The Wizard of Rusk Avenue: 1923 - 1971
Suzanne Morris
September 10, 2023
When I was a child
I watched from my mother’s knee as
The Wizard of Oz cast its spell,
all 2500 seats filled in the
opulent Houston Majestic:
crown jewel of Rusk Avenue
since 1923.
Daddy, Mama, my sister and me
dressed in our Sunday best
sat high up under the
atmospheric sky–
reputed to be the
first of its kind–with
rising moon, twinkling stars, and
wispy clouds scrolling by.
By then, the gilt-encrusted
proscenium arch, interlacing
an Italian Renaissance garden
with golden pergola, trailing vines,
and Roman statuary
had lowered the final curtain on
big-time Vaudeville acts
in deference to the silver screen,
the towering pipe organ that
once brought the house down
retiring, mute, in the corner.
For most of the film I was
transported by
Dorothy’s operatic voice, and
magic ruby slippers.
But then, near the end
I screamed in fright when
the Wicked Witch–her
evil powers suddenly doused–
melted away
into nothing.
Though the storied house stood
for two decades more
her bewitching powers
subsided:
her movie screen looked
blankly on as
her star-spangled night sky
flickered out
and her golden proscenium
grew tarnished.
The fatal blow
of the wrecking ball
reduced the Majestic
to rubble.
But through the magical lens
of my memory it seems she
melted away
into nothing.
Suzanne Morris is a novelist and poet. She has contributed to several poetry anthologies, including Lone Star Poetry (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022). Her poems have appeared as well in The Texas Poetry Assignment, The New Verse News, Stone Poetry Quarterly, The Pine Cone Review, and Emblazoned Soul Review. A native Texan, Ms. Morris resides in Cherokee County.
