] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 1, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] NOTE: I've been having more trouble with Delphi acknowleging my monthly payments, and so there is a *chance* that Delphi will cut me off until I get things straightened out with them, in which case there *may* be no Digest and no word from me for two or three days. I apologize to everyone! ( Hopefully it won't happen though...This is one of those "just in case" admonitions... :) ) -- Dave ===================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 21:57:40 -0500 (EST) From: BARRY ESHKOL ADELMAN Subject: Why Witches Melt in Oz (Sometimes) Ruth, thanks for the article, but (I hate to be critical) isn't that a copyright violation? Homer, LOTR = _The Lord of the Rings_, Tolkien's trilogy following _The Hobbit_. A. Blair, you can get a few Oz pictures from scanned pictures on Oz sites and the Esperanto translations of the first three books of the Baum 14. However, the resolution will not be a good as in print so photocopying and enlarging illustrations from physical copies of the books would be a better bet. I have a publisher-related question which is not quite ozzy but I would appreciate the help. A recent (non-Oz) work of mine was submitted to a houe called Commonwealth Publishers and accepted for publication. Problem: Searches of (major) bookstores in Charleston and Philadelphia have failed to yield any sign of their books, which is not good since books tend to sell better if they are in stores. Has anyone out there hard or know anything about this place? They are Canadian-based; is anyone up there in Canada who can tell me if their book are more available (in the stores) up there? They have a snazzy web page at http://www.commonwealthpub.com, but, as good as the book descriptions are, I can't recall seeing any of them before. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 22:45:23 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Bauman <72172.2631@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Today's Oz Growls Homer - LOTR is something that was written ages ago. Possibly before you were born. Lord Of The Rings! If you have missed it, I envy you. Just ask Robin! David - Roger! I thought of the Aenid later too. How about Don Quixote? By the way, if anyone wants a great book, DQ is sure one. Particularly Volume 2, which contains the story of the ill-advised curiosity which is a classic. Ruth - Thanks for the article but....... BANG BANG BANG!!!!! RUTH: Who is there? COPYRIGHT POLICE: Open Up Lady!!! Sound of door breaking!!! POLICE: All right lady, put 'em up and back away from that computer. We're here to confiscate your hard disc! RUTH: But.... POLICE: No buts about it lady, you are in violation of a IWOOC copyright. Take her away O'Malley. Actually, I don't think we are very far from this today..... Regards, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 22:50:07 -0500 (EST) From: jnw@vnet.net Subject: for the Ozzy Digest Here is the missing page of the 1996 Oziana. It should be inserted between pages 23 and 24. Do not read it unless you have already read through page 23. ---------------------- START OF MISSING PAGE -------------------------- Glinda's magic laboratory. Soon Gureeda and Waddy and even the huge Terrybubble had been remembered and transported to Glinda's throne room. Everyone was excited, and everyone was hungry. Glinda's servants prepared a huge breakfast with orange juice, pink apricot nectar, coffee, cocoa, two hot and six cold cereals, three kinds of eggs, toast and biscuits, bacon and sausage, waffles and pancakes, coffee cake and gooey cinnamon buns, and five different kinds of luscious, red berries. Johnny had never eaten quite as much before in his life. Pickle had a specially prepared breakfast of six flies and a lady bug. Even Ivan was well fed, but in a different room so that his presence could not spoil the party. Finally, Ozma held up her hand for silence. "Waddy has been telling me the story of the happenings on Umbrella Island. There are a few things still to be taken care of. Glinda has used a special spell to bring my Magic Belt and Magic Picture here so that I may use them. The Belt, by the way, was lying on the floor beneath the Magic Picture, so Johnny guessed right, Dorothy. You didn't fasten it securely enough, and it came off when you and Speedy were transported so suddenly to Umbrella Island." "First," Ozma continued, "I don't think it would be fair to the United States to return Ivan there. He seems to want to be a king, so I have decided that he may be a king indeed--a king in a chess set." Ozma touched her Magic Belt and Johnny, who had never before seen a transformation, tiptoed into the next room where Ivan had been eating. Ivan was already gone, but on the floor lay a small red marble king. Johnny picked it up and carried it back into the banquet hall where the breakfasters passed it from hand to hand. "Second," and here Ozma turned to Gureeda, "Waddy says that you have been blaming yourself for helping Ivan." "Oh yes," Gureeda wailed. "I don't see how I could have done such a thing." "It wasn't your fault. Ivan put you under a magic spell." "You didn't really want to be engaged to him, did you, Gureeda?" Speedy asked earnestly. "Of course not, Speedy. As soon as the Agree Filtre wore off, I told him so. That was when he shut me up in the dark room." "You really wanted to be engaged to me, don't you, Gureeda?" A rosy flush crept over Gureeda's face. "Of course I do, Speedy." Johnny whispered to Dorothy under cover of the applause which followed, "She sounds like she took another dose of that Agree Filtre." Ozma held up her hand and continued. "King Sizzeroo was also under a spell. I have put that right with the Magic Belt." Sizzeroo got to his feet in great embarrassment. "I shouldn't have helped Ivan," he apologized. "He got me all mixed up," added the shamefaced king. The applause was less enthusiastic this time. "Of course," Ozma continued, "Waddy, Pansy, Terrybubble, and our own Princess Dorothy showed their bravery as we have come to expect of them." This time, the applause was deafening. "Johnny and Pickle, both from the United States, also helped a great deal." "Especially Pickle!" shouted Johnny over the applause. Quite a few folks got up and came over to congratulate Pickle, who was now sitting on Dorothy's shoulder and had naturally turned a lovely lavender to match her dress. "Our old friend Speedy," Ozma went on, "returned in time to help us and to help the people of Umbrella Island where, I believe, he intends henceforth to make his home." Speedy and Gureeda, who were now sitting side by side holding hands, both nodded emphatically, and the applause swelled out once more. Terrybubble added to it by rattling his bones with great enthusiasm. As the clapping died down, Sizzeroo rose to his feet once more. "My friends," he said with unexpected dignity, "I am sure that Speedy and my daughter will make much better rulers than I, and as soon as they have returned from their honeymoon, I intend to step down and turn over the running of Umbrella Island to them." The applause resounded once more, and Speedy had to step across to quiet Terrybubble, who was showing signs of becoming dythrambic. "But most of all," Ozma continued, holding up her hand to still the uproar, "we must thank Pickle, who was twice the hero with his amazing leaps. Pickle, I want to award you our special Oz medal for Bravery Before Magic." "I had to do something, you know," said the modest chameleon turning red in spite of being on Dorothy's shoulder. "Ozma," said Johnny, who had been thinking rapidly during all the commotion. "Do you think I could ask a couple of favors?" ---------------------- END OF MISSING PAGE -------------------------- ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 10:12:31 -0500 From: DavidXOE@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Digest, 10-30-96 Homer: As a dozen or two people will probably tell you, LOTR is LORD OF THE RINGS, every Christmas break. A. Blair: I don't know of any Oz clip art on the Net, but that doesn't mean there isn't any. If you're looking for clip art from the books, there's quite a bit of it in the "Traditional Images" folder of a clip art collection called "Art Explosion 40,000", that's available for around $30 for both Mac and Wintel OSs from most of the mail-order software places. If you don't want to spend that much you might check among your friends to see if any of them have it; it's been distributed pretty widely, I think. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 12:54:35 -0600 (CST) From: Ruth Berman Subject: ozzy digest After putting Doug Rossman's essay on Liquidation into the Digest, it occured to me that the various comments on the topic (his and those by Digesters) add up to an interesting set of speculations. I'd like to take out the comments on this topic alone and include them as an article in the December "Oz Research Group" mailing, if the people involved don't mind. (Involved: Oct 22 Danny -- do you prefer just that name as your byline? Oct 23 Nathan M. DeHoff, Rich Morrissey, Aaron Solomon [ben Saul Joseph] Adelman Oct 24 me, Danny again, Tyler Jones, Dave Hardenbrook Oct 26 Aaron again, Robin Olderman Oct 28 Nathan again, Joyce O'Dell Oct 29 Tina Romano, Gili Bar-Hillel, David Hulan, me again, Dave again and Oct 30 Tyler again.) Steve Teller: a color reprinting of the "Queer Visitors" pages sounds a desirable project for the club. As you say, it would be difficult. Besides cost, I think format questions would pose a major problem. It would be unreasonable to reprint on newspaper-size pages, as storing something that size would be so difficult for most people. But if the pages are shrunk to fit on a double-sized spread of 8-1/2x11" paper, as was done for the b&w "Bugle" reprints of the pages, the text gets too small to read easily, and there are special problems of legibility for whatever falls along the fold. (Getting the halves of material in perfect registration for pages that weren't center spreads would make things still more difficult.) Breaking the pages into sections would destroy the layout of the illos, which are arranged to make a full-page design, in most cases, or sometimes two half-page designs. Maybe the best solution would be to have something that covered the material twice -- once in a mini-version, with each page shrunk to fit on a single sheet of paper, to show off the overall visual design, and once in whole-sized versions broken into sections to fit on several pages (one page of text and about four to accommodate illos in groups of 1-3 per page). David Hulan: You commented that the Oz authors were failry consistent in using witch to mean a female human worker of magic, and rarely use any other term for a woman who works magic. True, but there are a few exceptions on the latter, with occasional references to sorceresses other than Glinda, and then there are the Adepts in "Glinda" (unless you were counting them as Fairies rather than humans). But the witches of the Oz authors come in many different flavors (some labeled, as with Krumbic and Yookoohoo, some implied, as with the differences between good or bad, young or so-old-as-to-be-withered-up, not to mention young or old in appearance but not so in fact, and dissolvable in water or, apparently, not). The question is wehther any systematic conclusions (such as Joyce's suggestion that witchliness and dissolvability might be sex-linked) can be drawn out of this variegated usage. Given this amount of inconsistency, it's probably not appropriate to try for much systematicalness. And given this amount of inconsistency, even the conclusions that you draw from negative evidence (there are no male witches or female wizards-or-conjurors in the Oz books) seem to me unconvincing -- after all, the books don't claim that there couldn't be any. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 22:08:08 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz Homer: LOTR is "Lord of the Rings", the standard example of the classic fantasy series, although my favorite fantasy series is The Belgariad/Mallorean by David Eddings. This does not count Sci-Fi and, of course, Oz is in a class all by itself. "ABlair", who sent a message to the digest through Dave's page, does not appear to be a member of the digest, so I responded privately. Ruth: Thanks for the "soft copy" of that article! I've been curious about it ever since I read Farmer's book. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 21:46:32 -0600 From: International Wizard of Oz Club Subject: RE: research project Kim, I'm passing your question along to a group of Oz enthusiasts who might be able to make some recommendations. Sincerely, Jim Vander Noot ---------- From: frank Sent: Sunday, October 27, 1996 10:00 PM To: iwoc@neosoft.com Subject: research project My name is Kym Golden, and I am a senior English major at the Mississippi University for Women. I am doing an independent study of The Wizard of Oz for my Honors Project, and I would appreciate any information on books that might be helpful to me (the best biography, criticisms, etc.). I am planning to do my own interpretation of the book. Please email me at kdg@sunmuw1.muw.edu Thank you! ====================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 2 - 3, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ===================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 07:07:14 -0800 (PST) From: earlabbe@juno.com (Earl C. Abbe) Subject: Ozzy Digest Submission Belatedly, 2 items previously discussed in the Digest, that I will send free to the first requestors: The Toys R Us newspaper insert with the Sky Kids Wizard of Oz Toddler Dolls (2 copies), _Gods of Riverworld_, Philip Jose Farmer, 1983, hardbound - the final book in the series, I think. It was disappointing. If you want any or all, send me you snail-mail address offline. ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 12:50:50 +0000 (UT) From: Kenneth Shepherd Subject: Ozzy Digest 11-1 *please post* Re: The copyright for "On the Liquidation of Wicked Witches"-- I don't think there should be much fuss over Ruth's reproducing the "Liquidation" article for the Digest. My understanding of copyright is that any work belongs to its author unless stated otherwise in the contract that the author signs with the publisher. Most of the contracts I sign as a freelancer have specific provisions in them in which I assign all rights in perpetuity to the publisher. In the case of the IWOC, I've never been given a contract for the articles I've published in the BUGLE, and therefore the copyright belongs to me. The copyright notice that appears on the title page of the BUGLE refers to the magazine as a whole--the way it's put together. So, since Ruth said that she didn't think the author would mind (after all, it's not as if there was a great market out there for nonfiction Oz articles outside of the BUGLE) there shouldn't be a problem. How many members of the Digest are also members of the Ozian Research Group? There's Tyler, and Ruth, and me... and I'm sure I've seen Pat Maund's email address, although he hasn't been posting.... Interested parties--I am still working on the Oz chronologies. After this weekend's performances of CARMEN, I'll have some more time available to devote to it. Best, KRS ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 10:35:10 +0000 From: lnvf@pop3.iup.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-01-96 Ruth-If you want to send my comments to the Oz Research Group, that's fine with me. Actually, I am a member of that group, but I have not heard from them in some time, nor have I had anything to contribute to them. Personally, I'd rather see more books of the official Oz series, like _Pirates_ and _Purple Prince_, than _Queer Visitors_. I would imagine that "witch" is an exclusively feminine term. Witch hunters were sometimes able to locate male witches, but I imagine that they just did not like these people, and needed some excuse to kill them. In Oz, all witches are probably women. Speaking of LOTR: I believe that a character named Gil-Galad, who was an Elf or something, is mentioned by Tolkien. Isn't the resemblance between this name and the name of Rinkitink's capital city kinda odd? A thought: Since the Mernites (from _Handy Mandy_) have thirty-five fingers each, do they count in Base 35? Nathan Mulac DeHoff lnvf@grove.iup.edu "I've always wanted a smoking jacket, and now I've got one." -Kabumpo, after his robe catches on fire Ozma and Oz Forever! ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 10:58:17 -0500 From: DavidXOE@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-01-96 Dave: I certainly hope that Delphi gets their books straightened out; a day without a Digest is like a meal without wine... :-) Barry: I'm not an expert on the subject, but I believe that publishers typically publish only in one or a limited number of countries. There are of course exceptions, but I know that it's difficult to find books by British publishers in the US, and vice versa; specialized bookstores will carry books from other countries, but usually at a higher price than what they sell for in the country of origin. On the other hand, I know that it's easy to find British books in Canada that are hard to find in the US. It may be that the British Commonwealth countries (which includes all the countries with large English-as-a-first-language populations except the US, I think) pass books around more freely than they do between the Commonwealth and the US. The name of your publisher rather sounds as if they primarily distribute outside the US. You should be able to check with a good local bookstore and find out if books from Commonwealth Publishers are available through the big US distributors like Ingram's. (If my daughter were still working in a bookstore I could find out through her, but she isn't.) If they aren't, then you may find that you're being well-distributed in Canada and Britain and Australia but not in the US. (This is not necessarily a problem in terms of sales; I think that although the Commonwealth countries have a smaller combined population than the US, they read as many or more books.) Bear: I've tried reading a bit of DON QUIXOTE, but didn't care for it - could, of course, have been a bad translation. Based on my limited reading of it, I had to concur with Cabell's assessment that "critics have written far more entertainingly about Don Quixote than Cervantes ever did." Me: A line or two of my first paragraph apparently got lost in transmission. It should have read, "As a dozen or two people will probably tell you, LOTR is LORD OF THE RINGS, Tolkien's magnum opus. Robin has said she sequesters herself and rereads it every Christmas break." Ruth: You certainly have my permission to include my comments on the liquidation of witches in an article for the Research Group. It would be nice if we had the ability to use two colors, or two fonts, or some easy way of distinguishing when we're talking about Oz As Literature vs. Oz As Real - i.e., when a comment refers to what we think the various Oz authors had in mind when they wrote their books, vs. what conclusions we can draw about the secondary universe of Oz based on the books. My comment about the meaning of "witch" - a female magic-worker - was intended to fall into the first category; I agree that the books aren't consistent or detailed enough in their usage to allow us to draw any firm conclusions about whether all the people described as "witches" in the books had particular common characteristics, or whether there can be male witches in Oz. David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 11:39:54 -0500 (EST) From: "Aaron S. Adelman" Subject: The Melting Witches of Oz Ruth, sure, go ahead and quote me. Also please send me a copy. (I assume this is all composed on computer, so it would just be a matter of uploading the document when it's written.) Aaron Solomon (ben Saul Joseph) Adelman adelman@yu1.yu.edu ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 15:53:12 -0500 From: Homer I've read The Hobbit, but I haven't read LOTR. One reason is because The Hobbit bored me half to death, and I didn't even enjoy the last three-fourths of it. But I was determined to finish it, and I did. I'm pretty confident now that I can read most anything. As for non-Oz fantasy books, I highly recommend Weis and Hickman's "Death Gate Cycle". Just a few days ago I got a catalog called The Best of Oz. I think it's from The Best of Kansas company. It's full of great stuff. A bit pricy at times, but still good. Freezing in my basement, Tony ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 18:41:01 -0500 From: HermBieber@aol.com Subject: For Ozzy Digest Barry and Bear: You worry about Ruth's "copyright violation" in making the Bugle article available to Digest readers. Strictly speaking, yes. Librarians frequently (and legally) make one Xerox copy for a client. In a few cases, as with some technical magazines, they are required to pay a few cents per page royalty to the publisher. They are NOT allowed to make multiple copies (+ publication), which is what putting something in the Ozzy Digest amounts to. However there is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The copyright law is intended to protect possible future income of the holder by making people buy the product. However, in the case of old Baum Bugles, they are no longer available for sale (except at rather high collector's prices from antiquarian dealers or at Club auctions). So there is no imputed income lost to the Club through Ruth's generosity. And since the Club exists to further the knowledge and appreciation of Oz and Baum, I don't think any of the Club officers would object to copying an old Bugle item. I certainly don't! And if one wants to be a stickler, sending out the missing page of Oziana is also a technical violation. The fact that it was missing doesn't give one the right to broadcast it on the internet or make multiple copies. That is why we were told to write to the printer! Herm Bieber ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 23:20:25 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz Extra: There is a "Wizard of Oz" contest going on in the SHOWBIZ forum of CompuServe. Each day, from Nov. 01 to Nov. 10 there will be a different question. If you answer them all correctly, you earn a chance to win a copy of the movie. FYI, the question today (Nov 01) was "What year did the movie debut?" Most people are answering correctly, but some few are guessing 1940. IMHO, the percentage of correct answers would be lower if the question was not multiple choice. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 23:12:42 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz Dave: Well, hopefully Delphi will realize that you are a loyal client who pays his bills and you will not be cut off temporarily. A friend of mine is always late with his phone bill, and often has to go to corner pay phones to talk to people! As a last resort, you could walk up and down the Coast Highway with a sign reading "will work for Internet time". Ruth: Feel free to use my postings in any scholarly discussion you find meaningful. MOPPeT On Witches/etc. This is one of my favorite topics on the digest. I believe that, in general, average people will call any old woman who practices magic a "witch", whether or not that title fits. I do not find that there is a systematic consistency in people's assigned titles and the strength or scope of their abilities. People simply choose a title (or have it chosen for them) and then practice whatever sort of magic they choose. There is some order in this randomness, though. I beleive that there are different ways of doing magic and, to some extent, titles and magical category are linked, but not to a large degree. Also, I do not believe that one title (or category of magic) is necessarily stronger than another. In other words, people who call themselves withces will tend to practice a certain type of magic (transformations, etc.) while people who call themselves wizards will tend to practice other types of magic. This is not an absolute rule, but it fits sometimes. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 02 Nov 1996 18:12:12 -0500 From: HermBieber@aol.com Subject: For Ozzy Digest A. Blair: For Oz Images, you might try writing or calling the Zedcor Company Customer Service, 3420 N. Dodge Blvd. (Suite Z), Tucson, AZ 85716. Phone: 520+881-8101. They have a collection of 100,000 clip art images on 9 CD-ROMS (for $49.95). But it is all indexed with their "Super Image Finder", so they should be able to tell you if there is anything on "OZ." I understand there are quite a few famous movie images in the lot, so who knows? Herm Bieber There is also ArtToday Online on the Internet with 400,000 images. This is a subscription service for schools, magazines, etc., and I don't know much about it. But Zedcor could tell you. ====================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 3, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] > Speaking of LOTR: I believe that a character named Gil-Galad, who was > an Elf or something, is mentioned by Tolkien. Isn't the resemblance > between this name and the name of Rinkitink's capital city kinda odd? And here I always thought that Rinkitink's capital city was a play on the Biblical city of Gilgal ("rolling" -- Josh. 5:9). It even has its own king (cf. Josh. 12:23) BTW, Dave, the number of subscribers listed may be decreasing, but the overall byte count of the digest is increasing :-) --Mike "Shaggy Man" Turniansky ======================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 4, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ===================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 01:28:29 -0500 (EST) From: Gili Bar-Hillel Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-03-96 Ruth - of course you may quote me freely. I am also supposedly a member of the research group, though I haven't ever contributed and Andrea Yussman seems to think my name is Gilibar. Which is actually kinda cute. And sounds a bit like Tolkien's Gil-Galad. In the ancient Babylonian or Assyrian mythology, there is a character called Gilgamesh - maybe this was part of Tolkein's inspiration. |\ _,,,---,,_ /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ Gili Bar-Hillel, |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' abhillel@fas.harvard.edu '---''(_/--' `-'\_) gili@scso.com (cat by Felix Lee) http://www.scso.com/~gili ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 03:57:40 -0600 (CST) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-03-96 Gil Galad: The name means "spark of bright light," Nathan. He was a high elven king. Tolkien was a linguistics maven, and the name may have some significance other than Sind., which he claims as its derivation. He made up Sind. (Sindarian? I don't remember and I really don't feel like looking it up now), but it may well be based on a "real" language. I'll bet someone in our group knows. Ruth, maybe. The notion intrigues me. I may pursue it. Hmm. There's a province in Pakistan named Sind. Nah...too far-fetched. Or is it? We share language roots: Indo-European... Copyright: FWIW, I really don't think the author of the article Ruth so kindly gave us will mind. He's not that kind of guy. And IWOC isn't that kind of outfit. Obviously many of us are fascinated by witches. Go for it, Ruth! My own favorite magic worker is Glinda. She's the most mysterious of the Oz characters to me. I even wrote an article ("Glinda the What?") about her once, which for me is saying something, since I usually don't get involved in Ozian "research" and tend to either draw my own conclusions or just accept the many inconsistencies as what they are--inconsistencies that are to be expected in the writing of a commercially motivated series. Glinda, however, has a different "feel" to her as a character. That lady is in Oz for a reason, a specific purpose, I betcha. Why am I up at almost 4 a.m.? I should still be asleep. I have the rest of the Houston Book and Paper Show to do later today. Joy. I get to pack up and lug back and then reshelve the books I didn't sell when it closes this afternoon. Oh boy. Something to look forward to. --Robin ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 12:37:12 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz ALERT TO ALL: Some people keep have been posting replies to "A Blair's" request, not realizing that this person (gender unknown) is not a member. A Blair reached Dave's web page and sent him a message through there, happening to put "Oz" in the subject line, which got the message posted to the digest. I copied Herm Bieber's message to A Blair directly, and if anyone has more info, they should probably send it directly, as A Blair will not see anything from the digest. Anyway, considering that the company Herman mentioned is only a few miles away from me, I could probably call them and get some info. Dodge Blvd. eh? Arguably the ugliest (and most discontinuous) street in Tucson. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 10:23:38 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-03-96 Ruth and Dave, In the interest of fairness and professional courtesy, I talked with Douglas A. Rossman this morning to seek his permission to reproduce his article, "On the Liquidation of Witches," which originally appeared in _The Baum Bugle_ in the Spring number of 1969. Doug was happy to give his permission and asked me to let him know if any interesting discussion ensues. I attach his text below (scanned and transmitted to Tina in Italy several days ago). Peter ON THE LIQUIDATION OF WITCHES by Douglas A. Rossman (Scanned October 29, 1996, by Peter E. Hanff, from the original appearance in The Baum Bugle, Spring 1969 (vol. 13, page 17) Reproduced with the permission of Douglas A. Rossman and The International Wizard of Oz Club The eradication of witches by immersion in water has left an indelible impression upon the minds of the readers of Oz books, in spite of the fact that this technique for ridding Oz of evil forces was used only twice in the entire series. The first time, of course, was in Chapter 12 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West by throwing a pail of water on her. The second time was in the final chapter of The Lost King of Oz when Old Mombi was washed out. As with most feats of magic performed in the Oz books, we are presented with a fait accompli and are given no indication of precisely what is happening. These magical acts are seemingly unexplainable, and an observer is left with a sense of wonderment and awe. Nonetheless, both Robert R. Pattrick (in Unexplored Territory in Oz, International Wizard of Oz Club, 1963, p. 15) and Barbara Greenberg (in The Commonwealth of Oz, a Fairyland Image of America, unpublished University of Texas thesis, 1966, chapter 4) have argued that Oz magic can be explained rationally. They maintain that it is an extension rather than a negation of natural laws, and that it is, in fact, based upon certain scientific principles. If we look upon the liquidation of witches by liquefaction in this light, the explanation of this dramatic technique proves to be both simple and reasonable. One of the basic chemical processes that occurs within the human body during digestion is called hydrolysis; simply put, this is a breaking down of large molecules by the addition of water. Surely this is what happens to a wicked witch who is immersed in water; her molecular structure is broken down and she simply dissolves. Like most biochemical processes, hydrolysis requires the presence of certain enzymes (catalysts that bring about a reaction without themselves being changed by it); were this not the case, hydrolysis would cause the breakdown of a great many things which are not supposed to be dissolved. In the case of a wicked witch one can only assume that the catalyst which permits this breakdown is the result of some subtle physiological change that takes place in the body of a witch at the time she becomes adept in black magic. Certainly her training in the black arts enables a witch to perform self-transformations which transcend the normal biological limitations of the human body (for example, Old Mombi in The Marvelous Land of Oz assumes the form of a rose, a shadow, a black ant, and a griffin). Presumably a good witch, who practices only white magic (Gloma, in The Wishing Horse of Oz, is exceptional for she is a good witch who has studied the black arts) would have nothing to fear from water. This relatively simple explanation of the process by which wicked witches are liquidated opens up intriguing new vistas for speculation. In another biological process we find that the small molecules that are the breakdown products of hydrolysis leave the digestive system and are transported to various parts of the body where they are combined to form larger molecules. The process by which small organic molecules are joined to form large ones is called dehydration synthesis, for it is accomplished by the removal of water from the smaller molecules. It is, in fact, just the opposite of hydrolysis. Allowing ourselves some poetic license, imagine what could happen if the dissolved remains of the liquidated witches actually have been saved in sealed containers over the years. It would not be a particularly difficult feat for some unscrupulous magician or sorcerer, applying the principle of dehydration synthesis, to restore Old Mombi and the Wicked Witch of the West to their former stature, and in league with these old mischief makers plot anew to overthrow Ozma and her companions in the Emerald City. --DOUGLAS A. ROSSMAN ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 15:00:02 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz Extra: Here are questions 2 - 4 of the ongoing OZ QUIZ in the SHOWBIZ forum of CompuServe. So far, nobody has gotten these wrong. 2. Dorothy lived in: A. Nebraska B. Oklahoma C. Iowa D. Kansas 3. The Scarecrow was played by: A. Ray Bolger B. Frank Morgan C. Jack Haley D. Bert Lahr 4. When Dorothy's house landed in Oz, it fell on and killed the witch of the: A. North B. West C. East D. South This is a posted message from Kim Blanda. I don't know enough to help her out. Anybody who does, could you please reply privately? ----- I have been trying to locate the name of a book (or other source), that tells all about the making of the film. It covers all the odd things that happened and quirks (the varying length of Dorothy's braids, the man who hung himself on the set (they left it in), etc). I know it exists and cannot find it. I found a book by and about the Munchkins but it didn't help. Can anyone help? Kim Blanda, 71053,2360 ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 19:29:10 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Bauman <72172.2631@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Today's Oz Growls David - I think you stopped too soon. DQ Vol 2 is even better than Vol 1. Since you mentioned Cabell, can I assume you have read "Jurgen?" So many great books to read, so little time. Sigh. Ruth - My little bit was meant as a joke. Now Herm sounds serious! Do you hear footsteps outside. :) :) :) Weekend regards, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 21:51:05 -0600 From: International Wizard of Oz Club Subject: FW: New Oz Art Series (For the Digest) ---------- From: James Poole Sent: Saturday, November 02, 1996 7:54 PM Subject: New Oz Art Series I saw the first in a series of paintings based on the MGM film displayed at the Texas State Fair. Entitled "Over The Rainbow", the painting is an image of Dorothy in Kansas with Toto... the scene in the film where she sings the famous song. The entire painting is in sepia tone, except for the faint hint of blue in Dorothy's dress and a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I fell in love with it and ordered one of the limited edition signed and numbered prints. It just arrived this week and went immediately off to the framer. If you don't know about this, you and members of the ozclub might be interested. I'm anxious to see what comes next in this series. The company handling this series is: The Marks Collection 1590 N Roberts Rd. Suite 308 Kennesaw, Georgia 30144 800-849-3125 404-425-7982 I'm a long time fan of the film, and I'm considering joining your Oz fan club. ====================================================================== Date: Monday 04-Nov-96 01:21:29 From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things As I've said, the South Winkie Convention was great; the only bit of worry expressed by some attendees was concern that the IWOC's new president would move the club's emphasis off of the Ozma Administration and on to that MGM movie starring Judy Garland whose name escapes me at present...Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions about this? (I'm asking this question on behalf of Ozma, who my Oz informants the Adepts at Sorcery say is looking vaguely uneasy.) Robin talked about there being a different "feel" to Glinda as compared with the other characters. The thing is, I think, that like Enya (with whom I'm endlessly comparing Glinda!), Glinda is a private person who distances herself from the gregarious merriment in the Emerald City. I think Glinda's "specific purpose" is to help protect Oz. Thanks, Peter, for getting Mr. Rossman's permission to use the "Liquidation" article in the Digest. Is it all right with him if I make the article part of the permanent Ozzy Digest File Archive? I need all of you to look at the top of your Digest for today and see if that loooooong header that includes the E-mails of everyone who receives the Digest is there. I am sending today's Digest through Eudora instead of directly from Delphi's command line, and I want to know if it makes a difference. -- Dave ====================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 5, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ===================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 07:31:27 -0800 (PST) From: earlabbe@juno.com (Earl C. Abbe) Subject: Ozzy Digest Submission Two people have asked for copies of the Toys R Us Toddler Doll ad, so the ads are no longer available. Hopefully, I will get them in the mail today. So far no one has indicated that they want the Farmer book. David Hulan asks in the 10/29 Digest, Another 44 years of life happened, mostly. Also, I work all day at a terminal in my Government contract job. After the dishes are finished in the evening, all I want to do is to close my eyes and go to sleep. Maybe when I retire for the second time -- circa end 2000 is my plan -- I can do some real reading. In the 11/3 Digest Tony says that _The Hobbit_ bored him I suggest that LOTR may still be worth his serious consideration. The writing in Hobbit and the first third of the first book of the LOTR trilogy is different from the rest of LOTR. The experience with the barrow wight seems to sober the characters (and the author). At the time I first read it I thought that perhaps Tolkein had put the work down for a period at that point and, when he resumed, had a different, more mature view of what should follow. Also, I suggest that Tony do everything feasible to stay warm -- but he probably has already thought of that. ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 10:45:06 +0000 From: lnvf@pop3.iup.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-04-96 Gili: Or maybe Baum was inspired by the name of Gilgamesh. We really don't know much about Rinkitinkian history. Maybe Gilgamesh or Gil-Galad founded the city of Gilgad. Maybe this city has some connection to the Gillikins. Perhaps the original rulers of Rinkitink were Queen Gili and King Gad. Hmm. There may be a story in here somewhere. Tyler: Possibly unbeknownst to the writer of your quiz, people from Oklahoma and Nebraska came to Oz to live. I do not know if any Iowans came to the fantastic fairyland. Thompson may have answered the question concerning which witch Dorothy's house crushed incorrectly. She often mixed up the east and west, and she often referred to the Gillikins as "Gillikens." Neill used "Gillikans" in _Scalawagons_. Of course, avid Oz readers probably already know these things. Dave: WHAT? Switching the emphasis of the Club from the glorious reign of Ozma the Great to that...movie? I mean, I liked the movie, but it is not something about which I would join a club. There is just so much more in the books than in the movie, not to mention that there are more books than movies! Besides, I would much rather be associated with a literary organization than a bunch of movie junkies. The Oz books are totally superbly excellent, while the movie is just all right. I do not mind a little about the movie in the Oz Club, but LITTLE is the key word! I intend to support Ozma until the end of forever. Scraps: To the end of forever? How long is that? Scarecrow: That, that is what we shall soon see. -From _Kabumpo in Oz_ All right. I hope I have gotten my point across. Exiting tirade mode...now. On a lighter note, please look at http://www.dragonfire.net/~VoVat/stories/index.html WARNING: The server is kinda slow. Nathan Mulac DeHoff lnvf@grove.iup.edu "I've always wanted a smoking jacket, and now I've got one." -Kabumpo, after his robe catches on fire Ozma and Oz Forever! ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 12:14:35 -0500 From: DavidXOE@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-03 & 04-96 Had a busy weekend, with my nephew and his fiancee visiting, a party at World Fantasy Conference, and going to Highland Park to see Ruth Berman, who was in town visiting her sister, so I didn't get around to commenting on the 11/3 Digest until today - and already there's one for 11/4 as well! 11/3: Ken S.: I'm a member of the Research Group. In fact, I had a couple of things in the last mailing. Nathan: I agree with you (and so responded to the IWOC poll on their Web page) - I'd rather see reprints of the harder-to-find FF books (with color plates) than things like reprints of non-FF works, given that the Club probably can't afford to do both. BoW is committed to publishing the Baum books with plates over the next few years, but my impression is that they don't plan to continue with the Thompsons, and in any case certainly won't publish them until the next millennium. PURPLE PRINCE would be my first choice, because it's the one I have in the worst condition, but I'd be happy to see ROYAL BOOK, LOST KING, HUNGRY TIGER, GNOME KING, JACK PUMPKINHEAD, YELLOW KNIGHT, or OJO. (I already have copies of GIANT HORSE and PIRATES with plates, or I'd include them...and I'd buy a new copy of either with plates, but would rather have something where I'm adding more than a better binding to my FF collection.) Interesting speculation about the Mernites. My feeling is that they don't count in base 35, because it's too big a number, assuming their minds work the way ordinary humans' do. (Considerable research has shown that for most people, five objects are the most that can be instantly comprehended without counting or grouping. Two fives, to make ten, is an easy grouping, but much more than that would be difficult.) 11/4: Robin: I think that "Sind." was "Sindarin", which was Elvish-as-spoken-in-Middle-Earth as opposed to the High Elvish of the Far West (Tolkien's name for which I've forgotten). But it's been a while since I reread LOTR; I tend to do it more once a decade than once a year, and it may have been even longer than that since last time. And I haven't had much contact with my Mythopoeic Society friends, who talk about it a lot, in 20 years or so. I don't think Tolkien's "Sindarin" has anything to do with the province of Sind in Pakistan, but Sind is the source of one of the great bilingual puns of history - the British general who conquered it for the Raj announced it by sending the one-word telegram, "Peccavi". (Latin for "I have sinned.") Tyler: Others will probably respond as well, but the book Kim is interested in is most likely THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ, by Aljean Harmetz, from back around 1980 or so. I'll look up the rest of the publication data on it and send it to her directly after I finish my comments on the Digest. (The book is upstairs.) Bear: Alas, life's too short for me to keep reading a long book that isn't interesting me after the first fifty pages. Now, if I could move to Oz, I might give DQ another try... Yes, I've read JURGEN, along with a couple of dozen other Cabell titles. JURGEN is his best-known book, but personally I liked BEYOND LIFE the best, and HAMLET HAD AN UNCLE second. All of the ones I've read are good, though. (And I have about eight or ten on the shelf that I haven't gotten to yet, though they're all among his more obscure titles, and not fantasies. Something to do when I'm in the mood for beautifully-written irony.) Dave: I certainly hope that the IWOC doesn't move its emphasis even farther toward the movie than it already is. I mean, it's a great, great movie, but it's not really Oz. And it already gets easily half the ink in the BUGLE. I can't really tell you about the change in the header, because since I upgraded to the latest version of AOL software all address information appears in a separate box, and it appears to list just the first twelve names on your list and then mine. So I don't know what would happen if I'd looked at it with the old AOL 2.7 reader, where I'd have seen the entire list before your Tin Woodman graphic. David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 12:49:30 -0500 From: "Melody G. Keller" <104270.2374@compuserve.com> Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-04-96 Dave: I THOUGHT the Digest header was considerably shorter today! I thought the Digest had suddenly lost subscribers. If it's still getting to everybody, the shorter header is actually a distinct improvement--takes less time to scroll down to the contents. Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 11:01:57 -0800 From: ozbot@ix.netcom.com (ozbot) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest stuff Dave, no change from the Digest format for me! (Except that your name now comes out as "Dave L. Hardenbrook" Hmmm, I wonder what. . . ) FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN-- I just completed my latest Ozzy book, McGraws' FOUNTAIN, and this is the best non-Baum book I've read so far (Which, admittedly, has been very few) Their characterization was right on the mark, low on the IE scale (something I seem to be paying a lot of attention to for some reason nowadays) and the plot idea was very original and well played out. (Ozma drinking from the h2o of oblivion) I think I'll get MERRYGOROUND soon! I like the way that the Mcgraws' stayed with Ozma throughout the book. I mean, the other heroes of Oz were there, but once used, they were quietly put aside until the end of the book. Even Emerelda, a well-rounded character in her own right, was put aside once she fulfilled her function. Kabumpo-- One thing I have to say, I have never really seen Kabumpo as a main character before, so it was a treat to see him developed here. I never realized was how, um, "dandy-ish?" he was! I guess it makes sense, as he is (in my best upperclass British accent) "*the* elegant elephant." Is this consistent with the other books, or did I miss something? It makes a colorful contrast to the other Oz heroes, making his personality distinct (and humorous, after all, how proper can an *elephant* actually be!) Which reminds me, on the Digest, Kabumpo hasn't been stomping a lot latel-- Kabumpo: <> LIQUID WITCHES-- (Not to be confused with Liquid Paper) I wonder if the general theme of hydration due to the use of black magic could be extended to the Age issue. Perhaps the use of magic accelerates the aging process? We never have seen a (mortal) child magic user, have we? Also, although Mombi and the WWWest didn't, I bet the Yookoohoo and Coo-ee-oh were not in their true forms when our heroes saw them. (Maybe the Yookoohoo isn't even a giant? Ooh, those transformers are tricky.) I like the idea of Transformational magic akin to (or solely in the province of) black magic. As Glinda says in LAND, no self-respecting magic user does Transformations. However, this must not extend to fairies, because Polychrome is able to do transformations (unless this was just a magic-negating spell of the Yookoohoo's previous transformations.) Enough for now, Danny ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 13:29:53 -0600 (CST) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-04-96 Dave, that's the conclusion I came up with in my article. Glinda must be some kind of protector. Actually, I think a big part of her job is protecting Ozma, specifically Ozma, not the country. What a good story that would make...Glinda's trying unsuccessfully to find the infant and then seemingly giving up; I'll bet she was just biding her time, waiting for some kind of prophecy to be fulfilled. Hmmm. Maybe I'll write that story. I think I will. Yeah, I guess that means I'd like others to lay off this prophecy fulfillment-induced wait to find Ozma. But the basic question is still a good one for all of us author types to try to work with. Why *is* Glinda there? What's her background? Why don't you guys write some stories. We could use some of them for a theme issue of _Oziana_ if we get enough good ones. I'm not surprised about the Enya connection. Glinda feels Celtic, somehow. Jim Nitch thought she was, too. --Robin ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 20:26:25 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz Dave: While I don't keep a list of who subscribes to the Ozzy Digest, there were only 50 names in the "TO" box, when there are usually 120. As far as the direction the club may take with our new president, I have been concerned about this for years. I really feel that the club is ignoring the written aspect of Oz to concentrate on the much more well-known MGM movie. However, I believe that the purpose of the club is to expand awareness of Oz in ALL its forms, not just to pump up the biggest part. Itis true that the majority of club members are fans strictly of the movie and have little or no interest in the FF, etc. The club should be actively working to remedy this situation. For people who know of Oz only through Judy Garland, there are enormous treasures waiting to be discovered in the works of Baum and his successors. There is so much more there than just one movie, as great as that movie is. I do not believe that the club should abandon the movie. The MGM movie has kept Oz alive through several decades. However, I do believe that the club should place its emphasis on the books. After all, if there had been no books, there would have been no movie. Also, there is no need to emphasize the MGM movie since everybody already knows it so well. We should all do our best to make people aware of just how much has to offer, on and off the silver screen. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 20:27:51 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Bauman <72172.2631@CompuServe.COM> Subject: TODAY'S OZ GROWLS Dave - According to my header our membership just went down to 50? Or do you send it out in sections or something? Ah, I reached the end about Eudora. Is that what did it? In any event, it really reduces the Digest's overhead, in terms of bytes. Robin - Are you selling Oz Only or all types of childrens books? Throwing water on the witch caused me to remember that in the book Dorothy throws the water because the witch has tricked her out of a silver shoe and wont give it back. IIRC in the movie, it is an accident. She throws the water on the Scarecrow because the witch has set him on fire and some of it hits her. As usual, I like the original and her spunkiness best. In the same manner, Mickey Mouse used to be a tough little guy when he had a tail. The early stories were really great. Then they cut off his tail and turned him into a wimp. Old MM fans will never forgive Disney for that. By the way, some future author is going to have a hard time gathering up the liquidated WWW as tidy little Dorothy threw another bucket of water over the mess and swept it out the door. Now Mombi, who was executed in the dungeon without any due process (supposedly) is another possible story........ Litigiously, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 09:20:19 -0800 From: "Stephen J. Teller" Subject: OZ VIDEOS I received word yesterday that the four major silent of videos (THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ, HIS MAJESTY THE SCARECROW OF OZ, THE MAGIC CLOAK OF OZ, and [the wretched 1925] THE WIZARD OF OZ) will have a new video release, with soundtracks--something most have not before had on tape, as a boxed set for #34.95 (or $23.95 each) from American Home Entertainment, street date Nov. 26, 1996. These will not only have music but also narration. Steve T. ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 12:30:15 -0600 (CST) From: Ruth Berman Subject: ozzy digest Barry Eshkol Adelman and Bear: You asked about whether putting Doug Rossman's article into the Ozzy Digest was violation of copyright. Yes, technically, but it seemed so unlikely that he (as the copyright holder) would object to having an article written for the Oz Club's journal further distributed to a group of Oz Club members that I put the article in -- and also wrote to him to let him know that I had done so and to ask permission. That seemed more sensible than waiting for the mail to go and come. If I'd been wrong in thinking that he wouldn't mind, I could always have apologized and offered to pay some fair market value (two contributor's copies, in this context, probably) for the use. And if Doug hadn't thought that was enough, he could always have asked more, and sued to get it if I thought it was too much and refused. But at that point the scenario gets to be so wildly unlikely as to be effectively impossible. Going ahead and no problem was the likely case, and having to apologize the unlikely but reasonably possible fall-back. Barry again: Stay away from Commonwealth Publishers. I assume that the deal they have offered you is for subsidy publishing, having you pay some 4-figure sum towards the publishing expenses. Depending on whether you can find any proof that they actually print and try to distribute some agreed-on number of copies, that might be a reasonable enough deal. But the fact that you do not find books of theirs in the stores is an indication that they don't get books distributed. They might be failing at distribution because they made a genuine attempt at it and didn't succeed, or the reason might be that they don't even try, but either way it's a bad deal for you. I have heard second-hand of an author who had considerable difficulty getting them to send him the copies of his book which he as author was supposed to receive, and that's also an indication of Trouble. (A subsidy publisher doesn't have much incentive to try hard to get much distribution, if the author is covering most or all of the publishing cost.) If you're not going to be getting into the bookstores much anyway, you'd be better off with self-publication and try for sales by advertising in appropriate markets. jnw: It should probably be pointed out that the missing page also has an illo on it. Nathan Mulac DeHoff, David Hulan, and Tyler Jones: There's an inconsistency in accepting that "witch" necessarily means "female magic worker" and yet also accepting that there are any particular differences between magic done by a woman and magic done by a man. Consistent possibilities would be to say: there are (or can be) male witches in Oz; men calling themselves something other than "witch" can actually be practising whatever kind of magic is meant by "witchcraft" -- which, in turn, would mean that someone like Conjo is as likely as Mombi to be vulnerable to melting in water; there are genetic differences between men and women in the kinds of magic that it is possible for them to practice (the kind of expanation Joyce was suggesting). The third sounds scientific, but is not very satisfying at the symbolic level, and, besides, coming up with a scientifically plausible explanation for why "magic" should be apparently much more strongly sex-linked than, say, mathematics is difficult. David again: It was nice getting together with you and Marcia in IL this past weekend! Danny, Joyce, Nathan, David, Aaron, Tyler, Gili, Robin: Thanks for the okays to print your Liquidation comments in the Oz Research Group. Rich Morrissey, Tina Romano, Dave Hardenbrook: Hope I'll be hearing from you as to whether it's okay with you if I print your Liquidation comments in the Oz Research Group? Kenneth Shepherd: I don't know how much overlap there is between the Digest and the ORG, but I assume there are at least some people who won't have seen the comments before, and I think even those who have will find that having the separate comments on one topic gathered together makes an interesting article, because the lines of argument are easier to follow that way. ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 16:16:00 +0100 (MET) From: "Romano, Tina" Subject: RE: Thanks & other Dave, It's just great to be in line with all of you Digesters - Thank You for making me be part of this. Would anyone know where I can buy a copy of Andy Warhol's Wicked Witch of the West poster. I saw it reproduced on a Baum Bugle top page and I would like to buy it. Robin Olderman - may I have a copy of your article on Glinda? There is a case of Male sorcerer that has been melted - the bad guy in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" has been liquified by the means of water. Wondering if the technique has been borrowed by Oz? Ciao Tina ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 14:16:46 -0500 From: OzBucket@aol.com Subject: Hanff Can you give me Peter Hanff's snail address? I have had difficulty getting it from other people. It should be in the new Bugle, which I do not have. Thanks. ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 17:31:02 -0500 From: DIXNAM@aol.com Subject: Oz Club's emphasis Dave: Are you saying that the IWOC President (Isn't it Jim VanderNoot?) gave some members the impression that his direction of the Club would be more toward the 1939 movie rather than on LFB's books and those of the other Royal Historians? If this is true, (and I find it hard to believe,) MY membership in the Club would probably terminate at year end, if the IMPEACHMENT fails, that is! I imagine Ozma is probably past uneasy, and on to OUTRAGED!! Dick (an Ozma loyalist) Randolph ====================================================================== Date: Tuesday 05-Nov-96 14:56:39 From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things OZ CLUB: Dick R. wrote: >Are you saying that the IWOC President (Isn't it Jim VanderNoot?) >gave some members the impression that his direction of the Club would be >more toward the 1939 movie rather than on LFB's books and those of the other >Royal Historians? I should say that this was all gossip at the South Winkie Convention, and don't know what the true situation is...I HOPE that Jim VanderNoot or someone who REALLY knows what's going on in the club can fill us in. HEADERS: Thanks for responding about the headers. I'm going to try Linda's suggestion and place the addresses in the "Bcc:" field and see if that suppresses the address list altogether. Anyway, let me know. (And PLEASE, if anyone doesn't get the Digest, let me know!) Remember to vote everyone! This promises to be an interesting election! (Dorothy will no doubt be interested to know that there are TWO Senate seats up for election today in Kansas!) -- Dave ====================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 6, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ===================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 17:04:09 -0700 (MST) From: estelle@usa.net (Estelle E. Klein) Subject: Oz Graphics Just want to thank everyone who consisently contributes info to the digest- it's both entertaining and educational. It's gotten to the point that it's almost conversational and I'd miss not getting it! I have an older Desk Gallery of 30,000 images clip art from Zedcor (info in previous digest) and under"people-baby" are oz characters (Denslow art and some Neill). If anyone is interested in a mint set of the oversized Marvel WOZ and Land of Oz comics (1975) please e-mail me privately. I'm not exactly sure what they're worth, other than the info in the S&S book. Also, Safeway supermarkets in Colorado have some wonderful "window cling" movie promos. Just got back from Vegas, and although the Emerald City is gone, all of the brass door handles are intact as are the gift shops- just inundated with merchandise!! There are a few statues of characters in the theme park, also gracing the door to the gift shop! ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 19:29:44 +0000 From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-05-96 Danny: I also liked _Forbidden Fountain_. Regarding Kabumpo's characterization in that book, it was quite similar to how he acted in his other major roles. He played important parts in _Kabumpo_, _Purple Prince_, and _Silver Princess_, but he was accompanied by a human hero (Kabumpo or Randy) in all three of these books. In _Forbidden Fountain_, he gets a solo role for some time, and makes many decisions on his own. Actually, there are a few other characters in the series who are quite similar to Kabumpo, like Pigasus and Nox the Ox. Kabumpo is probably my favorite of these, as well as one of my favorite characters in the entire Oz series. Mombi used green magic to transform King Pastoria. This seems to indicate that magic other than black can be used for transformations. White magic, however, does not seem to be used for form-changing. BTW, has anyone ever thought about the differences between the different colors of magic? The series mentions white, black, yellow, red, green, and blue magic, and I would not be surprised if there is also such a thing as purple magic. Ruth-It may well be true that there are men who practice witchcraft, and who can be destroyed by water. It just seems that the term "witch" is only used to refer to women. Are the witchy men called warlocks, perhaps? You don't have to write out my full name when you reply to me. Dick: I'm glad to see another Ozma supporter! I'm sure Ozma would be honored to find so much support in the Great Outside World! Nathan Mulac DeHoff lnvf@grove.iup.edu "I've always wanted a smoking jacket, and now I've got one." -Kabumpo, after his robe catches on fire Ozma and Oz Forever! ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 20:00:54 -0500 (EST) From: BARRY ESHKOL ADELMAN Subject: Publishers Whose Books Cannot Be Found in Oz Ruth, thanks for the warning. Commonwealth wants me to fork up 10% of the cost of publishing the book (something like $3000-4000), which they call a "joint venture." I would like to hear their explaination of why their books are curiously absent from shelves and will report it when I get it. Regarding Roger Rabbit, the original book (_Who Censored Roger Rabbit_, which bore only passing resemblance to the movie) had a genie who was dispatched by being immersed in salt water (a tropical fish tank), but that was probably a special case. In the movie it was a special mix of chemicals called "dip" which was specifically designed to dissolve 'toons, not quite the same thing. (Not quite ozzy but a relevant comparitive point to one someone else made. ARGH! ***SPOILER ALERT PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH!!!*** Sorry to anyone who hasn't read the book yet and wants to.) ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 17:10:10 -0800 From: Robert.Shepherd@West.Sun.COM (Bob Shepherd) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-05-96 Dave - the bcc trick worked! The header on today's digest was incredibly short with just your name in the "to:" part of the header. What an improvement! I'm happy to mention that Oz on Ice is returning to Portland, OR November 7 through 10. This is the second engagement in Portland for Oz on Ice, which is contrary to the Spring Bugle's statement that it wouldn't be returning to any locations a second time. So if you missed it the first time you may get a second chance! I highly recommend it! My daughter just joined the Oz Pen Pal Association (TOPPA). She was thrilled to receive a handwritten letter (on Ozma stationery no less! I wonder where you can get that?) within two weeks of joining from TOPPA, telling her who her pen pal is. What a terrific service that is being provided - and it is free! For anybody that is interested in TOPPA, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to TOPPA, c/o Susan Higbee, 710 Jonas Blvd #36, Spearfish, SD 57783. Please sure to indicate if you want a boy, girl or either, and the age range. My daughter is working away at her first letter to her pen pal and will be including her school picture. What fun! Bob ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 17:31:45 -0800 From: ozbot@ix.netcom.com (ozbot) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest stuff GLINDA'S ROLE-- My MOPPET is that Glinda's role could be paralled to the CIA and FBI, as her talents and magic lie in information gathering and, in particular, info primarily used for defense of Oz in general. (Of course, it makes interesting parallels with the Book of Records and so on.) (Scratching my head--) I don't know if she sat around, looking for some prophecy to fulfill itself. IIRC, she seemed in LAND to only research the Wizard/Mombi agenda at that time. Here's a thought-- do we know when, exactly, Glinda overthrew the WWSouth? Perhaps she was only able to do that relatively recently to the events in LAND, and lied low to regain her strength. Some questions, though-- What was the Good Witch doing at this time? If she overthrew Mombi before the dealings with the Wizard, she might not have noticed the baby Ozma, but afterward, why wasn't she on the lookout for Oz's rightful heir? If she overthrew Mombi after he already gave Ozma away, why didn't Tattypoo try to rescue, or "liberate" Tip from Mombi's clutches? (Leaving *anyone* behind doesn't seem right.) Trivia time? Mickey Mouse actually *does* have a tail, it was missing during a period of rough times for Disney, (pre WWII, I think,) when it was required that every ink possible needed to be saved. Now, I think they can afford it. As for his loss of spunkiness-- I think Donald Duck found it! Danny ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 20:50:12 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Bauman <72172.2631@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Today's Oz Growls Earl - If someone was "bored half to death" with THE HOBBIT, I don't think you are going to interest him in LOTR. He apparently just isn't an S & S genre kind of guy. Somehow I always think anyone who likes Oz is going to like LOTR. Life is full of surprises. Now about the election...... David - I have never even heard of HAMLET HAD AN UNCLE? Could you tell me the publishing date? Tina > There is a case of Male sorcerer that has been melted - the bad guy in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" has been liquified by the means of water. Wondering if the technique has been borrowed by Oz? Surely you meant borrowed FROM, not borrowed BY Oz. Dick - If Jim is the new president, I imagine the last thing he would want to do is alienate those who admire a body of literature (40+++) as opposed to those who enjoy ONE entertaining film. Think how fast the Bugle would run out of articles. This brings up something I have been wondering about. Is there someone on the Digest who is on the board or an officer of IWOOC who could do an occasional "News From IWOOC" post on our Digest? It would be much appreciated. Dave - Whatever you did suppresses the trailing address list on Compuserve. Regards, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 22:03:54 -0500 From: RMorris306@aol.com Subject: Recent Ozzy Digests Hi again! OZ RESEARCH GROUP: I'm flattered and honored that you want me to belong! I can't always answer everything right away, but by all means count me in! David Hulan wrote: << On the other hand, I know that it's easy to find British books in Canada that are hard to find in the US. It may be that the British Commonwealth countries (which includes all the countries with large English-as-a-first-language populations except the US, I think) pass books around more freely than they do between the Commonwealth and the US.>> Well, I don't think the Commonwealth includes Ireland (except Northern Ireland). Essentially, it includes the UK and all its ex-colonies that became independent through non- hostile means, which includes all of them except Ireland and the USA, as best I recall. (It will soon lose its last remaining colony, Hong Kong, but not to independence. Come to think of it, isn't *Oz* a country with a large English-as-a-first-language population that doesn't belong to the Commonwealth?) Herm Bieber wrote: <> The current copyright law (passed in 1978) specifically authorizes as "fair use" a professor making copies of part of a book--up to but not more than a full chapter or article--to pass out to a class. Since Ozzy Digest never to my knowledge copied more than one article out of THE BAUM BUGLE at a time (a whole issue *would* be a violation) it's within the law. (I don't think its circulation is any more than the size of a large college class.) A recent Federal court case through out a lawsuit against a copying service for similar reasons; I could give the case citation (the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal) if anyone's interested. WITCHES AND OTHER MAGIC USERS: Nomenclature varies; a few male witches have been called by the title in fiction and even in fact (e.g., John Proctor in the Salem trials), but in most cases they've been called either warlocks or wizards. In Oz, given the title of the first book, I'd say the latter title is probably the most appropriate. Danny wrote: <> Not unless Kiki Aru (who's as mortal as any Oz native) counts... Tyler Jones wrote: <> Agreed entirely! I hadn't seen most of the last few Baum Bugles, and didn't realize it was paying so much attention to it. I remember ONE issue devoted to the movie (as there were issues devoted to Oz comics, John R. Neill, and other specific parts of the whole), but no more than that... << It is true that the majority of club members are fans strictly of the movie and have little or no interest in the FF, etc.>> I never realized that! I'd thought they were mostly people who grew up on the books, as I (along with most of us here) did. <> Definitely! Ruth Berman wrote: <> I don't remember saying anything about it, but you're welcome to anything I've said here! Dave Hardenbrook wrote: <> I forget who it was that compared this year's candidates to the Oz characters, but it was apt...to the effect that Ralph Nader needed a brain, Ross Perot needed a heart, Bill Clinton needed some courage, and Bob Dole will be heading home to Kansas... Rich Morrissey ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 22:33:52 -0500 From: HermBieber@aol.com Subject: For Ozzy Digest I don't know who started the rumor that the IWOC was moving toward the MGM movie at the expense of Oz literature, but I have not seen any evidence to support this. The current Club President, Peter Hanff, is a special collections librarian at U. Cal. Berkeley, and the prior president, John Fricke, while a leading expert on, and fan of, Judy Garland, was raised on Oz books. I feel the Club Board, which sets policy, is pretty representative of the various factions that comprise the World of Oz. It is probably true that the new Bugle Editor, Bill Stillman, with emphasize Oz Collectables more than former editors, but that is his perogative. So fear not, all you Oz bibliophiles. The FF will live on in the IWOC ! Herm Bieber ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 15:47:56 +0000 From: Scott Olsen Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-04-96 Since today is election day I suppose the following comments are in order: Dave mentioned the club's new president may have a preference toward the MGM movie. I don't wish to sound uninformed, but I suppose there's no way around it--I didn't know the club had a new president. Who is he/she? On another election subject, I was watching PBS a week or so ago and they had a program on about some significant presidental elections of the past--1896, 1912, 1932, 1976, 1980, and 1992. Regarding the election of 1896 (you probably already know where this is going....), between Bryan and McKinley, the host of the program stated that a man named Baum later wrote a tale where the Scarecrow was the farmer, the lion was Bryan, the road of yellow bricks was the gold standard, the silver shoes were---blah, blah, blah.... I sure wish this "theory" would just go away. Here's hoping everyone got the chance to vote. Sincerely, Scott Olsen ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 22:43:09 -0600 (CST) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-05-96 David: Thanks for the "Sind" pun. I laughed out loud. Bear: The shop is generalist in stock. Oz is just a specialty. We're fairly strong in series and juvenile books. Tina: I'll have to find the Glinda article. I did it before I had a real computer. IWOC, Bill Stillman, and MGM: Stop worrying. Bill's specialty is certainly MGM, but he's certainly aware that MGM is, no pun intended, only a part of the Oz picture. He edits the _Bugle_; he doesn't write the whole thing. Let's just enjoy his enthusiasm and MGM expertise. BTW, Jim VanderNoot is not the president of IWOC. Peter Hanff is. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 06:01:36 -0500 (EST) From: "Christine R. Gray" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-05-96 fyi--This may have been mentioned, but the Lillian Vernon Christmas catalogue has four different Oz nutcrackers. (They're near th eback of the catalgogue.) christine gray ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 07:28:58 -0800 (PST) From: earlabbe@juno.com (Earl C. Abbe) Subject: Ozzy Digest Submission Tina Romano writes in the 10/5 Digest, The Roger Rabbit melting scene certainly borrowed from the MGM movie, but the liquid that threatens Toons is a special mixture called Dip, not water. Speaking of melting magic workers, The Far Side Off The Wall Calendar entry for November 2 & 3 is very appropriate. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 11:09:43 -0500 From: DavidXOE@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-05-96 Nathan: I don't think any Iowans are recorded as visiting Oz, at least in the FF. Let's see: besides the Kansans, Nebraskan, and Oklahoman you mention, we have visitors from California (Zeb, Jim, Eureka if she isn't Australian, Trot, Cap'n Bill, Humpy), Pennsylvania (Button-Bright, Peter), Colorado (Shaggy's brother), Massachusetts (Benny), New York (Speedy, Bucky, Twink, Tom), New Jersey (Jenny), Ohio (Jam, Percy, Pinny, Gig), and Oregon (Robin, Merry). We don't know the state of origin, as far as I can recall, of Billina, Shaggy, Hank, Notta, or Bob Up. (I know we don't of the first four, and I can't find a reference to the other two, though I had a vague recollection that the circus was in Pennsylvania when they went to Mudge.) These refer to the last state of residence; we don't definitely know the birthplace of any of them except the Wizard, and in at least one case (Jim) we know that he lived in more than one state, since he was once a cab-horse in Chicago. I think the MGM movie is more than "just all right" - I think it's one of the ten best movies of all time. But I agree that even so, it's not a patch on the books. Danny: MERRY-GO-ROUND is even better than FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN, IMHO. Definitely a first-rate Oz book; probably the best-written of the FF, although it doesn't feel as "Ozzy" as many of the others. I wouldn't call FOUNTAIN particularly low on the IE scale, though. Practically everything that happens between Ozma's meeting Toby and Kabumpo starting his dash for the EC falls into that category, I'd say. If you haven't seen Kabumpo used as a major character before then I assume you mean you haven't read KABUMPO, PURPLE PRINCE, or SILVER PRINCESS? In any case, the McGraws' characterization of him is quite consistent with Thompson's, especially in the first and third books. (In PP he's much more of a pain in the patootie; I find him thoroughly unlikeable in that book.) Depends on what you mean by a "(mortal) child magic user". Dorothy uses magic rather frequently, but it's on the order of driving a car vs. inventing or building one. Kiki Aru isn't exactly mortal, but he isn't a fairy either; again, he uses magic but doesn't originate anything. And other children, like Ojo and Randy, use magic devices they're given or find. I suppose it depends on where you draw the line on "magic user". The only child character in the FF who seems to be deeply into the study of magic is Number Nine, in the three Neill books. While Mrs. Yoop was a yookoohoo who sometimes used her magic for evil, Red Reera doesn't seem to have been evil at all, though she's rather selfish. I think Glinda's blanket condemnation of transformations represents her own idiosyncratic view of such things; Dorothy, the Wizard, and Ozma all did transformations that don't seem to have been condemned by anyone. Polychrome, though, didn't negate Mrs. Yoop's yookoohoo transformations; it took Ozma to do that. The only transformation Polychrome did was removing an enchantment from Tommy Kwikstep, which had been done by an unknown witch or fairy. (Unless you count repairing the Tin Woodman and Tin Soldier as a transformation.) Ruth: We enjoyed seeing you again after all this time, too! If no one else, we know that Andrea Yussman isn't on the Digest. And I agree with you that having all the comments on liquidation organized and in one place will be useful even for those of us who read them the first time around. Tina: The melting of the bad guy in ROGER RABBIT was almost certainly an allusion to the witch's melting in the film of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Doubt there's been any influence in the other direction. (It would have to be in a non-FF Oz book if so, and it hasn't been in any that I've read.) Dave: I voted (and saw a surprising number of people I voted for win, which was a refreshing change from voting in Orange County). The election kept me from reading yesterday's Digest until today, though; so many people were apparently following the returns on AOL that all the local numbers were busy all evening! David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 09:53:23 -0800 From: ozbot@ix.netcom.com (ozbot) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest stuff (again) Oops! I forgot one thing that I wanted to respond to today If you haven't seen Roger Rabbit yet, and you love cartoons, rent it and THEN read this post. Otherwise, I assume you would have seen it by now or don't really care. SOmeone pointed out the WIZARD reference in WFRR? and, yes, it is a pretty blatant image taken from the movie, with the villan dissolving and screeching "I'm melting." Further, he was "dipped" by accident, just like the WWWest in the movie. Of course, rather than water, it was called "Dip" and made from a mixture of acetate, turpentine, and benzine. Other than that difference, it just proves that Oz is everywhere! Danny ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 12:39:02 -0800 From: "Stephen J. Teller" Subject: OZ The International Wizard of Oz Club has NOT become the Judy Garland fan club or the MGM Movie Club. The president of the club (who is Peter Hanff, not Jim Vander Noot) is NOT devoted to the motion picture at the expense of the books. The change that has taken place is a new editor of THE BAUM BUGLE. Bill Stillman is the co-author of the 50TH ANNIVERSARY book about the 1939 film and THE OZ COLLECTORS GUIDE. These may indicate an interest in the motion picture, but it certainly did not dominate the Spring 1996 BUGLE. In fact there was much more about Shirley Temple than about Judy Garland. I do not envy Bill his job. Like most of the work for IWOC it is volunteen work, and is filled with Sunday morning quarterbacks. I wish him well. So you digest subscribers do not consider deserting the ship. I want to recommend everyone interested in Oz stories to check up on Nathan DeHoff's URL from the 11/5 digest. There is a whole plethora of new stories there (14, if you don't know what a plethora is). I haven't read them yet, but they are on my agenda. (I haven't read WICKED yet, its size is off-putting). Chris: Peter Hanff's snail-mail address is The International Wizard of Oz Club. P.O. Box 10117, Berkeley, CA 94709-5117. For what its worth, there was no list of subscribers at the top of today's DIGEST. Is this the way it will be for now on? It will certainly save space. Steve T. ====================================================================== Date: Wednesday 06-Nov-96 11:11:05 From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things _FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN_ AND MORE ALLEGATIONS THAT OZMA IS A "FEEB": What's all this about Ozma drinking from the Fountain of Oblivion???? Is this the culmination of the "Law of Diminishing I.Q." for Ozma in post-Baum Oz books??? Ozma: It reminds me of the time I was walking in the Winkie Woods and came to a lake in which a little child was drowning! So I walked on the water of the lake out to the child, took him in my arms, and walked on the lake back to the shore to his grateful mother. I told of this incident to a will-remain-nameless Oz historian at that time and suggested they write a story about it. So they wrote down my heroic deed in a story and they entitled it, "OZMA CAN'T SWIM"... PEN PALS: Bob Shepherd wrote: >My daughter just joined the Oz Pen Pal Association (TOPPA). She >was thrilled to receive a handwritten letter (on Ozma stationery >no less! I wonder where you can get that?) within two weeks >of joining from TOPPA, telling her who her pen pal is... Is this open only to young children, or can children over 20 like me :) take part? WHERE WAS THE GOOD WITCH OF THE NORTH?: Danny wrote: >Some questions, though-- What was the Good Witch doing at this time? >If she overthrew Mombi before the dealings with the Wizard, she might >not have noticed the baby Ozma, but afterward, why wasn't she on the >lookout for Oz's rightful heir? If she overthrew Mombi after he >already gave Ozma away, why didn't Tattypoo try to rescue, or >"liberate" Tip from Mombi's clutches? (Leaving *anyone* behind doesn't >seem right.) Well, according to the revelations in my _Locasta_ book, Mombi banished Locasta (the original Good Witch of the North) and replaced her with the enchanted Orin/Tattypoo, who knew nothing about Ozma or Tip. OPERATION BCC: From your comments, apparently putting the addresses in the Bcc: field hid them and greatly shortened the header, so that is what I will do in future -- Dave ====================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 7, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ===================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 15:18:14 -0500 (EST) From: MICHAEL TURNIANSKY Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-03-96 > Speaking of LOTR: I believe that a character named Gil-Galad, who was > an Elf or something, is mentioned by Tolkien. Isn't the resemblance > between this name and the name of Rinkitink's capital city kinda odd? And here I always thought that Rinkitink's capital city was a play on the Biblical city of Gilgal ("rolling" -- Josh. 5:9). It even has its own king (cf. Josh. 12:23) BTW, Dave, the number of subscribers listed may be decreasing, but the overall byte count of the digest is increasing :-) --Mike "Shaggy Man" Turniansky ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 15:24:05 -0500 (EST) From: MICHAEL TURNIANSKY Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-05-96 > I don't think Tolkien's "Sindarin" has anything to do with the province of > Sind in Pakistan, but Sind is the source of one of the great bilingual puns > of history - the British general who conquered it for the Raj announced it by > sending the one-word telegram, "Peccavi". (Latin for "I have sinned.") I too have always liked the Peccavi story. On the other hand, my father used to tell me that as children their favorite pun was "Aqui es una mesa". Spanish* for "here is a table"? No, Yiddish for "a cow eats without a knfe"! (* Bad Spanish. It should be "Aqui _esta_ una mesa", but then, suspect my Dad's schoolmates ddn't study Spanish) > > Bear: > Alas, life's too short for me to keep reading a long book that isn't > interesting me after the first fifty pages. Reminds me of my attempt to read _Dune_ in high school. Gave up after 400 pages. *Yawn* (Of course, my dictum has always been "If they can't make their point n twenty pages, it isn't worth makng") --Mike "Shaggy Man" Turniansky ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 16:10:42 -0500 From: OzBucket@aol.com Subject: Fwd: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-03-96 what is this? I am so confused... --------------------- Forwarded message: [Long header and message omitted] -------------------- (See Mike's message later in this Digest for an explanation... -- Dave) ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 19:24:46 -0500 (EST) From: Jeremy Steadman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest Dave, The only book of mine that's been published yet is called THE EMERALD RING OF OZ, published by Buckethead Enterprises of Oz. It deals with the adventures of a boy named Arthur as he practically drowns in a salty-water swimming pool (which has by this time, of course, been shown to be the ocean in Baum's fantasy tales--the Nonestic Sea, I think it's called, not having a copy to refer to nor a reliable memory to depend on). He is picked up by a fishing boat which has a mysterious past and an eerie Captain, to boot, and one day nearly chokes on a mysterious, green ring .So as not to give away the entire plot, I'll merely say that he eventually ends up in Oz, of course, and the ring turns out to be much more than it appeared at first. Its sequel is even more clever (if I do say so myself), but it's not published yet. However, the original is available by writing Buckethead and sending $10. Chris will then write to my parents and they will mail it out (as the books were shipped to my house to save Buckethead space). Its sequel picks up just about exactly where the first book leaves off, so I recommend grabbing EROZ while it's available (the first 100 went almost immediately, and not that many more than that were printed). By the way, the sequel will have the name TIME IN OZ and will deal with the origin of the ring, as well as the obvious. Until next time, Jeremy Steadman ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 18:39:35 -0800 From: ozbot@ix.netcom.com (ozbot) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest stuff Hmm. Actually, I never got what seems to be the "old" header listing everyone in the Digest. I guess my mail server always cut them off before. Dave, about your Ozma story, I'm not quite sure what you're exactly trying to say. . . I thought FOUNTAIN was a great premise of having Ozma disappear. Even with her memories erased, her basic nature of kindness and resourcefulness were unchanged. Oh, and about the IE's, I thought that they all fit, as the story followed Ozma's wanderings, first away from the Emerald City, then following the gypsy trail. I suppose they *could* be considered IE's, but it fit in the context of Ozma's chance encounters. (Of course, I said it ranked "low" on IE's, not "free.") All in all, though, a really good book. Danny ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 03:06:38 +0000 From: Scott Olsen Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-06-96 Re: New club president? I didn't think the club had a new president.... Re: Bill Stillman as Editor of Bugle & MGM Movie If Bill Stillman can do even half as good a job on the Bugle as his friend and fellow MGM expert John Fricke did, I'm sure the magazine's in good hands. Re: Ralph Nader/brain [& Perot/heart, Clinton/courge & Dole back to Kansas....joke] I know Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader is a friend of mine. I...oh well, just read his new book _No Contest_ and you'll know what I'm talking about... Re: David's comment about election in Orange county. Was there an outcome in Orange county that wasn't expected? Sincerely, Scott Olsen ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 21:17:57 -0600 (CST) From: Robin Olderman Subject: OZZY DIGEST Oz ephemera: The nutcrackers from Lillian Vernon are cute! So are the Oz toddler dolls exclusive to Toys R Us, according to the ad Earl sent me. I'll check to see if my local store has 'em. Oz stationery is available at all Oz conventions and through Lee Jenkins' catalogue. I forget its name right now. Dave, I don't miss that long header at all! Oz Pen Pals: Gee, isn't that what the _Ozzy Digest_ is all about? David: Don't forget Bill, the wrought iron weathervane rooster from _Grampa_. I think he was on a barn in Illinois, wasn't he? --R. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 22:42:16 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Bauman <72172.2631@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Today's Oz Growls Nathan - Is there really a "Nox the Ox?" What book is this in? Gee, I wonder where that name came from? Maybe "Knox Gelatin?" You know what that is made from! You do have to do a bit more than just throw water on the cow. In case anyone doesn't know, President Peter Hanff is a subscriber to the Digest. He was president last I knew. However, there might have been an election or a palace coup, I think he lives in Beserkley. :) :) Dave - Your Ozma story proves she must be a Republican! Regards, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 23:27:46 +0000 From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-06-96 David: The circus attended by Notta and Bob was in Stumptown, which is presumably a suburb of Philadelphia. I think that it is mentioned that Bob's orphanage was in Philadelphia, and, in _Wishing Horse_, it is mentioned that Notta came to Oz from Philadelphia. The Shaggy Man states that he once lived in Colorado. It seems that he wandered the United States for some time before he came to Oz. In _Emerald City_, he says that he has been to Mexico and Boston, and he travels to fairyland by way of Kansas. He mentions in _Road_ that he obtained the Love Magnet from an Eskimo in the Sandwich Islands, but this is later revealed to be a lie. Incidentally, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and the home of Eskimos (Alaska) both became states in the Union. Also, the Shaggy Man says, in the book named after him, that he obtained the Love Magnet from an Eskimo. Was the Truth Pond wearing off, or was this a mistake on the part of the Royal Historian (Jack Snow)? Jenny Jump is a magic-user, but then, she's only half mortal. I assume that her fairy half is what enables her to use magic. Nathan Mulac DeHoff lnvf@grove.iup.edu "I've always wanted a smoking jacket, and now I've got one." -Kabumpo, after his robe catches on fire Ozma and Oz Forever! ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 00:41:28 -0500 From: Tyler Jones <104707.656@compuserve.com> Subject: Oz Haven't posted in a while. The internet is choked! Danny: Nathan has already answered, but let me confirm that Kabumpo is truly "elegant" and very conscious of his elegance in all of his appearances. Prophecy: In the non-FF (yet HACC-worthy) _Oz and the Three Witches_, Glinda makes a passing remark that Lurline used prophecies to prepare the Ozites for the coming of Ozma. Ruth: It does seem like a consistency, doesn't it? First and foremost, my belief is that titles are, for the most part, picked at random or assigned by Local Indigenous Personnel (a military term) who do not fully understand magic. Sometimes, titles and the type of magic practiced, have a relation- ship, but not all the time. The tendency to melt may be related to gender, type of magic practiced, age, goodness/evilness or some combination of those. I do not believe that the tendency to melt is specifically related to a person's title. I also beleive that, for the most part, any woman who practices magic is referred to as a witch by common people, regardless of whether she practices that magic most often associated with witchcraft or even whether she calls herself a witch. Tina: I would iamgine that the melting of the witch is now almost Universal, with roots in Oz. Non-Ozzy trivia This is the third time in a row that one state has had two senate elections. (Tennessee 194 and California 1992). In all three cases, both seats were taken by the same party. Danny: Dave has already mentioned some of this, but here are the HACC thoughts regarding the witchly overthrows. In _Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz_, the Wizard says that when he arrived, there were two good witches ruling in the North and the South. This tells us that Mombi and Sringa (or possibly the other WWS, or even both), were defeated before the Wizard arrived. We also know that the Wicked Witches divided the land after overthrowing Pastoria. Therefore, the battles of the witches must have taken place after Pastoria was taken off the throne and before the Wizard arrived. Current HACC theory postualtes that the Wizard arrived in 1868, twelve years after the conquering of Pastoria, which would be by extension 1856. Perhaps Locasta tried to locate Ozma, but her status during those twelve years is a little unclear. Aaron Adelman has some interesting ideas of how Ozma spent that time. Scott: AAAUUUGGGHHH!!! Not that allegory thing again! BTW, someone on the SHOWBIZ forum of COmpuServe was asking for info regarding the guy who hung himself in the movie. I informed her of the real situation and pointed her to several of our web pages. ***** SPOILER ALERT FOR FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN ***** Unbeknownst to Emerelda and Ozma (but knownst to us), Emerelda mixes some of the water of Oblivion in a pitcher of Limeade and gives a cup to Ozma. Uh, oh. ***** END OF SPOILER ***** Dave: I believe TOPPA has a age-cap of 17. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 02:01:50 -0500 From: JOdel@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, Header The 11/5 posting came through with only your address on it. None of the subscription list. The 11/6 (I assume, there is no date) posting consisted only of the header with subscription list, the path info and the following; > Speaking of LOTR: I believe that a character named Gil-Galad, who was > an Elf or something, is mentioned by Tolkien. Isn't the resemblance > between this name and the name of Rinkitink's capital city kinda odd? And here I always thought that Rinkitink's capital city was a play on the Biblical city of Gilgal ("rolling" -- Josh. 5:9). It even has its own king (cf. Josh. 12:23) BTW, Dave, the number of subscribers listed may be decreasing, but the overall byte count of the digest is increasing :-) --Mike "Shaggy Man" Turniansky Seems like there are a few bugs still in the system... (Again, see Mike's message later in this Digest...I will resend the 11/6 Digest to anyone who is missing it. -- Dave) ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 10:10:00 +0100 (MET) From: "Romano, Tina" Subject: RE: Ozzy Digest, 11-06-96 OOPS - Yes I did mean FROM and not BY. Sorry Bear I need to improve my writing. Any comments on "Wild at Heart" in comparison to The Wizard Of OZ? Lynch's movie was on TV here in Italy last night. Laura Dern & Nicholas Cage almost quote from Baum's book. She keeps on saying that she would like to be "On the Rainbow" - (I'm translating the italian dialogue). What about Glinda appearing -out of the blue-in the traffic jam? ---------- From: DAVEH47 Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-06-96 Date: 06 November 1996 16:09 <> Return-Path: Date: Wed, 06 Nov 1996 16:09:08 -0800 From: DAVEH47@delphi.com (Dave L. Hardenbrook) Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-06-96 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Large message has been converted into an attachment. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 11:12:54 -0500 (EST) From: MICHAEL TURNIANSKY Subject: Oz reference First: sorry all for my accidental post to everybody. I mistakenly hit "Yes" to "Reply to All?" without thinking. Now that our fearless leader is putting everybody in BCC, that will never happen again, of course. Second: Have you seen this? It's from the top five list (top5@walrus.com) for today. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ============================================================ Ruminations & Ponderances Although I can accept talking scarecrows, lions and great wizards of emerald cities, I find it hard to believe there is no paper work involved when your house lands on a witch. (Thanks to Dave James) ============================================================ The Top Five List http://www.topfive.com Sponsored by Windows Sources http://www.wsources.com ----------------------------------- --Mike "Shaggy Man" Turniansky ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 08:45:57 -0800 From: Robert.Shepherd@West.Sun.COM (Bob Shepherd) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-07-96 Our local paper, _The Oregonian_, just ran a survey to find their readers' top picks for the best kids' films of all time. They gave a list of 100 films and readers were invited to call in with their top three picks. More than 3100 people called in, and the winner is.....(of course!) _The Wizard of Oz_. Not only did WOZ get picked in the overall category, but it was the #1 vote- getter of Males (all ages), Females (all ages), Kids (17 and under), Baby Boomers (ages 35-54), Seniors (age 55 and older), and it was the #2 vote-getter of Gen-Xers (ages 18-34; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory won in this group for some reason). Here's the top 10 vote-getters, and the number of votes they received: 1. The Wizard of Oz (749) 2. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (532) 3. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (513) 4. Toy Story (442) 5. The Princess Bride (357) 6. Babe (356) 7. Mary Poppins (339) 8. The Lion King (321) 9. The Goonies (260) 10. Anne of Green Gables (239) ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 11:08:25 -0600 (CST) From: Ruth Berman Subject: ozzy digest David Hulan: You're probably right that there are more Club members wanting reprints of Oz books than ones who want reprints of outside-Oz, but I hope the Board won't decide to put off ALL outside-Oz reprints until after they get through with the Oz books they mean to do. Specifically, of course, I'd like to see the RPT Sissajig-and-others collection that I put together at Fred's instigation be given a publication date. After all, at this point almost all of the Oz books have been made available recently enough to be easy to find (although some only in versions that don't do well by the artwork), whereas the Sissajig collection is material that almost no one has. Yes, the "Cowardly Lion" circus is in Pennsylvania ("Stumptown"), so presumably Bob Up is Pennsylvanian, although Notta is on tour and could be from anywhere. (It's a lot easier for me to find this sort of information since I put together the gazeteer section to go in the printing I did of James Haff's "Who's Who in Oz" appendix.) (Incidentally, I noticed a while back that I had given my old address instead of my current one when I commented that I had copies available of this appendix and also of the "Dunkiton Press" pamphlets I've been doing annually, so I'll comment that my post-mail address is 2809 Drew Ave S, Minneapolis MN 55416. Dunkiton #5, the other half of the Robin Hood story from the "Public Ledger" illustrated by John R. Neill, will be ready at the end of the month.) Nathan DeHoff and Rich Morrissey: What male witches are called is pretty much whatever-the-caller chooses, as rich mentioned. But in overall usage (back into the middle ages), "witch" is probably the most common (and also the simplest) term. In addition to "warlock" and "wizard," terms that have been used in various folklore contexts include "sorcerer" and "conjuror" (or "conjure man"). Herman Bieber and Robin Olderman: One thing in the non-movie line that it would be nice to see showing up in the "Bugle" is the rest of Michael Patrick Hearn's article on Neill, begun lo these many issues back. I would assume that the article has been delayed because it hasn't been finished (?), but I suspect that Bill Stillman as "Bugle" editor could probably hurry up its completion if he encouraged MPH with a show of interest. Robin Olderman: Why not send a copy of your Glinda article to Andrea for inclusion in an Oz Research Group mailing? (Or do you have other publication plans for it?) Danny: Interesting question on why the Good Witch of the North didn't notice that Mombi's guardianship of Tip was suspect and should be looked into. Dave Hardenbrook's answer, that he doesn't consider Tattypoo the original GWN and that Tattypoo might not know all that much about the situation, is possible. But it seems to me that it's also possible that the GWN (without postulating change of identity) might not know that much about Mombi's activities and might not know when she started raising Tip, or even knowing might not succeed in proving that Mombi should not be doing that. Mombi was good at deceiving people, and the GWN did not have Glinda's Book of Records. For that matter, probably Glinda didn't have it, either, at that stage? The first mention of the Book or Records isn't until later, and if Glinda had had it earlier, she could probably have located Ozma herself, as she had tried to do. Dave Hardenbrook: You're leaping to a mistaken conclusion in thinking that if Ozma drinks Oblivion in "Forbidden Fountain" it's because she forgot what the Fountain could do. Sounds as if you haven't read it? If not, suggest you try to get hold of it. It's a good book (although I would agree with David Hulan that "Merry-go-Round" is even better). ====================================================================== Date: Thursday 07-Nov-96 14:02:04 From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things DIGEST SIZE: Mike T. wrote: > BTW, Dave, the number of subscribers listed may be decreasing, >but the overall byte count of the digest is increasing :-) Actually, the number of subscribers is now increasing again...It seems to go in sine-curve cycles, just like the economy. :) FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN: Well, I'm getting a lot of irate E-mails from people saying that I jumped to the rash conclusion that Ozma unwittingly drank from the Forbidden Fountain when in fact she ACCIDENTALLY drinks it. I got overly zealous about defending my Queen, and made an unfair prejudgement. My apologies to everyone whose ACTUALLY READ THE BOOK! (It occurs to me that this incident makes me no better than those who attack and prejudge MY writings without having read it.) (Me eating humble pie) OZZY PEN PALS: Robin wrote: >Gee, isn't that what the _Ozzy Digest_ is all about? Yes, but I wouldn't mind expanding my contacts to include folks not on the 'Net. MELTING WITCHES: Tyler wrote: >I would iamgine that the melting of the witch is now almost Universal, with >roots in Oz. When I was in fifth grade, I was *almost* in a play version of the obviously un-Oz-related story _Hansel and Gretel_ that introduced a number of new characters including a Glinda-like "Forest Fairy" who advises the children that if they dump water on the witch she will "go out just like a candle; nothing will be left but ashes." "OZMA'S" STORY: Bear wrote: >Dave - Your Ozma story proves she must be a Republican! Actually, this is an old story that has been retold by both Democrats and Republicans at times when they have felt that the press persecutes them even when they do good. (Which is true.) BEST KIDS FILMS: In Bob S. list from the _Oregonian_, I'm glad to see the Wizard came in first and Mr. Wonka second (interesting that in my so-called "Lost" generation, the two were reversed; of course Ozma tells me that Zurline initially called Ozma's graduating class the "Lost Fairy Generation"!). I was suprised to see so few Disney films on the list--NONE of the vintage Disney. -- Dave ====================================================================== ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, NOVEMBER 8, 1996 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ===================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 18:35:11 -0500 (EST) From: "James R. Whitcomb" Subject: For Ozzy Digest Dear Ozzy Digesters: I received in the mail today, a new "Oz memorabilia" catalog from "The Best of Oz". Some of you may be familiar with this business under its former name "The Best of Kansas". The catalog is terrific and has some wonderful "Ozzy" stuff to buy which is usually the case. Inside the front cover, the owner, Sue Goldman, is announcing that she is retiring from business. Ownership of the shop and catalog are up for sale! She has several people interested but welcomes inquires from others. Thought I would pass this along just in case anyone is in the mood for a career change or a great adventure. Also, below is the "snail mail"/email/web site addresses: Snail Mail: Email: Web site: The Best of Oz bok@Southwind.net http://www.radiks.net/bok/ 5426 East Central Wichita, KS 67208 If nothing else, check out the web site, if you haven't already, and see some of the great colletibles for sale, or better yet, write for a copy of the catalog; the latest being the v.8, 1996-97 issue for only $2.00. ************************************************************************** * James R. Whitcomb / Claims Specialist * * Ohio State University Libraries / Continuation Acquisition Division * * 1858 Neil Avenue Mall / Columbus, Ohio 43210-1286 * * Phone: (614)292-6314 / FAX: (614) 292-2015 / Email: whitcomb.1@osu.edu * ************************************************************************** ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 16:00:39 -0800 From: Robert.Shepherd@West.Sun.COM (Bob Shepherd) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-07-96 Robin O. wrote: >Oz stationery is available at all Oz conventions and through Lee Jenkins' >catalogue. I forget its name right now. Does anybody know how to get Lee Jenkins' catalogue? A phone number or an address? Thanks. Bob ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 18:26:50 -0600 (CST) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-07-96 Glinda article: I thought it went out to the Research Group during your tenure as coordinator of it, Ruth...or maybe during Jim's tenure? I don't remember. It won a prize on the Oz Research Table once. Actually, I'd like to revisit it, myself. Maybe I'll have time to play with it during Xmas break...after I reread LOTR! _Bugle_: If you want to state your concerns and ideas in the most effective way, I'd suggest e-mailing Bill Stillman. His address is in the _Bugle_. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 16:58:21 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Collecting other things than Oz Dave, Feel free not to post this, but thought you and some of the other Ozzy Digesters might be interested in seeing what an inveterate collector of Baum and Oz does at antiquarian book fairs (in addition to looking for Oz, of course). I am Deputy Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California in Berkeley. Bancroft (referred to in the news piece below) is the oldest and largest rare-book and special collections library of the University of California system. We have the most comprehensive collection of manuscripts and original printed documents of the North American West (including Mexico) in the U. S. Peter Archives of the Mexican Inquisition In February each year, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America sponsors a major international antiquarian book fair in California. Bancroft Library curators regularly attend, searching for rare, unique, and unusual items, as well as entire collections. The fairs provide an opportunity for us to add significantly to Berkeley's research collections, but also give us a chance to meet with private collectors, curators from other institutions, and, perhaps most important of all, antiquarian booksellers from all over the world. The atmosphere is charged with excitement, for most booksellers save their most spectacular recent finds to display at the fairs. Competition is keen among librarians and private collectors, and there is always a sense of urgency to be the first to spot materials needed at Berkeley. This year's book fair was held in Los Angeles. Within an hour of my arrival, Walter Brem, Bancroft's curator of Mexico and Central America, located me and asked me to come look at a collection of Mexican manuscripts. This proved to be a recently-discovered collection about which Walter and other Latin-American collection specialists had been speculating for several months. It was now on the floor of the fair! What we inspected comprised 61 volumes of manuscript trial records of the Mexican Inquisition for the years 1593-1817. The cases cover the full range of religious and moral acts considered heretical. Besides a case of Protestantism, three cases against Conversos (Christian converts of Jewish heritage) in 1596 provide the most spectacular and dramatic examples of the severity of the Inquisition in its early years. Long thought to be lost or destroyed, these trials fully describe the interrogation, torture, garroting, and burning at the stake of individuals convicted of being crypto-Jews.* Other trials reveal the changing interest of inquisitors, who were also alert to witchcraft, superstition, sexual misconduct of priests, and even political propaganda and insurrection in the late colonial period. The collection also contains physical evidence such as powders, finger bones, and a cord used by a suspect to hang himself. I was so excited by the collection that I immediately went to find Charles Faulhaber, Bancroft's new director. He was as taken with the documents as I was. Throughout the day, various friends and colleagues of Bancroft caught at my sleeve to ask if I had yet seen the Inquisition manuscripts. In each case I said yes, and explained that Bancroft was seriously considering acquiring them, but would need financial assistance to do so. I'm grateful that each such "spotter" immediately agreed to provide support for the acquisition. Late in the afternoon Bancroft curators met to decide if this sizable acquisition was something we should pursue. We all agreed that this was both an opportunity and an obligation. I then persuaded the bookseller to let us take the manuscripts back to Bancroft so that we could examine them more carefully. I also asked for time so that we could assess our ability to secure the necessary funding. Walter Brem and University Archivist Bill Roberts (both keenly aware of the value of their "carry-on luggage") arranged to take the collection back to Bancroft for safe-keeping that night. In the days that followed, Walter communicated with Tulane University, the University of Texas, and the Huntington Library, all of which, along with Bancroft, hold manuscript records of the Mexican Inquisition. We learned that the new collection complemented other U.S. holdings. Walter's most important communication was with the National Archives of Mexico to be certain we could acquire the manuscripts legitimately. The Archivist, citing Bancroft's long-standing cooperation with the National Archives' programs and collections, responded with a letter of support, so that we were now ready to proceed with the acquisition. With the purchase of these documents, The Bancroft Library now owns the largest collection of original Inquisition documents outside Mexico. Over the last several months, we have received generous financial support for the purchase of the collection from numerous private donors and from the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation. We are grateful that so many individuals have recognized the historic significance of these documents. They will support research in a wide variety of areas, and have added greatly to one of Bancroft's major collecting strengths. The collection is now undergoing conservation preparation for proper archival housing and eventual microfilming. Selected volumes will be available in January 1997. *The most significant of this group deals with the tragedy of the family of Don Luis de Carvajal, a 16th-century Spanish conquistador in Mexico, who founded the city of Monterrey. During the Mexican Inquisition, the Carvajals and numerous others were exposed as secret Jews, tried, convicted, and executed. Three years ago the San Diego Opera commissioned a three-act opera from Myron Fink based on the life of the Carvajals. Although the story of the Carvajals had long been known among academicians, full documentary evidence was not readily available in the U.S. until Bancroft's recent acquisition. Peter E. Hanff ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 20:30:13 +0000 From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-07-96 Bear: Yes, Nox the Ox is a character in _Handy Mandy_. Most of the main characters in this book have names containing rhymes or alliteration. It features Handy Mandy, Nox the Ox, Himself the Elf, King Kerry, and the Wizard of Wutz. Since Ozma is a Queen, I don't think that she is a Republican. BTW, Thompson once mentions that the Land of Oz is "democratic," but the Scarecrow informs Benny that Oz is not a republic. Jeremy: I have read _Emerald Ring_, and enjoyed it. If the sequel comes out, I shall probably purchase it. Tyler: I have never read _Oz and the Three Witches_, although I have heard about it several times. Do you know where I could obtain a copy of this work? Ruth: I would like to see some non-FF titles published by the Club, but I really want to finish reading _Pirates_, and, in order to do that, I should probably get my own copy. There are no male witches or warlocks mentioned in the Oz series, and "sorceror" and "wizard" both have equivalent feminine terms. The only Conjurer I remember reading about is Kadj, and he had a daughter who was a witch. These titles seem to be largely arbitrary. Thompson referred to both Jinnicky and the Wizard of Oz as "necromancers," despite the fact that neither of these magic-workers work with the spirits of the dead (as far as I know). Yes! I would also like to see the next part of the article on Neill! Concerning Hank the Mule: I haven't read _Tik-Tok_ in some time, but, if my memory serves me correctly, the text hints that Betsy met the mule on the ship. In _Lost Princess_, however, Hank indicates that, when he lived in the Outside World, he once lost his bray, and could not speak to Betsy. Does anybody have any ideas as to when Hank and Betsy met? Nathan Mulac DeHoff lnvf@grove.iup.edu "I've always wanted a smoking jacket, and now I've got one." -Kabumpo, after his robe catches on fire Ozma and Oz Forever! ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 21:05:36 -0500 From: DIXNAM@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Digest 11-7-96 Dave: Yes, I need a copy of the 11-6 Digest. Thanks. Bear: Nox the ox is from "Handy Mandy", IIRC. Dick Randolph ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 21:09:59 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Bauman <72172.2631@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Today's Oz Growls Mike - Don't attribute that "50 pages" comment to me. That was David Hulan. I have toiled through many books due to being compulsive. That was until I came upon Stendahl's "The Red and the Black." That did me in and I have been allowed to NOT finish an occasional book ever since. In fact that reminds me if you need a great book on your list some time, try John Crowley's "Little Big." It is GREAT. Most recently he wrote "Love and Sleep." I struggled through about 100 pages and gave up. I have rarely been so disappointed in a book. Scott - I guess you haven't noticed. We TRY to avoid political comments in the Digest. There are too many better things to talk about. IMHO. (Don't let this get around but if you want to sneak in politics you have to do it really covertly.) Robert - Is Disney going to be upset when they see the Oregonian pole! Not a Disney until No. 7? No one mentioned SNOW WHITE, PINOCCHIO, DUMBO, FANTASIA, SLEEPING BEAUTY, CINDERELLA, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST? PRINCES BRIDE isn't a children's story by a long shot. Things have sure changed since I lived in Portland. Regards, Bear (:<) P.S. Estelle asked me, in private email, why I signed with the frowny face above. I told her that isn't a frowny face, it's a self-portrait. I have a moustache. I'm only grumpy occasionally! :) ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 22:10:31 -0500 From: DavidXOE@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-07-96 The only Ozzy thing I got yesterday was Mike T.'s response that accidentally went to everybody. I'll comment on 11/6 if need be when I get it. Mike: I think you have to be slurring the pronunciation a bit for "Aqui es una mesa" to be the same as the Yiddish for "A cow eats without a knife", but it may depend on the dialect of Yiddish you speak. Jeremy: I'm planning to place a fairly large order with Buckethead RSN (Real Soon Now, for those who haven't run across that one yet), and I'll probably include your book in it. I turn 60 in December, and I'm planning on giving myself a present... Danny: I guess it depends on what you consider an IE. Just about all the IEs I can think of fit into the wandering theme of the book they appear in; the question is whether they actually advance the plot. To take an example, in PATCHWORK GIRL the encounter with the Tottenhots is an IE, but the one with the Hoppers and Horners isn't because the travelers acquire something there that they need (or think they need, though in a sense everything after Ojo's first arrival in the EC is an IE because the end result would have been the same if he'd never left). But I agree that FOUNTAIN is a very good book, better than many of the FF and the best of the IWOC books (though OZMAPOLITAN is also very good, and comes fairly close). Robin: Oops, forgot Bill. Probably because I dislike that book and that character... Bear: Nox the Ox (whose real name is Boz, or maybe it was the other way round) is in HANDY MANDY. Nathan: I thought I remembered that there was a reference to Philadelphia as Bob Up's place of origin, but a quick check of the chapter of CL where he and Notta first appear didn't turn up the reference, so I qualified my statement. My theory about the Shaggy Man's stating he'd gotten the love magnet from an Eskimo in SHAGGY