Baum, L. Frank

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{{For|the retired German footballer|Frank Baum (footballer)}}
 
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{{Refimprove|date=December 2007}}
 
 
{{Infobox Person
 
{{Infobox Person
 
| name  = L. Frank Baum
 
| name  = L. Frank Baum
 
| pseudonym  = George Brooks, Louis F. Baum, Laura Bancroft, Suzanne Metcalf, Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, Schuyler Staunton, Edith Van Dyne, Floyd Akers, John Estes Cooke
 
| pseudonym  = George Brooks, Louis F. Baum, Laura Bancroft, Suzanne Metcalf, Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, Schuyler Staunton, Edith Van Dyne, Floyd Akers, John Estes Cooke
 
| image    = l_frank_baum.jpg
 
| image    = l_frank_baum.jpg
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| image_size    = 150px
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| image_size    = 250px
 
| caption  = L. Frank Baum circa 1901
 
| caption  = L. Frank Baum circa 1901
 
| name          = L. Frank Baum
 
| name          = L. Frank Baum
 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1856|5|15|mf=y}}
 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1856|5|15|mf=y}}
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| birth_place = [[Chittenango, New York]]
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| birth_place = [[Chittenango]], [[New York]]
 
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1919|5|6|1856|5|15|mf=y}}
 
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1919|5|6|1856|5|15|mf=y}}
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| death_place = [[Hollywood, California]]
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| death_place = [[Hollywood]], [[California]]
 
| occupation    = [[Author]], [[Newspaper]] [[editing|Editor]], [[Actor]], [[Screenwriter]], [[Film Producer]]
 
| occupation    = [[Author]], [[Newspaper]] [[editing|Editor]], [[Actor]], [[Screenwriter]], [[Film Producer]]
 
| spouse        = Maud [[Matilda Joslyn Gage|Gage]]
 
| spouse        = Maud [[Matilda Joslyn Gage|Gage]]
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'''Lyman Frank Baum''' (May 15 1856 – May 6 1919) was an [[United States|American]] [[author]], [[actor]], and [[independent filmmaker]] best known as the creator, along with illustrator [[W. W. Denslow]], of one of the most popular books in American [[children's literature]], ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', better known today as simply ''The Wizard of Oz''. He wrote thirteen sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and a plethora of other works (55 novels in total, 82 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings), and made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen.
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'''Lyman Frank Baum''' (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an [[United States|American]] [[author]], [[actor]], and [[independent filmmaker]] best known as the creator, along with illustrator [[W.W. Denslow]], of one of the most popular books in American [[children's literature]], ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]],'' better known today as simply ''The Wizard of Oz''.  
  
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==Baum's childhood and early life==
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''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,'' written in 1900, and produced for stage in 1902, was immortalized through the [[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|1939 movie]] starring [[Judy Garland]], and soon become an iconic part of [[United States|American]] culture. Part [[fairy tale]], part [[fable]], it featured Dorothy, as the girl who leaves [[Kansas]] in a [[tornado]], her beloved [[dog]], Toto, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow, and a story line uniquely American in its background and setting. The moral of the story—"that with the help of a few good friends, you can find all that you need within yourself"—resonated with American audiences for many years; from 1956 onwards the [[TV|televised]] movie held American children—pre-video age—rapt with attention.
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Baum was born in [[Chittenango, New York]] in 1856, into a devout [[Methodist]] family of [[Germany|German]] (father's side) and [[Scots-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] (mother's side) origin, the fifth of six children born to Cynthia Stanton and Benjamin Ward Baum, only three of whom survived into adulthood. He was named "Lyman" after his father's brother, but always disliked this name, and preferred to go by his middle name, "Frank." His mother, Cynthia Stanton, was a direct descendant of Thomas Stanton, one of the four Founders of what is now [[Stonington, Connecticut]].  
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{{toc}}
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Baum was a prolific writer, who in addition to children's books, wrote plays, [[Short story|short stories]], and fantasy under various pseudonyms, was coaxed into writing sequel after sequel to his ''Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' book by the incessant pleas of his youthful fans. Although his other children's books and theatrical productions did not receive nearly the critical acclaim of ''Oz,''  he was made wealthy through its unprecedented popularity and adaptations.  
  
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Benjamin Baum was a wealthy [[businessman]], originally a barrel maker, who had made his fortune in the [[oil fields]] of [[Pennsylvania]]. Baum grew up on his parents' expansive estate, Rose Lawn, which he always remembered fondly as a sort of paradise. As a young child, he was tutored at home with his siblings, but at the age of 12 he was sent to study at [[Peekskill Military Academy]]. He was a sickly child given to [[daydreaming]], and his parents may have thought he needed toughening up. But after two utterly miserable years at the military academy, he was allowed to return home. [[Frank Joslyn Baum]] claimed that this was following an incident described as a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]], though there is no contemporary evidence of this.
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==Childhood and early life==
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Baum was born in [[Chittenango]], [[New York]], in 1856, into a devout [[Methodist]] family of [[Germany|German]] (father's side) and [[Scots-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] (mother's side) origin, the fifth of six children born to Cynthia Stanton and Benjamin Ward Baum, only three of whom survived into adulthood. He was named "Lyman" after his father's brother, but always disliked this name, and preferred to go by his middle name, "Frank." His mother, Cynthia Stanton, was a direct descendant of [[Thomas Stanton]], one of the four Founders of what is now Stonington, [[Connecticut]].  
  
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Baum started writing at an early age, perhaps due to an early fascination with printing. His father bought him a cheap [[printing press]], and he used it to produce ''The Rose Lawn Home Journal'' with the help of his younger brother, Henry (Harry) Clay Baum, with whom he had always been close. The brothers published several issues of the journal and included advertisements they may have sold. By the time he was 17, Baum had established a second amateur journal, ''The Stamp Collector'', printed an 11-page pamphlet called ''Baum's Complete Stamp Dealers' Directory'', and started a [[stamp dealer]]ship with his friends.
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Benjamin Baum was a wealthy [[businessman]], who had made his fortune in the [[oil fields]] of [[Pennsylvania]]. Baum grew up on his parents' expansive estate, Rose Lawn, which he would fondly remember in later years, as paradise. As a young child, he was tutored at home with his siblings, but at the age of 12 he was sent to study at [[Peekskill Military Academy]]. He was a sickly child given to [[daydreaming]] and after two years, returned home.<ref>Chloe Schama, [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/frank-baum-the-man-behind-the-curtain-32476330/ Frank Baum, the Man Behind the Curtain] ''Smithsonian Magazine'' (June 25, 2009). Retrieved September 26, 2023.</ref>
  
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At about the same time, Baum embarked upon his lifetime infatuation with the theater, a devotion which would repeatedly lead him to failure and near-bankruptcy. His first such failure occurred when a local theatrical company duped him into replenishing their stock of costumes, with the promise of leading roles that never came his way. Disillusioned, Baum left the theatre—temporarily—and went to work as a clerk in his brother-in-law's dry goods company in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]]. At one point, he found another clerk locked in a store room dead, an apparent [[suicide]]. This incident appears to have inspired his [[locked room]] story, ''The Suicide of Kiaros'', first published in the literary journal, ''The White Elephant''.
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Baum started writing at an early age, and when his father bought him a [[printing press]], he used it to produce ''The Rose Lawn Home Journal'' with the help of his younger brother, Henry (Harry) Clay Baum. By the time he was 17, Baum had established a second amateur [[journal]], ''The Stamp Collector,'' and had printed an 11-page pamphlet called ''Baum's Complete Stamp Dealers' Directory.''
  
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At the age of 20, Baum took on a new vocation: the breeding of fancy poultry, which was a national craze at the time. He specialized in raising a particular breed of fowl, the Hamburg chicken. In 1880 he established a monthly trade journal, ''The Poultry Record'', and in 1886, when Baum was 30 years old, his first book was published: ''The Book of the Hamburgs: A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs''.
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As a young man, Baum embarked upon his lifetime infatuation with the [[theater]], a devotion which would repeatedly lead him to failure and near-[[bankruptcy]]. His first such failure occurred when a local theatrical company duped him into replenishing their stock of costumes, with the promise of leading roles that never came his way. Disillusioned, Baum left the theater and went to work as a clerk in his brother-in-law's dry goods company in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]]. At one point, he found another clerk locked in a store room dead, an apparent [[suicide]]. This incident appears to have inspired his locked room story, "The Suicide of Kiaros," first published in the literary journal, ''The White Elephant''.
  
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Yet Baum could never stay away from the stage long. He continued to take roles in plays, performing under the stage names of ''Louis F. Baum'' and ''George Brooks''.  
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Baum never stayed away from the stage for long. He continued to take roles in plays, performing under the stage names of ''Louis F. Baum'' and ''George Brooks''. In 1880, his father built him a theater in [[Richburg]], [[New York]], and Baum set about writing plays and gathering a company to act in them. ''The Maid of Arran,'' a [[melodrama]] with songs based on [[William Black]]'s [[novel]] ''A Princess of Thule,'' proved a modest success. Baum not only wrote the play but composed songs for it and acted in the leading role. His aunt, Katharine Gray, founder of the Syracuse Oratory School, played his character's aunt.  
  
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In 1880, his father built him a theatre in [[Richburg, New York]], and Baum set about writing plays and gathering a company to act in them. ''[[The Maid of Arran]]'', a [[melodrama]] with songs based on [[William Black]]'s novel ''A Princess of Thule'', proved a modest success. Baum not only wrote the play but composed songs for it (making it a prototypical [[musical play|musical]], as its songs relate to the narrative), and acted in the leading role. His aunt, Katharine Gray, played his character's aunt. She was the founder of Syracuse Oratory School, and Baum advertised his services in her catalog to teach theatre, including stage business, playwriting, [[Theatre direction|directing]], and translating ([[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], and [[Italian language|Italian]]), revision, and [[operettas]], though he was not employed to do so. On November 9, 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], a famous [[women's suffrage]] activist. While Baum was touring with ''The Maid of Arran'', the theatre in Richburg caught fire during a production of Baum's ironically-titled parlor drama, ''Matches'', and destroyed not only the theatre, but the only known copies of many of Baum's scripts, including ''Matches'', as well as costumes and props.
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On November 9, 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], a famous [[women's suffrage]] activist. While Baum was touring with ''The Maid of Arran,'' the theater in Richburg caught fire during a production of Baum's ironically-titled parlor drama, ''Matches,'' and destroyed not only the theater, but the only known copies of many of Baum's scripts, including ''Matches,'' as well as costumes and props.
  
 
==The South Dakota years==
 
==The South Dakota years==
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In July 1888, Baum and his wife moved to [[Aberdeen, South Dakota|Aberdeen, Dakota Territory]], where he opened a store, "Baum's Bazaar." His habit of giving out wares on credit led to the eventual bankrupting of the store, so Baum turned to editing a local newspaper, ''The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer'', where he wrote a column, ''Our Landlady''. Baum's description of [[Kansas]] in ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' is based on his experiences in drought-ridden [[South Dakota]]. During much of this time, [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]] was living in the Baum household. While he was in South Dakota, Baum sang in a quartet that included a man who would become one of the first Populist (People's Party) Senators in the U.S., James Kyle.
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In July 1888, Baum and his wife moved to [[Aberdeen, South Dakota|Aberdeen, Dakota Territory]], where he opened a store, "Baum's Bazaar." Local children loved to buy penny candy there and hear stories from Baum of faraway places. His habit of selling goods on credit led to the eventual bankrupting of the store, so Baum turned to editing a local [[newspaper]], ''The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer.'' This enterprise also, however, ended in [[bankruptcy]] with Baum sardonically commenting, "I decided the sheriff wanted the paper more than I."<ref>Linda McGovern, [https://www.literarytraveler.com/articles/l-frank-baum-the-man-behind-the-curtain/ L. Frank Baum – The Man Behind The Curtain] ''Literary Traveler'' (March 1, 1999). Retrieved September 26, 2023.</ref>
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Baum's description of [[Kansas]] in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' seems to be based on his experiences in drought-ridden [[South Dakota]].
  
 
==Baum becomes an author==
 
==Baum becomes an author==
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[[Image:Baum poster 1b.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Promotional Poster for Baum's "Popular Books For Children," 1901.]]
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[[Image:Baum poster 1b.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Promotional Poster for Baum's "Popular Books For Children," 1901.]]
  
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After Baum's newspaper failed in 1891, he, Maud and their four sons moved to [[Chicago]], where Baum took a job reporting for the ''Evening Post''. For several years he edited a magazine for advertising agencies focused on window displays in stores. The major department stores created elaborate Christmas time fantasies, using clockwork mechanism that made people and animals appear to move. He also had to work as a [[traveling salesman]].
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After Baum's newspaper failed in 1891, he, Maud, and their four sons moved to [[Chicago]], where Baum took a job reporting for the ''Evening Post.'' For several years, he edited a [[magazine]] for advertising agencies focused on window displays in stores. At that time, the major department stores created elaborate Christmas time fantasies, using clockwork mechanisms that made people and animals appear to move.
  
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In 1897 he wrote and published ''[[Mother Goose in Prose]]'', a collection of [[Mother Goose]] rhymes written as prose stories, and illustrated by [[Maxfield Parrish]]. ''Mother Goose'' was a moderate success, and allowed Baum to quit his door-to-door job.
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In 1897, he wrote and published, ''Mother Goose in Prose,'' a collection of [[Mother Goose]] [[rhyme]]s written as prose stories, and illustrated by [[Maxfield Parrish]]. ''Mother Goose'' was a moderate success. In 1899, Baum partnered with illustrator [[W.W. Denslow]], to publish ''Father Goose, His Book,'' a collection of nonsense [[poetry]]. The book was a success, becoming the best-selling children's book of the year. Baum was now free to devote himself full time to writing.<ref>Tom Pendergast (ed.), ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture'' (St. James Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1558624023).</ref>
  
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In 1899 Baum partnered with illustrator [[W. W. Denslow]], to publish ''[[Father Goose, His Book]]'', a collection of nonsense poetry. The book was a success, becoming the best-selling children's book of the year.
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[[Image:goose.gif|thumb|300px|right|The Baum-Denslow Mother Goose book used as free premium for breakfast cereal]]
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[[Image:goose.gif|thumb|250px|right|The Baum-Denslow Mother Goose book used as free premium for breakfast cereal]]
 
  
 
===''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''===
 
===''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''===
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In 1900, Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' to much critical and financial acclaim. The book was the best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. Baum went on to write thirteen more novels based on the places and people of the [[Land of Oz]].
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In 1900, Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]],'' to much critical acclaim. The book was the best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. Baum went on to write thirteen more novels based on the places and people of the [[Land of Oz]].
  
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===''The Wizard of Oz:  Fred R. Hamlin's Musical Extravaganza''===
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===Fred R. Hamlin's Musical Extravaganza===
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[[Image:Tin-Man-poster-Hamlin.jpeg|thumb|left|1903 poster of Dave Montgomery as the Tin Man in Hamlin's musical stage version.]]
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[[Image:Tin-Man-poster-Hamlin.jpeg|thumb|300px|1903 poster of Dave Montgomery as the Tin Man in Hamlin's musical stage version.]]
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Two years after ''Wizard'''s publication, Baum and Denslow teamed up with composer Paul Tietjens and director Julian Mitchell to produce a [[The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)|musical stage version]] of the book under Fred R. Hamlin. This stage version, the first to use the shortened title "The Wizard of Oz," opened in [[Chicago]] in 1902, then ran on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] for 293 stage nights from January to October 1903. It returned to Broadway in 1904, where it played from March to May and again from November to December. It successfully toured the United States with much of the same cast, as was done in those days, until 1911, and then became available for amateur use. The stage version starred David C. Montgomery and [[Fred Stone]] as the [[Tin Woodman]] and [[Scarecrow (Oz)|Scarecrow]] respectively, which shot the pair to instant fame. The stage version differed quite a bit from the book, and was aimed primarily at adults. Toto was replaced with Imogene the Cow, and Tryxie Tryfle, a waitress, and [[Pastoria]], a streetcar operator, were added as fellow cyclone victims. The Wicked Witch of the West was eliminated entirely in the script, and the plot became about how the four friends, being allied with the usurping Wizard, were hunted as traitors to Pastoria II, the rightful King of Oz. It is unclear how much control or influence Baum had on the script; it appears that many of the changes were written by Baum against his wishes due to contractual requirements with Hamlin. Jokes in the script, mostly written by Glen MacDonough, called for explicit references to President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], Senator [[Mark Hanna]], and oil magnate [[John D. Rockefeller]]. Although use of the script was rather free-form, the line about Hanna was ordered dropped as soon as Hamlin got word of his death in 1904.
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Two years after ''Wizard'''s publication, Baum and Denslow teamed up with composer [[Paul Tietjens]] and director [[Julian Mitchell]] to produce a [[The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)|musical stage version]] of the book under [[Fred R. Hamlin]]. This stage version, the first to use the shortened title, ''The Wizard of Oz,'' opened in [[Chicago]] in 1902, then ran on [[Broadway Musical|Broadway]] from January to October 1903.
  
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Beginning with the success of the stage version, most subsequent versions of the story, including newer editions of the novel, have been titled "The Wizard of Oz," rather than using the full, original title. In more recent years, restoring the full title has become increasingly common, particularly to distinguish the novel from the Hollywood film.
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Subsequently, the play successfully toured the United States with much of the same cast until 1911. The stage version starred [[David C. Montgomery]] and [[Fred Stone]] as the [[Tin Woodman]] and [[Scarecrow (Oz)|Scarecrow]], respectively, which brought them instantaneous fame. The stage version differed from the book, and was aimed primarily at adults.  
  
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===''The Wizard of Oz'' on screen and back to stage===
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Beginning with the success of the stage version, most subsequent versions of the story, including newer editions of the [[novel]], have been titled ''The Wizard of Oz,'' rather than using the full, original title. In more recent years, restoring the full title has become increasingly common, particularly to distinguish the novel from the [[Hollywood]] film.
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Following early film treatments in [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)|1910]] and [[Wizard of Oz (1925 film)|1925]], and Baum's own venture, [[The Oz Film Manufacturing Company]], [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer]] made the story into the now classic movie ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939) starring [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy Gale. Among other changes, the film was given an all-a-dream ending. (Baum used this technique only once, in ''Mr. Woodchuck'', and in that case the title character explicitly told the dreamer that she was dreaming numerous times.)  A completely new [[Tony Award]]-winning Broadway musical based on African-American musical styles, ''[[The Wiz]]'' was staged in 1975 with [[Stephanie Mills]] as Dorothy. It was the basis for [[The Wiz (film)|a 1978 film by the same title]] starring [[Diana Ross]] as an adult Dorothy. ''The Wizard of Oz'' continues to inspire new versions such as Disney's 1985 ''[[Return to Oz]]'', ''[[The Muppets' Wizard of Oz]]'', [[Tin Man (TV miniseries)|Tin Man]] (a re-imagining of the story televised in late 2007 on the [[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|Sci Fi Channel]]), and a variety of animated productions. Today's most successful Broadway show, ''[[Wicked (musical)|Wicked]]'' provides a backstory to the two Oz witches used in the classic MGM film. ''Wicked'' author Gregory Maguire chose to honor L. Frank Baum by naming his main character Elphaba—a phonetic take on Baum's initials.
 
  
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==Later life and work==
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===On screen and return to stage===
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With the success of ''Wizard'' on page and stage, Baum and Denslow hoped lightning would strike a third time and in 1901 published ''[[Dot and Tot of Merryland]]''. The book was one of Baum's weakest, and its failure further strained his faltering relationship with Denslow. It would be their last collaboration. Baum would work primarily with [[John R. Neill]] on his fantasy work beginning in 1904, but Baum met Neill few times (all before he moved to California) and often found Neill's art not humorous enough for his liking, and was particularly offended when Neill published ''The Oz Toy Book: Cut-outs for the Kiddies'' without authorization.
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Following early film treatments in [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)|1910]] and [[Wizard of Oz (1925 film)|1925]], [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer]] made the story into the now classic movie ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939) starring [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy. Among other minor changes, the film was given an "it was all-just a dream ending."
  
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Several times during the development of the Oz series, Baum declared that he had written his last Oz book and devoted himself to other works of fantasy fiction based in other magical lands, including ''[[The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus]]'' and ''[[Queen Zixi of Ix]]''. However, persuaded by popular demand, letters from children, and the failure of his new books, he returned to the series each time. All of his novels have fallen into [[public domain]] in most jurisdictions, and many are available through [[Project Gutenberg]]. Even so, his other works remained very popular after his death, with ''The Master Key'' appearing on ''[[St. Nicholas Magazine]]'''s survey of readers' favorite books well into the 1920s.
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A completely new [[Tony Award]]-winning Broadway musical based on [[African-American]] musical styles, ''The Wiz,'' was staged in 1975, with [[Stephanie Mills]] as Dorothy. It was the basis for [[The Wiz (film)|a 1978 film by the same title]] starring [[Diana Ross]] as an adult Dorothy.
  
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Because of his lifelong love of theatre, he often financed elaborate musicals, often to his financial detriment. One of Baum's worst financial endeavors was his ''[[The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays]]'' (1908), which combined a slideshow, film, and live actors with a lecture by Baum as if he were giving a [[Travel literature|travelogue]] to Oz. However, Baum ran into trouble and could not pay his debts to the company who produced the films. He did not get back to a stable financial situation for several years, after he sold the royalty rights to many of his earlier works, including ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. This resulted in the M.A. Donahue Company publishing cheap editions of his early works with advertising that purported that Baum's newer output was inferior to the less expensive books they were releasing. Baum had shrewdly transferred most of his property, except for his clothing, his library (mostly of children's books, such as the fairy tales of [[Andrew Lang]], whose portrait he kept in his study), and his typewriter (all of which he successfully argued were essential to his occupation), into Maud's name, as she handled the finances, anyway, and thus lost much less than he could have.  
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==Later life and work==
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In 1901, Baum and Denslow published ''Dot and Tot of Merryland''. The book was one of Baum's weakest, and its failure strained his faltering relationship with Denslow. It would be their last collaboration.
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[[Image:Princess Truella on a stork - Project Gutenberg eText 16529.jpg|thumb|300px|Princess
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Truella, a character from ''[[The Magical Monarch of Mo]]'']]
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Several times during the development of the Oz series, Baum declared that he had written his last Oz book and devoted himself to other works of fantasy fiction based in other magical lands, including ''The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'' and ''Queen Zixi of Ix''. However, persuaded by popular demand, letters from children, and the failure of his new books, he returned to the series each time. Even so, his other works remained very popular after his death, with ''The Master Key'' appearing on ''[[St. Nicholas Magazine]]'''s survey of readers' favorite books well into the 1920s.
  
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His final Oz book, ''[[Glinda of Oz]]'' was published a year after his death in 1920 but the Oz series was continued long after his death by other authors, notably [[Ruth Plumly Thompson]], who wrote an additional nineteen Oz books.
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His final Oz book, ''Glinda of Oz'' was published a year after his death, in 1920, but the Oz series was continued long after his death by other authors, notably [[Ruth Plumly Thompson]], who wrote an additional nineteen Oz books.
  
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===Pseudonyms===
 
Baum made use of several [[pseudonym]]s for some of his other, non-Oz books. They include:
 
Baum made use of several [[pseudonym]]s for some of his other, non-Oz books. They include:
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*Edith Van Dyne (the ''[[Aunt Jane's Nieces]]'' series)
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*Edith Van Dyne (the ''Aunt Jane's Nieces'' series)
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*Laura Bancroft (''Twinkle and Chubbins'', ''Policeman Bluejay'')
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*Laura Bancroft (''Twinkle and Chubbins,'' ''Policeman Bluejay'')
 
*Floyd Akers (''The Boy Fortune Hunters'' series, continuing the ''Sam Steele'' series)
 
*Floyd Akers (''The Boy Fortune Hunters'' series, continuing the ''Sam Steele'' series)
 
*Suzanne Metcalf ''(Annabel)''  
 
*Suzanne Metcalf ''(Annabel)''  
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*Schuyler Staunton (''The Fate of a Crown'', ''Daughters of Destiny'')
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*Schuyler Staunton (''The Fate of a Crown,'' ''Daughters of Destiny'')
 
*John Estes Cooke ''(Tamawaca Folks)''
 
*John Estes Cooke ''(Tamawaca Folks)''
 
*Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald (the ''Sam Steele'' series)
 
*Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald (the ''Sam Steele'' series)
  
 
Baum also anonymously wrote ''The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile''.
 
Baum also anonymously wrote ''The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile''.
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===Theater and film===
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Baum continued theatrical work with [[Harry Marston Haldeman]]'s men's social group, The Uplifters, for which he wrote several plays. The group, which also included [[Will Rogers]], was proud to have had Baum as a member and posthumously revived many of his works. Prior to that, his last produced play was ''The Tik-Tok Man of Oz'' (based on ''Ozma of Oz'' and the basis for ''Tik-Tok of Oz''), a modest success in [[Hollywood]] that producer [[Oliver Morosc]] decided did not do well enough to take to [[Broadway Musical|Broadway]].
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{{readout||right|250px|L. Frank Baum wrote and directed silent Oz movies years before the [[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film){{!}}1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz”]]}}
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In 1914, having moved to [[Hollywood]] years earlier, Baum started his own film production company, the Oz Film Manufacturing Company. He served as its president, and principal [[Film producer|producer]] and [[screenwriter]]. The rest of the board consisted of [[Louis F. Gottschalk]], Harry Marston Haldeman, and [[Clarence R. Rundel]]. The films were directed by [[J. Farrell MacDonald]], with casts that included [[Violet Macmillan]], [[Vivian Reed (silent film actress)|Vivian Reed]], [[Mildred Harris]], [[Juanita Hansen]], Pierre Couderc, Mai Welles, Louise Emmons, J. Charles Haydon, and early appearances by [[Harold Lloyd]] and [[Hal Roach]]. Through this company, Baum adapted several of his Oz books to [[silent film]]s, including ''The Patchwork Girl of Oz'' (1914) based on the 1913 book of the same name, the seventh book in the Oz series; ''The Magic Cloak of Oz'' (1917) an adaptation of his 1905 novel, ''Queen Zixi of Ix''; and ''His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz'' (1915), loosely based on his 1900 book ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''.
  
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Baum continued theatrical work with Harry Marston Haldeman's men's social group, The Uplifters, for which he wrote several plays for various celebrations. He also wrote the group's parodic by-laws. The group, which also included [[Will Rogers]], was proud to have had Baum as a member and posthumously revived many of his works despite their ephemeral intent. Prior to that, his last produced play was ''The Tik-Tok Man of Oz'' (based on ''[[Ozma of Oz]]'' and the basis for ''[[Tik-Tok of Oz]]''), a modest success in [[Hollywood]] that producer Oliver Morosc decided did not do well enough to take to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. Morosco, incidentally, quickly turned to [[film production]], as would Baum.
+
These later ventures into bringing children's literature to film did not meet with much success.
−
 
 
−
In 1914, having moved to [[Hollywood]] years earlier, Baum started his own film production company, [[The Oz Film Manufacturing Company]], which came as an outgrowth of the Uplifters. He served as its [[president]], and principal [[Film producer|producer]] and [[screenwriter]]. The rest of the board consisted of [[Louis F. Gottschalk]], Harry Marston Haldeman, and Clarence R. Rundel. The films were directed by [[J. Farrell MacDonald]], with casts that included Violet Macmillan, [[Vivian Reed (silent film actress)|Vivian Reed]], [[Mildred Harris]], [[Juanita Hansen]], Pierre Couderc, Mai Welles, Louise Emmons, J. Charles Haydon, and early appearances by [[Harold Lloyd]] and [[Hal Roach]]. Silent film actor Richard Rosson appeared in one of the films, whose younger brother [[Harold Rosson]] [[cinematographer|photographed]] ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939). After little success probing the unrealized children's film market, Baum came clean about who wrote ''The Last Egyptian'' and made a film of it (portions of which are included in ''[[Decasia]]''), but the Oz name had, for the time being, become box office poison and even a name change to [[Dramatic Feature Films]] and transfer of ownership to [[Frank Joslyn Baum]] did not help. Unlike with ''The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays'', Baum invested none of his own money in the venture, but the stress probably took its toll on his health.
 
−
 
 
−
Baum died on May 6, 1919, aged 62, and was buried in the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]], in [[Glendale, California]].
 
−
 
 
−
==Baum's beliefs==
 
−
===Literary===
 
−
Baum's avowed intentions with the Oz books, and other fairy tales, was to tell such tales as the [[Brothers Grimm]] and [[Hans Christian Andersen]] told, bringing them up to date by making the characters not stereotypical dwarfs or genies, and by removing both the violence and the moral the violence was to point to.<ref>Roger Sale, ''Fairy Tales and After:  From Snow White to E. B. White'' p 223</ref>  Although the first books contained a fair amount of violence, it decreased with the series; in ''[[The Emerald City of Oz]]'', [[Princess Ozma|Ozma]] objected to doing violence even to the Nomes who threaten Oz with invasion.<ref>Michael O. Riley, ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum'', p 164, ISBN 0-7006-0832-X </ref>
 
−
 
 
−
Another traditional element that Baum intentionally omitted was the emphasis on romance. He considered romantic love to be uninteresting for young children, as well as largely incomprehensible. In ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', the only element of romance lay in the backstory of the [[Tin Woodman]], which explains his condition and does not otherwise affect the tale, and that of the [[Golden Cap]]; the only other stories with such elements were ''[[The Scarecrow of Oz]]'' and ''[[Tik-Tok of Oz]]'', both based on dramatizations, which Baum regarded warily until his readers accepted them.<ref>L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'', p 138-9, ISBN 0-517-500868 </ref>
 
−
 
 
−
===Political===
 
−
====Women's Suffrage====
 
−
Sally Roesch Wagner of The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation has published a pamphlet titled ''The Wonderful Mother of Oz'' describing how Matilda's [[radical feminist]] politics were sympathetically channelled by Baum into his Oz books. Much of the politics in the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] ''Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer'' dealt with trying to convince the populace to vote for [[women's suffrage]]. Baum was the secretary of [[Aberdeen, South Dakota|Aberdeen]]'s Woman's Suffrage Club. When [[Susan B. Anthony]] visited Aberdeen, she stayed with the Baums. Nancy Tystad Koupal notes an apparent loss of interest in editorializing after Aberdeen failed to pass the bill for women's enfranchisement.
 
  
−
Some of Baum's contacts with suffragists of his day seem to have inspired much of his second Oz story, ''The Marvelous Land of Oz''. In this story, General [[Jinjur]] leads the girls and women of Oz in a revolt by knitting needles, take over, and make the men do the household chores. Jinjur proves to be an incompetent ruler, but a female advocating [[gender equality]] is ultimately placed on the throne. His Edith Van Dyne stories depict girls and young women engaging in traditionally masculine activities, and his girl sleuth Josie O'Gorman from [[The Bluebird Books]] is even less [[girly girl]] than [[Nancy Drew]].
+
===Death===
 +
Baum, plagued by a weak heart since childhood, died of a stroke on May 6, 1919, aged 62, and was buried in the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]], in [[Glendale]], [[California]].
  
−
====American Indian Genocide====
+
==Modern controversies==
−
During the events leading up to the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]], Baum wrote an editorial for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer upon the death of [[Sioux]] [[Tribal chief#United States|Chief]] [[Sitting Bull]]. The entire editorial follows:
+
Kansas is mentioned 23 times in the movie and the whole plot centers on Dorothy trying to get back home. But some Kansas residents, perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek, complain that the state has been cursed with an image of a bleak and tornado-ridden wasteland that Dorothy dreams of escaping. They point out that only the Kansas scenes are not in Technicolor. Those critics are heartened by speculation that Baum was not describing Kansas at all in his books, but chose Kansas to avoid embarrassing relatives still living in [[South Dakota]].<ref>Isabel Wilkerson, [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/09/us/kansas-journal-the-land-wherein-wizard-is-a-humbug.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 Kansas Journal; The Land Wherein 'Wizard' Is A Humbug] ''The New York Times'' (October 9 1989). Retrieved September 26, 2023.</ref>
  
−
:Sitting Bull, most renowned Sioux of modern history, is dead. He was not a Chief, but without Kingly lineage he arose from a lowly position to the greatest Medicine Man of his time, by virtue of his shrewdness and daring. He was an Indian with a white man's spirit of hatred and revenge for those who had wronged him and his. In his day he saw his son and his tribe gradually driven from their possessions: forced to give up their old hunting grounds and espouse the hard working and uncongenial avocations of the whites. And these, his conquerors, were marked in their dealings with his people by selfishness, falsehood and treachery. What wonder that his wild nature, untamed by years of subjection, should still revolt? What wonder that a fiery rage still burned within his breast and that he should seek every opportunity of obtaining vengeance upon his natural enemies. The proud spirit of the original owners of these vast prairies inherited through centuries of fierce and bloody wars for their possession, lingered last in the bosom of Sitting Bull. With his fall the nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.<ref name="editorials">{{cite web |url=http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/baumedts.htm |title=L. Frank Baum's ''''''Editorials'''''' kmjkjon the Sioux Nation |accessdate=2007-09-04 |last=Hastings |first=A. Waller |publisher=[[Northern State University]]}}</ref>  
+
In 2000, when plans were announced for an $861 million theme park called the Wonderful World of Oz to be built near De Soto, Kansas, the front pages of area [[newspaper]]s revealed that Baum, while publisher of the weekly newspaper, ''The Saturday Pioneer,'' in Aberdeen, South Dakota, published editorials in 1890 and 1891 that called for the annihilation of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native-American]]s.<ref> Hunter Liguore, [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/660606 Sympathy or Racism?] ''Great Plains Quarterly'' 37(2) (Spring 2017): 77-82. Retrieved September 26, 2023.</ref> The plans for the park in Kansas were halted as a result.
  
−
After the Massacre he wrote a second editorial. This second editorial ran on January 3, 1891 as follows:
+
==Legacy==
 +
The Indiana Wizard of OZ Festival celebrated its 27th Anniversary in 2008, and claims to be the largest Oz festival in the world. Baums' hometown Chittenango, New York, has the L. Frank Baum Oz Museum and hosts an annual Oz Fest, a three day event held in late May or early June.
  
−
:The peculiar policy of the government in employing so weak and vacillating a person as [[Nelson A. Miles|General Miles]] to look after the uneasy [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]], has resulted in a terrible loss of blood to our soldiers, and a battle which, at best, is a disgrace to the war department. There has been plenty of time for prompt and decisive measures, the employment of which would have prevented this disaster. The PIONEER has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one or more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the [[Redskin (slang)|redskins]] as those have been in the past. An eastern contemporary, with a grain of wisdom in its wit, says that 'when the whites win a fight, it is a victory, and when the Indians win it, it is a massacre." <ref name="editorials" /><ref>Professor Robert Venables, Senior Lecturer Rural Sociology Department, Cornell University, "Looking Back at Wounded Knee 1890," "Northeast Indian Quarterly," Spring 1990</ref>
+
The Land of Oz was a theme park built on Beech Mountain in Watauga County, [[North Carolina]]. It was called "exquisite" and an "adventure, imaginative and unspoiled" by the Washington, DC ''Daily News,'' which gave the park its annual award in 1970, as the best new tourist attraction in America. It closed in 1980, the victim of the changed resort economy. Later, the park began to be restored to hold yearly re-openings, known as the Autumn at Oz Festival. Today, while not a fully functioning theme park, it offers many public events that celebrate the magic and legacy of all things Oz!<ref>[https://landofoznc.com/ Land of Oz, North Carolina] ''Land of Oz''. Retrieved September 26, 2023.</ref>
  
−
These two short editorials continue to haunt his legacy. [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], a white feminist who was later adopted into the [[Mohawk nation]], was living with Baum at the time of the Wounded Knee massacre, and none of the Baum family letters or journals of the time suggest any home strife as a result of this writing. In 2006, however, descendants of Baum apologized to the Sioux nation for any hurt their ancestor had caused.<ref name=apology>{{cite news |first=Charles |last=Ray |title='Oz' Family Apologizes for Racist Editorials |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5662524 |work=[[Morning Edition]] |publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |date=2006-08-17 |accessdate=2007-09-04 }}</ref>
+
''The Wizard of Oz'' continues to inspire new versions such as [[Walt Disney|Disney]]'s 1985 ''Return to Oz,'' ''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz,'' ''[[Tin Man (TV miniseries)|Tin Man]]'' (a re-imagining of the story televised in late 2007 on the [[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|Sci Fi Channel]]), and a variety of animated productions. Today's most successful Broadway show, ''[[Wicked (musical)|Wicked]]'' provides a backstory to the two Oz witches used in the classic [[MGM]] film. ''Wicked'' author Gregory Maguire chose to honor L. Frank Baum by naming his main character Elphaba—a phonetic take on Baum's initials.
  
−
These editorials are the only known occasion on which Baum expressed such direct views. For example, aside from the vocabulary, he did acknowledge many Americans of non-European ancestry in ''The Woggle Bug Book'' to an extent unheard of in other 1905 children's publications.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} The short story, "The Enchanted Buffalo," which purports to be a Native American fable, speaks respectfully of tribal peoples.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
+
In addition to the classic ''The Wonderful World of Oz,'' Frank L. Baum wrote 55 novels in total, 82 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings.
−
 
 
−
====Political imagery in The Wizard of Oz ====
 
−
{{main|Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz}}
 
−
 
 
−
Although numerous political references to the "Wizard" appeared early in the 20th century, it was in a scholarly article in 1964 (Littlefield 1964) that there appeared the first full-fledged interpretation of the novel as an extended political allegory of the politics and characters of the 1890s. Special attention was paid to the [[Populist Party (United States)|Populist]] metaphors and debates over silver and gold.<ref>Brian Attebery, ''The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature'', p 86-7, ISBN 0-253-35665-2,</ref>  As a Republican and avid supporter of Women's Suffrage, it is thought that Baum personally did not support the political ideals of either the Populist movement of 1890-92 or the [[William Jennings Bryan|Bryanite]]-silver crusade of 1896-1900. He published a poem<sup><small>[http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm]</small></sup> in support of [[William McKinley]].
 
−
 
 
−
Since 1964 many scholars, economists and historians have expanded on Littlefield's interpretation, pointing to multiple similarities between the characters (especially as depicted in Denslow's illustrations) and stock figures from editorial cartoons of the period. Littlefield himself wrote the New York Times letters to the editor section spelling out that his theory had no basis in fact, but was developed simply as a tool to help bored summer school students remember their history lesson.
 
−
 
 
−
Baum's newspaper had addressed politics in the 1890s, and Denslow was an editorial cartoonist as well as an illustrator of children's books. A series of political references are included in the 1902 stage version, such as references by name to the President and a powerful senator, and to John D. Rockefeller for providing the oil needed by the Tin Woodman. Scholars have found few political references in Baum's Oz books after 1902.
 
−
 
 
−
When Baum himself was asked whether his stories had hidden meanings, he always replied that they were written to please children and generate an income for his family.
 
−
 
 
−
Many fans of the Oz books prefer to dismiss any political interpretation, and argue that Baum and Denslow had no interest in promoting any kind of political agenda.
 
−
 
 
−
===Religious===
 
−
Originally a Methodist, Baum joined the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal Church]] in Aberdeen to participate in community theatricals. Later, he and his wife, encouraged by [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], became [[Theosophy|Theosophist]]s, in 1897. Baum's beliefs are often reflected in his writing. The only mention of a church in his Oz books is the [[porcelain]] one which the Cowardly Lion breaks in the Dainty China Country in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. The Baums also sent their older sons to "[[Ethical Culture]] Sunday School" in Chicago, which taught morality, not religion.
 
−
 
 
−
==Bibliography==
 
−
{{inc-lit}}
 
−
 
 
−
Including those listed here and on the Oz books page, [[Michael Patrick Hearn]] has identified forty-two titles of stage plays associated with Baum, some probably redundant or reflective of alternate draughts, many for works that Baum may never have actually started. Listed below and under non-Canon works by canon Oz authors, are those either known to have been performed (such as the lost plays of his youth) or that exist in at least fragmentary or treatment form.
 
  
 +
==Major works==
 
===Oz works===
 
===Oz works===
−
 
+
*''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) ISBN 0199540640.
−
''Main: [[List of Oz books]]''
+
*''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904) ISBN 0590085654.
−
 
+
*''Ozma of Oz'' (1907) ISBN 978-0548814826.
−
*''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' (1900)
+
*''Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz'' (1908) ISBN 9780688098261.
−
*''[[The Marvelous Land of Oz]]'' (1904)
+
*''The Road to Oz'' (1909)
−
*''[[Ozma of Oz]]'' (1907)
+
*''The Emerald City of Oz'' (1910)
−
*''[[Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz]]'' (1908)
+
*''The Patchwork Girl of Oz'' (1913)
−
*''[[The Road to Oz]]'' (1909)
+
*''Tik-Tok of Oz'' (1914)
−
*''[[The Emerald City of Oz]]'' (1910)
+
*''The Scarecrow of Oz'' (1915)
−
*''[[The Patchwork Girl of Oz]]'' (1913)
+
*''Rinkitink in Oz'' (1916)
−
*''[[Tik-Tok of Oz]]'' (1914)
+
*''The Lost Princess of Oz'' (1917)
−
*''[[The Scarecrow of Oz]]'' (1915)
+
*''The Tin Woodman of Oz'' (1918)
−
*''[[Rinkitink in Oz]]'' (1916)
+
*''The Magic of Oz'' (1919, posthumously published)
−
*''[[The Lost Princess of Oz]]'' (1917)
+
*''Glinda of Oz'' (1920, posthumously published)
−
*''[[The Tin Woodman of Oz]]'' (1918)
 
−
*''[[The Magic of Oz]]'' (1919, posthumously published)
 
−
*''[[Glinda of Oz]]'' (1920, posthumously published)
 
 
*''Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1905)
 
*''Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1905)
 
*''The Woggle-Bug Book'' (1905)
 
*''The Woggle-Bug Book'' (1905)
 
*''Little Wizard Stories of Oz'' (1913)
 
*''Little Wizard Stories of Oz'' (1913)
−
 
−
[[Image:Princess Truella on a stork - Project Gutenberg eText 16529.jpg|thumbnail|right|Princess
 
−
Truella, a character from ''[[The Magical Monarch of Mo]]'']]
 
  
 
===Non-Oz works===
 
===Non-Oz works===
 
*''Baum's Complete Stamp Dealer's Directory'' (1873)
 
*''Baum's Complete Stamp Dealer's Directory'' (1873)
 
*''The Mackrummins'' (lost play, 1882)
 
*''The Mackrummins'' (lost play, 1882)
−
*''[[The Maid of Arran]]'' (play, 1882)
+
*''The Maid of Arran'' (play, 1882)
 
*''Matches'' (lost play, 1882)
 
*''Matches'' (lost play, 1882)
−
*''Kilmourne, or O'Connor's Dream'' (lost? play opened 4 April 1883)
+
*''Kilmourne, or O'Connor's Dream'' (lost? play opened April 4, 1883)
 
*''The Queen of Killarney'' (lost? play, 1883)
 
*''The Queen of Killarney'' (lost? play, 1883)
 
*''Our Landlady'' (newspaper stories, 1890-1891)
 
*''Our Landlady'' (newspaper stories, 1890-1891)
 
*''The Book of the Hamburgs'' (poultry guide, 1896)
 
*''The Book of the Hamburgs'' (poultry guide, 1896)
 
*''By the Candelabra's Glare'' (poetry, 1897)
 
*''By the Candelabra's Glare'' (poetry, 1897)
−
*''[[Mother Goose in Prose]]'' (prose retellings of [[Mother Goose]] rhymes, (1897)
+
*''Mother Goose in Prose'' (1897)
−
*''Father Goose: His Book'' (nonsense poetry, 1899)
+
*''Father Goose: His Book'' (1899)
−
*''[[The Magical Monarch of Mo]]'' (Originally published in 1900 as ''A New Wonderland'') (fantasy, 1903)
+
*''The Magical Monarch of Mo'' (Originally published in 1900 as ''A New Wonderland'') (fantasy, 1903)
 
*''The Army Alphabet'' (poetry, 1900)
 
*''The Army Alphabet'' (poetry, 1900)
 
*''The Navy Alphabet'' (poetry, 1900)
 
*''The Navy Alphabet'' (poetry, 1900)
−
*''The Songs of Father Goose'' (''Father Goose'', set to music by Alberta N. Hall Burton, 1900)
+
*''The Songs of Father Goose'' (''Father Goose,'' set to music by Alberta N. Hall Burton, 1900)
 
*''The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors'' (trade publication, 1900)
 
*''The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors'' (trade publication, 1900)
−
*''[[Dot and Tot of Merryland]]'' (fantasy, 1901)
+
*''Dot and Tot of Merryland'' (fantasy, 1901)
−
*''[[American Fairy Tales]]'' (fantasy, 1901)
+
*''American Fairy Tales'' (fantasy, 1901)
−
*''[[The Master Key (1901 book)|The Master Key: An Electric Fairy Tale]]'' (fantasy, 1901)
+
*''The Master Key'' (fantasy, 1901)
−
*''[[The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus]]'' (1902)
+
*''The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'' (1902)
−
*''[[The Enchanted Island of Yew]]'' (fantasy, 1903)
+
*''The Enchanted Island of Yew'' (fantasy, 1903)
−
*''[[Queen Zixi of Ix]]''  (fantasy, 1905)
+
*''Queen Zixi of Ix''  (fantasy, 1905)
−
*''[[John Dough and the Cherub]]'' (fantasy, 1906)
+
*''John Dough and the Cherub'' (fantasy, 1906)
−
*''Father Goose's Year Book: Quaint Quacks and Feathered Shafts for Mature Children'' (nonsense poetry for adults, 1907)
+
*''Father Goose's Year Book: Quaint Quacks and Feathered Shafts for Mature Children'' (1907)
 
*''Mortal for an Hour'' or ''The Fairy Prince'' or ''Prince Marvel'' (play, 1909)
 
*''Mortal for an Hour'' or ''The Fairy Prince'' or ''Prince Marvel'' (play, 1909)
 
*''The Pipes O' [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]'' (play, 1909, with George Scarborough; only the first act was ever completed)
 
*''The Pipes O' [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]'' (play, 1909, with George Scarborough; only the first act was ever completed)
 
*''L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker; Readings and Recitations in Prose and Verse, Humorous and Otherwise'' (also known as ''Baum's Own Book for Children'', collection of revised work, 1910)
 
*''L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker; Readings and Recitations in Prose and Verse, Humorous and Otherwise'' (also known as ''Baum's Own Book for Children'', collection of revised work, 1910)
 
*''The Daring Twins: A Story for Young Folk'' (novel, 1911; reprinted in 2006 as ''The Secret of the Lost Fortune'')
 
*''The Daring Twins: A Story for Young Folk'' (novel, 1911; reprinted in 2006 as ''The Secret of the Lost Fortune'')
−
*''[[The Sea Fairies]]'' (fantasy, 1911)
+
*''The Sea Fairies'' (fantasy, 1911)
−
*''[[Sky Island (novel)|Sky Island]]'' (fantasy, 1912)
+
*''Sky Island'' (fantasy, 1912)
 
*''Phoebe Daring:  A Story for Young Folk'' (novel, 1912; reprinted in 2008 as ''Unjustly Accused!'')
 
*''Phoebe Daring:  A Story for Young Folk'' (novel, 1912; reprinted in 2008 as ''Unjustly Accused!'')
 
*''Our Married Life'' (novel, 1912) [lost]
 
*''Our Married Life'' (novel, 1912) [lost]
Line 200: Line 170:
 
*''The Uplifter's Minstrels'' (musical play, 1916; music by Byron Gay)
 
*''The Uplifter's Minstrels'' (musical play, 1916; music by Byron Gay)
 
*''The Orpheus Road Show:  A Paraphrastic Compendium of Mirth'' (musical play, 1917; music by Louis F. Gottschalk)
 
*''The Orpheus Road Show:  A Paraphrastic Compendium of Mirth'' (musical play, 1917; music by Louis F. Gottschalk)
−
*''Sam Steele's Adventures - The Scream of the Sacred Ape'' (novel, 2006) First publication under Baum's name of ''The Boy Fortune Hunters in China'' (1909).
+
*''Sam Steele's Adventures--The Scream of the Sacred Ape'' (novel, 2006) First publication under Baum's name of ''The Boy Fortune Hunters in China'' (1909).
−
*''Sam Steele's Adventures - The Amazing Bubble Car'' (novel, 2008) First publication under Baum's name of ''Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama'' (1907).
+
*''Sam Steele's Adventures--The Amazing Bubble Car'' (novel, 2008) First publication under Baum's name of ''Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama'' (1907).
−
 
 
−
===Short stories===
 
−
This list omits those that appeared in ''Our Landlady'', ''American Fairy Tales'', ''Little Wizard Stories of Oz'', and ''Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz''.
 
−
 
 
−
*"They Played a New Hamlet" (28 April 1895)
 
−
*"A Cold Day on the Railroad" (26 May 1895)
 
−
*"Who Called 'Perry?'" (19 January 1896)
 
−
*"Yesterday at the Exhibition" (2 February 1896)
 
−
*"My Ruby Wedding Ring" (12 October 1896)
 
−
*"The Man with the Red Shirt" (c.1897, told to Matilda Jewell Gage, who wrote it down in 1905)
 
−
*"How Scroggs Won the Reward" (5 May 1897)
 
−
*"The Extravagance of Dan" (18 May 1897)
 
−
*"The Return of Dick Weemins" (July 1897)
 
−
*"The Suicide of Kiaros" (September 1897)
 
−
*"A Shadow Cast Before" (December 1897)
 
−
*"The Mating Day" (September 1898)
 
−
*"Aunt Hulda's Good Time" (26 October 1899)
 
−
*"The Loveridge Burglary" (January 1900)
 
−
*"The Bad Man" (February 1901)
 
−
*"The King Who Changed His Mind" (1901)
 
−
*"The Runaway Shadows or A Trick of Jack Frost" (5 May 1901)
 
−
*"(The Strange Adventures of) An Easter Egg" (29 March 1902)
 
−
*"The Ryl of the Lilies" (12 April 1903)
 
−
*"The Maid of Athens:  A College Fantasy" ([[Play (theatre)|play]] [[Film treatment|treatment]], 1903; with [[Emerson Hough]])
 
−
*"Chrome Yellow" (1904, Unpublished; held in The Baum Papers at [[Syracuse University]])
 
−
*"Mr. Rumple's Chill" (1904, Lost)
 
−
*"Bess of the Movies" (1904, Lost)
 
−
*"The Diamondback" (1904, First page missing)
 
−
*"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" (December 1904)
 
−
*"The Woggle-Bug Book:  The Unique Adventures of the Woggle-Bug" (12 January 1905)
 
−
*"Prologue from Animal Fairy Tales" (January 1905)
 
−
*"The Story of Jaglon" (January 1905)
 
−
*"The Stuffed Alligator" (February 1905)
 
−
*"The King of Gee-Whiz" ([[Play (theatre)|play]] [[Film treatment|treatment]], February 1905, with [[Emerson Hough]])
 
−
*"The Discontented Gopher" (March 1905)
 
−
*"The Forest Oracle" (April 1905)
 
−
*"The Enchanted Buffalo" (May 1905)
 
−
*"The Pea-Green Poodle" (June 1905)
 
−
*"Nelebel's Fairyland" (June 1905)
 
−
*"The Jolly Giraffe of Jomb" (July 1905)
 
−
*"Jack Burgitt's Honor" (1 August 1905)
 
−
*"The Troubles of Pop Wombat" (August 1905)
 
−
*"The Transformation of Bayal the Porcupine" (September 1905)
 
−
*"The Tiger's Eye: A Jungle Fairy Tale" (1905)
 
−
*"The Yellow Ryl" (1906)
 
−
*"The Witchcraft of Mary-Marie" (1908)
 
−
*"The Man-Fairy" (December 1910)
 
−
*"Juggerjook" (December 1910)
 
−
*"The Tramp and the Baby" (October 1911)
 
−
*"Bessie's Fairy Tale" (December 1911)
 
−
*"Aunt 'Phroney's Boy" (December 1912)
 
−
*"The Littlest Giant—An Oz Story" (1918)
 
−
*"An Oz Book" (1919)
 
−
 
 
−
===Under pseudonyms===
 
−
:'''As Edith Van Dyne:'''
 
−
*''[[Aunt Jane's Nieces]]'' (1906)
 
−
*''Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad'' (1906)
 
−
*''Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville'' (1908)
 
−
*''Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work'' (1906)
 
−
*''Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society'' (1910)
 
−
*''Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John'' (1911)
 
−
*''The Flying Girl'' (1911)
 
−
*''[[Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation]]'' (1912)
 
−
*''The Flying Girl and Her Chum'' (1912)
 
−
*''[[Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch]]'' (1913)
 
−
*''[[Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West]]'' (1914)
 
−
*''Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross'' (1915, revised and republished in 1918)
 
−
*''Mary Louise'' (1916)
 
−
*''Mary Louise in the Country'' (1916)
 
−
*''Mary Louise Solves a Mystery'' (1917)
 
−
*''Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls'' (1918)
 
−
*''Mary Louise Adopts a Soldier'' (1919; largely ghostwritten based on a fragment by Baum; subsequent books in the series are by Emma Speed Sampson)
 
−
 
 
−
:'''As Floyd Akers:'''
 
−
*''The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska'' (1906; originally published as ''Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea'' by "Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald")
 
−
*''The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama'' (1907; originally published as ''Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama'' by "Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald"; reprinted in 2008 as ''The Amazing Bubble Car'')
 
−
*''The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt'' (1908; reprinted in 2008 as ''The Treasure of Karnak'')
 
−
*''The Boy Fortune Hunters in China'' (1909; reprinted in 2006 as ''The Scream of the Sacred Ape'')
 
−
*''The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan'' (1910)
 
−
*''The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas'' (1911)
 
−
 
 
−
:'''As Schuyler Staunton:'''
 
−
*''The Fate of a Crown'' (1905)
 
−
*''[[Daughters of Destiny (novel)|Daughters of Destiny]]'' (1906)
 
−
 
 
−
:'''As John Estes Cooke:'''
 
−
*''Tamawaca Folks:  A Summer Comedy'' (1907)
 
−
 
 
−
:'''As Suzanne Metcalf:'''
 
−
*''Annabel, A Story for Young Folks'' (1906)
 
−
 
 
−
:'''As Laura Bancroft:'''
 
−
 
 
−
*''[[The Twinkle Tales]]'' (1906; collected as ''Twinkle and Chubbins'', though Chubbins is not in all the stories)
 
−
*''Policeman Bluejay'' (1907; also known as ''Babes in Birdland'', it was published under Baum's name shortly before his death)
 
−
 
 
−
:'''Anonymous:'''
 
−
*''The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile'' (1908)
 
  
 
== Notes ==
 
== Notes ==
−
<!-- This article uses [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]]. Please use this format when adding references to material in the article. External links added directly to this section will be swiftly deleted without notice. —>
+
<references/>
−
{{reflist|2}}
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
*Baum, Frank Joslyn & MacFall, Russell P. (1961) ''To Please a Child''. Chicago: Reilly & Lee Co.
+
 
−
*Ferrara, Susan. ''The Family of the Wizard:  The Baums of Syracuse''. Xlibris Corporation, 1999. ISBN 0-7388-1317-6
+
*Baum, Frank Joslyn, and Russell P. MacFall. ''To Please a Child: A Biography of L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz.'' Chicago: Reilly & Lee Co., 1961. {{ASIN|B0006AX69Q}}
−
*Ford, Alla T. ''The High-Jinks of L. Frank Baum''. Hong Kong:  Ford Press, 1969.
+
*Baum, L. Frank, Martin Gardner, and Russel B. Nye. ''The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was.'' East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994. ISBN 0870133667
−
*Ford, Alla T. ''The Musical Fantasies of L. Frank Baum''. Lake Worth, Florida:  Ford Press, 1969.
+
*Baum, L. Frank, W. W. Denslow, and Michael Patrick Hearn. ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.'' New York: Norton, 2000. ISBN 0393049922
−
*[[Martin Gardner|Gardner, Martin]] and Russel B. Nye. ''The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was''. Michigan State University Press, 1957. Revised 1994.
+
*Baum, L. Frank, and Nancy Tystad Koupal (ed.). ''Our Landlady.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996. ISBN 0803212216
−
*[[Michael Patrick Hearn|Hearn, Michael Patrick]]. ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz''. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1973. Revised 2000. New York:  W.W. Norton, 2000.
+
*Baum, L. Frank, and Nancy Tystad Koupal (ed.). ''Baum's Road to Oz: The Dakota Years.'' Pierre, SD: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2000. ISBN 0962262188
−
*Hearn, Michael Patrick. ''The Critical Heritage Edition of the Wizard of Oz''. New York: Schocken, 1986.
+
*Ferrara, Susan. ''The Family of the Wizard:  The Baums of Syracuse''. Xlibris Corporation, 1999. ISBN 0738813176
−
*Koupal, Nancy Tystad. ''Baum's Road to Oz: The Dakota Years''. South Dakota State Historical Society, 2000.
+
*Ford, Alla T., and Dick Martin. ''The Musical Fantasies of L. Frank Baum.'' Chicago: Wizard Press, 1958. ISBN 9780801864773
−
*Koupal, Nancy Tystad. ''Our Landlady''. University of Nebraska Press, 1986.
+
* Pendergast,Tom (ed.). ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture''. St. James Press, 2000. ISBN 978-1558624023
−
* [http://www.amphigory.com/oz.htm Littlefield, Henry. "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism." ''American Quarterly''. v. 16, 3, Spring 1964, 47-58.] online version
+
*Riley, Michael O. ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum''. University of Kansas Press, 1997. ISBN 070060832X
−
* [http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm Parker, David B. ''The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a "Parable on Populism" ''Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, vol. 15 (1994), pp. 49-63.]
+
*Rogers, Katharine M. ''L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz''. St. Martin's Press, 2002. ISBN 031230174X
−
*Riley, Michael O. (1997) ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum''. University of Kansas Press ISBN 0-7006-0832-X
+
*Swartz, Mark Evan. ''Oz before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939''. ‎The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0801864773
−
*Rogers, Katharine M. (2002) ''L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz''. St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-30174-X
 
−
*Wagner, Sally Roesch. ''The Wonderful Mother of Oz''. Fayetteville, NY: The [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]] Foundation, 2003.
 
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
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{{wikiquote}}
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All links retrieved September 26, 2023.
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{{Commonscat}}
 
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{{Wikisource author}}
 
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    |  See [[Wikipedia:External links]] and [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details. |
 
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    |                                                                        |
 
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    | If there are already plentiful links, please propose additions or      |
 
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    | replacements on this article's discussion page. Or submit your link    |
 
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    | to the appropriate category at the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org)|
 
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    | and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template. |
 
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    ===========================({{NoMoreLinks}})===============================—>
 
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* {{gutenberg author|id=L._Frank_Baum|name=L. Frank Baum}}
 
−
* [http://ozproject.egtech.net List of books about Oz, L. Frank Baum and the MGM movie]
 
−
* [http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website]
 
−
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20061205214012/http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scottandrewh/oz.htm The Lyman Frank Baum Works Archive]
 
−
* [http://www.literature.org/authors/baum-l-frank/] An Online Library of Literature
 
−
* [http://www.put.com/oz/ The Wonderful Website of Oz Text of Baum's books]
 
−
* [http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/author.html Page by Page Books Collection of Oz series free on-line]
 
−
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2024 Find-A-Grave profile for L. Frank Baum]
 
−
* [http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=Frank+L.+Baum&status=all&action=Search LibriVox.org L. Frank Baum public domain audiobooks]
 
−
*[http://www.waltdisneysreturntooz.com ''Return to Oz - Ultimate Movie Site"], Photos, videos, memorabilia, just about everything you have ever wanted to know about Return to Oz.
 
−
*[http://wiredforbooks.org/oz/ ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum''], an unabridged dramatic audio performance at [[Wired for Books]].
 
  
−
{{Oz}}
+
* [https://thewizardofoz.info/wiki/Main_Page The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website]
 +
* [https://www.washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/baum/index.html L. Frank Baum] ''Map of Kansas Literature''
 +
* [https://americanliterature.com/author/l-frank-baum L. Frank Baum] ''American Literature''
  
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{{Persondata
 
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|NAME=Baum, Lyman Frank
 
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
 
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION=author
 
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|DATE OF BIRTH={{birth date|1856|5|15|mf=y}}
 
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|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Chittenango, New York]], [[United States]]
 
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|DATE OF DEATH={{death date|1919|5|6|mf=y}}
 
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|PLACE OF DEATH=[[California]], [[United States]]
 
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}}
 
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baum, L. Frank}}
 
 
[[Category:Biography]]
 
[[Category:Biography]]
 
[[Category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
 
[[Category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
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[[Category:Literature]]
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{{Credit|223404725}}
 
{{Credit|223404725}}

Latest revision as of 15:58, 26 September 2023

L. Frank Baum
L frank baum.jpg
L. Frank Baum circa 1901
BornMay 15 1856(1856-05-15)
Chittenango, New York
DiedMay 6 1919 (aged 62)
Hollywood, California
OccupationAuthor, Newspaper Editor, Actor, Screenwriter, Film Producer
Spouse(s)Maud Gage
ChildrenFrank Joslyn Baum
Robert Stanton Baum
Harry Neal Baum
Kenneth Gage Baum

Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author, actor, and independent filmmaker best known as the creator, along with illustrator W.W. Denslow, of one of the most popular books in American children's literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, better known today as simply The Wizard of Oz.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900, and produced for stage in 1902, was immortalized through the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, and soon become an iconic part of American culture. Part fairy tale, part fable, it featured Dorothy, as the girl who leaves Kansas in a tornado, her beloved dog, Toto, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow, and a story line uniquely American in its background and setting. The moral of the story—"that with the help of a few good friends, you can find all that you need within yourself"—resonated with American audiences for many years; from 1956 onwards the televised movie held American children—pre-video age—rapt with attention.

Baum was a prolific writer, who in addition to children's books, wrote plays, short stories, and fantasy under various pseudonyms, was coaxed into writing sequel after sequel to his Wonderful Wizard of Oz book by the incessant pleas of his youthful fans. Although his other children's books and theatrical productions did not receive nearly the critical acclaim of Oz, he was made wealthy through its unprecedented popularity and adaptations.

Childhood and early life

Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, in 1856, into a devout Methodist family of German (father's side) and Scots-Irish (mother's side) origin, the fifth of six children born to Cynthia Stanton and Benjamin Ward Baum, only three of whom survived into adulthood. He was named "Lyman" after his father's brother, but always disliked this name, and preferred to go by his middle name, "Frank." His mother, Cynthia Stanton, was a direct descendant of Thomas Stanton, one of the four Founders of what is now Stonington, Connecticut.

Benjamin Baum was a wealthy businessman, who had made his fortune in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. Baum grew up on his parents' expansive estate, Rose Lawn, which he would fondly remember in later years, as paradise. As a young child, he was tutored at home with his siblings, but at the age of 12 he was sent to study at Peekskill Military Academy. He was a sickly child given to daydreaming and after two years, returned home.[1]

Baum started writing at an early age, and when his father bought him a printing press, he used it to produce The Rose Lawn Home Journal with the help of his younger brother, Henry (Harry) Clay Baum. By the time he was 17, Baum had established a second amateur journal, The Stamp Collector, and had printed an 11-page pamphlet called Baum's Complete Stamp Dealers' Directory.

As a young man, Baum embarked upon his lifetime infatuation with the theater, a devotion which would repeatedly lead him to failure and near-bankruptcy. His first such failure occurred when a local theatrical company duped him into replenishing their stock of costumes, with the promise of leading roles that never came his way. Disillusioned, Baum left the theater and went to work as a clerk in his brother-in-law's dry goods company in Syracuse. At one point, he found another clerk locked in a store room dead, an apparent suicide. This incident appears to have inspired his locked room story, "The Suicide of Kiaros," first published in the literary journal, The White Elephant.

Baum never stayed away from the stage for long. He continued to take roles in plays, performing under the stage names of Louis F. Baum and George Brooks. In 1880, his father built him a theater in Richburg, New York, and Baum set about writing plays and gathering a company to act in them. The Maid of Arran, a melodrama with songs based on William Black's novel A Princess of Thule, proved a modest success. Baum not only wrote the play but composed songs for it and acted in the leading role. His aunt, Katharine Gray, founder of the Syracuse Oratory School, played his character's aunt.

On November 9, 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage activist. While Baum was touring with The Maid of Arran, the theater in Richburg caught fire during a production of Baum's ironically-titled parlor drama, Matches, and destroyed not only the theater, but the only known copies of many of Baum's scripts, including Matches, as well as costumes and props.

The South Dakota years

In July 1888, Baum and his wife moved to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, where he opened a store, "Baum's Bazaar." Local children loved to buy penny candy there and hear stories from Baum of faraway places. His habit of selling goods on credit led to the eventual bankrupting of the store, so Baum turned to editing a local newspaper, The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer. This enterprise also, however, ended in bankruptcy with Baum sardonically commenting, "I decided the sheriff wanted the paper more than I."[2]

Baum's description of Kansas in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz seems to be based on his experiences in drought-ridden South Dakota.

Baum becomes an author

Promotional Poster for Baum's "Popular Books For Children," 1901.

After Baum's newspaper failed in 1891, he, Maud, and their four sons moved to Chicago, where Baum took a job reporting for the Evening Post. For several years, he edited a magazine for advertising agencies focused on window displays in stores. At that time, the major department stores created elaborate Christmas time fantasies, using clockwork mechanisms that made people and animals appear to move.

In 1897, he wrote and published, Mother Goose in Prose, a collection of Mother Goose rhymes written as prose stories, and illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. Mother Goose was a moderate success. In 1899, Baum partnered with illustrator W.W. Denslow, to publish Father Goose, His Book, a collection of nonsense poetry. The book was a success, becoming the best-selling children's book of the year. Baum was now free to devote himself full time to writing.[3]

The Baum-Denslow Mother Goose book used as free premium for breakfast cereal

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In 1900, Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to much critical acclaim. The book was the best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. Baum went on to write thirteen more novels based on the places and people of the Land of Oz.

Fred R. Hamlin's Musical Extravaganza

1903 poster of Dave Montgomery as the Tin Man in Hamlin's musical stage version.

Two years after Wizard's publication, Baum and Denslow teamed up with composer Paul Tietjens and director Julian Mitchell to produce a musical stage version of the book under Fred R. Hamlin. This stage version, the first to use the shortened title, The Wizard of Oz, opened in Chicago in 1902, then ran on Broadway from January to October 1903.

Subsequently, the play successfully toured the United States with much of the same cast until 1911. The stage version starred David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone as the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow, respectively, which brought them instantaneous fame. The stage version differed from the book, and was aimed primarily at adults.

Beginning with the success of the stage version, most subsequent versions of the story, including newer editions of the novel, have been titled The Wizard of Oz, rather than using the full, original title. In more recent years, restoring the full title has become increasingly common, particularly to distinguish the novel from the Hollywood film.

On screen and return to stage

Following early film treatments in 1910 and 1925, Metro Goldwyn Mayer made the story into the now classic movie The Wizard of Oz (1939) starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. Among other minor changes, the film was given an "it was all-just a dream ending."

A completely new Tony Award-winning Broadway musical based on African-American musical styles, The Wiz, was staged in 1975, with Stephanie Mills as Dorothy. It was the basis for a 1978 film by the same title starring Diana Ross as an adult Dorothy.

Later life and work

In 1901, Baum and Denslow published Dot and Tot of Merryland. The book was one of Baum's weakest, and its failure strained his faltering relationship with Denslow. It would be their last collaboration.

Princess Truella, a character from The Magical Monarch of Mo

Several times during the development of the Oz series, Baum declared that he had written his last Oz book and devoted himself to other works of fantasy fiction based in other magical lands, including The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and Queen Zixi of Ix. However, persuaded by popular demand, letters from children, and the failure of his new books, he returned to the series each time. Even so, his other works remained very popular after his death, with The Master Key appearing on St. Nicholas Magazine's survey of readers' favorite books well into the 1920s.

His final Oz book, Glinda of Oz was published a year after his death, in 1920, but the Oz series was continued long after his death by other authors, notably Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote an additional nineteen Oz books.

Pseudonyms

Baum made use of several pseudonyms for some of his other, non-Oz books. They include:

  • Edith Van Dyne (the Aunt Jane's Nieces series)
  • Laura Bancroft (Twinkle and Chubbins, Policeman Bluejay)
  • Floyd Akers (The Boy Fortune Hunters series, continuing the Sam Steele series)
  • Suzanne Metcalf (Annabel)
  • Schuyler Staunton (The Fate of a Crown, Daughters of Destiny)
  • John Estes Cooke (Tamawaca Folks)
  • Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald (the Sam Steele series)

Baum also anonymously wrote The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile.

Theater and film

Baum continued theatrical work with Harry Marston Haldeman's men's social group, The Uplifters, for which he wrote several plays. The group, which also included Will Rogers, was proud to have had Baum as a member and posthumously revived many of his works. Prior to that, his last produced play was The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (based on Ozma of Oz and the basis for Tik-Tok of Oz), a modest success in Hollywood that producer Oliver Morosc decided did not do well enough to take to Broadway.

Did you know?
L. Frank Baum wrote and directed silent Oz movies years before the 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz”

In 1914, having moved to Hollywood years earlier, Baum started his own film production company, the Oz Film Manufacturing Company. He served as its president, and principal producer and screenwriter. The rest of the board consisted of Louis F. Gottschalk, Harry Marston Haldeman, and Clarence R. Rundel. The films were directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, with casts that included Violet Macmillan, Vivian Reed, Mildred Harris, Juanita Hansen, Pierre Couderc, Mai Welles, Louise Emmons, J. Charles Haydon, and early appearances by Harold Lloyd and Hal Roach. Through this company, Baum adapted several of his Oz books to silent films, including The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) based on the 1913 book of the same name, the seventh book in the Oz series; The Magic Cloak of Oz (1917) an adaptation of his 1905 novel, Queen Zixi of Ix; and His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1915), loosely based on his 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

These later ventures into bringing children's literature to film did not meet with much success.

Death

Baum, plagued by a weak heart since childhood, died of a stroke on May 6, 1919, aged 62, and was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.

Modern controversies

Kansas is mentioned 23 times in the movie and the whole plot centers on Dorothy trying to get back home. But some Kansas residents, perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek, complain that the state has been cursed with an image of a bleak and tornado-ridden wasteland that Dorothy dreams of escaping. They point out that only the Kansas scenes are not in Technicolor. Those critics are heartened by speculation that Baum was not describing Kansas at all in his books, but chose Kansas to avoid embarrassing relatives still living in South Dakota.[4]

In 2000, when plans were announced for an $861 million theme park called the Wonderful World of Oz to be built near De Soto, Kansas, the front pages of area newspapers revealed that Baum, while publisher of the weekly newspaper, The Saturday Pioneer, in Aberdeen, South Dakota, published editorials in 1890 and 1891 that called for the annihilation of Native-Americans.[5] The plans for the park in Kansas were halted as a result.

Legacy

The Indiana Wizard of OZ Festival celebrated its 27th Anniversary in 2008, and claims to be the largest Oz festival in the world. Baums' hometown Chittenango, New York, has the L. Frank Baum Oz Museum and hosts an annual Oz Fest, a three day event held in late May or early June.

The Land of Oz was a theme park built on Beech Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina. It was called "exquisite" and an "adventure, imaginative and unspoiled" by the Washington, DC Daily News, which gave the park its annual award in 1970, as the best new tourist attraction in America. It closed in 1980, the victim of the changed resort economy. Later, the park began to be restored to hold yearly re-openings, known as the Autumn at Oz Festival. Today, while not a fully functioning theme park, it offers many public events that celebrate the magic and legacy of all things Oz![6]

The Wizard of Oz continues to inspire new versions such as Disney's 1985 Return to Oz, The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Tin Man (a re-imagining of the story televised in late 2007 on the Sci Fi Channel), and a variety of animated productions. Today's most successful Broadway show, Wicked provides a backstory to the two Oz witches used in the classic MGM film. Wicked author Gregory Maguire chose to honor L. Frank Baum by naming his main character Elphaba—a phonetic take on Baum's initials.

In addition to the classic The Wonderful World of Oz, Frank L. Baum wrote 55 novels in total, 82 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings.

Major works

Oz works

  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) ISBN 0199540640.
  • The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) ISBN 0590085654.
  • Ozma of Oz (1907) ISBN 978-0548814826.
  • Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908) ISBN 9780688098261.
  • The Road to Oz (1909)
  • The Emerald City of Oz (1910)
  • The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)
  • Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)
  • The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)
  • Rinkitink in Oz (1916)
  • The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)
  • The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)
  • The Magic of Oz (1919, posthumously published)
  • Glinda of Oz (1920, posthumously published)
  • Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz (1905)
  • The Woggle-Bug Book (1905)
  • Little Wizard Stories of Oz (1913)

Non-Oz works

  • Baum's Complete Stamp Dealer's Directory (1873)
  • The Mackrummins (lost play, 1882)
  • The Maid of Arran (play, 1882)
  • Matches (lost play, 1882)
  • Kilmourne, or O'Connor's Dream (lost? play opened April 4, 1883)
  • The Queen of Killarney (lost? play, 1883)
  • Our Landlady (newspaper stories, 1890-1891)
  • The Book of the Hamburgs (poultry guide, 1896)
  • By the Candelabra's Glare (poetry, 1897)
  • Mother Goose in Prose (1897)
  • Father Goose: His Book (1899)
  • The Magical Monarch of Mo (Originally published in 1900 as A New Wonderland) (fantasy, 1903)
  • The Army Alphabet (poetry, 1900)
  • The Navy Alphabet (poetry, 1900)
  • The Songs of Father Goose (Father Goose, set to music by Alberta N. Hall Burton, 1900)
  • The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors (trade publication, 1900)
  • Dot and Tot of Merryland (fantasy, 1901)
  • American Fairy Tales (fantasy, 1901)
  • The Master Key (fantasy, 1901)
  • The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902)
  • The Enchanted Island of Yew (fantasy, 1903)
  • Queen Zixi of Ix (fantasy, 1905)
  • John Dough and the Cherub (fantasy, 1906)
  • Father Goose's Year Book: Quaint Quacks and Feathered Shafts for Mature Children (1907)
  • Mortal for an Hour or The Fairy Prince or Prince Marvel (play, 1909)
  • The Pipes O' Pan (play, 1909, with George Scarborough; only the first act was ever completed)
  • L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker; Readings and Recitations in Prose and Verse, Humorous and Otherwise (also known as Baum's Own Book for Children, collection of revised work, 1910)
  • The Daring Twins: A Story for Young Folk (novel, 1911; reprinted in 2006 as The Secret of the Lost Fortune)
  • The Sea Fairies (fantasy, 1911)
  • Sky Island (fantasy, 1912)
  • Phoebe Daring: A Story for Young Folk (novel, 1912; reprinted in 2008 as Unjustly Accused!)
  • Our Married Life (novel, 1912) [lost]
  • Johnson (novel, 1912) [lost]
  • King Bud of Noland, or The Magic Cloak (musical play, 1913; music by Louis F. Gottschalk, revised as the scenario to the film, The Magic Cloak of Oz)
  • Molly Oodle (novel, 1914) [lost]
  • The Mystery of Bonita (novel, 1914) [lost]
  • Stagecraft, or, The Adventures of a Strictly Moral Man (musical play, 1914; music by Louis F. Gottschalk)
  • The Uplift of Lucifer, or Raising Hell: An Allegorical Squazosh (musical play, music by Louis F. Gottschalk, 1915)
  • The Uplifter's Minstrels (musical play, 1916; music by Byron Gay)
  • The Orpheus Road Show: A Paraphrastic Compendium of Mirth (musical play, 1917; music by Louis F. Gottschalk)
  • Sam Steele's Adventures—The Scream of the Sacred Ape (novel, 2006) First publication under Baum's name of The Boy Fortune Hunters in China (1909).
  • Sam Steele's Adventures—The Amazing Bubble Car (novel, 2008) First publication under Baum's name of Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama (1907).

Notes

  1. ↑ Chloe Schama, Frank Baum, the Man Behind the Curtain Smithsonian Magazine (June 25, 2009). Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  2. ↑ Linda McGovern, L. Frank Baum – The Man Behind The Curtain Literary Traveler (March 1, 1999). Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  3. ↑ Tom Pendergast (ed.), St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (St. James Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1558624023).
  4. ↑ Isabel Wilkerson, Kansas Journal; The Land Wherein 'Wizard' Is A Humbug The New York Times (October 9 1989). Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  5. ↑ Hunter Liguore, Sympathy or Racism? Great Plains Quarterly 37(2) (Spring 2017): 77-82. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  6. ↑ Land of Oz, North Carolina Land of Oz. Retrieved September 26, 2023.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Baum, Frank Joslyn, and Russell P. MacFall. To Please a Child: A Biography of L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz. Chicago: Reilly & Lee Co., 1961. ASIN B0006AX69Q
  • Baum, L. Frank, Martin Gardner, and Russel B. Nye. The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994. ISBN 0870133667
  • Baum, L. Frank, W. W. Denslow, and Michael Patrick Hearn. The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Norton, 2000. ISBN 0393049922
  • Baum, L. Frank, and Nancy Tystad Koupal (ed.). Our Landlady. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996. ISBN 0803212216
  • Baum, L. Frank, and Nancy Tystad Koupal (ed.). Baum's Road to Oz: The Dakota Years. Pierre, SD: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2000. ISBN 0962262188
  • Ferrara, Susan. The Family of the Wizard: The Baums of Syracuse. Xlibris Corporation, 1999. ISBN 0738813176
  • Ford, Alla T., and Dick Martin. The Musical Fantasies of L. Frank Baum. Chicago: Wizard Press, 1958. ISBN 9780801864773
  • Pendergast,Tom (ed.). St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. St. James Press, 2000. ISBN 978-1558624023
  • Riley, Michael O. Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum. University of Kansas Press, 1997. ISBN 070060832X
  • Rogers, Katharine M. L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz. St. Martin's Press, 2002. ISBN 031230174X
  • Swartz, Mark Evan. Oz before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939. ‎The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0801864773

External links

All links retrieved September 26, 2023.

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