Baum, L. Frank

Lyman Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was born on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York. The son of a successful entrepreneur, Baum embarked on many careers before beginning to write for children. In his youth, he ran a small printing press to produce a monthly magazine for family and friends. As an adult, his creative work as an actor, playwright, and journalist was interspersed with commercial pursuits including poultry farming, store keeping, and window dressing.

Baum's career as a children's author began with the 1899 publication of Father Goose: His Book. Although Father Goose was the children's bestseller of the year, it was soon overshadowed by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The demand for additional stories about Dorothy and her friends was so great that Baum wrote thirteen more Oz books. Other fictional works created for boys and girls were published by Baum under the pen names "Floyd Akers" and "Edith Van Dyne." After Baum's death in 1919, a new generation of authors continued the Oz series as well as several of Baum's other story lines.

Is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz a political allegory of the turbulent 1890s? In a 1964 American Quarterly article, Henry M. Littlefield suggested this wonderful American fairy tale spoke to the political and economic climate that produced the Populist movement. "Wizard of Oz: Parable On Populism" noted Baum's years as a journalist in drought ravaged rural South Dakota, and his residence in Chicago during the Democratic convention that nominated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency in 1896. According to Littlefield, signs of Baum's time are obvious throughout the first Oz book. For example, Dorothy hails from the Populist hotbed of Kansas, and she travels a yellow brick road symbolic of the gold standard. Yet, it is her silver slippers-representing the free coinage of silver championed by the Peoples Party-that ultimately save her. Political commentary serves the story, Littlefield maintains, but fortunately, Baum never allows it to overwhelm the fantasy.

The Wizard of Oz debuted on stage long before the famous 1939 MGM film. On June 16, 1902, The Wizard of Oz opened at the Grand Opera House in Chicago. Produced by Fred Hamlin, written by Baum, with music by Paul Teitjens, the play was a hit. After its January 1903 Broadway premiere, the production tallied over 290 performances. It was the longest running show of the decade. The musical focused on the Tin Woodsman and Scarecrow, rather than Dorothy, advancing the careers of David Montgomery and Frank Stone-the vaudeville team tapped for the roles. Throughout the 1910s, traveling road companies brought the The Wizard of Oz to cities and towns across the country. In fact, the play was so successful and so well known that subsequent editions of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz were retitled The Wizard of Oz to reflect the popularity of the stage production.

Attempts to capture The Wizard of Oz on film date to 1910, when the Selig Polyscope Company created four one-reel silent movies based on the Wizard and other Oz books. In 1914, L. Frank Baum founded his own Hollywood film company. Its five silent features and several shorts based on Baum's stories were not successful - Baum sold the studio to Universal in 1915. In 1925, yet another silent film version also disappointed at the box-office.

The 1939 MGM production starring Judy Garland as Dorothy was an immediate success. With its brilliant use of Technicolor, talented cast, and respectful editing of Baum's story, The Wizard of Oz quickly became a classic. Shown again and again on television, the film has been seen by more viewers than any other movie. In a recent People magazine poll, The Wizard of Oz emerged as its readers favorite movie of the twentieth century.

Book list:

The classic children's tale about farm girl Dorothy's unconscious trip to the mythical Land of Oz: includes the Munchkins, Wicked Witch of the West, and Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and Tinman.

Continuation of the Oz series, tells the story of the destruction of the Emerald City by the Nome King, who is looking for a Magic Belth. Dorothy and her family have moved to the Emerald City and witness the invading armies.

A young boy name Tip escapes from Mombi, a sorceress, and travels to the Emerald City to start his new life.

Dorothy is blown overboard on a ship during a storm. She is washed ashore in Ev, a land across the Deadly Desert from Oz.

The story of a patchwork doll who is brought to life by a magician.

Dorothy and her friends return to Oz for Ozma's birthday.

Dorothy's adventures in Oz.