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Quote of the Day: Baum’s Last Complete Story
“Mr. Baum did his best to answer all the letters from his small earth friends before he had to leave them, but he couldn’t answer quite all, for there were very many. In May, nineteen hundred nineteen, he went away to take his stories to the little child-souls who had lived here too long ago to read the Oz stories for themselves.”
— Cordially, your friends, The Publishers
This statement was part of the preface to L. Frank Baum’s last book, Glinda of Oz. The publishers were hoping to comfort all of those children who awaited Baum’s books with excitement and anticipation; this last book was published after his death in May 1919. Although Oz stories have continued to be written, mostly by Ruth Plumly Thompsen, I was never able to fully switch my allegiance from his magical writing to hers.
I was an avid fan of Baum’s and remember lying on my bed as a child with the sun resting on my quilted cover, my head propped on my hand as I read each of his stories with wonder and joy. He wrote 14 books for the Oz series, and many people know of Baum as the writer of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I had never seen a copy of the first and original book that had the illustrations of W.W. Wenslow; it’s just as well because I know that he wouldn’t have captured my imagination the way John R. Neill did in the subsequent books. Neill’s black and white drawings and colored plates were delicate and ethereal, so much so that later in life I purchased some of the early books strictly for the illustrations.
I can’t imagine anyone passing through childhood without at least having seen the movie that was made of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story. If you have children, I encourage you to introduce them to Baum’s books (if you haven’t already).
Published in Literature
Publishers always want a successful author to keep writing. Why should death stop them?
This is a conversation in our Quote of the Day Series. It can be the easiest way to start a conversation on Ricochet and to bring new voices for all of us to hear. If you are interested in participating, our schedule and sign-up sheet is here.
I introduced my son to the MGM Wizard of Oz a year and a half ago, it was a little too early, and then this year he re-watched it with his younger sister. This time both children were enchanted, my four-year-old was exhilarated when he found out that there were books and they continued the story; we quickly read the first four Oz books out-loud to him. I called a halt until after Christmas and we finish our read of Treasure Island. We had to ration his desire to hear what happened next, during the reading process. Not too shabby for a writer who quickly tired of the books and felt they were a drain on him a little over a century ago.
Yes, his is a sad story. I’m so delighted to hear your children are enjoying his books!! My husband bought me the Annotated Wizard of Oz by Michael Patrick Hearn, which has wonderful detail–the plates, the movie, Baum’s story that includes “obscure contemporary references,” and a bibliography. Your children may be too young to appreciate it right now, but if they continue to enjoy the stories, you might check on a copy. You might enjoy it yourself!
I read several of the Oz books when I was a kid, and subjected my own kids to them a few years ago. (Though we only made it up to Tik-Tok of Oz.)
And they are absolutely nuts.
To my mind, Baum peaked early with his second Oz book, “The Marvelous Land of Oz,” which is sharp of wit, wonderfully satirical and absurdly surreal. Later books are full of random nonsense that’s funny (or scary) — but at a kid level, but I think its his second book where he constructs a story that can be appreciated by adult readers as well. It also features my favorite Oz character: The Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, T.E.
I read several of them, too, Drew, and have no idea if they are good literature or not. I just know I was enthralled and kept reading them for many years; if you read several, you must have been drawn to them as well. And of course, there was my love of the artist’s work.
Well, I loved them as a kid. In reading them to my own kids, however, I found their shortcomings really stuck out. Except for that second one, which is absolutely perfect.
I loved his books when I was a child. As an adult, I have been tempted from time to time to add T.E. to my business cards (Thoroughly Educated) as the Woggle Bug did.
There was a thesis advanced many decades ago that made the case that the original Oz book was intended as a satire of late 19th century populism. Going from memory here, but the author laid out the following:
It seems Baum himself played this up in a musical theater adaptation he penned several years after the book. Interesting thoughts anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz
Right. I tend to believe that’s exactly what he was doing. And the level of satire in his second book (targets: Suffragettes, Academia, among others) suggests that it was probably intended for his first book, too. Later books seem to be aimed more at his younger readers, though.
Fascinating, skip! It would make sense given his background. I’ll see if it’s mentioned in the annotated copy.
I realize there is a subtext here that I didn’t address. How do you write to children who’ve lived in Baum’s magical land of Oz where there is strife, but death is never discussed (as I remember). I wonder if there were little ones who wondered why the children on the other side were so much more important than they were? Did parents have to explain, or try to explain death to these children? Or was there a time when death was more present in people’s lives that they didn’t hide from it? I just wonder . . .
I suspect this is getting closer. I know the death and disease statistics in my own family in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.
In reading over the Annotated Wizard of Oz I mentioned earlier, Baum never mentions intending to have political overtones or characters represented in his stories. In his earlier books, he does write about a couple of teachers from the military academy he attended which was a traumatic time for him. But later in life, Baum was speaking to a pastor who asked him how he came to write the first Oz book:
“It was pure inspiration,” he said. “It came to me right out of the blue. I think that sometimes the Great Author has a message to get across and He has to use the instrument at hand. I happened to be that medium, and I believe the magic key was given to me to open the door to sympathy and understanding, joy, peace and happiness. That is why I’ve always felt there should never be anything except sweetness and happiness in the Oz books, never a hint of tragedy or horror. They were intended to reflect the world as it appears to the eyes and imagination of a child.”
The pastor went on to say that was the closest Baum had ever come to discussing religion, and believed, “But he certainly had one, and he lived and wrote by it.”
I dunno. There’s so much satirical commentary in The Marvelous Land of Oz, I have a hard time believing he wasn’t doing it on purpose. (But then, for people of a certain mindset — me, for example — satire is like breathing. Everything is a target, and you see opportunities for satire everywhere.)
I read the first one as a child and didn’t think it all that great, I think I was too much under the thrall of the MGM film, after the film Return to Oz came out as a ten year old I tried the second or third books (perhaps both) and didn’t finish either of them. Reading them to my children, I agree the second book is better than the first in many ways, a stronger more coherent plot, strong characterizations, but I really enjoyed the third book as well. The fourth has strong moments but seems to flag a little and becomes too episodic. I haven’t read the fifth or six they are hanging fire for a few weeks longer.
I intend to pick a copy up at some point, the annotated children’s classic titles are wonderful ways to while away an afternoon, and learn to savor a childhood favorite on a whole new level. Though like many of my favorite Biblical commentaries they seldom answer the questions one really, really wants to know!
I agree there is a lot of satire in The Marvelous Land of Oz, but it seems very general, but much of it still rings true – feminism and academia and provincialism alike get good strong pokes of a pointed stick.
As to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I’m not so sure. I remember learning the Populism theory in high school, it was a favorite of my AP history teacher, and it seemed possible at the time and afterward, but I had read the book in 6 years or so when I first heard it. Though in rereading about Baum before I re-read the original and subsequent books with my children, and then reading the books as an adult, I am much more skeptical, I think some of the elements may just be derived from the atmosphere of the time, some might some be humorous veiled references, but it doesn’t really seem to cohere as a solid satire. Also, Baum never mentioned it (which doesn’t necessarily prove anything), but the fact that no one at the time or for 60 years afterward seemed to notice the satire seems like a pretty good proof it wasn’t there at all (at least not in the grand unified theory kind of way).
By the way, the musical he wrote is awful…and doesn’t hold up well at all, a few songs are sort of charming, but it is really boring and lacks any magic. Baum made several silent films of his stories, and those are much better, still not wonderful in an amazing way, but charming and worth seeing one time, but for the love of all that is holy avoid the Larry Semon feature silent film version of 1926. Some things can’t be unseen…
Seems like one of the things my kids continue to remember was the princess (or queen) who had a whole bunch of spare heads she changed as her moods shifted. I think that was in the third book.
In rereading them as an adult I realized I had forgotten quite a bit, but some parts stayed with me. The Wheelers (which were rather frightening), . . . that bit where all the characters fall through a hole in the earth and end up on the other side, . . . the flying Gump . . . and that part where the Nome King transforms people into chotchkies.
You might be right, Drew, and I don’t have any problem with that possibility. Seriously, many books are designed to speak to different levels and Baum may have been doing precisely that. I must add that I only read the books as a child (which was a very long time ago), and have occasionally skimmed the ones I bought, so you and @stsalieriericcook are in a better position to comment on them from a literary viewpoint than I am. I didn’t have kids, so I don’t have that experience to pass on; if I did, I might feel just like you guys do.
I’m sure that will be true. And it’s been years since I really sat down to read mine. Maybe it’s time to do just that!
The annotated book describes his plays, musicals and films in depth and he gives the impression, too, that the results were mixed. Perhaps he should have stayed with children’s books!
Its been over 20 years since I read them. However I want to say one of my favorites the the 7th or 8th in the series.
A paper bringing up populist undertones in The Wizard of Oz was written by Henry Littlefield.
What a fun read! Thanks, Matt!
Disney did a really good adaptation of this back in the 80s (before Eisner).
Yes, it many ways it is far closer to the Oz of the books than the art-deco MGM film. If the spirit of the film gets some of Oz right, a lot is missing. The Disney film is quite frightening as parts of all the Oz books are – and as all good fairy-tales should be.
#metoo