Near the end of the classic 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy's little dog Toto pulls down a curtain to reveal that the man described in the title is not a supernatural conjurer, but an aging con man.
A look behind the grand announcements and sketchy details surrounding the proposed Oz theme park in Wheatfield shows a carefully crafted illusion backed by a whole lot of nothing.
Breathless news reports in the last few weeks echoed the same basic storyline that's been repeated again and again for more than a year. The pitch, which met with widespread yawning in Niagara Falls more than a year-and-a-half ago but has found an eager audience in Wheatfield officials led by Supervisor Tim Demler, offers a pretty picture.
The principals of Oz Central LLC, a company which has licensing rights to some, but not all, characters and "intellectual property" from the series of children's books written by L. Frank Baum in the early 1900s, will grace the area with "The Magical Land of Oz," a massive year-round attraction that will keep millions of the tourists who visit Niagara Falls each year on the American side.
As long as someone gives them the money. Make that a lot of money -- as much as $750 million. To date, Oz Central has raised less than $1 million, or about one-tenth of 1 percent of the necessary capital. Last month, Oz Central president Rick Burch grandly announced that Wheatfield had "won" the selection process, edging out Houston as the company's first choice.
One problem there -- Houston never knew it was in the running.
"Our Economic Development Division reports that they are not aware of any negotiations along these lines," wrote April Young, media relations coordinator for the Greater Houston Partnership, in response to an e-mailed inquiry from the Niagara Falls Reporter.
And another -- Burch had already announced that the Niagara Falls area had been selected in October, 2004, two months before declaring that Houston was allegedly back in the running.
Such shoddy treatment of the truth has been a hallmark of the Oz hype.
"What swung it in Wheatfield's favor, according to a release from Oz Central, were the favorable results from feasibility studies by Economic Research Associates," the Gazette story read.
The study in question, however, was completed in July 2004 -- an entire year earlier. Burch shopped the document, which included the startling revelation that a lot of people travel to Niagara Falls annually, and an option on 600 acres of land adjacent to the Summit Park Mall on Williams Road to local investors over the past year in an as-yet unsuccessful effort to find backing.
"These guys literally, truly have no money," said one local business owner who declined to invest after hearing Burch's pitch. "All they have is supposedly an option on some land, (the rights to) some books and some studies, which, like most studies, were mostly BS."
Exactly what rights Oz Central has is also in question. The licensing agreement with the Baum estate does not extend to the movie itself, nor to the images burned into the consciousness of generations of Americans -- Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger's Scarecrow, Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion and Jack Haley's Tin Man.
And while Burch has repeatedly said that Oz Central's agreement with the Baum family gives the company the ability to use more than 600 characters from the 38 Oz books in developing the park, the author's great-grandson told the Reporter that's not necessarily so.
James Baum said the agreement allows Oz Central to use elements of the books in a variety of specific ways, such as T-shirts, dolls and collectibles.
"This is not one of those uses," Baum said.
Oz Central could use characters from the books that are now in the public domain, Baum said, and didn't rule out the possibility the license could be expanded to include more of the copyrighted intellectual property still under the family's control, calling the relationship with Burch "amicable."
"Rick is hopeful that he'll be able to get the family endorsement that this is an official park recognized by the family of L. Frank Baum," Baum said. "I personally haven't felt that the project has been at a point where we're prepared to do that."
Though characters from the first book in the series, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," bear some resemblance to those in the movie it inspired, there are some marked differences. The Tin Man is an elongated version of the movie character, the Cowardly Lion is depicted walking on all fours, rather than upright, and Dorothy is depicted with reddish or blond hair, unlike Judy Garland's decidedly brunette locks.
"If people come to see the Wizard of Oz and see a Tin Man that looks like that, they're not going to be happy," the local business owner said.
Both Burch and Demler have offered vague assurances that major investors are lurking in the background, but a man who provided some start-up cash to the project said issues of control have kept the project in neutral.
"If they're putting the money up, then they have to have the vast majority of control," said David Meyers, who described himself as an "angel investor" and friend of Burch and Oz board of directors member Tom Wahoski. "They're not going to spend that money if they're not going to make it successful."
According to a source close to the negotiations, the Malaysian company Tanjong PLC, the owner of Tropical Islands, a domed year-round resort in Brand, Germany, decided against getting involved earlier this year, as did Canadian financier Jimmy Patterson.
"Rick Burch has to demonstrate to the media where he's going to get three-quarters of a billion dollars from," added the source, who said Burch insisted on retaining at least 70 percent of the project, even though the proposed investors would be putting up all the money. "It's not real. It's a shell game and he's just milking suckers right now. ... This is the same crap he was shoveling eight or nine months ago. All of his efforts have amounted to nothing."
"I don't know if Rick didn't want to give up control or whether he wasn't sure that they could put their money where their mouths were," Meyers said. "A lot of these people talk about a lot of this stuff, but when it comes to actually writing the check, they've strung you along all the way."
Burch told media outlets that the success of the project is contingent on tax incentives from New York State, most likely in the form of sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds, to help lure major investors. Such a move would require special legislation, a prospect a highly placed Albany source called a non-starter.
"Usually, the financing is at the front end," the source said. "The State of New York is not going to participate in this."
Even if Burch finds a way to come up with the money, the park's feasibility is another matter entirely.
Aside from the problems with rights and characters, none of the impressive-looking studies address the question of whether there's a demand for "The Magical Land of Oz."
L. Frank Baum died in 1919. While other writers continued the series after his death, the books aren't exactly a staple of modern childhood. Even the movie's annual airings on CBS ended in 1998, with the film relegated to cable outlets and the WB Network. In short, a generation of children -- the ones who would theoretically drive the park's success -- would be hard-pressed to hum "Over the Rainbow."
Also, Oz Central's plans call for it to be open year-round, with about two-thirds of the park under cover, and advanced technology such as computer imaging supplying much of the spectacle -- two wildly expensive propositions.
Demler's previous announcements regarding the Williams Road area have included a casino and a "Christmas Wonderland" at the mall and a town-financed aquatic fitness center on the land optioned by Oz, none of which ever came to fruition. He has said he wants Wheatfield to be the lead agency in an environmental review that could begin in a matter of weeks.
At least at the end of the movie, after the Wizard's deception becomes obvious, Dorothy and her traveling companions still get what they originally wanted.
All Wheatfield, and the Niagara Falls area, are going to wind up with -- whether or not anybody bothers looking behind the curtain -- is one more unfulfilled promise.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Aug. 2 2005 |