Wizard of Oz (Baum, Movie, Books)

[Fozzie Bear]

Hey, I figured with the new film coming out that we could reserve a thread exlusively for discussion about OZ as NOT Muppet related--in other words, about any of the 40 books by L. Frank Baum, John R. Neill, or Ruth Plumley Thompson, and the 1939 Movie. Related slightly to The Muppets is the film "Return to Oz," which featured puppetry by Brian Henson!

Here's a general OZ FAQ:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/oz.faq
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First up, you can click on some of this listing of the books by Baum (http://www.classicreader.com/author.php/aut.6/) and Thompson to read them online: (from the FAQ above)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Baum, 1900) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.123/)
The Marvelous Land of Oz (Baum, 1904) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.117/)
Ozma of Oz (Baum, 1907) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.118/)
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (Baum, 1908) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.7/)
The Road to Oz (Baum, 1909) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.122/)
The Emerald City of Oz (Baum, 1910) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.112/)
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Baum, 1913) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.114/)
Tik-Tok of Oz (Baum, 1914) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.119/)
The Scarecrow of Oz (Baum, 1915) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.120/)
Rinkitink in Oz (Baum, 1916) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.115/)
The Lost Princess of Oz (Baum, 1917) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.110/)
The Tin Woodman of Oz (Baum, 1918) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.121/)
The Magic of Oz (Baum, 1919) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.116/)
Glinda of Oz (Baum, 1920) (http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.111/)

The Royal Book of Oz (Thompson--although R&L editions say Baum, 1921)
Kabumpo in Oz (Thompson, 1922)
The Cowardly Lion of Oz (Thompson, 1923)
Grampa in Oz (Thompson, 1924)
The Lost King of Oz (Thompson, 1925)
The Hungry Tiger of Oz (Thompson, 1926)
The Gnome King of Oz (Thompson, 1927)
The Giant Horse of Oz (Thompson, 1928)
Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz (Thompson, 1929)
The Yellow Knight of Oz (Thompson, 1930)
Pirates in Oz (Thompson, 1931)
The Purple Prince of Oz (Thompson, 1932)
Ojo in Oz (Thompson, 1933)
Speedy in Oz (Thompson, 1934)
The Wishing Horse of Oz (Thompson, 1935)
Captain Salt in Oz (Thompson, 1936)
Handy Mandy in Oz (Thompson, 1937)
The Silver Princess in Oz (Thompson, 1938)
Ozoplaning With the Wizard of Oz (Thompson, 1939)

The Wonder City of Oz (Neill, 1940)
The Scalawagons of Oz (Neill, 1941)
Lucky Bucky in Oz (Neill, 1942)

The Magical Mimics in Oz (Snow, 1946)
The Shaggy Man of Oz (Snow, 1949)

The Hidden Valley of Oz (Cosgrove, 1951)

Merry Go Round in Oz (McGraw and Wagner, 1963)

If you cursor over the book titles in this next link, a picture of the book's cover appears on your screen! Let this site (http://www.scifan.com/writers/tt/ThompsonPRuth.asp) have a few seconds to finish downloading before you try it though.
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The Official Oz Canon:
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6396/ozcanon.htm

WW Denslow, who illustrated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, had ownership of the characters and stole them to write his own book; then John R Neill came in as an illustrator and his artwork is my favorite!

Of the characters in these books, Scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead are my favorites.

I also wrote my own book, The Emerald Talismans of Oz, which never has been published but was intended for such as part of the 100th anniversary of the first book (there was this contest, see, and...nevermind--I lost)...

Anyways, Eric Shanower did some GREAT graphic novels, basing his art off Neill's (I think), and they're printed from Hungry Tiger Press. (http://www.hungrytigerpress.com/)

PS: What's funny is if you look at my google search, the bottom-most finding is a post of mine from a different MC thread! http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ruth+plumley+thompson

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

Wow, 40 books!! I have eight of them, I think; I had no idea there were so many! Cool...
Erin

[Fozzie Bear]

They are good books; I don't think I ever got bored with any of them! BTW: Didja know that Glinda is from the Quadling Country in the South, while the Good Witch of the Gillikin Country of Oz is named Tattypoo. BTW, there were more than just the Wicked Witches of the East and West.

Oz is seperated into 4 countries with a capital:
North Gillikin Country (Purple)
East Munchkin Country (Blue)
South Quadling Country (Red)
West Winkie Country (Yellow)
In the center of all 4 is Emerald City (Green)

The Land of Oz is rectangular in shape and is surrounded by a deadly desert. There are countries that surround oz as well, and those countries are surrounded by waters.

[mupvisiongirl]

Yay! I'm so glad there are some other Oz enthusiasts on the board. I love the books as well (haven't gotten through all of them) but I think the first one is my favorite, just so near and dear to my heart.
BTW- have you read "wicked" yet? It's all about what was going on in Oz before Dorothy dropped in.

[Fozzie Bear]

I have not read Wicked, although I own it. There are several parts of that book which do not line up effectively with the actual histories (the 40 books) of Oz. In some book the name of the Wicked Witch Of the West was given, and it's different in Wicked.

My favorite books are Scarecrow of Oz, but I really enjoyed the Royal Book of Oz--a book that I own a first edition print of (the purchase of which kind of has a story).

[mb22]

Yay! I'm so glad there are some other Oz enthusiasts on the board. I love the books as well (haven't gotten through all of them) but I think the first one is my favorite, just so near and dear to my heart.
BTW- have you read "wicked" yet? It's all about what was going on in Oz before Dorothy dropped in.

WICKED (the book) is an adult-themed 'reimagining' that borrows elements from both the film and a few of the books. It certainly doesn't fit in with the regular children's series.

There is also a great Oz FAQ (perhaps the most comprehensive online) at http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/ozfaq.html

There is also the International Wizard of Oz Club (http://www.ozclub.org) as well.

[Whatever]

I've read most of the Oz books. They're very entertaining.

[Fozzie Bear]

I used to be a member of the IWOC.

[mb22]

And lest anyone forget, some (not all) of JIM HENSON'S MOTHER GOOSE STORIES were based on Baum's short tales in his first children's book MOTHER GOOSE IN PROSE (ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04/mtgsp10.txt) (the set design was inspired by the Maxfield Parrish illustrations).

[Fozzie Bear]

And lest anyone forget, some (not all) of JIM HENSON'S MOTHER GOOSE STORIES were based on Baum's short tales in his first children's book MOTHER GOOSE IN PROSE (ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04/mtgsp10.txt) (the set design was inspired by the Maxfield Parrish illustrations).

I didn't realize that!! I just remembered that Jim Henson was a huge Oz fan.

[Whatever]

Random Fact of the Day:
"Baum" means "tree" in German.

[Johnboy]

Jim Henson was a OZ fan? cool, no wonder why Henson used elements of " The Wizard of Oz" for his non-muppet movies " The Dark Crystal" and " Labyrinth", Wizard of Oz was probably a major influence on him and a personal fave of his.

Brian Henson did do Jack Pumpkinhead in Return to Oz, i think he did great as the voice of Jack during the same time he did Hoggle while filming Labyrinth.

Do you think Wizard of Oz was a major influence on Dark Crystal and Labyrinth?

[superfan]

I would say WofO definately had some elements of influence on Labrynth.

WofO: frustrated girl with responsiblilties
Labrynth: check!

WofO: girl dreams of fantasy world
Labrynth: check!

WofO: girl makes mistake (runs away)
Labrynth: check (gives brother to Goblin King)

WofO: girl ends up in fantasy world
Labrynth: check!

WofO: fantasy world had villanoius creatures
Labrynth: check!

WofO: fantasy world had friendly creatures
Labrynth: check!

WofO: girl overcomes great obstacles
Labrynth: check!

WofO: girl learns valuable lesson and returns home safely
Labrynth: check!

Yup.
Now, smack me on the wrist, but I haven;t seen The Dark Crystal (and I call myself a Superfan). I can only assume there's a WofO influence.

[Fozzie Bear]

We've another new poster here at MC who's a fan of Return To Oz.

I mentioned my faves are Scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead in the books.

[Pumpkinhead]

Ah! It's great to see other OZ fans here. (Thanks for that list Fozzie, good to see you have extensive knowledge of the OZ universe!) As a huge fan of the books, I'm in love with Return to OZ. I thought it captured the look and feel that the books portrayed. It basically combined the elements from 'Land of OZ' and 'Ozma of OZ'. The score by David Shire was perfect. (It's out of print and goes for bookoos on ebay but you can download the entire score at returntoozthemovie.com if anyone wants it.)

I would really love to see this series be made from scratch and start all over with the original story. Just as long as it takes the approach that Return to OZ did. Actually, I'd love to see it take off from where Return to OZ left off, but that film is not recognized by many, sadly. I wonder if todays audience would be more excepting of a non-musical version. It's sad to think they might not. But you never know. Most people associate OZ with the colorful musical. And I will say the MGM musical is a classic landmark film that will remain an unprecedented masterpiece. But in all honesty the overall tone of the film wasn't like the books. The books, while delightful and very funny at times had a dark side to them as well. And it wasn't just the wicked witch scenes that were dark(her role in the book didn't seem as prominent in the book as it was in the musical). I would love to see the scene where the tin man lops a wolf's head off.

Sadly, the Thompson books are out of print... I think you can get them off of abebooks.com though... I haven't read them, but I'm dying to read Jack Pumpkinhead of OZ.

[Whatever]

I like your username, Pumpkinhead!

[Pumpkinhead]

Thanks!

I have to carve a new head from time to time... sadly, there's no way to avoid bruising and spoiling. ;)

'Whatever' is a great name too! Good stuff!

[Whatever]

Thanks!
I hope your head doesn't fly off too often... :D

[Rowbes]

Have you seen the silent film versions of the novels?

[Infinity Sirius]

Also did you know that outside of the 40 that Fozzie listed that there are over a 100 Oz novels published over the years by various publishers.

[Fozzie Bear]

I own the silent film versions, Oliver Hardy is the Tin Man in some of them. The Scarecrow and Scraps are my favorite re-creations from the illustrations in those films, too. They look just like the artwork!

There are 40 canon stories of Oz, but there are hundreds of other Oz novels not considered canon (by the International Wizard of Oz Club, Inc.).

I wrote (and may have mentioned here) a book called "The Emerald Talismans of Oz," and want to publish it as soon as I discover what the copyrights are that surround the characters. It was for the 2000 publication of a 100th anniversary Oz book, written in 1998 for submission to the contest the IWOC held, but wasn't chosen. It's still a very great book and was even left with an open ending so as to write a sequel should I desire. Even as discriminating as I am about all of my work, I like this book.