By John Fricke There is a major, inherent fact about Chittenango’s native son, L. Frank Baum, in the illustration above, so I’d like to start this month’s blog by encouraging you to please take a moment to take a good look at the art – and to read its caption, if you haven’t already done […]
Category Archives: L. Frank Baum
A look Back-The Very First All Things Oz Blog
By John Fricke This week the museum was thrilled to get new ornaments designed by renown slipware pottery artist, Irma Starr. They represent Clarence and Maragaret (shown below with John Fricke), and we though that the best way to celebrate them, was to re-share the very first All Things Oz Blog! GREETINGS FROM THE BIRTHPLACE […]
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE L. FRANK BAUM’S HOMETOWN! 22,000 GREET THE RETURN OF OZ-STRAVAGANZA! (AND “MUNCHKID”/NEWBIE BETTY ANN BRUNO) DESPITE THREE-YEAR “INTERMISSION”
By: John Fricke With jubilant multitudes at every turn – and Ozzy, family, and festival enthusiasm throughout all three days of activities and merriment – the annual OZ-Stravaganza! roared to its latest success from June 3-5, in Chittenango, NY. Birthplace of Oz discoverer/chronicler (and first “Royal Historian”) L. Frank Baum, the quiet village of less […]
REMEMBERING DICK MARTIN: HE WAS POST-DENSLOW & NEILL; HE WAS PRE-GABRIEL GALE — AND HE WAS BOTH COMPATRIOT AND OZ ILLUSTRATOR EXTRAORDINARE!
by John Fricke Gabriel Gale and I recently finished another round of promotional work on behalf of the new book, THE ART OF OZ, which — of course — is built around his exciting, colorful, and glorious depictions of many of L. Frank Baum’s original characters. That Rizzoli volume also honors the first two preeminent […]
😊 OZ-STRAVAGANZA! RETURNS LIVE & “IN PERSON” – ON ITS 45TH ANNIVERSARY! CELEBRATE AN MGM OZ MOVIE “MUNCHKIN” IN HER CHITTENANGO DEBUT –PLUS THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF THE “ALL THINGS OZ” MUSEUM!
By: John Fricke We’re back! for the (almost annual) forty-fifth time! Yes, we had to slow down for a couple of years, but it took a world-wide pandemic to do it. And now, for the first go-round since 2019, we’re once again “Off to See the Wizard” — and everyone else. (Toto, too!) Meanwhile, you […]
WHAT MIGHT FRANK HAVE THOUGHT? – PART THREE
by John Fricke Welcome! to the third and final installment of blogs that ponder the question, “What might L. Frank Baum have thought about the classic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical movie made from his first Oz book?” – a film that wasn’t completed or released until twenty years after he himself had passed away. Baum, of course, […]
WHAT MIGHT FRANK HAVE THOUGHT? – PART TWO
By John Fricke Last month’s blog was conceived as a (pretty much unarguable) celebration of the two most important factors in the world’s continuing love affair with All Things Oz. These are, of course, the original story, characters, and concepts created by L. Frank Baum for his 1900 book, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, and […]
WHAT MIGHT FRANK HAVE THOUGHT? – PART ONE
BY: John Fricke We’ve had a number of multiple-topic blogs here across the last six months, so for the next two entries, I thought it might be a good (and hopefully entertaining) idea to “get back to basics.” As a result, our February and March discussions will concentrate on an alignment of the two fundamental […]
REMEMBERING, RESPONDING, REJOICING: A “NEW YEAR” MEDLEY OF OZ!
By: John Fricke Frank Sinatra sang it best: “Who knows where the road will lead us? Only a fool would say . . . .” Well, fool I may be, but I’m not foolish enough to actively predict the unfolding, unraveling, and/or unimaginable delights of 2022 — no matter how much hope we all have […]
WE NEED A “FRANK BAUM” CHRISTMAS!
By John Fricke One plain and simple fact should come as no surprise to anyone reading here: L. Frank Baum had a limitless imagination and — to be sure — extraordinary real-life adventures. That combination led him to write not only about Oz and its countless unique citizens and hamlets, but to pen dozens of […]