Thank you DR Elmore. I love the "widow" clause.
You know, it's interesting in the denouement: Alan is saved by Mary's becoming a widow, but the truth about Uncle Barnaby's involvement in the Toymaker's murder is never disclosed; Alan technically is a freed murderer at the finale as opposed to being exonerated.
The 1902 WIZARD OF OZ must have been incomprehensible to children as well: outside of the cyclone blowing Dorothy and her cow Imogene to Oz, there are no wicked witches, and the plot involves Dorothy being chased by poet laureate Dashemoff Daley, the lady lunatic looking for her lost love who turns out to be the Tin Man, and Pastoria's plot to take over Oz and execute the Wizard! I expect they loved the Montgomery & Stone antics like "Baffin's Bay" and the Football Song, and all the singing and dancing and had no idea what the hell was happening.