OZ-STRAVAGANZA! 2021 COMES TO YOU!

By: John Fricke

[Above:  The All Things Oz Blog is proud to present the debut of this two-page spread of Gabriel Gale’s original drawings. (They, along with dozens of others, will be published this October in his new book, THE ART OF OZ.) At left, you see Glinda the Good, accompanied by L. Frank Baum’s own description of the magnificent Good Witch of the South. The opposite illustrations depict her warriors, mounted on some of the “most regal and valiant of horned animals – elk, caribou, reindeer, and stags”; Glinda led them all into battle to overthrow the wicked witches of the Land of Oz. More information? It’s coming your way this weekend! Please read below and learn how you can enjoy the story behind Gabriel Gale’s THE ART OF OZ – and so much more Oz news – as this year’s OZ-Stravaganza! comes to YOU!]

Last year, for the first time in forty-three years, there was no annual Chittenango OZ-Stravaganza! The glorious festival in the birthplace village of L. Frank Baum – “Royal Historian of Oz” – was initially launched in 1978 and, by 2019, had spanned five decades. In the process, OZ-Strav! triumphed over rain, snow, sleet, hail, wind, thunder, lightning, power outages, a mini-tornado, a last-minute lack of hotel space for special guests, the bright-red sunburns of parade viewers (and participants), and the fact that the MGM movie Munchkins even briefly worked while protectedly garbed against the cold in the winter coats and boots of the children of festival volunteers!

It’s a remarkable history and “record”: the longest-running, Oz-related, annual festival in the world. And all we can say about 2020 is that it took a world-wide pandemic to stop the fun.

Now, however, that world is being blessed – however slowly and piecemeal — with a gradual reestablishment of activities. It’s still too soon to bring thirty thousand people together for a weekend in Central New York, but plans are already being formulated for OZ-Stravaganza! 2022, which will also mark the centennial celebration of Judy Garland: “Dorothy” of the iconic 1939 film version of THE WIZARD OF OZ.

But . . . !

The International L. Frank Baum and All Things Oz Historical Foundation has no intention of making you wait another twelve months to enjoy a wondrous and all-encompassing roster of Oz presentations. Thus, across the first weekend in June, they’ll “reconvene” right here on the internet in an assemblage of brand new and extremely Ozzy video programs. It’s a streaming, “virtual” OZ-Stravaganza! 2021, all in celebration of Chittenango’s favorite son, and honoring the wonders that he and his imagination inaugurated one-hundred-and-twenty-one years ago with the publication of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ book.  The Foundation’s officers and board of directors have come together to produce a rainbow road of viewing and entertainment, “starring” guests who are both new to OZ-Stravaganza! as well as several much-lauded favorites of the past. It’s an amazing amalgamation of Ozian experts, illustrators, authors, researchers, historians, and entertainers.

Certainly, motion pictures – and one film in particular – can be credited for a large percentage of the world-wide enthusiasm enjoyed by Dorothy and her friends. That “one film in particular” is, of course, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer THE WIZARD OF OZ. Of the movie’s many remarkable qualities, perhaps its most outstanding technical achievement is the mélange of special effects that permeates the entire story – all achieved for the screen long before CGI was ever envisaged. The man behind that magic was A. Arnold “Buddy” Gillespie; his grandson Robert Welch (above) is coeditor of Buddy’s autobiography, THE WIZARD OF MGM, and you’ll find Robert’s on-camera OZ-Strav! interview is a marvel of rare Metro OZ imagery and behind-the-scenes genius.

The diversity of meanings in – and interpretations of – the Oz books has led to some further and extraordinary motion picture making. In 2014, OZLAND was added to the short list of genuinely thought-provoking and evocative modern-day visions of Baum and his saga; this year’s virtual OZ-Stravaganza! is graced by the director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and editor of that award-winning film. What is even more remarkable is that they’re all one thirty-three-year-old man, shown above: Michael Williams. (Now do the math and contemplate the fact that he was still in his mid-twenties when he employed all those talents to create the award-winning OZLAND.)

Fans of the Oz books and their illustrations will be fascinated by the drawings and anecdotes shared by Brady Schwind (above). A renaissance man of stage and film, Brady is another award-winning writer, director, and performer; fortunately for us, he is also a life-long Oz fan and recently “creator” of THE LOST ART OF OZ. He established this innovative project in an effort to track down as many as possible of the estimated four thousand original drawings prepared for the official Oz book series between 1900 and 1963. The discoveries he’s made, the challenges he’s encountered, and the dreams that he dares to dream will thrill and delight you as he describes them.

There are, as well, three outstanding and “returning” guests to the virtual OZ-Stravaganza! 2021. MGM’s OZ? And new and original Oz books? Paul Miles Schneider (above) brilliantly straddles both categories. Fans have radiated joy when hearing, in-person, about his preteen meeting – and subsequent, school-year-long, pen pal friendship –with quintessential Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton. In more recent years, Paul’s passion for Oz has led to a trilogy of acclaimed books for young readers – SILVER SHOES, THE POWDER OF LIFE, and THE MAGIC BELT — in which a present-day preteen Kansas boy, Donald Gardner, learns something that many of us have always known (or at least felt): Oz is real. Along with all the other guests referenced here, Paul will offer his personal back-story in an on-camera OZ-Strav! interview.

Tom Hutchison is pictured above with two OZ-Stravaganza! cohorts, including cosplay dream girl Allison Lehr. Lifelong comic book fan, Tom has passed from collecting to managing (and then owning) a store; a few years ago, he dove into his current enterprises and now writes and publishes his own work, all the while serving as an editor to newcomers in the field of comics. In terms of specific Oz imaginings, he is the writer/creator of a specific “Old West” approach to Baum’s characters and countries. The Hutchison THE LEGEND OF OZ: THE WICKED WITCH introduces a Dorothy who wears ruby spurs, and whose best friend is now her trusty steed – named Toto!

Those who revel in new Oz books geared to youngsters of all ages will already know the fantasy mind-workings of Gabriel Gale. His first two AGES OF OZ novels won widespread partisanship when first released three and four years back. Now Rizzoli, the famed art book publishers, have focused on another of the Gale gifts and proudly assembled scores of his original, dynamic, and colorful drawings of characters from Baum’s Oz (and “Borderland of Oz”) stories. Gabriel Gale’s THE ART OF OZ is scheduled for publication on October 5th and also includes Baum quotes, samples of original Oz art by W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill, and an afterword by preeminent Baum authority Michael Patrick Hearn. The major text for the book has been written – with sanction from Princess Ozma herself – by Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, Toto, Glinda, Professor Woggle-Bug, and the Wonderful Wizard. Thus, THE ART OF OZ (please see below) is a guided tour through some of the happiest, most whimsical, and sometimes tremor-inspiring (if ultimately vanquished) personalities ever created by L. Frank Baum!

As you’ll see when you watch the videos, Marc Baum – entertainment director of OZ-Stravaganza! and secretary of the Foundation — conducted the interview with Tom Hutchison, as well as one with me. I then had the privilege of speaking on-camera with Michael Williams, Robert Welch, Paul Miles Schneider, and Gabriel Gale.  So, we hope YOU’LL join us to spend time with some new friends and some long-time pals. Many of you reading here can trace your associations with one, several, or all of these gentlemen to the good times shared at past festivals and myriad Oz events. Virtually translated, this means that these new recordings with them are basically a family reunion waiting to happen. 😊

FINALLY – AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:  There may be more “surprises, announcements, and guests (oh, my!)” to be revealed in terms of the VIRTUAL OZ-STRAVAGANZA! 2021, so PLEASE VISIT THE ALL THINGS OZ-HOME PAGE ON FACEBOOK EVERY DAY THIS WEEK to keep up-to-date – and to learn when to tune in to participate in all the magic and joy of these fascinating Oz personalities. You’ll never forget their stories, and as fellow fans, we know you’ll want to hear their latest Oz announcements.

We’ll be looking forward to your attendance – and your comments!

MORE ABOUT OZ, MR. BAUM!

By: John Fricke

Above: The giant Mr. Yoop creates only brief — and encaged — havoc in L. Frank Baum’s book, THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ, but his eleven pages are definitely memorable. (Note the title character with the Scarecrow, Dorothy, and Ojo the Munchkin boy in the lower left corner of John R. Neill’s illustration.) In Baum’s THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ, Mrs. Yoop dominates and/or pervades ten full chapters, and her powers as a Yookoohoo “magic-worker” cause much distress. Certainly, a subsequent book could have recounted the stories of what has happened to both of them since his capture (and escape?), not to mention the revenge she attempts to take on those who — rightfully! – made a hasty retreat from imprisonment in her castle

I guess everyone has recurring dreams, and some of those I’ve heard or read about from fellow Oz fans are certainly . . . well, I guess the catch-all word would be “interesting”!

Meanwhile, I only have one of my own, but it’s popped up over multiple nights and across multiple decades since I was a preteen. It takes place in the book department of a major store like Gimbels or Schuster’s (that’ll date me!), and in it, I gleefully come upon a huge table stacked high with Oz books — or multiple shelves with spines-out Oz books. They’re all brand new, they’re all for sale, and best of all, every one of them carries a title that is unfamiliar. NONE of them is any one of the “famous forty” of the official series.

In several of these dreams, I’ve even been able to pick up one or two of the books to look at them. They’re in the same, basic Reilly & Lee size and format that prevailed across the years they were publishing the catalog: neatly Neill-illustrated, and way beyond fascinating. The rear flap of each dust jacket lists “The Oz Books” (just as Reilly & Lee did on most of theirs), but again, they’re all different names — none of those that I’d actually ever seen in the past. The concept of a score or more of new Oz tales never fails to enchant and thrill me in my sleep, yet despite many such midnight reveries, I’ve only retained one title among the many volumes I perused while slumbering: THE NONESTIC OCEAN OF OZ.

Even that, though, is a happy reminder of the places our hearts may lead us when we’re asleep!

Above: “The Oz Books”! This is the rear dust jacket flap that I first encountered in real life. I was seven years old, and I’d been a rabid Oz fan for almost two years. By that point, I knew THE WIZARD OF OZ book backwards, and totally by accident that summer day in 1958, I came across a copy of THE ROAD TO OZ in a department store “book nook.” The discovery that there was ANOTHER Oz book is a moment of excitement I’ll never forget. The fact that I then stumbled upon the list above — printed exactly that way — was cause for inner tumult and ebullience and jubilation . . . and a raft of facts and wonders far greater than I could process. Who was the PURPLE PRINCE? What were MAGICAL MIMICS? Was KABUMPO a name or a place? There was a title, DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ. Did they ACTUALLY go BACK? Were there really WHOLE BOOKS about the Tin Woodman? the Cowardly Lion? And my favorite, the Scarecrow? My mom was equally impressed by the list; she immediately noticed that a) there were thirty-eight different volumes; and b) EACH was $2.50. That was a considerable amount of coin in 1958

All of these memories are currently “in mind” here, because in recent weeks, I’ve been immersed in the first fourteen Oz books, their characters, their geography, the first “Royal Historian” L. Frank Baum, and the first two Oz illustrators, W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill. Such preoccupation occurred as accompaniment to the text I’ve been asked to prepare to accompany Gabriel Gale’s forthcoming book, THE ART OF OZ. (It’ll be published by Rizzoli in October, and I hope you’ll watch this space for forthcoming details.) In the overall Ozzy process, I also thought of the many years of Christmas cards sent by Fred Meyer (1926-2004) as secretary of The International Wizard of Oz Club (ozclub.org). Most of Fred’s cards depicted the covers and/or titles of Oz books that he and other fans wished had been written as part of the original series.

As work continued on THE ART OF OZ, however, my thoughts eventually – and logically — always returned to Mr. Baum himself, Chittenango’s Favorite and Favored Son. He discovered countless citizens in his own visits to Oz, but he only used nine of their names in the titles of his fourteen full-length Oz books. Not at all coincidentally, the heading of this month’s blog is taken from his “To My Readers” letter at the onset of DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ. He often devoted that space in his Oz books to refer to the suggestions, enthusiasms, and (especially!) requests he received by mail from literally thousands of children; Mr. Baum affectionately (and he meant it in gratitude, I’m sure) dubbed them his “loving tyrants” who demanded “Oz – Oz!” to the exclusion of anything else.

Above: A very famous “capture” of Mr. Baum at work in Macatawa, MI. He, his wife, and their four sons summered there for more than a decade. Even on vacation, however, he continued to write; his total output of books, stage plays, short stories, movie scenarios, song lyrics, and poems would indicate that such material absolutely (and mostly) flowed forth. There’s no question that he was doing what he was born to do

Well, Mr. Baum . . . . As one of your latter-day “loving tyrants,” I didn’t become a fan until thirty-seven years after you left for Oz for good. But had I been able to make my recommendations, I would have wished (in the nicest possible child’s voice) for you to tell us “more,” volume by volume, about BILLINA IN OZ (the talking yellow hen who later created a minor cinema sensation in Disney’s 1985 film, RETURN TO OZ) and THE GUMP OF OZ (the assembled flying machine; ditto the Disney reference). Also, I’m sure THE SAWHORSE OF OZ must have encountered many knotty problems on his later travels, which I’m equally certain he solved with his sawdust brains. GENERAL JINJUR OF OZ surely teamed at some point with OMBY AMBY OF OZ (The Soldier With the Green Whiskers); perhaps they worked together with KALIKO IN OZ to protect the Nome Kingdom from hideous invaders. There might even have been some friendly KALIDAHS IN OZ, although given the flop of Mr. Baum’s 1905 stage musical, THE WOGGLE-BUG, it’s not surprising that the highly magnified and thoroughly educated insect never got a full Oz book of his own.

All of that being said, I’m mindful of the fact that Mr. Baum did the very best he could in the twenty years he wrote about Oz. And remembering that personal Oz passions are variegated and not carved in emeralds, I’ll just list here what I THINK my top-four/wished-for Baum books would be: 1) POLYCHROME IN OZ (see that lass just below!), 2) SANTA CLAUS IN OZ, in a real adventure of his own (his ”special guest” appearance in Mr. Baum’s THE ROAD TO OZ doesn’t qualify on that level); 3) THE WOOZY OF OZ, a little guy who’s a Fricke family favorite and an all-around sweetheart (ya gotta love someone whose eyes flash fire when he’s taunted with the mystery phrase, “Krizzle-Kroo!”); and 4) THE GIANT YOOPS OF OZ; please see the picture up top. As mentioned in that caption, there should be some sort of story in the activities of a physically overpowering, carnivorous male giant and his sorcery-prone wife – each towering twenty feet or more in height, and both with grudges against Oz residents and celebrities. (Thanks to Princess Ozma, Mrs. Yoop is now – and deservedly – wearing the form of a small green monkey as punishment for her past deeds. Who knows what twisted plot she and her husband might concoct in vengeance?)

Above: One of my top favorites of Mr. Baum’s Ozian roster: Polychrome, the Rainbow’s Daughter. She graced three of his books and also made later appearances in some of those by Ruth Plumly Thompson and John R. Neill. Polly almost got a book of her own in the 1950s; please read below

Fortunately for Baum fans who’ve traveled to Oz during the past one-hundred-years, his successors DID think to give some of his preeminent discoveries their own Oz titles. The second “Royal Historian,” Ruth Plumly Thompson was savvy and jolly and inventive enough to report on the activities of THE COWARDLY LION OF OZ, JACK PUMPKINHEAD OF OZ, THE HUNGRY TIGER OF OZ, THE [G]NOME KING OF OZ, THE LOST KING OF OZ, and OJO IN OZ. Jack Snow later authored THE SHAGGY MAN OF OZ, and via The Oz Club’s special publications program, Gina Wickwar has most recently offered TOTO IN OZ

There are other dream books, of course, but they may have to wait to be read until that future date when one holds a card for the Royal Library of Oz — or for actual (and anticipated) meetings in the Emerald City with the various Royal Historians. For years, some Oz researchers puzzled over Mr. Baum’s “announced” title, THE WHATNEXTERS OF OZ – until it was contemplated that the interview quote in question may well have been pronounced in Baumian tongue-in-cheek humor. Purportedly, a reporter proffered a query (in words to this effect): “What’s next for you, Mr. Baum?” And the twinkling-eyed author responded, “Why, THE WHATNEXTERS OF OZ.”

Well, go figure . . . .  (But they reported it!)

The concluding paragraphs of several Thompson Oz books posed her predictions of future histories: about the travels of popular Kabumpo the Elephant, Thun the Thunder Colt, King Randy of Regalia and his newly-wed Silver Princess; or about the further voyages of explorer Captain Samuel Salt, King Ato of Octagon Island (Salt’s cook!), Roger the Royal Read Bird, and King Tandy of Ozamaland, as they sailed in search of a roc’s egg for Princess Ozma’s Christmas stocking; OR the journey of the Tin Woodman and Wizard in the “Oztober” – one of the Wizard’s two Ozoplanes – as they flew away in search of its lost sister-ship, the Ozpril.

Beyond even that: Prior to his premature death in 1956, “Royal Historian” Jack Snow alluded to a book with the working title, OVER THE RAINBOW TO OZ. It was intended as an examination of the early history of the magic land, and Polychrome was to be a major character in that saga. And finally – for this conversation, anyway! – Eloise Jarvis McGraw (who coauthored MERRY GO ROUND IN OZ and THE FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN OF OZ with her daughter Lauren Lynn) privately confided in the mid-1960s that she had developed “the whole plot – and a good one” for an Oz book to follow MERRY GO ROUND . . .called BABUSHKA IN OZ!

Above: The beloved, playful, and loyal Woozy, who (given his shape) is always “on the square” — except for those three seemingly undetachable hairs on the end of his tail

As you’ve probably realized, none of those books ever happened. But there are so many that have, I think all of us — fans, readers, authors, illustrators, kids of every age (not to mention the loving tyrants of each generation since 1900) – owe a whole lot to L. Frank Baum, who started this whole thing. That fact that his imagination has bred so much more, in so many ways, and in so many different directions, is all that need be said about his resoundingly generous gifts. Across 121 years, the man and his cohorts have had the power to impact, entrance, and delight. They’ve created indelible wonderlands and unforgettable lives eternal in the process — and all of that dwells in countless billions of hearts.
Anyway, I’ve been feeling PRECISELY that sort of gratitude. And I’m grateful to have this format in which to share such emotion. 😊
Many thanks for checking in!

“MISS MARGARET”

By John Fricke

Above: Always in greeting, never in farewell. The tops of her facsimile-costume sleeves were stuffed with plastic bags, “so” – in her own words – “they look puffy.” The recreation of her hat, as she wore it for hours at a time, sometimes brought on a headache. But Margaret Pellegrini abidingly dolled up, went forth, and made innumerable memories for countless Oz fans across nearly thirty years of post-MGM public appearances.

About six months ago, the monthly blog here was devoted to Meinhardt Raabe: “My First Munchkin.” The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer “Coroner” initially came into my Oz life sometime around 1980 and was the third cast member of THE WIZARD OF OZ movie I encountered in person. (I’d met Judy Garland in 1967 and Margaret Hamilton in 1979, coming to know the latter reasonably well across the next four years.) Next “up,” however, was Margaret Pellegrini — the dancing Munchkin in the blue flowerpot hat, as well as one of the Sleepyhead Munchkins up in the nest – and that marked the onset of a twenty-four-year friendship that remains ever close to my heart.

In June 1989 and at the behest of MGM/UA Home Video, I traveled to Grand Rapids, Minnesota (birthplace of Judy Garland), to launch promotional activities for the forthcoming, fiftieth anniversary VHS tape release of the OZ movie. As I recall, Meinhardt was there, too, but Margaret and fellow Munchkin dancer Fern Formica were the real highlights among several special guests. Fern left the festival circuit – and, as L. Frank Baum referenced it, the Great Outside World, too – just few years later. But from 1989 through 2012, it was a rare season that didn’t bring Margaret back into my life, whether at a festival, convention, benefit, film screening, or any sort of Ozzy demonstration.

Above: Even before the OZ film’s fiftieth birthday blew the top off world-wide passion, Margaret was in demand for meet-and-greet Oz-related occasions. She’s shown here as the 1986 Grand Marshall of the (then-annual) South Hadley, Massachusetts, Oz parade; three local youngsters shine as stand-ins for the Lollipop Guild. This was a few years before Margaret realized the wisdom and appeal of acquiring copies of her original Munchkin garb in which she could mingle with – and please – any and all OZ aficionados.

When Margaret died in August 2013, I was asked to assemble memories from eight of her friends for an article in THE BAUM BUGLE, magazine of The International Wizard of Oz Club, Inc. (ozclub.org). The finished piece was laced with their specific and always fervently fond recollections of (as we blatantly, honestly, and privately termed Margaret) “The Favorite.” My own remembrances book-ended that feature, but there really wasn’t room for everything — nor will there be here. I’m summoning up what I can, though, to happily celebrate “Miss Margaret,” the nickname by which she was always saluted by Colleen Zimmer and Barbara Evans in Chittenango.

When Margaret and I met in Minnesota in 1989, we were – as noted – pretty much at the chronological onset of events heralding the golden anniversary of THE WIZARD OF OZ movie. We didn’t know how much the Ozian furor and fever was about to grow, but it most certainly did; as a result, more and more Munchkins and I were tossed together in numerous cities and towns over the next six months. (Among those that immediately come to mind: New York, NY; Culver City, CA; Kansas City, MO; Chesterton, IN; Liberal. KS; and Racine, WI.) If any of you took part in Oz festivities that year, you may recall that the scope and appeal of such activities just exploded, and an appreciably-sized snowball became — then and in subsequent years — an avalanche of presentations for many of us, especially the Munchkins.

Above: In replicas of their film costumes, Meinhardt Raabe and Margaret Pellegrini work side-by-side, selling (and personally autographing) the OZ movie stills in which they were pictured. He sits; she was always too exhilarated by the fans and fun to do anything but stand.

Each of the surviving little people made his or her own unique contributions to such gatherings. Margaret, however, possessed the most outgoing charm, charisma, and camaraderie; the greatest ability to recognize those she’d met before; and the most timeless dedication to the work at hand. She – like all the other “small ones” – was always provided with her own table space and an adjacent chair on which she could sit while signing autographs and posing for pictures. Yet, Margaret’s modus operandi was to stand – indefatigably – for hours on end. Then, at the conclusion of these long days and evenings, she would scamper back to the local hotel, slip into slacks and a dressy top, and head for the nearest casino. (Between rounds of gambling, she’d graciously sign autographs there, as well!)

Such responsibility to her fans was an outgrowth of a life of caring for others.  She was just 15 and brand new to show business when she made THE WIZARD OF OZ. Yet she then continued on as a performer until she married a normal-sized man and had a son and daughter. Margaret lost all three of them in later years, as well as a great-great grandchild, but she went on to raise grandchildren and (especially) two great grandchildren, Cheryl and Barbara, who often traveled with her and also became Oz circuit favorites.

A few of my most magical recollections:

  • As you can see in the accompanying photographs, Margaret had two different styles of her OZ costume recreated for her appearances. As the demands for her presence increased over the years (up to and including a jaunt to Australia!), she went through several copies of both. She knew that, were she suitably “decked out,” it would be a plus for those who’d see her – and, to be sure, the overwhelmingly visible rapture from all ages at this diminutive lady in a Munchkin costume was a nonstop delight to behold.
  • In 1993, Margaret and seven other MGM Munchkins responded to my request to be interviewed on-camera for the home-video documentary, WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE MUNCHKINS. Her unfailingly retentive memory, her humor, and the potent Pellegrini stories provided many high spots in that seventy-seven-minute production, but my choicest MM (Margaret Moment) came in a brief glimpse of Chesterton, IN, festival footage captured by videographer Paul Combel. Margaret was filmed standing (no surprise there!) in the rear of a convertible, parked on a side street, and waiting for the onset of the parade. Children costumed as Oz characters – a cowardly lion, a tin woodman, a lullaby league ballerina, et al – were clustered around and enthusiastically talking with her, and one little girl unhesitatingly and colloquially piped up, “Are you the REALLY Munchkin?” And Margaret instantly responded, “Yes, I’m REALLY a Munchkin!”
  • In 2009, we asked her to contribute an introduction to the MGM OZ seventieth anniversary book, THE WIZARD OF OZ: AN ILLUSTRATED COMPANION TO THE TIMELESS MOVIE CLASSIC. Her delight in seeing her words in print was surpassed only by our pride in showcasing her and capturing for posterity a handful of her sharpest recollections and comments.
  • Some Chittenango festival audiences remember to this day the times when, onstage at the Friday evening “Munchkin” panel, I’d ask Margaret a question and hand her the mic – after which she’d stroll the stage and refuse to return it to me. The fact that we were comfortable enough with each other to joke in such a fashion – and that we both trusted and adored each other – always made for a presentational highlight, not because of me but because of her.
Above: A couple of times over the years, the June Chittenango festival evening events had to be switched from the high school – thanks to a thunderstorm-connected power outage – to the further distant (and apparently on a different grid) middle school. So, we’d hurriedly set up the highly-anticipated and heavily-attended Meet-the-Munchkins discussion on the gymnasium floor. From left: emcee John Fricke; Munchkin-by-Marriage Elizabeth Maren, Jerry (“Lollipop Guild”) Maren, Coroner Meinhardt Raabe, Karl (1st Trumpeter & Soldier), Margaret, and Clarence (Soldier) Swensen. Margaret has her own mic, but I’m holding mine way out of reach anyway!

My family benefitted from Margaret’s warmth and joy, as well – perhaps most notably during a small Oz fete in suburban Milwaukee twenty or so years ago. She and Munchkin soldier Clarence Swensen (and his wife, Myrna) were riding in the parade on the back of low-slung, flatbed sort of trailer. Coincidentally, it came to a brief pause just opposite the bleachers where my mom, sister-in-law, and two preteen nieces were happily watching. Given the fact that that the two Munchkins (and one Munchkin-by-Marriage) were then within easy hailing distance, my mom impulsively called to her friends, “Hi, Margaret! Hi, Clarence! Hi, Myrna!” The three of them turned in the direction of the greeting and (as if rehearsed) simultaneously caroled out “DOTTY!” in recognition. And – led by Margaret – they all clambered down from the truck and dashed over to the curb to say hello. 😊

Margaret Pellegrini was one of a kind; a major force in the success of the decades of Oz festivals; and a definite reason for the size they became. There was immense pleasure as one watched her interact with the public – and (as referenced above) the manner in which one face after another would light up to a wondrous degree when they saw her. But as I wrote a few years ago, my warmest and most glowing remembrance is that of her late-night kibbitzing with festival “regulars” as she wandered hotel hallways and lobbies in a muumuu. Or of the manner in which she’d privately, wisely, and wickedly vent about those she felt had somehow “betrayed” Oz. Or of her sliding into a chair at the early morning breakfasts (just prior to a full day’s schedule), when she – after who-knows-how-few-hours-of-sleep – would softly and gleefully tell about her late-night casino winnings of the previous evening!

Above: Among the many applicable adjectives: “Unforgettable.” Here’s a quintessential snapshot in which Margaret was caught on the run. As ever, she carries her (comparatively) enormous purse and her omnipresent white sweater – and willingly summons up a gay greeting and ready smile, even on her way home after a long day of commitments and subsequent socializing.

Her limitless list of adulators could add reams of additional copy here. For now, though, let me just say that — as you saw above — I titled this month’s blog, “Miss Margaret.”

It could just as easily have carried the heading, “You Made Me Love You.”

“OZCOT” – AT HOLLYWOOD IN CALIFORNIA

By: John Fricke


Above: This is the home that L. Frank and Maud Gage Baum had built for themselves in a sleepy, sparsely-settled Los Angeles suburb, and where Baum would spend most of the last nine years of his life. Across that time, the opening “author’s note” in his new Oz books would be signed – quite simply – from “‘OZCOT’ – At HOLLYWOOD in CALIFORNIA,” and it was here that children would send their letters and even come to visit him, beginning in 1910.

If you’ve ever heard anything about L. Frank Baum’s childhood, you’re aware that – as a boy — he lived on a beautiful estate called Rose Lawn, near Syracuse, NY. Its gardens, flowers, lawns, paths, and mansion-like home made for a happy environment; here Frank wrote and printed his own small newspaper, or read or daydreamed for hours on end.

As an adult, his living quarters weren’t continually that plush. His imagination and varying professions led him to (mostly) rented houses, deluxe (or not) hotels or apartments, or fashionable or rustic summer dwellings. He and his family lived everywhere from the Syracuse area to Aberdeen in Dakota Territory, to Chicago, Macatawa, MI, and Coronado, CA. Finally, in 1910, he arrived at the home shown in the photographs just above and below; he christened it “Ozcot.”

It was an apt designation. By then, Baum was the renowned “Royal Historian of Oz,” primarily famous for the first six books in the Oz series and the outrageously successful THE WIZARD OF OZ stage musical (very loosely adapted from the story of that title). Never a savvy money-manager, he had lost a small fortune on another theatrical venture, the multi-media FAIRY-LOGUE AND RADIO PLAYS (1908); by 1911, he was forced to declare bankruptcy.

The saving grace in this is that he had already transferred all of his property, including book rights, to his wondrous wife, Maud Gage. Thus, when she came into an inheritance from her mother, Maud and Frank borrowed additional funds from a wealthy friend and bought a lot in quiet Hollywood, CA. There, they built Ozcot, and – possibly for the first time since his youth – Baum once again had a long-term home of his own: a large, two-story bungalow with an immense back yard. There he could garden, keep an aviary, and breed and raise what turned out to be prize-winning chrysanthemums and dahlias.

Above: Another view of the cheery Ozcot terrain

Given the Southern California climate, Baum could comfortably write outdoors much of the time, and his years at Ozcot witnessed a remarkable professional output. Baumian enterprises between 1911-1919 included the two “Tiny Trot and Cap’n Bill” fantasy books, THE SEA FAIRIES and SKY ISLAND; the LITTLE WIZARD STORIES OF OZ (six short tales about favorite characters from the marvelous land); his final eight full-length Oz novels; continuations of his “series books” for teenagers; the production of the reasonably successful stage musical, THE TIK-TOK MAN OF OZ; the launch of the short-lived Oz Film Manufacturing Company; and a score of other book and theatrical endeavors that were developed but never completed or mounted. (This latter statement excepts the four complete shows he wrote for The Uplifters, a by-invitation-membership club for businessmen, originally based at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.)


Above: This promotional still was taken to publicize HIS MAJESTY, THE SCARECROW OF OZ — the third full-length silent film produced by Baum’s Oz Film Manufacturing Company (1914). Here, The Tin Woodman (Pierre Couderc) threatens Mombi the Witch (Mae Wells), while Button Bright (Mildred Harris), the Scarecrow (Frank Moore), and Dorothy (Violet MacMillan) look on

Obviously, Baum’s life at this time was as vividly, participatorily active as possible; apart from his work, there were golf games, flower show excursions, family outings, and the like. But Ozcot was there, at the end of the day – or at the finish of a business trip or road-show tour — to provide a peaceful foundation and retreat. Sixty years later, veteran Hollywood journalist/scenarist Adela Rogers St. Johns remembered Baum’s “extraordinary twinkle of joie de vivre” when she chanced to “meet him taking a little soul-and-back-stretching stroll down

Bronson Avenue to Hollywood Boulevard.” At such moments, one writer appraised the other, and she felt that Baum’s jaunts were spiritually “companioned no doubt with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, and of course, Dorothy.”

It was a beautiful, peaceful neighborhood, as borne out by a recent social media posting that described the area and, specifically, the Baum home: “Hollywood . . . at the time was mostly citrus groves. In 1910, the street was known as Magnolia but was renamed Cherokee two years later. On the second floor, [Baum] had a long, enclosed porch with a view of the distant mountains; downstairs, at one end, [was] a large sunroom where he grew flowers. In his garden, he planted roses, dahlias and chrysanthemums, [and] before long, he was recognized as a champion amateur horticulturist in Southern California. He built a large bird cage, big enough for a zoo, and there kept hundreds of rare and exotic song birds.”


Above: The Royal Historian of Oz was photographed – at what he probably considered his leisure – in the vast backyard of Ozcot in March 1911. Everything was still “in process,” but he would shortly make a showplace of the entire lot

Across the last two years of his life, Baum faced multiple health complications: angina attacks, gall bladder removal, an inflamed appendix. His weakened condition kept him bedridden for months – but he continued to write his books, answer letters from children, and rest securely (if not always comfortably) in the home he and Maud established for themselves.
He died there at Ozcot on May 6, 1919, just days before his sixty-third birthday. Maud remained in residence — keeping up Frank’s gardens and their homestead as she was able – until her own death in 1953, after which Ozcot was razed. But joyous memories about the place continue to surface. A few years ago, local resident and film actress Ann Rutherford recalled her own frequent walks past Ozcot in the late 1930s and into the 1940s. The flowers remained eye-catching and stunning, and if Maud was in the yard, the two women would often visit. Rutherford was then a well-known Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer actress, most familiar to moviegoers as “Polly Benedict,” Mickey Rooney’s girlfriend in the ANDY HARDY series. It was thus a given that she would attend the premiere of MGM’s THE WIZARD OF OZ; a few months ago, this blog featured a photograph of Maud and Ann at that event. Just below, you’ll find another in which they’re present, if not preeminent!


Above:  Chico Marx of The Marx Brothers is happily welcomed to the Los Angeles premiere of THE WIZARD OF OZ at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, August 15, 1939. Doing the honors is one of the film’s performers, “Lollipop Guild” member Jerry Maren; for this occasion, he was costumed as the Munchkinland Mayor. Please look to the top left of the photo, however, to glimpse “Cowardly Lion” Bert Lahr, actress Ann Rutherford, and Maud Gage (Mrs. L. Frank) Baum

I mentioned above that “joyous memories about” Ozcot “continue to surface.” One of these, just this past week on Facebook, actually prompted this month’s blog topic, and I quote it here: “My grandmother, who lived nearby [Ozcot], and her little friends used to go to [Mr. Baum’s] house, and he would come out and tell the children stories about Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, while they sat on his porch and had lemonade and cookies. He would tell the children to hang Log Cabin Syrup cans in the trees — and that the Munchkins would come and live in them. When my grandmother went to Hollywood High (where she graduated in 1919), she said there were still some of those cans hanging in the trees in Hollywood!”

What could be more typically Frank Baum than a directive – and outcome — like that? (The question’s rhetorical, but in case you know of any homeless Munchkins, here’s a 1914 container of the type he was describing! 😊 )

So, here’s to L. Frank Baum, and to his final “there’s no place like home” in this life. As someone who wasn’t born for more than thirty years after Baum’s passing, I grew up loving Oz in the 1950s, 1960s, and ever after. The more I’ve learned about Ozcot across all this time, the more I’ve wished I could have been one of the children who visited him there – or wrote to him there.

AND got an answer!