03:59 PM