Not until Harry Potter did children in the US really begin to read. I can only imagine that the Russian versions of the Wizard of Oz books weren't as horrible (and British) as the English versions. I'm guessing that maybe in England a lot of children also read the Wizard of Oz books. But, here in the US, the way they were written was so British (AND horribly boring) that only the ones written by American authors were popular here. It's a problem in writing prose between countries. And, of course, we Americans are have very short attention spans. Still I'm sure there are some Americans who read all those books too. BUT! EVERYONE in the US knows the movie! But, NOT EVERYONE knows the movie Some Like It Hot. It's surprising to me how popular that movie is in Russia.
During Soviet Times my teachers told me that "It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad world" was very popular over there too (at the time). I found that interesting too, because it was a big hit when it came out, but it was soon forgotten shortly thereafter. Another Soviet teacher told me that when she first got to the US she wanted to see Dr. Zhivago (because it was banned in the USSR). When she saw it, she said she spent a lot of time laughing. She actually wondered if it we Americans tried to turn it into a comedy.
So, yeah, I don't know any Russian culture. And, that's a real problem when it comes to making translations. :(