May 17th, Friday | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The date is May 17th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

As promised, today we have more on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the first distinctly American fairy-tale-fantasy novel. 

On this day in 1900, the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, the first copy given to L. Frank Baum’s younger sister. Baum was the creator and author of the story and the original illustrations were by W.W. Denslow.

The publisher did not think the book would be particularly crowd pleasing. He only agreed to publish it after securing a deal for the story to be adapted into a musical play for the Chicago theater scene, in order to increase publicity. 

The first edition of 10,000 copies sold out quickly due to a large number of pre-sales. The second edition of 15,000 copies was almost gone by October of that same year. By the time it entered the public domain in 1956, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had sold more than three-million copies. Since it had been in the public domain for more than fifty years, it is difficult to say how many copies it has sold to date.

As mentioned on Wednesday’s episode, Baum bounced around many jobs, writing and otherwise, before finally making it as an author at age 41. In one of Baum’s earlier writing jobs he wrote a piece about drought ridden towns wearing green-tinted glasses to make the yellowed landscape appear more lush. In Oz, before entering the Emerald City, Dorothy and her posse must put on glasses, which they discover, have green-tinted lenses and the city made of emeralds, is just a normal city. 

As a writer for a window-dressing magazine, Baum saw his fair share of creative displays of household objects. According to his son, in a window-dressing of Baum’s own, he stacked metal objects together to make a metal-man, or you could say, a tin man.

In writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum took bits and pieces from everywhere. Witches, wizards, and magical creatures from fairy-tales. A female protagonist in a strange land from Alice in Wonderland. A ‘good’ driven young person, who values her family, from the Victorians. 

Baum then used typically American things such as cornfields, a booming metropolis, and a tornado, to make The Wonderful Wizard of Oz what critics have deemed the first distinctly American fairy-tale and fantasy novel.

The first book was followed by thirteen more Oz-related tales. The countless spin-offs, adaptations, and inspired works are a testament to the indelible mark The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has made on American literature and culture. It is truly a work of “wonderment and joy.”

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea

   In a beautiful pea-green boat:

They took some honey, and plenty of money

   Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

   And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,

   What a beautiful Pussy you are,

            You are,

            You are!

   What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,

   How charmingly sweet you sing!

Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried,

   But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the bong-tree grows;

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,

   With a ring at the end of his nose,

            His nose,

            His nose,

   With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

   Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."

So they took it away, and were married next day

   By the turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince and slices of quince,

   Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

   They danced by the light of the moon,

            The moon,

            The moon,

   They danced by the light of the moon.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely weekend.