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From: binder%dosadi.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: The Oz canon and the film
Message-ID: <2373@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 25-Jun-85 10:48:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.2373
Posted: Tue Jun 25 10:48:31 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Jun-85 02:01:33 EDT
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: binder%dosadi.DEC@decwrl.ARPA  (Wherever you go, there you are.)

> ...credit is given to Baum, as it is declared that the movie "Return to Oz"
> is based on /The Land of Oz/ and /Tik-Tok of Oz/.  (At least it so declares
> in the movie ads.  I have not inspected the book.)

Actually, the film credits say /The Land of Oz/ and /Ozma of Oz/ -- the plot
of the film follows TLoO fairly closely, with only touches from OoO.  If you
are a Baum fan, GO SEE THE FILM.  It's delightful; the Disney people did a
very good job of capturing the feeling of Oz as envisaged by Baum, with the 
characters modelled after the drawings by John R. Neill, who did all the Baum
books except the first one.  Don't take VERY small children to see it - there
are a couple of rather intense moments.

Baum, who was called the Royal Historian of Oz, wrote 14 Oz books:

 1.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  (reissued as The Wizard of Oz)
 2.  The Marvelous Land of Oz  (reissued as The Land of Oz)
 3.  Ozma of Oz
 4.  Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
 5.  The Road to Oz
 6.  The Emerald City of Oz
 7.  The Patchwork Girl of Oz
 8.  Tik-Tok of Oz
 9.  The Scarecrow of Oz
10.  Rinkitink in Oz
11.  The Lost Princess of Oz
12.  The Tin Woodman of Oz
13.  The Magic of Oz
14.  Glinda of Oz

Ruth Plumly Thompson, who I believe was Baum's daughter, wrote 19 more:

15.  The Royal Book of Oz
16.  Kabumpo in Oz
17.  The Cowardly Lion of Oz
18.  Grampa in Oz
19.  The Lost King of Oz
20.  The Hungry Tiger of Oz
21.  The Gnome King of Oz  (Baum, never a scholar, spelled it 'Nome'!)
22.  The Giant Horse of Oz
23.  Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz
24.  The Yellow Knight of Oz
25.  Pirates in Oz
26.  The Purple Prince of Oz
27.  Ojo in Oz
28.  Speedy in Oz
29.  The Wishing Horse of Oz
30.  Captain Salt in Oz
31.  Handy Mandy in Oz
32.  The Silver Princess in Oz
33.  Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz

John R. Neill, who had illustrated Baum's works, did three:

34.  The Wonder City of Oz
35.  Scalawagons of Oz
36.  Lucky Bucky in Oz

Jack Snow, about whom I know nothing, did two:

37.  The Magical Mimics in Oz
38.  The Shaggy Man of Oz

Rachel R. Cosgrove did one:

39.  The Hidden Valley of Oz

Finally, Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren McGraw Wagner did one:

40.  Merry Go Round in Oz

The titles, naming various characters as they do, belie the fact that many of 
the characters, including Tik-Tok, Ozma, and Jack Pumpkinhead, were introduced 
in TLoO.

The Oz canon, if it may be called such, is thus set at 40 books.  Baum also 
wrote a stage play about Oz, which was produced to rave reviews, and several 
silent screenplays, which were filmed by his own production company.  The 
Disney Studios bought the film rights to Baum's books, excepting only the 
first, which was already owned by MGM.  Disney actually started production of 
a musical called "The Rainbow Land of Oz" in the '50s, but Walt himself
stopped it when he realised that it wasn't even going to approach the appeal
of the Judy Garland film. 

Cheers,
Dick Binder   (The Stainless Steel Rat)

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Tue 25-Jun-1985 09:40 Eastern Daylight Time