Although the obvious source for the 1939 MGM musical "The Wizard of Oz" was L. Frank Baum's children's book, the author reminds readers in this text that various stage and screen dramatizations of Baum's story preceded and influenced the 1939 film. Musical-comedy elements in the MGM film, extensive scenes with the Kansas farmhands, and even the ending in which Dorothy realizes that her visit to Oz was only a dream, all originated in stage or film versions rather than in the pages of Baum's book. This illustrated text contains rare photographs, film stills, sketches, theatre programmes and movie advertisements from the different productions. Piecing together the Chicago and Broadway stage productions (1902-3) from contemporary reviews, surviving script pages and published song lyrics, Mark Evan Swartz shows how Baum and his many collaborators worked to transform the book into a popular theatrical attraction - often requiring significant alterations to the original story. He documents how the show evolved during its tour of the US, changing songs or adding topical jokes to keep the production fresh.
Swartz makes clear that the popular stage musical influenced silent film depictions of Oz, including a multimedia show (1908), a one-reel short produced by Selig Studios (1910) and a full-length feature film (1925) that portrayed Dorothy as a flirtatious flapper and co-starred Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman. Comprehensive examinations of each production provide behind-the-scenes information, including: battles over the legal rights to Baum's stories and over the financial backing for each play or film; different strategies to market each production; set and costume designs; special effects (how to create a tornado on stage); box-office receipts; and reactions of audiences and newspaper critics. To offer a comparison of the different versions, Swartz also provides a full plot-synopsis of each production - including lyrics from the early musicals, some written by Baum himself. The book concludes with an examination of the famous MGM film, the first version of the story to locate Oz in a land "Somewhere over the Rainbow". Swartz argues that Baum created "the first truly American fairyland, using language and imagery that would be familiar to the ordinary American child".
About the Author :
Mark Evan Swartz is an archivist with the Shubert Archive in New York and editor of the archive's biannual periodical, The Passing Show.
Review :
"A pleasantly scholarly account of the various stage and screen versions that were made of Baum's story before Judy Garland came along." -- Herbert Kupferberg, Parade Magazine
"Attractively produced, this book fills a gap in the literature." -- Choice
"Fascinating and timely..Swartz has compiled early stage show photographs, posters, movie stills, actors' costume shots and artists' impressions of the story generously enough to make Oz Before the Rainbowa book of lustrous appeal." -- The Age (Melbourne)
"Invaluable. It is well illustrated and is the first major book to show how much of our favorite American fairyland was informed by the early Oz stage shows and films... This book is essential for any Baum scholar's shelf and, indeed, should be informative and enjoyable for those interested in the MGM film, too." -- David Maxine, The Baum Bugle
"Like Walt Disney, Baum was ahead of his time with his interest in imaginative visual productions, and this book revisits them in detail, proving that his impact on popular culture is almost unequaled." -- Anne Morris, Austin American-Statesman
"Swartz artfully achieves his purpose of showing 'that the infiltration of the Wizard of Oz story into our cultural bloodstream was not an overnight process' by tracking the influences and popularity of the many stage and screen productions of the story that preceded the 1939 Judy Garland film. Swartz's scholarship is evident in his many citations of primary source material, which, together with the book's profuse illustrations in both black-and-white and color, makes this book irresistible to dedicated Oz buffs." -- Booklist
"Swartz has painstakingly researched the history of L. Frank Baum's 1900 best seller, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, from publication to the ultimate film version, the MGM 1939 Technicolor musical... The author examines the nature of popular culture and mass media while showing how changes made in the stage and film versions that followed the initial productions affected later versions and the 1939 film... This unique study is highly recommended." -- Library Journal
"Swartz reminds us that Oz, from the turn of the 20th century on, has continued to live in America's consciousness." -- Andrew Karp, Utopian Studies
"The book reprints a wealth of rare illustrations--photos from the various productions, advertisements and posters, program covers, photos and drawings of Baum's collaborators, sheet music, etc." -- Ruth Berman, Science Fiction Studies
"Thorough and fascinating... A significant achievement and addition to Oz scholarship. It provides interesting and new directions for other researchers to follow, and adds to the cultural, mythical, and historical richness that the Oz tradition encompasses for so many people... Scholars and researchers -- and perhaps those readers who are more than casual fans of the books and/or the 1939 film -- will find themselves returning to this book repeatedly. It is a worthy addition to an Oz lover's library." -- Diana Dominguez, Cercles: Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone
