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L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum circa 1901
Born May 15, 1856(1856-05-15)
Chittenango, New York
Died May 6, 1919 (aged 62)
Hollywood, California
Occupation Author, Newspaper Editor, Actor, Screenwriter, Film Producer
Spouse Maud Gage
Children Frank 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. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 1856 ( MDCCCLVI) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Chittenango is a Village located inside the Town of Sullivan in Madison County New York, United States. Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works Screenwriters or scenarists are Scriptwriters who write the Screenplays from which Films and Television programs are made A film producer is a person who creates the conditions for making movies. Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage ( Cicero New York, March 24, 1826 &ndash March 18, 1898 in Chicago) was a suffragist Frank Joslyn Baum (born 3 December 1883 - 2 December 1958) was a Lawyer, Soldier, Writer, and Film Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 1856 ( MDCCCLVI) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The United States of America —commonly referred to as the An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced outside of the Hollywood Studio system, a series of oligopolistic practices by several William Wallace Denslow ( May 5, 1856 &ndash March 29, 1915) &ndash usually credited as W Children's literature is an age category of literature written for published for or marketed to Children roughly through age 12 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.

Contents

Baum's 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. Chittenango is a Village located inside the Town of Sullivan in Madison County New York, United States. Methodism is a movement within Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Scotch-Irish (the historically common term in North America) or Scots-Irish refers to inhabitants of the United States and by some of Canada 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. The Town of Stonington is in New London County, Connecticut in the southeastern corner of that U

Benjamin Baum was a wealthy businessman, originally a barrel maker, who had made his fortune in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. A businessperson (also businessman or businesswoman) is someone who is employed at usually a profit-oriented enterprise, or more specifically someone An oil field is a region with an abundance of Oil wells extracting Petroleum (crude oil from below ground The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern 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. Peekskill Military Academy was a military academy for young men founded in 1833 located in Peekskill New York He was a sickly child given to daydreaming, and his parents may have thought he needed toughening up. A daydream is a visionary fantasy experienced while awake especially one of happy pleasant thoughts hopes or ambitions 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 heart attack, though there is no contemporary evidence of this. Frank Joslyn Baum (born 3 December 1883 - 2 December 1958) was a Lawyer, Soldier, Writer, and Film Myocardial infarction ( MI or AMI for acute myocardial infarction) also known as a heart attack, occurs when the blood supply

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. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image 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 dealership with his friends. A Stamp dealer is a Company or an individual who deals in Postage stamps and Philatelic products

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. Syracuse (locally ˈsɛrəkjuːs sometimes ˈsɪrəkjuːs or /ˈsɪərəkjuːs/ by non-natives is a city in Central New York, USA. 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. The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of Detective fiction wherein a crime such as murder is committed under apparently impossible circumstances—typically involving a crime

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.

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.

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. Richburg is a Village in Allegany County, New York, United States. The Maid of Arran, a melodrama with songs based on William Black's novel A Princess of Thule, proved a modest success. The Maid of Arran is an 1882 Musical play by L Frank Baum, writing and performing under the pseudonym "Louis F Melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types William Black ( November 13, 1841 &ndash December 10, 1898) was a Novelist born in Glasgow, Scotland to James Baum not only wrote the play but composed songs for it (making it a prototypical musical, as its songs relate to the narrative), and acted in the leading role. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. 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, directing, and translating (French, German, and Italian), revision, and operettas, though he was not employed to do so. A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the Theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production (a play, French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter On November 9, 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage activist. Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage ( Cicero New York, March 24, 1826 &ndash March 18, 1898 in Chicago) was a suffragist 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.

The South Dakota years

In July 1888, Baum and his wife moved to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, where he opened a store, "Baum's Bazaar". Aberdeen is a City and the County seat of Brown County, South Dakota, USA, about 125 mi (200 km N 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. Kansas ( is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American " South Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. During much of this time, Matilda Joslyn Gage was living in the Baum household. Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage ( Cicero New York, March 24, 1826 &ndash March 18, 1898 in Chicago) was a suffragist 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.

Baum becomes an author

Promotional Poster for Baum's "Popular Books For Children", 1901.
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. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. 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.

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 in Prose is a collection of twenty-two children's stories based on Mother Goose Nursery rhymes written by L Mother Goose is a well-known figure in the Literature of Fairy tales and Nursery rhymes Mother Goose is best known in the United States, in the Maxfield Parrish ( July 25, 1870 &ndash March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustrator. Mother Goose was a moderate success, and allowed Baum to quit his door-to-door job.

In 1899 Baum partnered with illustrator W. W. Denslow, to publish Father Goose, His Book, a collection of nonsense poetry. William Wallace Denslow ( May 5, 1856 &ndash March 29, 1915) &ndash usually credited as W The book was a success, becoming the best-selling children's book of the year.

The Baum-Denslow Mother Goose book used as free premium for breakfast cereal
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 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. Oz is a fairy

The Wizard of Oz: Fred R. Hamlin's Musical Extravaganza

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. The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 Musical play extravaganza based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Hamlin. This stage version, the first to use the shortened title "The Wizard of Oz", opened in Chicago in 1902, then ran on Broadway for 293 stage nights from January to October 1903. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located 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 respectively, which shot the pair to instant fame. Fred Andrew Stone ( August 19 1873 – March 6 1959) was an American actor The Tin Woodman (also known as the Tin Man or the Tin Woodsman, the latter appearing only in adaptations the former used only occasionally by Baum is a character The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L 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. Pastoria is a Fictional character mentioned in The Oz books by L 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. Theodore Roosevelt (ˈroʊzəvɛlt October 27 1858 January 6 1919 also known as T Marcus Alonzo Hanna ( September 24, 1837 &ndash February 15, 1904) best known as Mark Hanna, was an American Industrialist John Davison Rockefeller ( July 8, 1839 &ndash May 23, 1937) was an American Industrialist and philanthropist 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.

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.

The Wizard of Oz on screen and back to stage

Following early film treatments in 1910 and 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) starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1910) is the earliest surviving film version of L Wizard of Oz ( 1925) directed by Larry Semon, who also appears in a comic role (and featuring a young Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man was The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an Independent film studio from 1914-1915 The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical - Fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10 1922 – June 22 1969 was an American actress and singer 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. The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American Theatre and are presented The Wiz is a 1975 Broadway musical, based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L For the TV series character see Stephanie Mills (All in the Family Stephanie Mills (born March 22, 1957 in It was the basis for a 1978 film by the same title starring Diana Ross as an adult Dorothy. The Wiz is a 1978 American Musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October Diana Ross (born March 261944 is an American twelve-time Grammy and Oscar -nominated singer Record producer and actress whose musical repertoire 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. Return to Oz is an Academy Award -nominated 1985 film which is the semi-sequel to The Wizard of Oz. The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (also known as The Muppets Wizard of Oz in association with Fox Television Studios, the Muppets were re-introduced Tin Man is a three-part Television miniseries reimagined continuation of L Today's most successful Broadway show, Wicked provides a backstory to the two Oz witches used in the classic MGM film. Wicked is a musical with songs and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. Wicked author Gregory Maguire chose to honor L. Frank Baum by naming his main character Elphaba -- a phonetic take on Baum's initials.

Later life and work

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. Dot and Tot of Merryland is a 1901 novel by L Frank Baum. After Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he wrote this story about 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. John Rea Neill ( November 12, 1877 - September 13, 1943) was a Magazine and Children's book Illustrator primarily

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. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1902 Children's book, written by L Queen Zixi of Ix or The Story of the Magic Cloak is a Children's book written by L 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. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works 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. The St Nicholas Magazine (1873-1941 was a successful American children's magazine published by Scribner's beginning in November 1873 and designed for

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 travelogue to Oz. The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays was an early attempt to bring L Travel literature is Travel writing considered to have value as Literature. 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. For the former National Basketball Association player see Andrew Lang (basketball.

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. Glinda of Oz is the fourteenth Land of Oz book written by Children's author L Ruth Plumly Thompson ( July 27, 1891 - April 6, 1976) was an American writer of children's stories

Baum made use of several pseudonyms for some of his other, non-Oz books. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) They include:

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

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. This page is about the humorist for others with similar names see William Rogers. 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. Ozma of Oz, published on July 29, 1907, was the third book of L Tik-Tok of Oz is the eighth Land of Oz book written by L Frank Baum. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located Morosco, incidentally, quickly turned to film production, as would Baum. Filmmaking is the process of making a Film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting shooting editing and finally distribution to an audience

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. The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an Independent film studio from 1914-1915 He served as its president, and principal producer and screenwriter. President is a Title leaders of Organizations companies, Trade unions universities, and countries. A film producer is a person who creates the conditions for making movies. Screenwriters or scenarists are Scriptwriters who write the Screenplays from which Films and Television programs are made The rest of the board consisted of Louis F. Gottschalk, Harry Marston Haldeman, and Clarence R. Louis Ferdinand Gottschalk ( October 7, 1864 - July 15, 1934) was an American Composer born in St 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. J Farrell MacDonald ( 6 June 1875&ndash 2 August) was an American film Character actor and director who played supporting roles and occasional leads Vivian Reed ( 17 April, 1894 &ndash 19 July, 1989) was an American actress of the silent era. Mildred Harris ( November 29, 1901 &ndash July 20, 1944) was an American Actress of the Silent film era Juanita Hansen ( March 3, 1895 – September 26, 1961) was an American Motion picture actress. Charles Haydon, and early appearances by Harold Lloyd and Hal Roach. Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr ( April 20, 1893 &ndash March 8, 1971) was an American Film actor and producer Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr ( January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and Silent film actor Richard Rosson appeared in one of the films, whose younger brother Harold Rosson photographed The Wizard of Oz (1939). Harold G "Hal" Rosson, ASC ( August 24, 1895 – September 6, 1988) was an American Cinematographer during The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical - Fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s 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. Decasia is a 2002 Found footage film by Bill Morrison, featuring an original score by Michael Gordon. Dramatic Feature Films was an unsuccessful Silent film venture by Frank Joslyn Baum, son of L Frank Joslyn Baum (born 3 December 1883 - 2 December 1958) was a Lawyer, Soldier, Writer, and Film 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 Cemetery, in Glendale, California. Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately-owned Cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles, in the United States. Glendale ( is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.

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. The Brothers Grimm ( German: Die Gebrüder Grimm) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen (ˈhanˀs ˈkʰʁæʂd̥jan ˈɑnɐsn̩ in Danish or simply H [1] Although the first books contained a fair amount of violence, it decreased with the series; in The Emerald City of Oz, Ozma objected to doing violence even to the Nomes who threaten Oz with invasion. The Emerald City of Oz is the sixth of L Frank Baum 's fourteen Land of Oz books Princess Ozma (b August 21, year unknown is a Fictional character in the Land of Oz universe created by L [2]

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. The Tin Woodman (also known as the Tin Man or the Tin Woodsman, the latter appearing only in adaptations the former used only occasionally by Baum is a character Golden Cap is a Hill and Cliff situated between Bridport and Charmouth in Dorset, England. The Scarecrow of Oz is the ninth book set in the Land of Oz written by L Tik-Tok of Oz is the eighth Land of Oz book written by L Frank Baum. [3]

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. Radical feminism is a "current" within Feminism that focuses on the theory of Patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex Much of the politics in the Republican Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer dealt with trying to convince the populace to vote for women's suffrage. Baum was the secretary of Aberdeen's Woman's Suffrage Club. Aberdeen is a City and the County seat of Brown County, South Dakota, USA, about 125 mi (200 km N When Susan B. Anthony visited Aberdeen, she stayed with the Baums. Susan Brownell Anthony ( February 15, 1820 &ndash March 13, 1906) was a prominent American Civil rights leader who played 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 is a character in the Oz books by L Frank Baum. She first appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz as a self-appointed general leading Jinjur proves to be an incompetent ruler, but a female advocating gender equality is ultimately placed on the throne. Gender equality (also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality) is the goal of the Equality of the Genders 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. The Bluebird Books was is a series of novels popular with teenage girls in the 1910s and 1920s Girly girl is a Slang term for a Girl or Woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style such as wearing Nancy Drew (1930-present is an amateur sleuth, the fictional Heroine of a popular Mystery series, aimed at the children - young

American Indian Genocide

During the events leading up to the Wounded Knee Massacre, Baum wrote an editorial for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer upon the death of Sioux Chief Sitting Bull. The Wounded Knee Massacre also known as The Battle at Wounded Knee Creek was the last major armed conflict between the Oglala Lakota and the United States Sioux (pronounced SUE are a Native American and First Nations people A traditional tribal chief is the leader of a Tribe, or the head of a tribal form of self-government Sitting Bull ( Lakota: Tȟatȟaŋka Iyotȟaŋka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotank, also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow" Ca The entire editorial follows:

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. [4]

After the Massacre he wrote a second editorial. This second editorial ran on January 3, 1891 as follows:

The peculiar policy of the government in employing so weak and vacillating a person as General Miles to look after the uneasy 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. Nelson Appleton Miles ( August 8, 1839 &ndash May 15, 1925) was an American soldier who served in the American Civil War, Indian Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States 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 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. " [4][5]

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. Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage ( Cicero New York, March 24, 1826 &ndash March 18, 1898 in Chicago) was a suffragist Mohawk ( Kanienkeh, Kanienkehaka or Kanien’Kahake, meaning "People of the Flint" are an indigenous people of North America In 2006, however, descendants of Baum apologized to the Sioux nation for any hurt their ancestor had caused. [6]

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. The short story, "The Enchanted Buffalo", which purports to be a Native American fable, speaks respectfully of tribal peoples.

Political imagery in The Wizard of Oz

Main article: 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. Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz study the influences of the modern fairy tale written by L Special attention was paid to the Populist metaphors and debates over silver and gold. The Populist Party (also known as the People's Party) was a relatively short-lived Political party in the United States in the late 18th century [7] 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 Bryanite-silver crusade of 1896-1900. For other persons of the same name see William Bryan and William Jennings. He published a poem[1] in support of William McKinley. William McKinley Jr ( January 29, 1843 September 14, 1901) was the twenty-fifth President of the United States, and the last

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 Aberdeen to participate in community theatricals. The Episcopal Church is the official name of the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States. Later, he and his wife, encouraged by Matilda Joslyn Gage, became Theosophists, in 1897. Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage ( Cicero New York, March 24, 1826 &ndash March 18, 1898 in Chicago) was a suffragist This article is about the philosophy introduced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 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. Porcelain is a Ceramic material made by heating raw materials generally including Clay in the form of Kaolin, in a Kiln to temperatures The Baums also sent their older sons to "Ethical Culture Sunday School" in Chicago, which taught morality, not religion. Ethical Culture is a nontheistic Religion established by Felix Adler in 1876

Bibliography

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. Michael Patrick Hearn is an American literary scholar and one of America's leading men of letters specializing in children's literature and its illustration 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.

Oz works

Main: List of Oz books

Princess Truella, a character from The Magical Monarch of Mo
Princess Truella, a character from The Magical Monarch of Mo

Non-Oz works

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.

Under pseudonyms

As Edith Van Dyne:
As Floyd Akers:
As Schuyler Staunton:
As John Estes Cooke:
As Suzanne Metcalf:
As Laura Bancroft:
Anonymous:

References

Notes

  1. ^ Roger Sale, Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E. B. White p 223
  2. ^ Michael O. Riley, Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, p 164, ISBN 0-7006-0832-X
  3. ^ L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, The Annotated Wizard of Oz, p 138-9, ISBN 0-517-500868
  4. ^ a b Hastings, A. Waller. L. Frank Baum's 'Editorials' kmjkjon the Sioux Nation. Northern State University. Northern State University (NSU is a four-year Public university located in Aberdeen South Dakota. Retrieved on 2007-09-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 476 - Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself
  5. ^ Professor Robert Venables, Senior Lecturer Rural Sociology Department, Cornell University, "Looking Back at Wounded Knee 1890", "Northeast Indian Quarterly", Spring 1990
  6. ^ Ray, Charles. "'Oz' Family Apologizes for Racist Editorials", Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 2006-08-17. Morning Edition is an American Radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Retrieved on 2007-09-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 476 - Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself  
  7. ^ Brian Attebery, The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature, p 86-7, ISBN 0-253-35665-2,

External links

Persondata
NAME Baum, Lyman Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION author
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1856(1856-05-15)
PLACE OF BIRTH Chittenango, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1919
PLACE OF DEATH California, United States
Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 1856 ( MDCCCLVI) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Chittenango is a Village located inside the Town of Sullivan in Madison County New York, United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
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