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L. FRANK

BAUM

&

America's

First Fairy

Tale

The Inception of OZ

     According to Baum (1961), the name of the magical land of Oz was conceived on May 7, 1898 in Baum’s Chicago apartment. Although he didn’t start writing and Oz stories until years later, he said he remembered the date, because of the Chicago Journal headline from that day, “War Extra! Dewey, Hero of the Greatest Naval Victory of the Age!”

 

     When telling stories of Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman to neighborhood children in addition to his own, a boy named Tweety Robbins asked Baum where the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman lived. Without any ideas, Baum paused and looked around the room until he noticed the filing case in the corner. (Baum, 1961, pg.109-111)

some sources dispute the truth of the filing cabinet inspiration

But the following is taken verbatim from a Biography written by his son

IT supposedly happened after Frank put the little ones to bed

“Frank Baum,” his wife, Maud, said severely, “where did you get the absurd name of Oz?”

“Absurd?” said Baum as he chuckled. “I thought it a rather good name for a magic country. When Tweety Robbins asked me where the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman lived, I was stumped. Then I noticed that old filing case over there in the corner.”

“For goodness sake!” exclaimed Maud. “what does an old filing cabinet have to do with it?”

“Take a look at it,” he explained. “On the front of the top drawer are the letters A-N. On the bottom drawer are O-Z. The minute I saw it tonight I knew that OZ was just the right name for the country where the Wizard lived in the Emerald City. The more I think of it the better I like it.”

(Baum, 1961, pg.109-111)

writing process

Baum wrote the following note and pasted the pencil used to write the manuscript to the note and framed it

Baum was left handed and wrote “longhand on letter size typewriter paper, using a soft, thick lead pencil.”

(Baum, 161, pg. 111)

The story eventually published as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had multiple working titles. 

​

  • The City of Oz, The City of the Great Oz, The Great Oz

  • From Kansas to Fairyland

  • The Fairyland of Oz or The Land of Oz

  • A New Wonderland

Glinda of oz manuscript

shows baum's longhand

writing style 

There was a publishing superstition that a title with a jewel in the name was destined to fail. Hill refused to publish the work under the title "The Emerald City" (Baum, 1961, p.113)

initial reception from publisher

George M. Hill advised Baum "it was the consensus of the book trade that children were satisfied with the fairy tales already on the market, and that their parents would not buy anything as unconventional as an American fairy tale.”

(Baum, 1961 p.112-113)

Baum on his storytelling and writing,
 
“I never know what strange characters are going to pop into my head when I begin telling a story. You know, I think up things for them to do, but when I start telling the story to the children, these characters seem to develop a life of their own. They often surprise me by what they do--just like living people.”
​
(Baum, 1961, pg.110-111)
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