] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, DECEMBER 1, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 16:17:05 -0800 From: Bob Spark Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 Howdy. Just 24 shopping days left 'til Christmas! In regards to_The Patchwork Girl..._, > I was somewhat struck on this rereading with the large > number of IEs, considering that this book is a Quest rather > than a Tour. Both encounters with Victor Columbia Edison; > the cottage where Ojo sleeps and eats but is tired and > hungry afterward... You know, that IE about the cottage bothers me. There has to be a lot more to it that Baum mentions. If Ojo is not refreshed nor his hunger appeased, is the entire company under some delusion, or perhaps just Ojo? The wolf appearing at the door three times has to be more significant than just a reference to the old saw about poverty. For that matter, if the reference is to that old saying, where is the poverty? The whole episode felt ominous to me, but nothing more happens in regards to it. > On the meeting of Scarecrow and Scraps. Both of them brag > about having brains but no heart yet at first > sight--Bang!--they're in love. They even brag about their > heartlessness and their attraction to each other in the > *same* conversation. Is this ironic or what? :-) Think > Baum's trying to tell us love comes from one's brain? Or > even "Love conquers all"? :-) I was reminded of those gruff people that we all know. You know, the ones who are just softies on the inside. Bears can be that way. Speaking of Bears, > Golly, first Spark sounded like me and now Hulan. Maybe I'm > infectious! :) I'll give you interesting, but infectious? Gawd, I hope not. > THE "L"-WORD: For the record, Liberals spell just the same > way Conservatives do. It's just "in" these days to blame > Liberals for everything from inner city crime to the Battle > of Hastings... > We weren't responsible for the Battle of Hastings? Damn, and I've been taking credit for it. Bob Spark ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 19:51:41 -0500 (EST) From: Jeremy Steadman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, Thanksgiving Edition Hello. all--hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. THE THANKSGIVING EDITION: Re money in Oz: Baum finally saw the best thing and ruled out money in Oz (even if not at first)--and then RPT came along and changed that? Figures. Robin: Ouch! I only shaved three fingers--carpal tunnel is far more painful (my mom has had that for years, and my 15-year-old sister is showing some symptoms. Luckily for my piano playing, it's not struck me yet). (Yet.) THE 30TH: Talk about conservative South: Dallas, Texas (or rather a suburb thereof), where I lived five not-so-pleasant years of my growing years (sorry, those of you who live in Texas), was incredibly conservative. It wasn't until last year that my mother said it was the suburban area that made Dallas so right-leaning, that Dallas itself (at least downtown) was, like other downtown areas, much less so. Now in Georgia, I just happen to live in Fayette County, where my parents must watch their conversation when they go out to play bridge, lest the game turn in to a political discussion and any hope of friends be banished. What are we doing here? Beats me; my parents tell me it was a temporary home, until we found a better one--but we never did. David: You say, "Actually the Winged Monkeys say they belong in "this country," which could include all of Baumgea. But their king also says they can't cross the desert, which does seem to restrict them to Oz proper." Do you imply that all of Baumega was once one country? It'd be an interesting "historical" novel, that theory ... Robin: As I said above, injured hands do eventually get better. <> My family often violates tradition too--not this year, but many years we've had baked ham ... This year we joined with a rather conservative family and had a joint celebration, where each family did half the cooking and preparing. PG and IE's: Not as bad as Rinkatink, I don't think... Sky Witch-message: In the book, none, but if we look at the 1939 movie, SURRENDER DOROTHY, as I recall. <> Funny, that's what I blamed Conservatives for ... ;-). Liberally yours, Jeremy Steadman ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 20:22:26 -0500 From: Mark K DeJohn Subject: Ozzy Digest Sender: Mark K DeJohn From: Barbara DeJohn I do have a copy of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Unfortunetly the spine is missing and there is not a publisher mentioned anywhere on the inside. I think it is probably a First Edition since it was given to Tommie Smith Christmas1902. It only has 18 of 20 plates and of course no dust cover. I am very involved in my sorority at U of Pgh and the system is designed so that each sorority would receive the same number of pledges and that every girl would receive a bid. It does not always work out this way but mostly because the rushee may not want the groups that are interested in her. Fraternities do not folllow this structure at all. Does anyone know if The Heather &The Holly Oz catalog is coming out . I haven't received it yet and would like it. Ozzily, Barbara DeJohn mbdejohn@compuserve.com ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 21:56:18 -0500 From: Tyler Jones Subject: Oz Sender: Tyler Jones Nome Kingdom: In _Ozma_, Baum places the Nome Kingdom to the east of Oz, across from the Munchkin country. In every other reference, it is to the east, across from the Winkie Country. It is possible that the King of the Munchkins mentioned was Boq (assuming they took a circuitous route to the EC), but it was probably not Cheeriobed. ********** SPOILER FOR OJO IN OZ ********** Bear: Actually, the idea of Unc Nunkie has already been used in _Ojo in Oz_. Of course, RPT only scratched the surface here. Much more can be written. ********** END OF SPOILER ********** Eureka has been the subject of much discussion. It is highly unlikely that she could be one of the leading personalities at the palace. Given the forgiving nature of the Ozites, it is entirely possible that she has been cleared of wanting to eat the piglet and is now at least tolerated around the palace. But one of the big "men" (pardon the phrase) on campus? No way. Obviously, Shaggy was just trying to keep Bungle on her toes. Bear: Didn't the Tin Woodman once say that Oz only has one law: "Behave yourself"? It's also been suggested on the Digest that Oz has no laws, but all justice, etc. is based on the assumption that Ozma is good, kind, wise, just, etc. so that anything she decides must be right. This philosophy has the advantage that it is completely unfettered by bureaucracy or precedent. John Bell: The theory of confinement occurs again in _Tik-Tok_, with the army of Oogaboo being trapped in the Slimy Cave and Shaggy's brother trapped in the metal forest. Prior to writing _Patchwork Girl_, Baum went broke and may have felt trapped in a financial sense. That is, he may have felt forced into writing Oz books to stay afloat. Of course, I'm reaching here. "Ve are Vatching you" (V's on purpose): If I was planning to conquer Oz, I'd stick a V-chip into the Magic Picture! Crime and Punishment/Coddling: Despite my allegiance to Bear in this, our ideas of of a judicial system with various punishments really do not apply in Oz since the situation is so radically different from our own. It is to be remembered that some people have endured some rather harsh punishments, like Glegg, Mombi, Gorba/Abrog and Mooj. The bed and couch form the majority of my reading-places. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 20:38:37 -0800 From: Robert Schroeder Subject: Ozzy Digest Stuff Re: "Wizard of Oz in Concert" Video I recieved a copy of this video for Christmas 1995. It was part of a "limited collectors edition" box set, which included the Concert video, CD, a THX enhanced copy of the 1939 movie, a copy of the script and several still photos, also from the movie. As I said, this was a Christmas surprize for me, as I had already taped the concert and didn't expect this set, nor the complete Barbie as "Scarlet O'Hara" set. Needless to say, my list to Santa this year includes the Barbie and Ken "Wizard of Oz" set and hopefully...just hopefully, the "My Fair Lady" Barbie set. Did I mention that I collect Barbies dressed as movie stars? I hope that you can find this video, but there is one little "flaw" with the video. For the TV broadcast, the bumpers were short "Making of WOZ the Concert" clips...which remain in the video. grrrrr!!!! Robert ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 23:11:22 -0500 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 Sender: "Melody G. Keller" Bear: >Do you all remember?< "Surrender Dorothy" (Nya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha......... :-) ) Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 23:10:45 -0500 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 Sender: "Melody G. Keller" Bear: >Ijust can't imagine snuggling in bed with my computer. Bed is where I do all of my reading. Where do the rest of you read?< Bed is not my only place to read, but it's my favorite, too. Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 20:48:50 -0800 From: Robert Schroeder Subject: another Ozzy thing... Just one more thing... For the Oz Collector, don't forget to check out Hallmarks Keepsake Ornament selections for this year. Three years ago, they began a WOZ series by putting out Dorothy, Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow. Then, the 1995 edition was Glinda the Good, and 1996 was The Wicked Witch of the West. Haven't seen the 1997 edition, yet, but I suspect it will be the Wizard. I'm off tomorrow so I will be hitting the stores until I find it and the 1997 Star Trek ornament for my roommate. It makes our Christmas a real fantasy season, if you know what I mean!! Robert ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 04:30:55 -0800 From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff Subject: Ozzy Digest stuff [144.80.104.94] didn't use HELO protocol David Hulan: In _Ozma_, the King of the Quadlings is mentioned soon after the King of the Munchkins. He is described as a subject of Ozma. J. L. Bell: I don't have a copy of _Patchwork Girl_ handy, but a Bugle article on Neill revealed that the more "rounded" Woozy was Neill's first attempt. Baum rejected the drawing, and Neill drew a more square Woozy. For some reason, the rejected drawing of the Woozy appeared in the finished book, as well as in _Who's Who_. Melody: I would guess that Nick Chopper has the ability to love, but does not realize it (at least by the time of _Tin Woodman_). I'm not sure he ever really loved Nimmie Amee that much. In _Wizard_ (I think, although it might have been _Tin Woodman_), Nick says something like, "She was so beautiful that I grew to love her." He seems to be indicating that his "love" for Nimmie Amee was based primarily on a physical attraction. Racism and Stereotyping in Oz Books: I don't really think that Jinnicky's owning Negro slaves indicates that RPT condoned slavery or racism. It could indicate racism on Jinnicky's part, but I prefer to think that the "slaves" are willing servants of Jinnicky. In regards to their skin color, I would assume that the majority of the people in northeastern Ev are Negroes. There is no reason to believe that Jinnicky is conducting a slave trade with some other country. Besides, Jinnicky's miners, who are Negroes, do receive wages (and good ones, at that), according to _Silver Princess_. I would have to agree that the treatment of Orientals in _Royal Book_ was slightly racist. At one point, Thompson states that "The Silver Islanders themselves were too stupid to enjoy its [the island's] beauty." Of course, it is possible that this is just what the Scarecrow is thinking. An unusual culture often seems "stupid." There were a lot of Arab-esque villains in the Thompson Oz books, but I never really thought that people such as Mustafa, Skamperoo, the Pasha of Rash, and the Sultan of Samandra were meant to represent typical Arabs. There is more that I wanted to say on this topic, but I can't think of how to say it just now, so I think I'll end this message. -- Nathan Mulac DeHoff vovat@geocities.com or lnvf@grove.iup.edu http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/5447/ "I'm having a wonderful time, but I'd rather be whistling in the dark." ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 09:59:49 -0600 (CST) From: Ruth Berman Subject: ozzy digest Bear and J.L. Bell and David Hulan: Ojo and Unc Nunkie's relation to the ancient Munchkin kings as a lead-in to a story (Bear) -- as David Hulan commented, Thompson did. Did a nice job of it, too. Her Ojo is perhaps a more likable character than Baum's, who whines a but too much about his unluckiness. (The Patchwork Girl herself, though, is an engaging character, and it's no wonder Baum wound up naming the book after her, even though she's not the protagonist. He doesn't seem to have considered naming the book "Ojo of Oz," though.) It's an oddity that Baum generally did better with girls as protagonists, while RPT generally did better with boys. I notice that J. L. Bell makes a reasonable case for continuity of characterization between Ojo/LFB and /RPT. Also enjoyed J. L.'s comments on frustration as a theme. Suggestion that Baum felt frustrated in this book at resuming series he'd abandoned sounds plausible, as does idea that the discrepant Ojo-illo was a retread of a something else. (Answer to Bear's trivia question: "Surrender Dorothy.") The artwork in "Patchwork Girl" is unusual in the series for its repetition. One of the "Bugle" articles on Neill commented that in "Patchwork Girl" not only are there several illos essentially the same as "Little Wizard" illos (it is apparently not clear which of the two books Neill did them for first), but several of the illos are inserted (presumably by someone at Reilly & Lee) by taking a more elaborate two-person drawing and dividing it into two portraits, with some minimal reworking of the backgrounds to make it less obvious that one illo is appearing three times. Perhaps he was rushed that year, or perhaps the initial plan for the book's layout aimed at having fewer illos, and the publishers changed their minds too late to get more. Another part (or another article?) quoted a letter from Baum objecting to the overly stiff, wood-like Woozy Neill had drawn and pointed out that although Neill made a more flexible-looking, un-grained Woozy for the first portrait, and drew him that way for most of the rest of the book, the one illo mentioned apparently is that original drawing Baum didn't like, and another example of some kind of problem in getting enough artwork to fill up the book. Earlier, a short article on the Woozy by Dan Mannix pointed out that Neill's Woozy looks rather like a parody of cubism, as represented in such famous paintings as Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" (and suggested that the predominant browns in Duchamp's "Nude" may have influenced the color illos of the Woozy as brown, when the text describes him as dark blue -- although Neill's impression of the Woozy as made of wood may also have influenced the color, and in turn evidently influenced RPT, who described the Woozy as made out of wood in one of her books). Either Baum or a publicist at R&L must have noticed the cubist style of Neill's Woozy, because, although the text of the story doesn't use the term to describe him, a poem written to publicize the book (reprinted in a "Bugle" "Oz Scrapbook" page) used it more than once. Dave Hardenbrook: Enjoyed your comments on the set of silent movies. David Levitan and Tyler Jones: Baum doesn't say that the Tin Woodman is the Emperor of the Winkies in the "Road" parade, but take note that (as I pointed out in my "Elusive Rulers of Oz" essay) the Tin Woodman is NOT marching elsewhere in the parade. His servants are marching elsewhere in the parade, but he is not described as being with them. So it looks as if Baum in fact meant that the Emperor of the Winkies was the Tin Woodman there, as in the other books. (If you're interested in getting a copy of the essay -- if you send me your address, I'll send a copy of it. Or you might want to drop a line to Andrea Yussman and ask if there are some more copies of that Oz Research Group mailing available. I don't have her address here at work, but she's in the IWOC directory.) Melody Grandy: Probably sexifolium rather than trifolium duplex? Ruth Berman P.S. Andrea Kelman Yussman's address is 2800 Rockhaven Ave, Louisville KY 40220, and the "Rulers" essay was in my "Dunkiton Commentator" #4 in the summer 97 Oz Research Group mailing. (I think. I actually sent it to her as part of #3 for the previous mailing, but I think she accidentally omitted it and put it in with #4 in the summer one.) ====================================================================== Content-return: allowed Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 17:24:37 +0100 From: Bill Wright Subject: Oz Digest Bob Spark. Ref you note about viewing the "Concert in Oz" video. Could you tell me where you were able to find it? I'm interested in buying a copy. Bill in Ozlo Note to all: If any member of the digest would like copies of the two Oz audio books (WWOO and ECO) for Christmas presents, they can be had as a one time offer at 40% discount. Send me an email if interested. They make great gifts.... Bill in Ozlo bw@computas.no ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 10:39:38 -0600 From: David Hulan Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 Bear: >Bed is where I do >all of my reading. Where do the rest of you read? Mostly in my easy chair, though also at the table when I'm eating (always when I eat alone; usually when it's just Marcia and me, since she likes to read while eating as well). And in bed for about 10-15 minutes at night before I turn off the light, but I restrict that to rereading old favorites - Oz books, Rick Brant, Burroughs, Georgette Heyer, etc. >Yesterday I got into a Trivial Pursuit game. What question should I get >but, "What message did the witch write in the sky?" I finally pulled it >out of my tired old brain, but not before perspiration began to form on my >forehead. Do you all remember? Sure: "SURRENDER DOROTHY". We had a discussion on this in the Digest a few months back, speculating whether there should have been a comma and "Dorothy" was in the vocative, or whether it was written correctly and "Dorothy" was in the accusative. (Since English nouns don't change form with case except for the genitive, you can't tell, but a Latin translation would have been something like "Se dede Dorothea" for the first and "Dorotheam trade" for the second. I think I have those right, though I'm working from a Latin dictionary and 45-year-old recollections of Latin grammar, so I'll defer to anyone whose Latin is more recent and/or thorough.) Melody: One wonders whether there might not somewhere be a left wing from a yellow butterfly that had been otherwise destroyed by some natural means. Snapped up by a bird or the like, for instance. I'd have certainly asked the Magic Picture to find one before giving up - though since the Wizard had come up with another way to break the enchantment by then, it was irrelevant. John K.: >After considering the description of the voice on the record and the >meter of the verse (such as it is), I am now convinced that what Baum >is actually describing (and any contemporary reader would have known >this) is a white singer (possibly Irish) performing an instance of the >then-fashionable genre known as the "coon song", which, to my mind, >considerably exonerates him. Good point, since Baum clearly is contemptuous of that style of "music"; it could be that he intended to show equal contempt for that style of racism. Dave: >_PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ_: >At least the IEs in _Patchwork_ are a lot of fun and not strictly the >mundane "Get the visitors to be just like us" formula. Not many of Baum's IEs followed that formula; that was more Thompson's style. Baum used it in _Road_, but I can't think offhand of any other instances in his books. David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 97 11:04:09 (PST) From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things E-TEXTS: The question of Oz books online has been brought up...This is of course in my FAQ, but I have all the Baum 14 available for anyone who wants them, as well as non-Baum Oz books that are public domain, i.e. _The Royal Book of Oz_, _The Wishing Horse of Oz_, _Captain Salt in Oz_, _Handy Mandy in Oz_, _The Silver Princess in Oz_, _Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz_, _The Magical Mimics in Oz_, and _The Shaggy Man of Oz_. Also, I'll take this opportunity to announce that (in the spirit of the upcoming Christmas season) the Ozzy Digest archive now includes _The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus_. (BTW, does anyone know where _Zixi_ and the two Trot books are available in Vanilla ASCII format?) LAW OF THE LAND: Tyler wrote: >Didn't the Tin Woodman once say that Oz only has one law: "Behave >yourself"? Well, one might argue for a set of laws that are a little less vague... :) Of course, I've always considered this Ozian "law" the directed-at-children Ozzy equivalent of the credo of Shangri-La: "Be kind". OZIAN BOTANY: >Melody Grandy: Probably sexifolium rather than trifolium duplex? I think Zim knows what he's talking about. Besides the "duplex" I think gives it away: tri- = 3, duplex = 2; 3 * 2 = 6. But perhaps Zim could explain to us the exact meaning of _Trifolium duplex_... "LEFT WING OF A YELLOW BUTTERFLY": In the event that I get around to writing the script for my movie version of _Patchwork_ :) I keep looking for some clever pun that Baum might have used to give himself an out, make the quest successful without any cruelty to arthropods, and avoid the weak "Wizard ex machina" ending; but I haven't found one yet...Can anyone think of one? Jeremy?? :) :) -- Dave ====================================================================== -- Dave ************************************************************ Dave Hardenbrook, E-Mail: DaveH47@delphi.com URL: http://people.delphi.com/DaveH47/ Computer Programmer, Honorary Citizen of the Land of Oz, and Editor of "The Ozzy Digest" (The _Wizard of Oz_ online fan club) "When we are young we read and believe The most Fantastic Things... When we grow older and wiser We learn, with perhaps a little regret, That these things can never be... WE ARE QUITE, QUITE *** WRONG ***!!!" -- Noel Coward, "Blithe Spirit" ************************************************************ ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, DECEMBER 2, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ***** OZZY DIGEST SECOND ANNIVERSARY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIGEST! :) :) ***** ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 15:42:43 -0600 (CST) From: Ruth Berman Subject: ozzy digest Bear & Bob Spark: People in the past have asked about the meaning of the wolf at the door episode, but no one seems to have a likely-sounding answer. As you say, the proverbial wolf at the door doesn't seem to be an explanation. I wonder if there might have been something else about it that cut from the ms. There was one chapter in the book that got cut, "The Garden of Meats," but that was from later on, after leaving the Emerald City. All that's known of it is in a letter of Baum's and a few illos by Neill (published in the "Bugle" several years back), a couple showing mobile vegetables tending a garden with children's heads growing up from the ground, and one that presumably didn't actually belong in the excised chapter, apparently a portrait of the lazy Quadling's wife with the one eel she caught. The letter indicates that he omitted the chapter at the publisher's request, as the ms. was too long, but that he was pleased to do it, as he wasn't satisfied with the way the chapter turned out. The "Bugle" editor speculated that he might have decided it was too horrific, if the vegetables used their meats-from-the-garden for food, as we do garden vegetables. By the way, I think Mr. Yoop gets his name from the Yoopers of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Jeremy Steadman: RPT doesn't really have money in Oz. She has money below Oz, in the kingdom of Down Town, and she has economic bases for her various Ozzy towns, but the base is barter, not money, I think. And it seems reasonable enough that Oz towns might specialize in goods to offer (rags from Ragbad in poor times or fine cloths in good, posies and buttons from Kimbaloo, etc.) in exchange for food from the countryside, considering that Baum's version describes everyone as contributing something? The McGraws have ceremonial coins used as a kind of play-money on special occasions in "Forbidden Fountain." Tyler Jones: Maybe Eureka is a Somebody around the palace because she's Dorothy's cat, and so Dorothy is fond of her, and Dorothy's enough of a Somebody for that to count. (For that matter, since she was the one who brought Shaggy to Oz, her ideas may count with him even more than they do with palace-dwellers generally)? Robert Schroeder: The Hallmark Oz ornament this year is Miss Gulch on her bicycle. She doesn't really look cross enough, though, to be convincing. (Whether you'd want a really cross-looking Miss Gulch on a tree is another matter, but she doesn't seem right as Miss Gulch. In fact, my first reaction, looking at the long dress and straw-hat, was to wonder if this was a scene from Disney's "Mary Poppins" I'd forgotten.) Dave Hardenbrook: On punning ways to get a left wing of a yellow butterfly -- well, you could sculpt a fly out of butter and cut off its left wing. Ruth Berman ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 20:47:35 -0500 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 Sender: "Melody G. Keller" >Melody: One wonders whether there might not somewhere be a left wing from a yellow butterfly that had been otherwise destroyed by some natural means. Snapped up by a bird or the like, for instance. I'd have certainly asked the Magic Picture to find one before giving up - though since the Wizard had come up with another way to break the enchantment by then, it was irrelevant.< Believe it or not, that idea had occurred. Perhaps a left wing found in a spiderweb. (Spider: Munch, munch, munch, munch.....) Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 20:46:52 -0500 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 Sender: "Melody G. Keller" Ruth: >Probably sexifolium rather than trifolium duplex?< Interesting Latin Name possibility. "Trifolium" *is* the real-life family name of the clover family, though. So "trifolium" is used to indicate Zim's six-leaf clover plants are still in the clover family--and "duplex" to indicate both that they have six leaves & that's double the number a member of the "trifolium" family should have. :-) Literally, the name's supposed to mean "double three-leaf" or "three-leaf doubled." Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 21:16:36 -0500 From: Richard Bauman Subject: Today's Oz Growls Sender: Richard Bauman Barbara > I am very involved in my sorority at U of Pgh and the system is designed so that each sorority would receive the same number of pledges and that every girl would receive a bid. Surely this is a joke? When did this start? If this is for real it isn't a sorority, it's an assigned living situation, like a dorm. I'm sure the Conservative vs Liberal thing that continues on the Digest informs and entertains us. However, it is getting to the point where I want to be differentiated from all of the possibly overly-religious "Conservatives to whom some of you are apparently exposed. My Conservatism is focused on economic, legal and ethical issues. As far as I'm concerned, religion is a personal issue and no one elses business. Thus...... >>LAW OF THE LAND: Tyler wrote: >>Didn't the Tin Woodman once say that Oz only has one law: "Behave yourself"? >Well, one might argue for a set of laws that are a little less vague... :) >Of course, I've always considered this Ozian "law" the directed-at-children >Ozzy equivalent of the credo of Shangri-La: "Be kind". Now as a Conservative I feel this is where we went wrong in this country. We used to have some laws and judges who dispensed justice. In the 60's, IIRC, someone decided that a law should be made for everything. Then if everything was covered by law, no one could corrupt government employees. As a result, we started graduating lawyers by the thousands and our governing bodies started passing laws as fast as possible. What has resulted is a bogged down legal system and gigantic bureaucracies in which no one is capable or willing to make a decision (see e.g. FDA, IRS, HEW, etc.). So, I am all in favor of the "Tin Woodman's law." Regards, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 02:58:55 +0000 From: Scott Olsen Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 I was going through my desk at work recently and came across a clipping I've kept for 6-7 years now. It's a short piece on Baum from the Fedco Reporter titled "The Wizard's Old Black Coat". It's by Richard Bauman of Hacienda Heights. Is this the same Richard Bauman who's on the Digest? Sincerely, Scott Olsen ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 20:32:20 -0500 From: rri0189@ibm.net Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 Dave Hardenbrook wrote: >Besides, perhaps Shaggy used a ZIP file or some Huffman Compression >technique. Actually, Morse did a frequency analysis on English text. Morse code _is_ a crude Huffman code. In any case, transmitting a good-sized Oz book wouldn't take more than a few days. // John W Kennedy ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 22:43:22 -0500 (EST) From: JOdel@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Digest, whenever... So, on to Patchwork Girl. This is one of the ones which we had when I was a kid. It was missing a page, somewhere in the last third, but so far as I can recall, it wasn't in a crutial spot. This was never one of my top favorites, since the failure of Ojo's quest always soured it for me, even though the book had the required happy outcome. Baum seemed to be working very hard to reconstruct the way that his fairyland opperated, and to get it down in writing so there would be no confusion. He didn't succeed, since he went on messing with it. But there does seem to be a strong degree of explanation throughout. No one, so far, has commented that the plot of Patchwork Girl seems to mimic, if not actually to parody, that of Wizard, at least as much as the plot of Tik-Tok does that of Ozma. We have a child from a backwards, rural area who abruptly finds himself in what might as well be a "new world" (to wit, deep in the Munchkin country of Oz), forced out of a quiet, isolated existence by what seems to be a natural disaster -- even if a very silent one. This child is immediately deprived of the elderly relative who stands in loco parentis, and is thrust upon a quest to recover him. Furthermore, the child is accompanied on this quest by a newly-animated stuffed doll, (already supplied with brains) and a live hunk of some mineral substance (already with a heart). Very soon they encounter and enlist a animal of freakish nature (with, it claims, a ferocious roar) and they all set out to find the Yellow brick road to the Emerald City. The big difference in this book is that every one of the freaks is happy just the way they are, and nobody but Ojo wants anything but an adventure. So far the only thing missing is Toto. The itinerary is also familiar. We travel from the Munchkin country, along the Yellow brick road, (I think their capture by plants is a reprise of the deadly poppy field, myself) to the Emerald City. Where Ojo's night in the city lock-up, and his subsequent trial stands in for the period that Dorothy and her companions hung around the court waiting to get in and see the Great Oz. From this point, the child explains his purpose and is given support in his quest, and sent from the Emerald City on a second leg of his quest which will ultimately take him into the Winkie country. This time the side trip into the Quadling country, where rather than being thrown about by trees they get thrown about by Tottenhots, who can at least be negotiated with, comes in the middle section, rather than at the end. . The requisite butterfly is denied, much as the balloon leaves ahead of schedule, and Ojo is stumped. All is not lost, however, and the once all the characters are assembled, the Wizard, no longer a humbug, saves the day. These similarities can hardly ALL be accidental. As to the comments already made, I agree with the comment that the theme here does seem to be heavily tied in with the motifs of confinement and frustration. As to David's comment on the pacing, I also agree. It is very good in this book. And the IEs are well integrated, for the most part. (I also agree that the Foolish Owl and the Wise Donkey are highly irrelevant and, frankly, irritating. So is Victor Columbia Edison, but that's the point.) I do think that it is a flaw in the ploting that the main quest's failure and the happy ending are set back-to-back. In Wizard, the departure of the balloon took place some time before the end, so that Dorothy and the reader can come to grips with it, start over, and bring things to a sucessful conclusion by asking the right person for help. The needs of the reader, if not the characters, is less well served here. ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 22:55:45 -0600 From: "R. M. Atticus Gannaway" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 DAVE HARDENBROOK: >"LEFT WING OF A YELLOW BUTTERFLY": >In the event that I get around to writing the script for my movie version >of _Patchwork_ :) I keep looking for some clever pun that Baum might have >used to give himself an out, make the quest successful without any cruelty >to arthropods, and avoid the weak "Wizard ex machina" ending; but I haven't >found one yet...Can anyone think of one? Jeremy?? :) :) perhaps pipt misread the ingredient and it was really a "left-wing butterfly"? BUTTERFLY: i suppose ozma has outlawed not only six-leaf-clover-picking but POT, too! atticus * * * "The crash of the whole solar and stellar systems could only kill you once." Visit my webpage at http://members.aol.com/atty993 ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 00:03:55 -0500 From: Tyler Jones Subject: Oz Sender: Tyler Jones Ruth: SInce I'm a member of the Oz Research Group, I probably have your essay somewhere, since I've never thrown any away. Dave: I forgot that another law in Oz is do not practice magic unless you are on Ozma's A-list. This law seems a little vague, since such characters as the three Adepts and Reera are allowed to continue their magic after being discovered. Perhaps the rule is do not practice wicked magic. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 21:48:01 -0800 From: Douglas or Lori Silfen Subject: For the Ozzy Digest Hi. My take on THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ. I thought it was great until the ending. I think we all agree that the Glass Cat and Scraps have become staple characters in Ozlore. Baum lays out the quest very well. The Horner/Hopper war is a super chapter as well. Ok...regarding the ending....I have brainwashed myself to believe that upon returning to Oz...the Wizard obtains a "porcelin" yellow butterfly wing from Glinda. He then mixes it with all the items that Ojo has aquired and the Woozy sticks his tail in the potion and voila!! The andidote is made! With this ending, Ojo's quest is more meaningful to me. Regarding Eric Shanower's graphic novel, THE FORGOTTON FOREST OF OZ. I liked it. I know some folks here didn't, but I thought it was very very interesting. Maybe it wasn't Ozzy as much as European fantasy, but I enjoyed it. I haven't read Shanower's first graphic novel, but of the four I've read, I'll rate them as follows: The Secret Island of Oz- 6 out of 10 The Ice King of Oz - 8.5 out of 10 The Forgotten Forest of Oz- 7 out of 10 The Blue Witch of Oz- 7 out of 10 Regarding Grammar and Punctuation- :-)---- When I write, I write online and spontaneously and there will be many many mistakes, but that is the way I am. You will not find this if you read my Maters Thesis in American History. Douglas ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 21:51:03 -0800 From: Douglas or Lori Silfen Subject: For Ozzy Digest 2 Oh yeah, I forgot, I read almost all fiction in bed too!! :-) Non-Fiction, is about 50-50 between reading in a chair and reading in bed. Weird, huh? Doug ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 08:20:49 -0600 From: Mike Denio Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 Dave, At 12:10 PM 12/1/97 -0800, Dave L. Hardenbrook wrote: >E-TEXTS: >(BTW, does anyone know where _Zixi_ and the two Trot books are available > in Vanilla ASCII format?) I've converted the e-mail texts from Aron Adelman. These files are actually superior to the other .TXT files, since (once converted), the line feeds can be used as paragraph markers, and thus the document imports into MS Word with all the paragraph formatting intact! I can now convert any of these files (_Mo_, _Sea Fairies_, _Sky Island_, _Dough_, and _Zixi_) into MS Word, Word Perfect, or MS-DOS text, but if you want MS-DOS text, the formatting information (paragraph breaks) will be lost (as with the other "formatted" .TXT files). Mike Denio ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 06:22:12 -0800 From: Bob Spark Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 Bill Wright, When I said that I had watched "The Wizard of Oz in Concert" on VH-1 I meant the cable TV channel, not videotape. At the end of the piece it says that it is on Turner Home Video. I believe that Scott said that Turner had turned (is that a pun?) it over to PBS and he had queried them about it but received no response. One suggestion: At least in my area, PBS has a service called "Video Finders". They are usually fairly good. I have purchased a few videos from them. You might give them a try. The number that I have is 1-800-842-2298. I have no idea if that is a valid number in Ozlo, or just in California. Bob Spark ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 97 14:58:39 (PST) From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things "LEFT WING OF A YELLOW BUTTERFLY" II (TRYING TO ANSWER MY OWN QUESTION): How about this -- The Wogglebug presents Ojo with a *fossil* of an extinct species of yellow butterfly, and this satisfies the recipe... THE MAGIC LAW: Tyler wrote: >I forgot that another law in Oz is do not practice magic unless you are on >Ozma's A-list. This law seems a little vague, since such characters as the >three Adepts and Reera are allowed to continue their magic after being >discovered. Perhaps the rule is do not practice wicked magic. Come to think of it, Dr. Pipt is the only example I can think of an "unauthorized" magic worker even being acknowledged, let alone being disiplined, by Ozma. Are there any other exapmles that I don't know or recall? E-TEXTS: Mike Denio wrote: >I can now convert any of these files (_Mo_, _Sea Fairies_, _Sky Island_, >_Dough_, and _Zixi_) into MS Word, Word Perfect, or MS-DOS text, but if you >want MS-DOS text, the formatting information (paragraph breaks) will be >lost (as with the other "formatted" .TXT files). My current Oz texts are ASCII because I want to ensure that everyone can read them, even if they're on an Amiga (as I was until recently). But at this point I'll accept them in any format that Microsoft Works will read. -- Dave ====================================================================== -- Dave ************************************************************ Dave Hardenbrook, E-Mail: DaveH47@delphi.com URL: http://people.delphi.com/DaveH47/ Computer Programmer, Honorary Citizen of the Land of Oz, and Editor of "The Ozzy Digest" (The _Wizard of Oz_ online fan club) "When we are young we read and believe The most Fantastic Things... When we grow older and wiser We learn, with perhaps a little regret, That these things can never be... WE ARE QUITE, QUITE *** WRONG ***!!!" -- Noel Coward, "Blithe Spirit" ************************************************************ ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, DECEMBER 3 - 5, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 19:23:49 -0800 From: Bob Spark Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 First of all, let me wish the Ozzie Digest (and all of you) a very happy second birthday. Let us all give a lot of credit to Dave Hardenbrook who does a marvelous job. From Leah Garchik's column in today's San Francisco Chronicle": > Vacationing in Costa Rica, Jerry matters saw an American car > with a bumper sticker that read, "Auntie Em: Hate you, hate > Kansas, Taking the dog. Dorothy." Bear, > So, I am all in favor of the "Tin Woodman's law." Me too!!! Maybe you ARE infectious. Speaking of Bear: > I was going through my desk at work recently and came across > a clipping I've kept for 6-7 years now. It's a short piece > on Baum from the Fedco Reporter titled "The Wizard's Old > Black Coat". It's by Richard Bauman of Hacienda Heights. Is > this the same Richard Bauman who's on the Digest? > > Scott Olsen If this is indeed our Richard Bauman (come on, 'fess up), how about making it available to all of us? With Bear's permission, of course. Bob Spark ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 22:46:26 -0500 From: "J. L. Bell" Subject: Oz at length Sender: "J. L. Bell" David Hulan asked: <> As isolated as Ojo is, he nonetheless knows one thing that "people say" (p. 21), and he seems to know about Ozma--I infer that because her name raises no questions from him even as he asks about Jack Pumpkinhead (p. 30) and Dorothy (p. 76). By the time of his conversation with Nick, Ojo's been out in the world, and may have heard even more--especially because he was primed to note anything that made him feel unlucky. On page 313, for instance, Ojo takes his inability to swim as a reflection of his luck, even though Dorothy can't swim, either. Clearly Baum was playing with notions of self-image, as in WIZARD when the Tin Woodman declares he has no heart while weeping heartfelt tears (Ch. VI). David also questioned: <> One important aspect of a justice system is that trials be public, both to warn citizens of the consequence of crime and to assure them that justice is being done for both society and defendant. Nathan DeHoff and Ruth Berman both mentioned a BUGLE article that: <> Ha! I guessed right about the drawing on p. 114 of PATCHWORK GIRL! Ironically, in two details that reflects Baum's description of the Woozy better than Neill's standard style: ears as "openings in the upper corners" rather than tufts, and legs that "folded...as if they had been hinged" (p. 103). Dave Hardenbrook declared: <> I quite agree, and commend you for your metaphor. When I ordered my set a coupla years ago, I asked only for the three Oz Film Mfg videos. The order-taker remarked that most people seemed to want the Larry Semon WIZARD. "Ah," I said, "but I've seen it." In a theater, no less. Madison, Wisconsin. 1976. I can't erase the horrid memory from my brain. Tyler Jones wrote: <> The simplest explanation of this discrepancy is that the Royal Historian slipped when he said the Ozians stopped with the ruler of the Munchkins. Rather, they traveled east from Ev to the *Winkie* Country, paused at Nick Chopper's castle to wet their whistle [groan!], and proceeded to the Emerald City. It wouldn't be the last time Oz's chroniclers obviously confused east and west. That explanation requires no speculation about who officially ruled the Munchkins between the Wicked Witch of the East and Cheeriobed. Nathan DeHoff wrote of Nick Chopper: <> WIZARD, Chapter 5: "I made up my mind that instead of living alone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely. There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part, promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money [!] to build a better house for her." Lest we condemn Nick for wooing out of loneliness and physical attraction, and Nimmee Ammee for accepting out of expediency, let's remember that this was how practically all our of ancestors came to wed. Nathan also argued: <> In judging how Thompson depicted non-European ethnic groups, we need to examine both what she showed and what she didn't show. She probably didn't set out to depict "typical" people in any group, but when her portrayals all point in one direction, they're clearly influenced by what she'd learned to consider normal for that group. Thompson showed blacks as slaves--not just servants, but *slaves*. Jinnicky's staff aren't the only enslaved blacks in her books: there are more in GNOME KING. I recall no free blacks. It may make Jinnicky's domain seem like a nicer place if we assume free Negros live there happily--but there's no indication of that in her books. Thompson used Middle Eastern names (Mustafa, Matiah, Akbad) and titles (Pasha, Sultan, Shah) for sneaky, greedy, and/or hot-tempered villains. Did she equally use such names or titles for good characters? Ree Alla Bad echoes "Allah," (d)jinns comes from Arabic tales, Alibabble is no less likable than her other officious bureaucrats, and the Comfortable Camel loves his Karwan Bashi--but those are the minor exceptions. Thus, even though Thompson makes no explicit statement about slavery or ethnic characteristics, her depictions of blacks and Arabs fit right into and pass on the American stereotypes of her time: that Africans were naturally servile and Arabs sly and villainous. Incidentally, I don't see Skamperoo as an Arab caricature, especially when put next to Matiah, who clearly is. I think Neill drew him as a caricature of Mussolini, and Thompson may have written this ambitious conqueror the same way. Finally, David Hulan wrote: <> Encouraging news about Emerald City Press. I consider IEs to be potentially valuable to an Oz book's main plot in two ways: * Even when they don't advance the main plot, they can serve it by affecting the book's pacing. * They can reflect the book's themes. For instance, the many tourist stops in EMERALD CITY (I like Bunnybury best) draw out the book as Guph goes about his business, thus increasing the suspense; and they show us what's at stake in the potential conquest of Oz. In my own full-length manuscript, one protagonist does go through a coupla IEs that affect the main plot but little. However, I planned those so that they progress from nature to civilization and force him to accept responsibilities. I'm now working on a half-length manuscript (perhaps ECP length) that's much tighter because its heroes don't need that sort of awakening or introduction to the Ozian universe. Finally, a question for the assembled wisepeople: In which book did Ruth Plumly Thompson have Trot and Betsy elevated to princesses of Oz? J. L. Bell JnoLBell@compuserve.com ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 23:06:18 -0500 From: Tyler Jones Subject: Oz Sender: Tyler Jones Writing: When I write in other capacities, I am anal beyond all comprehension. All spelling and punctuation is rigorously checked, and each word is carefully chosen. As Bob Mohan (he's like the Rush Limbaugh of Phoenix) would say, I am a "Word Smith". With the Internet, though, I am totally stream of consciousness. In the long run, this may be for the best. In a sense, the Digest is "unplugged". --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 23:56:27 -0500 From: Lisa Bompiani Subject: Ozzy Digest Hello everyone! Wow! I've been out of the ring for awhile. It seems I've managed to catch a lung infection and have been down for three weeks now. Ugh, the cold does not make breathing easy. Oh well,. . . Robert: The Hallmark ornaments are Mrs. Gulch and a four piece miniature set of the four main characters. I will read anywhere, but my favorite places are curled up in my HUGE overstuffed easy chair with a great cup of coffee and my cat, or on the rocky summit of Massanutten Mountain in Virginia where nothing is better than a beautiful, warm, sunny day and a great book. I find that when I read in bed, I usually fall asleep or don't recall a lot of what I've read. being in grad school, I always have a book with me since any time I can sneak in a few words it helps! In regards to the "behave yourself" law of Oz, it brings to mind the do unto others as you would have them do unto you notion. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a place where people governed themselves by treating one another respectfully without having to be told to do so? Off to the land of compound nouns, Peace & Love, Bompi ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 01:13:18 -0500 (EST) From: RMorris306@aol.com Subject: The Prodigal Ozzian Returns! Hi! It's been a long, LONG time since I posted to the Ozzy Digest, but I just happened to be home with a cold...suffice it to say that I still love it and read it avidly. (And I'll most assuredly post when the books under discussion get to my all-time favorite, RINKITINK...) Scott wrote: <> Actually, it was one of his assistant directors who did that, and was also responsible for the notorious sequence showing Mighty Mouse sniffing a flower as if it were cocaine. (Reportedly an accurate parody, much like an old Warner Bros. cartoon I saw with Old Faithful discharging its gases into a spitoon...and equally confusing to me as a child, since I'd never seen anyone use a spitoon.) I've heard the assistant identified as John Krikfalusi (sp?), which, if true, would explain a good deal about his subsequent work as a producer/director (REN & STIMPY et al). J.L. Bell wrote: <> I don't know if they'e confused with each other any more than Lewis Carroll's ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, also probably published (since their earliest editions) more often under a single cover than separately. (Then again, A.A. Milne's WINNIE THE POOH and THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER, though usually still published separately, tend to be confused as well...and sometimes, inexplicably, even with Milne's two books of humorous poetry, which have about as much in common with them as FATHER GOOSE: HIS BOOK has with THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ...) I wonder if Alcott originally intended (as Edward Eager, among others, claimed) to have Jo (her fictional alter ego) marry Laurie (said to be based on a one-time, though very chaste, boyfriend)? Or remain single (as Alcott ultimately did)? Could it have been her ultimate parting that led Alcott to have Laurie (whose original was much younger than Alcott) marry Jo's younger sister Amy instead? <> Agreed. Much as I love Shanower, he resembles Jack Snow (and me) in arguably being such a dedicated fan that he takes Oz, paradoxically, too seriously and tends to neglect the humor. A lot of both men's humor consists of inside jokes that are hilarious to those of us who recognize them, but perhaps leave some readers confused. It took me about a day to realize that (in MAGICAL MIMICS) Mr. and Mrs. Hi-Lo's wayward son was Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen's dummy (no doubt familiar to readers of the 1940's, but not something children or even adults of later generations would necessarily think of immediately). Shanower can be even more esoteric; Imogene might have been patterened on a cow character from the 1903 musical, but how many non-dedicated Oz fans know that? Who's next, Sir Wylie Gyle? (Actually, Donald Abbott did bring him back, too, in one of his BoW books. I think the field is still clear for Sir Dashemoff Dailey, though...) <> Which went completely over my head as a child. From an evolutionary perspective, the transformation is a confusing one, anyway (goat to lamb to ostrich to Tottenhot to Mifket to Prince...why the bird in the middle of a sequence otherwise consisting entirely of mammals?), and obviously involved magical esoterica one would need to be close to Glinda's or the Wizard's level to understand. Especially since, in TIN WOODMAN, Glinda later encountered even more difficulty in transforming Woot back from a green monkey, certainly closer to him in an evolutionary sense than a goat was from Prince Bobo. <> I like to think that the exile was a temporary one, much as later (non-FF) writers indicated that the Wizard's removing Jenny Jump's temper and de-aging her against her will were strictly temporary. (On the other hand, in those cases there was at least evidence that the original writer, Neill, didn't support those changes.) <> A library book? A rented videotape? <> Unless the restriction to Oz, like the command to obey the wearer of the Golden Cap, was part of Gayelette's spell. For that matter, Baum distingushed quite carefully between "fairylands" (where magic and magical items could work) and "civilized countries" like America, so just because the Winged Monkeys (like the Silver Slippers and the Magic Belt) couldn't travel to America wouldn't necessarily mean they couldn't go to Ev or Ix or Mo... <> One reason I like Baum so much! Also, again reversing a subtle trend some children's writers seem to fall into, when he has child protagonists of both sexes, the girl tends to be older (e.g., Trot and Button-Bright in SKY ISLAND). Baum never says anything about the characters' ages, but that seems to be the implication, made more explicit by Thompson (who established that, in the eternal non-aging atmosphere of Oz, Dorothy was 11 and Ojo was 10). <> But, at least in Baum, Ojo's disobedience is always rooted in a noble cause (to spare Scraps a lifetime of dull-witted slavery, and to save his uncle from six years as a statue). I can't fault him too much. <> I think that was discussed in a BAUM BUGLE article a few years ago. That picture was indeed, Neill's original sketch rejected by Baum on the grounds that the Woozy wasn't made of wood (an impression Thompson later got somehow, probably from that very picture), but somehow got statted onto that page anyway... David Hulan wrote: <> Thompson herself misspelled it in more than one occasion (usually as "Gilliken"), so he has plenty of company! Ruth Berman wrote: <> Unless one postulates a magical cataclysm of some sort that connects the island to the mainland, a la the moves of Umbrella Island and the Biscuit-Shooters' Island, between the time of the two books? <> I'd love to see it! Robin wrote: <> Which traditional way? When dealing with dog showing and breeding (as I sometimes do), I can't think of any alternative to using it in the *original* traditional way. <> Maybe it seems that Thompson was racist because she tended to keep her stereotyped characters onstage longer? As someone else pointed out, she had quite a few Arab villains who were the main antagonists of entire books, as opposed to only one for Baum, and in a non-Oz book (JOHN DOUGH AND THE CHERUB), and perhaps a few others in brief sequences of other non-Oz books like THE MASTER KEY. (Come to think of it, didn't he have at least one Arab protagonist, in his non-Oz book THE LAST EGYPTIAN? I've never read it...) Bear wrote: <> Didn't Thompson already do that in OJO? <> Reading this juxtaposed with Dave H.'s comments on the Oz movies makes me wonder if this, too, wasn't a case where the movie was scripted before the book...and if she wasn't a leftover reference to Dr. Pipt's daughter in that version, who accompanied the group because her boyfriend (not only her mother...) had been turned to stone along with Margolotte and Unk Nunkie... Dave Hardenbrook wrote: <> Ironically enough, this was probably the inspiration for the famous MGM movie, which also expanded the Kansas sequence and added three farmhands to Uncle Henry's farm who later became Dorothy's Oz companions. But surely an odder trio would be hard to come up with than Larry Semon (who also directed and/or produced the movie), Oliver Hardy (before he and Stan Laurel hooked up) and G. Howe Black (more Politically Incorrect than all Baum's and Thompson's minority characters rolled into one; this was an African-American actor with all the stereotypes of Stepin Fetchit and absolutely none of Fetchit's talent), who became (via disguse rather than dream) the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion respectively... << The Munchkin girl [in Baum's PATCHWORK GIRL movie] carries the statue of her beau (miniaturized by Pipt) in her basket, and Jinjur causes trouble by repeatedly trying to steal it, she being in love with the fellow herself.>> Which would seem to indicate that her marriage to the cow farmer (as reported in OZMA OF OZ) didn't last? (Which, judging from the reports of their domestic life in that book, combined with the fact that no husband is in sight when others visit her in TIN WOODMAN and the non-FF A RUNAWAY IN OZ, seems entirely probable.) Time I went to bed! Rich Morrissey (glad to be back!) ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 10:23:25 -0800 From: "Stephen J. Teller" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 I have been away for Thanksgiving, so rather than reply to all the past digests, I will only reply to the 12/2 one. > We used to have some laws and judges who dispensed justice. In the 60's, > IIRC, someone decided that a law should be made for everything. I lived through the 60's and recall no such proclamation. > As a result, we started graduating lawyers by the thousands and our > governing bodies started passing laws as fast as possible. The passing of laws protecting individuals and society from the rapacity of business interests far preceeds the 60's. Laws against exploitation of child labor, requiring safe workplaces, requiring food and drugs not to be harmful to the individuals who purchase them are not innovations of the 60's. But laissez-faire businessmen have opposed all of them as intrusions on their rights to exploit. This does not mean that there have not been beaurocratic abuses of these laws, but if corporate entities refrained from polluting the air and water to save the costs of avoiding the problem we would not need laws against them. However, we cannot count on their benevolence. It would be as true as to say, if the people refrained from taking other people's property we would not need laws against theft. However Ozma's law against picking six-leaf clovers is a case of a law being against an act that is not evil in itself but could lead to acts that are bad. This if like a law against alcohol because some people who drink then ingage in behavior that is anti-social--or a law against using marijuana because using it could lead to bad behavior. So we have laws against what we consider the causes of social evils rather than simple against the evils themselves. END OF SERMON > > Regards, Bear (:<) > > So, on to Patchwork Girl. This is one of the ones which we had when I was a > kid. This was never one of my top favorites, since the failure of Ojo's quest > always soured it for me, even though the book had the required happy outcome. > Actually it has been one of my favorites despite the fact that the quest failed, it is a very enjoyable book, though loaded with IEs. It should be noted that it was the third Oz book (after WW and LAND) to be dramatized by the Junior League and was performed at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. It was also the subject of the first Oz Film Manufacturing Company feature film. However the fact that it was written just before OFMC came into existance might explain that. > Regarding Grammar and Punctuation- :-)---- When I write, I write online > and spontaneously and there will be many many mistakes, but that is > the way I am. You will not find this if you read my Maters Thesis in > American History. > > Douglas What was your Paters Thesis in? > > > Oh yeah, I forgot, I read almost all fiction in bed too!! :-) > > Non-Fiction, is about 50-50 between reading in a chair and reading > in bed. > Since the question of "where do you read?" has come up I should give my answer: I read almost anywhere I am. I try never to travel without a book. I read on busses, trains, airplanes, in bed (where I sometimes fall asleep over a book), at table (unless there are others present--always when eating alone), while walking down the street (I do look up occasionally especially when crossing streets), while watching television (unless it is a really informative program) even in the classroom--but there I usually read aloud to keep my students awake. If I can't read a book, there are often magazines, newspapers, or in a final extremity, cereal boxes. Steve T. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 11:01:22 -0500 From: Mark K DeJohn Subject: Ozzy Digest Sender: Mark K DeJohn From: Barbara DeJohn Bear: The sorority rush system is set by the Panhellenic Association which governs all sororities. It actually is a mutual selection process where a rushee attends every groups parties in the first round and then ranks them by preference. The sororities also rank the rushees or release them to go elsewhere. It is kind of complicated but works pretty well although there can be hurt feelings when a rushee is released by a group she particularly liked. I can't believe I never checked out the rare book section of the Library while I was at Pitt. It seems that there are several of you that are not to far away from Pittsburgh. Is anyone interested in a informal get-together? We could have it at my house or some in-between location. Barbara DeJohn ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 10:45:40 -0600 From: David Hulan Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 While I'm thinking about it, and before I get on to comments on the last Digest, I'd like to note for those of you who are members of the IWOC that the ballot for the officers is now out, and I'm a candidate for the Board. I'm not all that widely known in the Club, so I hope that those members on the Digest will vote for me if you think I'd make a good Board member. (If you don't think I'd make a good Board member then I hope you won't bother to vote. I'm no hypocrite...:-) ) Bob Spark: The IE about the cottage and wolf has puzzled a lot of people. I've read the theory that Baum intended to do something else with it (possibly in connection with the "Garden of Meats" chapter that's known to have once existed and been cut), changed his mind, but left the incident in. Jeremy: >Do you imply that all of Baumega was once one country? It'd be an >interesting "historical" novel, that theory ... I didn't mean to imply that, but at the time of _Wizard_ Oz itself wasn't one country in the sense of having a single government over the whole territory, either. Yet the Winged Monkeys were able to fly from the Winkie Country to the Emerald City to the Quadling Country with no difficulty. Based on that, it would be possible to infer that by "this country" the king of the Winged Monkeys didn't refer to a political unit but to a geographical area, which might have included all of Baumgea - since all of it has been shown to be a Fairyland to at least some degree. >PG and IE's: >Not as bad as Rinkatink, I don't think... Huh? Name an IE in Rinkitink! That's the one book Baum wrote that was essentially free of IEs. Tyler: I don't think Shaggy's statement that Eureka is "a palace favorite" really implies that she's a major mover and shaker there. I imagine that she's about the same status as Toto or the Sawhorse (or later the Woozy); well-liked by the other palace residents, but not one who's typically consulted on matters of state. That seems to be the situation in _Magic_, which is the only FF book she has lines in after _DotWiz_. >Didn't the Tin Woodman once say that Oz only has one law: "Behave >yourself"? It's also been suggested on the Digest that Oz has no laws, but >all justice, etc. is based on the assumption that Ozma is good, kind, wise, >just, etc. so that anything she decides must be right. This philosophy has >the advantage that it is completely unfettered by bureaucracy or precedent. The Tin Woodman said that, but at least by the time of PG it obviously isn't true; we know at least there's a law against picking six-leafed clovers, and one against doing magic except for Glinda and the Wizard. There are probably others. Nathan: >David Hulan: >In _Ozma_, the King of the Quadlings is mentioned soon after the King of >the Munchkins. He is described as a subject of Ozma. I checked, and found the reference - which also refers to kings of the Winkies and Gillikins, neither of whom is referred to outside this sentence except for the parade in _Road_. The king of the Winkies in _Ozma_ seems not to be Nick Chopper, since he's always referred to as "Emperor," and also in that book serves as commander of Ozma's army rather than a regional ruler. _Ozma_ is one of my favorite books in the series, but there are a lot of discrepancies between it and the rest of the books. Dave: >"LEFT WING OF A YELLOW BUTTERFLY": >In the event that I get around to writing the script for my movie version >of _Patchwork_ :) I keep looking for some clever pun that Baum might have >used to give himself an out, make the quest successful without any cruelty >to arthropods, and avoid the weak "Wizard ex machina" ending; but I haven't >found one yet...Can anyone think of one? Jeremy?? :) :) You might postulate a type of yellow butterfly that periodically sheds its wings for new ones (like snakes' skins); butterfly wings are rather fragile, and if Ozian butterflys are immortal (which is the implication in PG as it stands; there's no requirement that the wing be from a living butterfly, so if butterflies died it would be simple enough to take a wing from a dead one) their wings would surely wear out eventually. Such a shed wing, abandoned by its owner, would be "left" even if it were from the right side of the butterfly. If the breed of butterfly is relatively rare then it's quite possible that Nick wouldn't have known of it (after all, at that point he'd only lived in the Winkie Country something like 6-10 years). Maybe one of his palace servants could offer the information. Another alternative that occurred to me would be for Ojo to find a pub (serving only root beer and other non-alcoholic drinks, of course) called the Yellow Butterfly, with a central section and two wings. The left wing of a building is a rather bulky item to put into a compound, but perhaps Dr. Pipt could shrink it somehow first. David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 11:56:29 -0500 (EST) From: JOdel@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 Left wing etc. Now I always thought that there ought to have been SOME way in which the wing could be removed painlessly and replaced with a tinfoil one. In such a case, the butterfly would have been known thereafter as the Imperial Butterfly, and they could have asked for a volunteer. Someone probably would have, for the glory of it. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 15:28:15 -0500 (EST) From: Jeremy Steadman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 Wow! So it's been two years already! Congratulations, Dave, and to my fellow Digesters . . . (tho I know I was not in from the beginning myself). Re Flying Condiments: One could say, of course, that since Delta gives you a betterfly, the adventurers should go to the Atlanta junkheap, where they pick out an abandoned wing . . . Or better yet, we find that flying insects have infiltrated our American political system, leading to such oddities as conservative grasshoppers and left-wing butterflies . . . (If that's what you were hinting at, Atticus, it was lost on me.) "Behave yourself": If such a simple law would have the Utopian effects you suggest it might, that would conclusively prove that not only is Oz not on this planet, but it is not in our galaxy, universe, or plane of existence, either. Bear apparently thinks that with one simple law, the world would instantly be a better place--filled with vastly different people than those we have now. Bear, if you know such a place, please send me the directions, because I want to visit . . . Jeremy Steadman, kiex@aol.com (jsteadman@loki.berry.edu) during the school year http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/9619 ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 17:20:33 -0500 (EST) From: Ozmama Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 JOdel: Interesting theory about _P.Girl's_ being a kind of a reprise of _Wizard_. I'll have to chew on it for a while.... --Robin ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 16:33:00 -0600 From: David Hulan Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 Happy Birthday, Digest! I didn't get my comments on the 12/1 Digest off in time, so you'll have to put up with two days' worth in this one... Ruth: RPT refers to the boys of Kimbaloo returning with their button-boxes full of coins; that sounds like money to me. (The girls came back with "heavy pockets," which I suppose could be from barter, though it would usually imply coins as well.) I seem to recall other references to money in Oz in her books, but that was one that was easy to check. Melody: >Interesting Latin Name possibility. "Trifolium" *is* the real-life family >name of the clover family, though. This is probably a nit, but the first word in a species name is the genus, not the family. If "trifolium" is the genus name for common clover then Trifolium duplex would be a good name for the six-leaved variety (though I'd always assumed that a six-leaved clover would be a diploid variant within the common clover species rather than a separate species); if it's the family name, then it wouldn't appear in the species name (family being a higher taxonomic grouping than genus). Most family names end in "-idae", though, at least in birds and mammals; I'm not sure about plants. Bear: >I'm sure the Conservative vs Liberal thing that continues on the Digest >informs and entertains us. However, it is getting to the point where I >want to be differentiated from all of the possibly overly-religious >"Conservatives to whom some of you are apparently exposed. My Conservatism >is focused on economic, legal and ethical issues. As far as I'm concerned, >religion is a personal issue and no one elses business. Sure, if you'll let me be differentiated from the bizarre-educational-theory, criminal-coddling, nanny-state "Liberals" you've been exposed to. My liberalism is focused on defending the environment and the powerless from the full rigors of a market economy, without disturbing the working of the market any further than necessary. >Now as a Conservative I feel this is where we went wrong in this country. >We used to have some laws and judges who dispensed justice. Sometimes. Of course, if you were white and killed a black in the South, nothing happened to you - but maybe you consider that justice? (I don't think so, but at least you'd be consistent if you did.) Scott O.: >I was going through my desk at work recently and came across a clipping I've >kept for 6-7 years now. It's a short piece on Baum from the Fedco Reporter >titled "The Wizard's Old Black Coat". It's by Richard Bauman of Hacienda >Heights. Is this the same Richard Bauman who's on the Digest? No, that's not Bear, who lives in Palo Alto, but it's almost certainly someone I used to work with. When I first encountered Bear I asked him if he was that Richard Bauman. The one I used to work with lived in commuting range of Garden Grove (which would include Hacienda Heights), did a lot of free-lance writing for publications like the Fedco Reporter, and taught a commercial writing class at one of the community colleges in that area. Joyce: Interesting parallel between the plots of _Wizard_ and PG; I hadn't ever thought it through myself, but you're right. It was obvious, of course, that this was Baum's first "quest" book since Wizard, and that made certain parallels necessary, but I hadn't noticed the many other similarities you point out. (His later "quest" books - _Tik-Tok_, _Rinkitink_, _Lost Princess_, _Tin Woodman_, and to some extent _Magic_ - don't follow the same pattern at all closely.) Tyler: >Dave: >I forgot that another law in Oz is do not practice magic unless you are on >Ozma's A-list. This law seems a little vague, since such characters as the >three Adepts and Reera are allowed to continue their magic after being >discovered. Perhaps the rule is do not practice wicked magic. But Dr. Pipt's magic wasn't wicked, at least for the most part. (Making the Liquid of Petrifaction is arguable, I suppose, but the rest of the magic he does seems benign enough.) Douglas: I liked _Forgotten Forest_ well enough, but didn't think it was very Ozzy and liked it the least of all Shanower's graphic novels. Dave: >Come to think of it, Dr. Pipt is the only example I can think of an >"unauthorized" magic worker even being acknowledged, let alone being >disiplined, by Ozma. Are there any other exapmles that I don't know >or recall? How about Mrs. Yoop? Ozma turned her into a green monkey, which she said took away her magic powers. And I don't know if you'd say it was "by Ozma," but Ugu and the Su-dic both had their magic taken away from them as well. And that's just in Baum; later on there are Glegg and Mooj who are effectively destroyed, Clocker's magic is taken away, they take the magic emeralds from Skamperoo, Loxo loses his magic magnet, and I'm sure there are other instances that don't come to me offhand. But other people work magic a lot in the books and aren't disciplined at all for it if their use is benign - and in Neill Number Nine and Jenny Jump both work quite a lot of magic with Ozma's approval, though maybe they should be considered as added to her A-list. David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 17:55:29 -0500 (EST) From: Ozmama Subject: Ozzy Digest 11-30 David:<> Maybe Baum was after an Appearance vs. Reality theme? The cottage, Wise Owl/Foolish Donkey, beautiful but deadly plants, backwards road, and gate all suggest this. Same with the Trick River, I s'pose. Even Unc, who is laconic enough to appear possibly unloving and the Crooked Magician, an ugly but nice fellow, follow that thematic thread. And Scraps' adoration of her own gaudiness, in spite of being "unattractively" not Munchkin blue. May be more than these in _P.Girl_ to support this notion. Too tired to try to figure it out right now. The Chiss thing would be good as stage business. Same with Victor Columbia Edison. The Lazy Quadling could lead to a good comic routine onstage. Baum was at the point in his life where he almost desperately wanted another stage success. He wrote _P.Girl_ as a response to outside pressure more than to satisfy his own artistic, creative urges. ...betcha he had the stage in mind.... John K.: Believe me, the boys who call each other "bitch" are not gay. Also, I find the association you made with the term and gay guys a tad offensive, although I'll assume you didn't mean it to be and were simply trying to add to the thread. Melody: <> I think he was probably trying to get something that would work well onstage. Really! --Robin ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 20:49:06 -0500 From: "J. L. Bell" Subject: Ozzy mythologies Sender: "J. L. Bell" Ruth Berman mentioned one unused illustration for PATCHWORK GIRL: <> I was surprised that there are *any* unused drawings since the book contains so many duplicates, cribs, and even floor sweepings of Neill's rejected version(s?). But the Quadling with the eel can really only fit in one place--chapter 25. And since that chapter filled seven pages of text after its opening, and the book's design dictated that chapters begin on rectos, using a large drawing of her would have required Neill to do *another* large drawing to fill the resulting blank page. JODel advanced an interesting reading: <> Michael Riley's OZ AND BEYOND also sees PATCHWORK GIRL as paralleling WIZARD; he bases his argument on the books' geographies, of course. I agree with both you and him that there are so many similarities that Baum probably reviewed his older book to make sure he could regain the magic touch. (Note to self: Make sure hero has an animal companion or two,...) I also think some of the parallel lines you drew are a bit askew. When you write, "The big difference in this book [PG] is that every one of the freaks is happy just the way they are," that's a very big difference! One whole theme of WIZARD is bound up in the companions' dissatisfaction with themselves. I see no equivalency between "Ojo's night in the city lock-up" and "the period that Dorothy and her companions hung around the court waiting to get in and see the Great Oz"--surely Dorothy's captivity in the Wicked Witch's castle is more comparable. And while you parallel the hungry plants to the Poppies, they're as much like the Fighting Trees (certainly more so than the Tottenhots are). Finally, you say that in the Emerald City, "the child explains his purpose and is given support in his quest"; I don't recall Dorothy getting any support beyond some food from Jellia Jamb. For some of the structural parallels, I find the following explanations more plausible than deliberate mimicry: * Dramatic utility. In *most* children's books the child-hero is thrown into the world on his or her own; that's just more interesting and fulfilling for young readers. (Trot being accompanied by Cap'n Bill is an exception.) In *most* fictional journeys there are ups and downs, so by stretching a little we can probably find parallels between episodes of many different books. (River crossings in WIZARD, LAND, and PATCHWORK GIRL, for instance.) * Themes that interested Baum throughout his career. There's clearly a parallel between Scraps and the Scarecrow, but Baum also explored the experience of coming to life in LAND, JOHN DOUGH, and elsewhere. One non-structural parallel you didn't mention is how the lazy Quadling, dependent on his wife, bears some similarity to the injured man in Chapter X of WIZARD; they both reflect the dynamic in Baum's own household, where Maud was usually in charge and often in better physical shape. Dave Hardenbrook wrote: <> The Ozian authorities went after Ugu, Mrs. Yoop, Kiki Aru, and the Sudic on the charge of practicing unauthorized magic--but also for the more harmful things they did. Dr. Pipt may indeed be the only person disciplined for practicing magic without evil intent. Nevertheless, the Crooked Magician's spells caused harm through his carelessness: he petrified Margolotte and Unc Nunkie, and brought the phonograph to life to terrorize the Munchkin landscape. We might ask whether Dr. Pipt was really punished, however. His rationalization for being "quite proud" of his crookedness depended on also being a magician (p. 42). He's "dejected" at losing his powers, but when the Wizard makes his limbs "perfect," Pipt utters a "cry of joy" (p. 336). Perhaps he sees trading his magic for a non-crooked body as a bargain. Finally, Bear shared his personal mythology with us: <> The reason I call this a mythology, Bear, is that, while it's obviously very important to you, it's as fictive as Mo. Of the specifics you blame on "the 60's," every single one dates from before that decade. HEW was started in 1953, the IRS in 1913, and the FDA in 1906. Complaints that the USA has too many lawyers go back at least to the Jacksonian period. Furthermore, the notion that before 1960 "We used to have some laws and judges who dispensed justice" whitewashes American society in this century. Jim Crow Laws didn't dispense justice; they dictated what people of different skin colors could do, down to which fountains they could drink from. America had laws that restricted liberty on baseless ethnic or sexual grounds in immigration, in marriage, in voting, in employment. The notion of a lost golden age (pre-1960 or pre-anytime) is a fallacy common to many mythologies. It's nearly useless to argue mythologies, however. When a person comes across facts that contradict her mythology, she doesn't discard her deeply-held notions. Instead, she complains that the facts are invalid; she insists that "everyone knows" she's right; she retreats behind expressions of faith that can't be proven and therefore can't be disproven. Discussing different mythologies is valuable mostly in revealing more about the people who hold them, not about the true state of the world. This discussion group makes a useful distinction between Oz-as-real and Oz-as-story. I hope we can make the same distinction between America-as-real, especially the historical context of the Oz books, and America-as-story--i.e., anyone's mythology about how to vote next November. Let's avoid gratuitous injections of contemporary political statements into our discussions. J. L. Bell JnoLBell@compuserve.com ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 20:57:40 -0500 From: Richard Bauman Subject: Today's Oz Growls Sender: Richard Bauman Years ago I picked up a paperback, "The Little Grey Men," a 1962 Penguin. The author is given as "BB." It was a nice little fantasy. Do any of you folks know who "BB" is? >"The Wizard's Old Black Coat". It's by Richard Bauman of Hacienda Heights. Is this the same Richard Bauman who's on the Digest? No, this is my good twin....... No, seriously, it's not me. What is the "Fedco Reporter?" Where can we get a copy? John >In any case, transmitting a good-sized Oz book wouldn't take more than a few days. I'll watch while you tap this out. Briefly, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 21:56:58 -0500 From: David Levitan Subject: Ozzy Digest Hi, I have completed all three quizzes, so if some of you can please check them, the address is http://www.bendov.net/dblhockey-asp/quiz/default.asp P.S.: You may need the books, the hard quiz is very picky! -- David Levitan wizardofoz@iname.com ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 12:56:17 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-30-97 Tip: Mombi?! When did you come back from the dead? Mombi: Don't you recall, your friend Nikidik brought me back? Tip: You mean the weirdo running the institution? Dave: I agree with your position on the wireless. In my Oz books, in which the historians have meetings with the characters, (seeing as how there are now well more than one, as we know), each historian is told the story from of best suited for him or her to tell. As far as mine are concerned, _That Ozzy Feeling_ is a pretend story, and Ozma does not find it the least bit offensive. :) Scott ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 13:11:52 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 Of course, technically, love does come from the brain, the heart is merely a pump. Certainly Baum knew this he wasn't some ancient superstitious guy. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 13:20:29 -0500 (EST) From: ZMaund Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 Re: the discussion of _Patchwork Girl_... The cottage episode is quite unusual. Or perhaps a better word is "inexplicable." I wrote an essay a few years back that somehow managed to make it in the _Bugle_ about this episode and the "Downtown" chapters of _Hungry Tiger_. Both odd, but for very different reasons.. Patrick Maund ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 13:29:51 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-01-97 You guys don't want to know what Martin Scorsese did with "Surrender Dorothy!" Robert: Never known any guys who collect Barbie, but I knew some must exist. So, it was MGM/UA that released the in Concert video, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. I need to get this. David: Martin Scorsese apparently thought this was the vocative, as I had interpreted it. But skywriting with a burning broom is risky business, so it's amazing she didn't spell it wrong. Everyone, I have right here in my hand a video called _The Real, The True, The Gen-U-Ine Wizard of Oz_, A Miller-Brody Video Production from the Meet the Author series, Order Number 0-07-509241-7. It only runs 16:55 and costs $42.00. I haven't been able to obtain this for my collection, but did manage to get it through interlibrary loan. It was published by American School Publishers, a division of MacMillan/McGraw-Hill (800) 843-8855. Scott ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 14:11:55 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 Ruth: Down Town isn't belowm Oz, iirc, it's below Ev. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 14:13:41 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 Jane: A couple of errors strike me immediately on the Chronology which you may wish to correct. The sugar and Spice Wizard of Oz video (with the Tinmanator) was released in 1991. In 1993 it was reissued on a tape with Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs and Cinderella, totally about 90 minutes. This is the Barbara A. Oliver/Doug Parker one. Story editor Tony Oliver is Barbara's husband (ex-, I think). What did Robert Barron tell me? Oz Squad was published by Brave New Words, not Brave New Worlds. Eventually Ahlquist move it to Patchwork Press, and it went on hiatus after ten issues, with Dorothy saying yo Ozma, "I'm pregnant." They said they would be back, but they haven't yet. I'll check the dates of the ten (very hard to find) issues. It was published sporadically. The Superfriends cartoon you list at 1991 was originally aired in 1978. I'm quite certain there is a film (if it is the two part film I'm thinking of) of _Journey to the West_ that was made in Hong Kong. I think I read about it in _Asian Cult Cinema_ or _Video Watchdog_. I'm guessing your version at home is updated, but it hasn't been updated on the page, hence the problems. there are a lot of misspelling, particularly of the foreign films, but I hope now that you have that filmography, which of course, is heftily updated by now, that this will change. Jim still hasn't put my filmography on the page. I just turned in my postmodern, semiotic, and ideological analysis of the _MASK_ episode, "The Oz Effect." Thus begins my actual writing of my Baum-based film research. Does this mean you'll give me the address of the gut with the 1910 film, Patrick? Scott ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 14:29:04 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-02-97 A friend in sixth grade had an issue of _MAD_ magazine which had an old-style comicbook inside its mages. The first story was a Popeye parody called "Poopeye," the second was a parody of _The Wizard of Oz_ in which the Cowardly Lion was replaced by a purple hippo (A Moan dragon, a "smart reader," might think [Umberto Eco}. Does anyone know about this? How about Moskov Diafilm's Volshebnik film made before 1970? Scott ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 20:03:18 -0500 From: Stan Butler Subject: wizard of oz question Hello fellow Oz fan! I was wondering if you knew the answer to the following question: What item from the Wizard of Oz is displayed at Universal Studios theme park? Is it the "ruby slippers" that are on a nation-wide tour? Please answer as soon as you can. I have a deadline to meet with a trivia contest at school. Thanks for any info you can provide. --Lisa Butler, Oz fan [I don't think Lisa is on the Digest, so please respond privately. -- Dave] ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 97 14:04:32 (PST) From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things IRRELEVANT EPISODES: J. L. Bell wrote: >* Even when they don't advance the main plot, they can serve it by >affecting the book's pacing. >* They can reflect the book's themes. And I would add that IEs can reveal things about the protagonist(s)'s character, or even help to *develop* character. So I'd say that "Irrelevant Episodes" are frequently *very* relevant. But there are certainly examples of *genuine* IEs -- Arguablely the "cottage" episode in _Patchwork_; and the other that occurs to me offhand, although it's not Ozzy: The "Square Candies that Look Round" in _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_. This was an IE built around an inane play-on-words, and it's no wonder it didn't make it into the movie. >Finally, a question for the assembled wisepeople: In which book did Ruth >Plumly Thompson have Trot and Betsy elevated to princesses of Oz? Dunno...I guess I always took it for granted that they beame princesses upon taking up residence in Oz... "THROW-AWAY" NAMES: Rich M. wrote: >Shanower can be even more esoteric; Imogene might have >been patterened on a cow character from the 1903 musical, but how many >non-dedicated Oz fans know that? Who's next, Sir Wylie Gyle? I am of course relieved that you didn't say, "Who's next, Locasta?"! :) But I must say I used the name Locasta purely because I wanted my resurrected Good Witch of the North to have a name, and that one was available...I wasn't trying to deliberately go for an inside joke... SHANOWER: I've mentioned this before, but my main objection to _Forgotten Forest_ was Shanower's turning Zurline into a mortal-hating tyrant. (Though in _That Ozzy Feeling_ Melody and I provide an explaination for her weird behavior then.) BTW, I remember someone asking about the nature of the Scarecrow's facial features...I notice that Neill's Scarecrow seemed to have full-fledged "3D" features, whereas Shanower's Scarecrows features are merely painted on and animated like a flat cartoon. (I find Shanower's by far the more eerie...) MYTHOLOGY: J. L. Bell wrote: >It's nearly useless to argue mythologies, however. When a person comes >across facts that contradict her mythology, she doesn't discard her >deeply-held notions. Instead, she complains that the facts are invalid; she >insists that "everyone knows" she's right; she retreats behind expressions >of faith that can't be proven and therefore can't be disproven. This, BTW, is why Carl Sagan's referring to the Big Bang as the cosmologists' "creation myth" rings true for me...There is evidence that contradicts it (e.g. the discovery of stars older than the Big Bang's reckoning of the age of the universe!), but this evidence is dismissed out of hand as "invalid" because the Big Bang has obtained "mythology" status and cannot be refuted. -- Dave ====================================================================== -- Dave ************************************************************ Dave Hardenbrook, E-Mail: DaveH47@delphi.com URL: http://people.delphi.com/DaveH47/ Computer Programmer, Honorary Citizen of the Land of Oz, and Editor of "The Ozzy Digest" (The _Wizard of Oz_ online fan club) "When we are young we read and believe The most Fantastic Things... When we grow older and wiser We learn, with perhaps a little regret, That these things can never be... WE ARE QUITE, QUITE *** WRONG ***!!!" -- Noel Coward, "Blithe Spirit" ************************************************************ ] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, DECEMBER 6 - 7, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 17:01:10 -0800 From: Robert Schroeder Subject: Ozzy Digest stuff... Congradulations Dave and Digest on your second birthday!! And let me tell you, I have really enjoyed the last five or six months since I've joined the Digest! Keep up the good work! Scott asked: >Robert: Never known any guys who collect Barbie, but I knew some must >exist. So, it was MGM/UA that released the in Concert video, right? >Correct me if I'm wrong. I need to get this. Yes, it was the MGM 1939 movie, with a remastered soundtrack, but the concert video as well as the concert CD were both Turner Home Entertainment. The script to the movie is quite fun, but it doesn't have any of the words to the songs included. About Barbie Collecting: I have actually just began collecting Barbies. And, yes, I have to admit, I did play with my friend's and my cousin's Barbies as a kid. I just wish I hadn't been so mean and cut the hair of that one in 1968, which would be worth, ohhhhh.....several hundred dollars now. The reason I started was because of the "Legends of Hollywood" series which so far has included "Gone With The Wind", "Wizard of Oz" and "My Fair Lady". Haven't checked out what this year's offering is yet. I am also very much in love with the Bob Mackie and Christian Dior Barbies, and as soon as I win the Lottery, I shall own them!!! (hint: the Mackie Barbies are in the $500 range...new.) Hallmark Ornaments: Thanks for letting me know what I'm looking for this year, but alas, I have yet to find them. Seems that the WOZ series is becoming more popular than the Star Trek series, which I had no problem finding this year. And then Hallmark started a Scarlett O'Hara series this year too! For those of you interested in collecting Hallmarks, let me pass along some info a friend of mine, who was a supervisor for Hallmark stores, and that is to always go for the first ornament of any series, and buy them as soon as possible. For instance, about eight years ago, Hallmark issued the first of its "Classic Convertables" series. About four weeks after release, they were recalled and replaced because the pipe-cleaner type tree used in the ornament did not hold its color. Oh sure, those trees are now a yucky brown in color, but the ornament is now worth about $400..... Until later!!! Robert ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 16:48:08 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-05-97 Dave, In response to Richard Bauman's query about the author, BB, I checked a couple of on-line catalogues and found that the official Library of Congress author entry is "B.B," 1905- There are a fair number of books attributed to that author. One entry, however, may provide a clue: Author: "BB", 1905- Title: Manka, the sky-gipsy; the story of a wild goose, written and illustrated by D. J. Watkins-Pitchford ("B. B.") New York, C. Scribner's sons, 1939. Description: xvi, 258 p. incl. front., illus., plates. 24 cm. Notes: "Printed in Great Britain." Subjects: Geese. Water-birds. All appear to be illustrated by D. J. Watkins-Pitchford, but only this entry implies that Watkins-Pitchford is also "B.B." Having made that link, I then checked the Watkins-Pitchford author entries and found the following: Your search for the Personal Name: WATKINS PITCHFORD D retrieved 4 name entries. Personal Name List ------------------ 1. Watkins-Pitchford, D. (Denys), 1905- RETRIEVES: "BB," 1905- 2. Watkins-Pitchford, D. J. (Denys James), 1905- RETRIEVES: "BB," 1905- 3. Watkins-Pitchford, Denys, 1905- RETRIEVES: "BB," 1905- 4. Watkins-Pitchford, Denys James, 1905- RETRIEVES: "BB," 1905- I think that provides the identity. Peter Hanff ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 16:49:57 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-05-97 P.S. Fedco is a Los Angeles area membership discount business that in its early years was open primarily to civil service employees. Last time I checked it was still doing a booming business, despite competition with the newer warehouse discounters such as Costco. Peter Hanff ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 21:51:35 -0800 From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff Subject: Ozzy Digest J. L. Bell: In _Silver Princess_, it is stated that Jinnicky's black miners receive wages, and that they wanted to return to work in the mines after the defeat of Gludwig. (Of course, they didn't really have anywhere else to go, I suppose.) Also, Gludwig (also black) lived in a mansion. There was no book in which Betsy and Trot were actually elevated to the status of Princesses (of Oz, that is). She did refer to them as Princesses in her later books (_Handy Mandy_ comes to mind), but I'm not sure when or why she started doing this. Rich: Ojo might actually have been younger than ten at the time of _Patchwork Girl_. If we accept Realbad's story in _Ojo_, Ojo was born after Ozma came to the throne of Oz, which most likely occurred less than ten years before _Patchwork Girl_. I believe that, in _Scarecrow_, Baum clearly states that Trot is older than Button-Bright. As for the misspelling of "Gillikin," Neill spelled it "Gillikan" in _Scalawagons_. The movies aren't really canonical, so I don't think that Jinjur's love of Danx (Was that his name?) in the _Patchwork Girl_ movie necessarily means that she doesn't still have a husband in the books. Scott: To what does your conversation between Tip and Mombi refer? -- Nathan Mulac DeHoff vovat@geocities.com or lnvf@grove.iup.edu http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/5447/ "I'm having a wonderful time, but I'd rather be whistling in the dark." ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 21:44:32 -0600 From: David Hulan Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-05-97 Bob Spark: >> Vacationing in Costa Rica, Jerry matters saw an American car >> with a bumper sticker that read, "Auntie Em: Hate you, hate >> Kansas, Taking the dog. Dorothy." I can remember seeing this on a T-shirt at least 10 years ago. Fun stuff, but not new. J.L.: I suppose there's justification for making Ojo's trial public, but the elaborate magical displays associated with the trial as recorded in PG don't seem justified. Ozma could just say, "We know you dunnit, boy! I saw you in the Magic Picture!" And there's no reason why, if she and/or the Wizard knew Ojo had put the clover in his basket, that the Guardian or the Soldier shouldn't have confiscated the basket long before it ever reached Dorothy's suite. >Tyler Jones wrote: ><the Munchkin country. In every other reference, it is to the east, across >from the Winkie Country. > >The simplest explanation of this discrepancy is that the Royal Historian >slipped when he said the Ozians stopped with the ruler of the Munchkins. >Rather, they traveled east from Ev to the *Winkie* Country, paused at Nick >Chopper's castle to wet their whistle [groan!], and proceeded to the >Emerald City. It wouldn't be the last time Oz's chroniclers obviously >confused east and west. That explanation requires no speculation about who >officially ruled the Munchkins between the Wicked Witch of the East and >Cheeriobed. But there's at least one other reference in _Ozma_ that indicates that Oz is to the west of Ev; when Dorothy looks out of the tower and sees the desert it's to her west. Baum is consistent within this book; it's just that it's inconsistent with his other books. I agree with your assessment of Thompson's depiction of non-Europeans, by the way. >Encouraging news about Emerald City Press. I consider IEs to be potentially >valuable to an Oz book's main plot in two ways: >* Even when they don't advance the main plot, they can serve it by >affecting the book's pacing. >* They can reflect the book's themes. >For instance, the many tourist stops in EMERALD CITY (I like Bunnybury >best) draw out the book as Guph goes about his business, thus increasing >the suspense; and they show us what's at stake in the potential conquest of >Oz. I agree, again - I think the original version of _Glass Cat_ was better than the published one primarily because the pacing was slowed down to an "Ozzier" tempo by the IEs that were in it, and I think much the same can be said of _Magic Carpet_. But there's also the question of the cost of publication; this isn't an issue with an author, but it clearly is for a publisher, and I'm willing to have a less-than-what-I'd-prefer version of one of my books appear in print in order to have it published where it might be read by someone other than fanatical Oz fans. (I've mentioned before, though possibly not since you've been part of the Digest, that one of the things about _Glass Cat_ that has given me the greatest satisfaction is that a couple of 5th-grade teachers, who received copies as gifts from friends of mine, have read _Glass Cat_ to their classes and that in consequence those classes have produced a run on the Baum Oz books in their school libraries.) >Finally, a question for the assembled wisepeople: In which book did Ruth >Plumly Thompson have Trot and Betsy elevated to princesses of Oz? Thompson didn't ever have a formal ceremony in which Trot and Betsy were elevated to princess; however, the first mention of their being princesses was in _Wishing Horse_. Bompi: Glad to see you back! Rich: And you, too! I don't think _Now We Are Six_, at least, is as far removed from the Pooh books as _Father Goose_ is from _Wizard_. Pooh turns up in that book of poetry several times. He also appears at least once in _When We Were Very Young_. _Now We Are Six_ is the book I own that I've owned the longest - since I was four, for sure, and probably three. Love it. I can still quote some fairly long poems from it from memory, and I don't refresh on them very often. (Especially "Wheezles and Sneezles"...) I spotted Charlie McCarthy in _Magical Mimics_ when first I read it, but then I read it as soon as it came out in 1946, and Charlie McCarthy was still a very popular radio show at that time. And Sir Wylie Gyle is one of two villains in the rather abysmal _The Speckled Rose of Oz_; in my opinion the worst book ECP has published. The bird in the middle of the transformation from goat to prince is justified in the text by the transformation from a quadruped to a biped. (Rather like the ancient - I think maybe Aristotle - definition of a human as "a featherless biped". To which some wag proposed a plucked chicken as an alternative...) More curious, to me, was the change from a goat to a sheep; I can't think of a single way in which sheep are closer to humans than goats - especially in intelligence! City boys might not have that disjunct. And it was Ozma, not Glinda, who transformed Woot back from a green monkey to his own form - but that was a "switcheroo spell," not like Glinda's change of Bilbil. ><a limited number of times, but then can be used by another person that same >limited number of times, etc.?>> > > A library book? A rented videotape? But library books and videotapes can be borrowed or rented again by the original user as often as desired - and in fact can be reread and reviewed many times by the original borrower/renter before returning, if that's how they want to spend their time. Interesting comment about the relative ages of Baum's male and female protagonists. Zeb seems to be older than Dorothy in _DotWiz_, but otherwise we have Dorothy/Button-Bright in _Road_, Dorothy/Ojo in PG, Trot/Button-Bright in _Sky Island_ and _Scarecrow_, Dorothy/Woot in _Tin Woodman_, and Dorothy/Kiki Aru in _Magic_. Most of these aren't specified as such, but watching the characters in action indicates the superior maturity of the female in all cases. But I don't remember any statement that Ojo was 10 in Thompson. Evidence? (Philador says he's 10 in _Giant Horse_; that's one of the very few examples I can think of where an Oz character gives his age.) Steve: Actually, I too read pretty much wherever I am. My easy chair is my #1 choice of where to read if I have the choice, but I'll read anywhere when my visual attention isn't demanded by either safety (I don't read while driving - at least, if my car is moving) or courtesy. I'll admit that, possibly because of my age (I reached teen-age before TV was available to me), I can't really read while the TV is going, which is why our house has always had a separate "living room" (where my easy chair resides) and "TV room" (where the TV resides). I can sometimes manage to read a few lines during commercials when a ball game is on, but mostly I avoid the TV room. My wife, who reads even more than I do, is younger and grew up reading around TV programs, so she can watch TV and get some reading done as well. J.L. again: I dunno, I think Joyce's equation of Ojo's night in the lockup to Dorothy's first stay in the EC in _Wizard_ is pretty accurate. It's not as if Ojo - whatever his apprehension - is in the kind of danger Dorothy was when she was in the WWW's clutches. (Well, she wasn't really because of the GWN's kiss, but she wasn't all that sure of that.) Ojo's problem wasn't personal danger but being impeded in his quest, which was Dorothy's problem in _Wizard_. Enjoyed your comment to Bear. I agree. Bear: "BB" wrote at least four children's books; besides "The Little Grey Men" there was a sequel, "The Little Grey Men Go Down the Bright Stream," and then the unrelated "The Forest of ___ ___ Railway" and a sequel whose name I can't recall even to that extent. I owned all of them in British PB editions, but they were among the ones we culled before we moved from CA to IL last year. I believe one or more of these books gave "BB"'s real name, but I don't recall it. _The Fedco Reporter_ is a bimonthly (as I recall) flyer published by Fedco, a membership department store in Southern California (and possibly elsewhere, but I've never seen them elsewhere). It was originally for employees of the federal government, but membership privileges were extended to anyone whose company did business with the Feds - meaning practically anybody by now. David Levitan: I'll try to check out your quizzes soon, but I'm off to Tennessee before noon tomorrow and won't be back until Monday night. Maybe Tuesday I can get to your site. Scott H.: >Ruth: Down Town isn't belowm Oz, iirc, it's below Ev. Actually, it's below Rash, unless there's a lot of lateral movement as part of that slide. But since Rash is pretty small, it may be under Ev at that. I remember the "Poopeye" parody in _MAD_ (back when it was still a comic book), but I don't remember a WOZ parody, so that must have been after it switched to magazine form and I quit reading every issue. Dave: >And I would add that IEs can reveal things about the protagonist(s)'s >character, or even help to *develop* character. So I'd say that >"Irrelevant Episodes" are frequently *very* relevant. No question that IEs can help develop character - and in fact one IE that was deleted from _Glass Cat_ would certainly have enhanced the development of Button-Bright's character in that book (and overall). But if the incident is irrelevant to the main plot line then it can be said that the author either (a) could have integrated the action of the episode better into the story (i.e. made it "relevant") or (b) could have written an episode that would have accomplished the same development in a relevant way. The impact of IEs on pacing, on the other hand, is a more telling critique; as they're pruned from a story the pacing gets more and more frenetic, which some people (like my wife) think is great, but which most Oz fans find overly energetic. >This, BTW, is why Carl Sagan's referring to the Big Bang as the >cosmologists' "creation myth" rings true for me...There is evidence that >contradicts it (e.g. the discovery of stars older than the Big Bang's >reckoning of the age of the universe!), but this evidence is dismissed >out of hand as "invalid" because the Big Bang has obtained "mythology" >status and cannot be refuted. But acknowledge that we're talking about science here and not religion. The "Big Bang" has been a productive hypothesis - "myth", if you like - that has let us understand a great deal about the current state of the universe. There are holes in the theory that pretty much all scientists who are interested in the subject acknowledge, but before some new hypothesis - or "myth" - is adopted as the "conventional wisdom" it needs to cover all the areas where the "Big Bang" works, _and_ fill in all the holes in the "Big Bang" hypothesis as well. When such a hypothesis appears, and is backed up by experimental data, most scientists will accept it. It's not as if the "Big Bang" is anything like Eternal Dogma. It was hotly debated (and by no means the "conventional wisdom") when I was in college in the late '50s; its general acceptance is certainly no more than 40 years old, and probably less. If whatever hypothesis you espouse (I don't know where you're coming from myself) works better, I'm sure it'll win out in another decade or two. That's how science works, and is why science is different from religion and other more conventional understandings of "myth". David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 19:43:30 -0800 From: Bob Spark Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 12-05-97 Just 19 shopping days 'till Christmas. > Let's avoid gratuitous injections of contemporary political > statements into our discussions. I agree (though I've been guilty of it in the past). We were doing so well for a while... > Of course, technically, love does come from the brain, the > heart is merely a pump. I suspect that the glands have some responsibility. > (Though in _That Ozzy Feeling_ Melody and I provide an > explaination for her weird behavior then.) This has to be the longest series of teases for an unpublished work that I've run into. Gawd, I wish I could read it. Bob Spark ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 23:24:14 -0500 (EST) From: Mark Anthony Donajkowski Subject: OZ CD ROM well i went and got 32 m egs of ram for my computer and guess what i found] THE LEGENDS OF OZ 100 YEARS OF OZ basded on the works by l frank baum and roger s baum INTRODUCING THE SILLYOZBUAL OF OZ its for mack and ms windows 31 may work on 95 though the cd rom is from 93 the back says enjoy the complete story of l frank baums classic the wonderfull wizard of oz wiht faithfull recreations of w w denslows original illistrations linked to interactive stories of all the characters you have come to know and love this full featurred pc/mac version also includes 3 entirely new adventurds wiht the sillyozbul of oz by roger s baum the great grandson of l framk baum with interactive animation , narration a challanging game and video from the classic movie the wizard of oz the legends of oz will deltight the child in everyone and now the good news THEY HAD ONE MORE COPY OF IT ITS 16 BUCK IT WAS ORIGNALY LIKE 40 SO NOW IF ANYONE WANTS IT WRITE ME OFF LIST YOU WILL HAVE TO SEND ME MONEY AND POSTAGE TO SEND IT TO U hugs anthony van pyre ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 23:07:41 -0500 From: "J. L. Bell" Subject: Oz restorations and rationalizations Sender: "J. L. Bell" Rich Morrissey had many interesting things to say (hope he posts again!): <> I should have, but didn't until you mentioned it. I was disappointed Imogene wasn't MOOOOre cowlike. <