{"id":493,"date":"2024-03-23T01:51:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T01:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/?p=493"},"modified":"2024-03-23T01:51:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T01:51:55","slug":"ill-oz-strations-diversified-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/ill-oz-strations-diversified-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cILL-OZ-STRATIONS\u201d — DIVERSIFIED! Part Two<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by John Fricke<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Above: In 1956, Reilly & Lee \u2013 then the sole publishers of the entire Oz Book Series except for THE WIZARD OF OZ — was finally able to add that title to their roster. Dale Ulrey did the illustrations for the new edition, and these were initially offered in black and red. Across the next nine years, the book went through additional printings, and the interior palette expanded into black and yellow, blue, and green, as well. (We\u2019ve selected Ms. Ulrey\u2019s drawings from a later print run for this blog to emphasize more of a \u201crainbow road to Oz.\u201d) Just above, you\u2019ll see her full-color, front-cover dust jacket for the Reilly & Lee THE WIZARD OF OZ, which was utilized for the first three years of its publication. She depicts the title character as a somewhat portlier gentleman than did her predecessors, W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A bit of background to begin! Part One of this two-part series may be found by simply scrolling down past this entry; therein discussed are some of the early artists who pictured L. Frank Baum\u2019s book, THE WIZARD OF OZ. There were comparatively few such illustrators, however; from its initial publication as THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ in 1900 \u2013 and through 1943 — the predominant editions of the story used and\/or adapted the original pictures done by William Wallace (W. W.) Denslow for its first release at the turn of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evelyn Copelman\u2019s drawings completely supplanted these in 1944, and although a handful of other artists supplied pictures for abridgements and picture books of THE WIZARD OF OZ between 1939 and 1956, her work remained in print for decades. The copyright expired on THE WIZARD OF OZ text in that latter year, however, and a flock of new versions of OZ \u2013 whether in complete or abbreviated format — hit the market. As a result, diverse artists were given the opportunity to \u201ccompete\u201d with Copelman and supply their own variations of Baum\u2019s characters and concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new \u201cpublic domain\u201d status of THE WIZARD OF OZ was particularly important to The Reilly & Lee Company of Chicago. They \u2013 or their predecessor, Reilly & Britton \u2013 had published all of the other titles in the official Oz series from 1904 through 1951: thirty-eight books in all. Now, in 1956, they could finally add Baum\u2019s preeminent classic to their list, and they immediately thought in terms of a more contemporary appearance for the publication itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019d actually begun considering such modernization for the series a year or more earlier. To that end, a bright and gifted graphic artist, Dale Ulrey, was selected to re-illustrate Baum\u2019s 1918 book, THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ, for publication in 1955. (History has it that the Reilly & Lee stock of TIN WOODMAN was running low at the time, and rather than merely reprint the title, the company rationalized that updating its appearance might make of it an experimental test case.) The Ulrey TIN WOODMAN also featured a new interior layout and fresh typesetting \u2013 \u201cNew Plates Throughout!\u201d as Reilly & Lee trumpeted in its jacket copy — and the Ulrey style, both charming and attractive, was worthy of the new adaptation. Ms. Ulrey maintained the energy of John R. Neill\u2019s original illustrations, emphasized the personalities (comical and otherwise) of the familiar Ozians, and re-cast Dorothy\u2019s image as that of a sweet and sunshiny child of the 1950s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(It should be noted that — in addition to THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ — Ulrey had also worked on an earlier Baum project for the publishers, providing art for an edition of his JAGLON AND THE TIGER FAIRIES.  This 1953 storybook was adapted from one of the writer\u2019s \u201cAnimal Fairy Tales,\u201d as published across nine months in THE DELINEATOR magazine, January through September 1905.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all — and especially after her work on THE TIN WOODMAN \u2013 Dale Ulrey was a logical pictorial \u201cselect\u201d for Reilly & Lee\u2019s initial printing of THE WIZARD OF OZ. It\u2019s also interesting to note that, at this point in history, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer\u2019s classic THE WIZARD OF OZ motion picture had enjoyed theatrical releases in 1939, 1949, and 1955 but had not yet begun its virtually annual, national television appearances. This meant that Ulrey didn\u2019t have to worry about fulfilling many expectations of her reading audience in terms of any deeply implanted \u201cmovie\u201d visuals of Ozzy citizens or terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said . . . ! Whether or not Ms. Ulrey meant to imply that the wafting wagon and other detritus shown here — mid-funnel — would filmically float by Dorothy\u2019s window is unknown. But one of her first dominant images for the new 1956 edition of THE WIZARD was this vivid, energized depiction of the little girl\u2019s transportation to Oz:<\/p>\n\n\n

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As a graphic artist, Dale Ulrey was best known \u201cin the industry\u201d for her years of drawing such popular, long-running newspaper comic strips as MARY WORTH. That character \u2013 if suitably Ozified \u2013 might have made a potential lookalike for Baum\u2019s Good Witch of the North. As shown here, however, the illustrator opted out of any such temptation, and the mature sorceress, however unintentionally, seems more a semi-ringer for actress Agnes Moorehead. (This was four years before Ms. Moorehead would play a cranky, Cockney Mombi in the NBC-TV adaptation of Baum\u2019s THE [MARVELOUS] LAND OF OZ to launch THE SHIRLEY TEMPLE SHOW in 1960 \u2013 and eight years before the actress would find eternal familiarity and fame as the elegant, sophisticated, and sometimes spiteful Endora on ABC-TV\u2019s BEWITCHED.) Meanwhile, the Munchkins remain unembellished and true to Baum\u2019s descriptions:<\/p>\n\n\n

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In much of her approach to THE WIZARD OF OZ assignment, Ulrey was judicious in continuing the predominant visions of Neill, who\u2019d done the pictures for thirty-four of the preceding books in the series. Prior to that, Denslow had contributed a basic architectural template of a typical Oz house, but Neill had embellished it, and Ulrey substantiated his tradition as she showed Dorothy and Toto during their first day\u2019s journey down the Yellow Brick Road.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ulrey\u2019s splendid interpretations continued as Dorothy and Toto met their three incomparable companions:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Although Baum never gives the child\u2019s age in his text, Dorothy had been drawn by Denslow as a six- or seven-year-old with brown braids. Neill, in turn, had then given the Oz heroine a shorter, blonde style throughout his thirty-eight year tenure as artist, and Ulrey followed suit. This gave the ingenue\u2019s appearance a happy and logical resemblance to the girl familiar to readers of all of the rest of Reilly & Lee\u2019s Oz Book Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Poppy Field sequence of THE WIZARD saw three of our five protagonists succumb to the potent power of the floral aroma. Ulrey then captured, in excellent fashion, Baum\u2019s detailed description of the rescue of the Cowardly Lion from the deadly poison \u2013 on a Tin Woodman-built cart pulled by thousands of field mice. (The idea that that poppies would be neutralized by a snowstorm sent by the Good Witch of the North was first implemented in the 1902 stage musical of THE WIZARD OF OZ and further adapted by MGM for their film, thirty-six years later.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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Following Baum\u2019s textual cues, Ulrey presented Dorothy in her new Emerald City dress when the child went for her first, private audience with the Wizard; the latter, of course, presented himself as \u201can enormous Head.\u201d The artist also provided an interesting point of view when — a chapter later — she offered the moment the Winged Monkeys arrived with the girl and her dog as their prisoners in the Winkie Country, presenting them to the anticipatory Wicked Witch of the West.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There was additional and ongoing loyalty to Baumian detail when Ulrey chose to recreate the moment that the \u201cGreat and Terrible\u201d humbug found himself revealed to Dorothy & Co. In an attempt to frighten the Wizard into granting their requests \u2013 and per the book\u2019s written passage — \u201cthe Lion . . . gave a large, loud roar . . . so fierce and dreadful that Toto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over [a] screen that stood in the corner.\u201d There, the five travelers \u201csaw . . . a little old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face . . . The Tin Woodman, raising his axe, rushed toward the little man and cried out, \u2018Who are you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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It\u2019s a reasonably well-known fact that MGM both departed from and added to Baum\u2019s plot line in numerous cinematic ways \u2013 yet they remained true to the author\u2019s intent in a number of others. As Dorothy prepared to leave for Kansas with the Wizard, \u201cToto had run into the crowd to bark at a kitten, and Dorothy at last . . . picked him up and ran toward the balloon. She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands to help her . . . when, crack! went the ropes, and the balloon rose into the air without her.\u201d Ulrey maintained the same loyalty to the Royal Historian in sharing this moment of the saga:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The final adventures undergone by our friends are equally faithfully represented by Ulrey. She portrays each of the four challenges they met during their trek to the Quadling Country to seek aid from the Good Witch of the South: the fighting trees, the Dainty China Country, the giant spider monster, and the fractious, armless, telescopic-necked Hammer-Heads:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Finally, when the palace of Glinda the Good is ultimately reached, the famed Sorceress of the South proves to be as lovely as Baum\u2019s description — and Ulrey\u2019s portraiture:<\/p>\n\n\n

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For the last chapter, last page, and last Ulrey illustration, Reilly & Lee \u2013 and most probably unintentionally \u2013 parroted a THE WIZARD OF OZ art concept that dated back to Denslow and the 1900 first edition. Therein, that remarkable artisan often melded his line drawings with the book text: overlapping, underpinning, or just plain enhancing the awe-inspiring nature of his style and approach.\u00a0 (Of course, it\u2019s just an imaginative indication of my age that Aunt Em is pictured here by Ulrey as a much more bucolic Mary Worth . . .. \u00a0😊 )<\/p>\n\n\n

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While there\u2019s no disputing the inherent entertainment in — and pictorial beauty of — Ulrey\u2019s work in THE WIZARD OF OZ, the public response to it and the redrawn THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ (for all its own splendor) weren\u2019t readily accepted by the public. Their response to such illustrative updating was quiet rejection, and when Reilly & Lee brought out the gloriously re-presented and manufactured \u201cWhite Editions\u201d of Baum\u2019s fourteen Oz stories in 1964-65, they reinstated Neill\u2019s art in TIN WOODMAN and replaced Ulrey\u2019s work in THE WIZARD with adaptations of Denslow\u2019s original pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are tens of thousands of children (or more) who grew up in the decade between 1955-65 \u2013 or who later inherited copies of those two titles \u2013 and who maintain fond recollections of what Dale Ulrey contributed to the history of Oz publication. Her obvious dedication to her assignment provided art that was unquestionably entrancing, exciting, magical, and appealing \u2013 adjectives that happily and indubitably apply as well to Baum\u2019s topography, terrain, and types of characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a privilege to celebrate and share some of those drawings here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by John Fricke A bit of background to begin! Part One of this two-part series may be found by simply scrolling down past this entry; therein discussed are some of the early artists who pictured L. Frank Baum\u2019s book, THE WIZARD OF OZ. There were comparatively few such illustrators, however; from its initial publication as … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “\u201cILL-OZ-STRATIONS\u201d — DIVERSIFIED! Part Two<\/strong>“<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,21,2],"tags":[14,13,6,11,4,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthingsoz.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}