The August 18, 1939 review of “The Wizard of Oz” in the New York Times listed the main characters. And while only a handful of Ozites might be able to name all the credited characters, there was one name…the last one…that gave me reason to pause. The character was Nikko and he was played by Pat Walshe (1900-1991).
Doe the character’s name mean anything to you? Here’s a hint. He was a winged monkey. Well, in fact, he was the king of the winged monkeys. I don’t ever remember hearing his name mentioned in the movie, but nonetheless, he was given “billing” in this classic movie that only listed 10 of the people appearing in the movie.
It got me thinking. Nikko is probably the most forgettable of the characters in the Oz movie. Listed with Oz names most of us remember…Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton and Frank Morgan, it should come as no surprise that most of us have no idea who Nikko was.
If life is a movie, I dare say that most of us are Nikkos in the major movies of world history. Most of us play very small parts in a much larger movie where only leading politicians, musicians, movie stars, billionaire entrepreneurs get to have their names on the movie marquee.
Most of us never get top billing. But in the end, does it really make a difference? It shouldn’t. Especially when you consider that we are leading players in our own story as it unfolds on the screen of daily living.
Our “home” movies might not get any Academy Award nominations, but that does not lessen the impact or importance of our lives. Every day is a new day on the “set.” Every day we have a chance to film the next scene. And if it doesn’t go the way we wanted it to go, we can always shoot the scene over the next day. That is if we are smart enough to realize that life does, more times than not, give us a second chance…to make amends, to apologize, and to start all over again.
Here’s to Nikko. Here’s to us!
Along The Yellow Brick Road 