Watch or download The New Wizard of Oz (originally released as His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz) by clicking here.
The Silent Era website provides film details here.
His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz (Dir. L. Frank Baum, starring Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Pierre Couderc) made a very palpable hit amongst the little people, becoming one of the most popular children's films of the year 1914. Consequently, writer and director L. Frank Baum quickly re-issued the film in 1915 as The New Wizard of Oz.
The film's star, the blonde-haired and wide-eyed ingenue Violet MacMillan (1887 - 1953) launched her career in pictures by winning a Cinderella Girl slipper contest, a publicity stunt sponsored by a Broadway theatre (her small feet fit). She joined The Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914 and starred in several films directed by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, including The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and the Magic Cloak of Oz (1914).
His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz (1914) turned out to be the short-lived companies most popular work. From 1915 to 1916, Violet also appeared in a lost series of shorts produced by L. Frank Baum called Violet's Dreams, in which she played a girl named Claribel who had fairytale adventures in her dreams.
Violet MacMillan went on to work for Universal Studios and appeared in a total of 26 silent films, briefly starring opposite Lon Chaney. She married an industrial executive, and retired from show business in 1922. She moved back home to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she died in 1953 at age 66.
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