"It's
always best to start at the beginning..." I believe that to be true. Nearly forty years before Billie Burke uttered
that famous line in the 1939 classic film THE WIZARD OF OZ, Lyman Frank Baum, better known as L. Frank Baum, wrote
and published the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The book was an instant success. The novel itself was
based on stories that Baum had been telling his sons and several other neighborhood children. It was his mother-in-law,
Matilda Joselyn Gage, who gave him the idea to turn his stories about little Dorothy into a book. The novel was originally
illustrated by Baum's long time collaborator, W.W. Denslow.
How OZ Came to Be
Some of you
are probably wondering: Where did he come up with the name Oz for his fairyland? Baum family legend has it that Baum
came up with the name one day while telling the story to a group of neighborhood childen in his office. When one little
girl asked what the name of the country Dorothy had gone to was, Baum quickly glanced around his office looking for something
that might inspire a name. He spotted his filing cabinet. The top drawer was labeled "A-N;" the second was labeled
"O-Z." Baum decided that OZ would make as good a name as any. The rest is history. Of course, this story
is just family legend, we may never know for sure if that is truly how the name came to be.
OZ Continues
Following
the success of the novel, L. Frank Baum adapted it into a musical extravaganza in 1902. After several revisions to the
script at the demands of the producer and director, the story strayed far from its source material. The show was highly
successful and enjoyed a long Broadway run. Touring productions played as late as 1913.
In 1904, Baum returned to the Land of Oz when he
wrote the novel The Marvelous Land of Oz. This novel was written with idea to turn it into a stage musical as
well. The Woggle-Bug, the stage version of Land failed to gain the success of its predecessor; it
closed shortly after its opening.
Baum wrote four more OZ books until 1910. He intended
to end the series with the novel The Emerald City of Oz. In the book, Glinda casts a spell over Oz making it
invisible to outsiders and cutting with the outside world. Baum then tried his hand at a new series. He wrote
Sea Fairies and Sky Island in 1911 and 1912, respectively. The stories were successful, but children wrote
hundreds of letters requesting to hear more about Dorothy, Ozma, and all the other inhabitants of the Land of Oz. In
1913, Baum reluctantly returned to writing OZ stories.
In 1914, Baum founded The Oz Film Manufacturing
Company. Unfortunately, Frank was ahead of his time as there was not yet a market for children's movies. He had
trouble selling and distributing his films. After four OZ films and a screen adaptation of his romantic novel, The
Last Egyptian, the Oz Film Company filed for bankruptcy and closed.
Once again, Baum returned to writing Oz novels.
He would write a new OZ book every year until his death in 1919. His last book, Glinda of Oz, was published in
1920.
OZ After Baum
Following Baum's
passing, Reilly and Lee, the publishers of the OZ books were afraid to see their biggest money-maker disappear. They
decided to seek out and hire a new Royal Historian (the title dubbed to OZ authors). The coveted title went to Ruth
Plumly Thompson, a children's author from Pennsylvania. Reilly and Lee claimed that Thompson's first book, The Royal
Book of Oz, was based on notes left by Baum. However, most OZ historians and scholars dispute this claim.
Thompson's books differed from Baum's. For instance, she seemingly wrote her books directly for children, where as Baum
had written his for a broader audience. Also, Thompson favored romantic storylines. She continued to write a new OZ
book every year until 1939.
John R. Neill contributed the next three installments
in the OZ series. Neill had illustrated every OZ book to date except for the original Wonderful Wizard.
He died in 1943 while finishing his fourth OZ book.
The fourth Royal Historian of Oz was Jack Snow.
He had originally campaigned to be the new Historian following Baum's death; however, he was only 12 years old at the time.
Snow published only two canon OZ stories. He also wrote and published an encyclopedia of OZ characters, Who's Who
in Oz. Outside of OZ, snow was a writer of horror, murder, and mystery.
Rachel Cosgrove (Payes) was next in the lineage
of Historians. She had a very different view of OZ fans. Where as her predecessors had been open to fans of all
ages, Cosgrove believed that the OZ books were strictly for children. She had only one novel published as part of the
Famous Forty. Reilly and Lee rejected her second novel on the grounds that the first had not sold well.
Eloise Jarvis McGraw was the last Royal Historian.
Her only canon OZ story, Merry Go Round in Oz, was published in 1963. This marked the end of the Famous Forty.
Following the end of the Famous Forty, OZ books
continued to be penned. The OZ characters have passed into the public domain. This allows any author who so wishes
to write his or her own OZ book. There are now litterally hundreds of OZ books in circulation. Roger S. Baum now
carries on his great grandfather's legacy and writes his own OZ novels, one of which has been made into a movie, another is
currently in production.
