Kevin.Dowling@CMU-RI-ROVER.ARPA (06/29/85)
From: Kevin.Dowling@CMU-RI-ROVER Dover Publications has a version of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz that has the original illustrations by W. W. Denslow. Baum and Denslow also collaborated on Dot and Merryland but appaently had a falling out and John Rea Neill took over for the rest of the Oz books. The dover book has an intro by Martin Gardner which discusses the background of Baum and the Oz stories. Also there is a Baum fantasy bibleography at the end of the book which has a brief synopsis of each book Baum wrote. Ruth Plumly THompson, as mentioned, wrote 19 oz books,3 by Neill, 2 by Jack Snow and 1 by Rachel Cosgrove. There was also one by Colonel Frank Joslyn Baum, Baum's son. (The Laughing Dragon) which is a scarce collector's item. Before The Wiz came to broadway, Baum wrote the book and lyrics for a musical comedy in 1902 which was a big hit. They changed Toto to a calf named Imogene though, cause it was hard for an actor to diguise himself as a little black dog! I have not read most of the oz books, but as I glanced through the bibleography, I enjoyed seeing a number of SF concepts in the stories including, tunnels through the center of the earth, undersea cities, automatons, teleportation, Baum had other books dealing with halting of time (American Fairy Tales). Baum actaully wrote a SF novel called the Master Key, definitely dated, but interesting where the Demon of Electricity provides a boy with six electrical wonders. In Lost Princess of Oz, The Pink Bear is a wind-up automaton capable of answering any questions., In the Tin Woodsman of Oz there is a Chopfyte, a composite man assembled from parts of the Tin Woodsmn and Tin Soldiers original bodies and what is termed an interesting conversation between the Tin Woodman and his original head! I enjoyed the Return to Oz greatly. The Claymation effects were fabulous. I think this was the same person who did the prize winning claymation "Closed Mondays" which was on the Internation Animation Festival (PBS series) which was hosted by Jean Marsh (Princess Momba) nivek