] c/ \ /___\ *** THE OZZY DIGEST, MAY 1, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 15:57:16 -0500 From: "David G. Hulan" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-29-97 Earl: Others can doubtless answer with more authority, but I know that I've read that Baum didn't really like Neill's illustrations for his books. My guess is that there was very little collaboration between them; it was probably about like the collaboration between me and George O'Connor when he was illustrating GLASS CAT. Which was that he read my MS and drew some pictures illustrating it; the first I saw of the pictures was xeroxes of a few of them that Peter sent me after the book had gone to press, and the first I saw of most of them was when I got my author's copies of the book. (Or, actually, when I got the first batch I'd ordered for friends and relations; I got those well before my author's copies.) This resulted in about as many discrepancies between text and illustrations as in one of the Baum-Neill books. (Though George was called in on an emergency basis and in no way had time to recheck the text carefully; I don't blame him, and am generally quite happy with his artwork.) Maybe somebody knows whether Baum usually turned in his MSS well ahead of time or whether Neill was usually working to a tight deadline. OTOH, from what I've heard, Thompson and Neill had a much closer working relationship (of course, they lived a lot closer to each other). I don't know if anyone has ever done a study of whether the Baum-Neill discrepancies are more extensive than the Thompson-Neill ones. (And then, of course, sometimes Neill's illustrations contradict the text in his own books, although that's easily explicable by the heavy editing that had to be done by R&L to make them publishable.) But based on comments from friends, some of whom are professional writers and others of whom are professional illustrators of children's books, there is rarely much contact today between writer and illustrator except in the fairly rare cases, like Bruce and Katherine Coville, where they live together. I suspect it wasn't much different in Neill's day. Gordon: I'll have to think about other characteristics typical of the "second phase" of Baum's Oz books. One would certainly be "recycle the old characters," bringing back Dorothy in OZMA, the Wizard in DOTWIZ, Toto in ROAD, and Aunt Em (and to some extent Uncle Henry, though he had a cameo in OZMA) in EMERALD CITY. Another is "there's no danger in Oz;" all the dangerous situations in those four books, which I consider the second phase, are found outside Oz. (FWIW, I consider PATCHWORK GIRL to stand alone as the third phase, TIK-TOK through RINKITINK the fourth, and LOST PRINCESS through GLINDA as the fifth - and best.) And, as I mentioned earlier, those are the books where the child characters, especially Dorothy, exhibit bad diction. Although to be fair, some of the examples are probably more accurate phonetic spellings of the way most people really pronounce the word than the conventional spelling - "s'pose," for instance. Not many people even put a schwa into that first syllable (unless they're emphasizing the word for some reason); they just give a little extra sibilance to the "s" compared to the way a word spelled "spose" would be pronounced. Sometimes Dorothy has a white dress and white stockings, sometimes a white dress and blue stockings, and sometimes a blue dress and blue stockings. If I looked long enough, I might even find a case where she had a blue dress and white stockings. (And they must have both been pretty rank, even on a little girl, by the time she got to Oz - though in fact I guess she was only in them about four days.) It's my understanding, though, that all the color in all Neill-illustrated Oz books, except for the color plates in DOTWIZ and EMERALD CITY, was put in by the printer and not by Neill. And you can't expect a printer to have a high degree of respect for continuity. Speaking from the way my grandfather, who grew up on a farm not long before Dorothy, and who was a gentleman farmer later on, used the words, "chickens" in the plural referred generically to all the barnyard fowl of the species whose meat we call "chicken" (as in, "Time to go out and feed the chickens"); however, an individual member of the species was only called a "chicken" when it was immature. Once a hen began laying or a rooster crowing, they were "hen" or "rooster". I think that was the point Dorothy was making with Billina. Most people understand that difference when the shortened form "chick" is used (referring to the barnyard fowl, not young female homo sapiens), but even the full form of the word referred to a young one as my grandfather used it. More on OZMA: This has been remarked before, but not recently - in OZMA Ev and the Nome Kingdom are to the east of Oz, opposite the Munchkin country. All the directions given anywhere in the book are consistent with this interpretation. But in all the later books, they're opposite the Winkie country, whether the author sets the Winkie country on the west or east side of Oz. This is one of the really serious geographic problems, worse than explaining the flipping around of the countries inside Oz. There are a couple of conceivable explanations for that, but the only way I can see that Ev could change which country of Oz it was opposite would be a serious reversion of either Oz or the rest of Nonestica, and one would expect that anything so drastic would have been mentioned somewhere. (Maybe it became a repressed memory...) Another interesting question: why can Billina talk? When she speaks to Nanda, the maid is surprised she can talk, even though Nanda is obviously familiar with Evian chickens (since she puts Billina in their coop). If Evian chickens can't talk, why does being in Ev enable Billina to do so? There's considerable evidence that most animals can't talk throughout most of Nonestica outside Oz, though they can in Mo. Magical creatures like Bilbil and Pigasus are exceptions, of course, and dragons can talk in most legends, as well as in the Oz books wherever they're located. Something to mull over... David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 18:42:37 -0400 (EDT) From: BARRY ESHKOL ADELMAN Subject: Billina in Oz Jodel, how do you know Billina wasn't part of Glinda's plan? It seems rather fortuitous that the rescue party just happened to run into Dorothy, who was still under the effects of Locasta's kiss, and the person (okay, critter) who would save their skin. Perhaps Glinda caused the storm, knowing this would bring Dorothy and Billina into their path. Thus, if a headstrong Ozma and her party failed, one of the greatest heroes in Oz and a smart chicken were there to save them. Come to think of it, does Ozma's rescue party seem any more well-considered than her (Tip's) gag on Mombi? ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 21:47:40 -0400 From: Richard Bauman Subject: Today's Oz Growls Herm and Scott - Thanks for the info. Now I see it wasn't Baum's ghost. Darn! Tyler - You are truly the "Prince of Explicators." :) JOdel The Unsigned - I think you are being much too hard on Ozma. "Gunboat diplomacy?" Surely you are jesting? Ozma is an immortal fairy. She may have enjoyed a brief rest as an ornament. She also has a friend, Glinda, with a magic book. "Hmmm, I wonder where Ozma is? Oops, there she is in the Gnome King's trinket collection." As far as I'm concerned, Glinda can pin the Gnome King with one finger, assuming Ozma can't extricate herself, which isn't clear. Thus..... Ozstensibly, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 19:42:44 -0700 From: Bob Spark Subject: Ozzie Digest 4/30/97 Bear, As Norris the butler said to Philip Marloe (Humphrey Bogart) in _The Big Sleep_, "I'm sorry sir, I make many mistakes". Dave Hardenbrook, If liking Oz better that Star Wars makes a person a "wimpo pervert freak", you're not alone. Bob Spark -- "A dead atheist is someone who is all dressed up with no place to go." James Duffecy ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 21:50:55 -0500 (CDT) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Oz Flags: There are small Oz flags made by a commercial outfit that we've sold at conventions. Not all Oz flags were Jerry Mendel's. Fred knows who makes them: I don't. We need to ask him if more will be available. Good witches: Dave wrote: >>Was "good witch" really a "mind-shattering notion"? Were there no good witches before Baumgea rose from the Nonestic sea? Apparently a "good" witch was still a "mind-shattering notion" as recently as 8-12 years ago when WIZARD was banned from libraries (anyone remember where?...I wanna say Kentucky, but I'm not sure...) because religious leaders were offended at the notion that any witch could be considered good. I'd like to know, too, if Glinda is the first "good" witch in popular literature. --Robin O. ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:34:04 -0500 From: "David G. Hulan" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Bob: "Cattle" is actually a variant of the word also found in English as "chattel", and historically referred to livestock in general, although it's almost exclusively used for the bovine variety these days. Historically, the generic plural for bovines is "kine". "Cow", other than in casual use, applies only to the adult female of the species (the males being known as "bulls" or "calves", depending on age; immature females as "heifers", and castrated males as "steers" if young or "oxen" if mature). Note that "cow" is also used, with a species modifier, for adult females of other species, such as elk, walrus, and seal. Herm: All your copies of PURPLE DRAGON are stamped with Baum's signature? I wonder, in that case, why mine isn't? For genuine signatures I can understand why some copies of a book have them and some don't, but why did someone stamp a signature into some but not into others? Bear: >I keep hearing Ozma's ear-warmers called poppies. They sure look that way >on p.116 and 258, even including the stems. However, every time I see them >I think "Poppies, phooey! They don't even have a scent. Peonies would >look better and smell nicer." But peonies don't have a narcotic effect, and in our BCF at least, _something_ must have been anesthetizing Ozma's brain! :-) (Of course, poppies don't have a narcotic effect just from being around them in our world. But in Oz they seem to...) Tyler: There's a third alternative (well, strictly speaking, since John K. is reading this, a third option, "alternative" technically referring to a choice between two possibilities) with regard to aging - that being that after Lurline had observed the effects of non-aging for a few years after Ozma's accession, she realized that it had some serious problems and she modified it to remove them. Certainly Lulea - who most of us believe is the same as Lurline - had such a change of heart in ZIXI, once she'd seen what mortals did with her spell, so it's plausible enough to me. I find this more likely than either of your options. Joyce: I think OZMA stands up to adult rereading better than many of Baum's books (like ROAD and DOTWIZ, in particular) because it has a well-defined goal. I'll admit that it's a little surprising, when looking at how far one is in the book at various points, to find that Ozma & company don't set off for the Nome King's dominions until just about halfway through the book. Which seconds your insight that this is Dorothy's book, not Ozma's - Ozma doesn't even appear in it until almost the midpoint (though she's mentioned earlier). In fact, Baum was pretty loose about his character-based titles - WIZARD and OZMA are mostly Dorothy's books, DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD more Zeb's than any other individual's, PATCHWORK GIRL Ojo's, TIK-TOK Betsy's, SCARECROW Trot's, RINKITINK Inga's, and TIN WOODMAN Woot's. GLINDA is arguably either Dorothy's or Ozma's, or even Ervic's, but not really Glinda's. But OZMA is still my favorite Oz book up to RINKITINK, and maybe even LOST PRINCESS. John K.: I guess I don't have as much insight into the "Oz-crit set" as you do. All I know about Oz-crit is what I read in the BUGLE and the Digest and the Research Group, and I haven't seen MAGIC compared with the Russian Revolution in any of them (though I'll admit that there could easily have been something between the last "Best of" that I have, which I think is about 1969, and the earliest BUGLES I subscribed to, in 1984). It's easy to see the parallels with the Russian Revolution in, say, Orwell's ANIMAL FARM, or Burroughs' PIRATES OF VENUS et seq., but I don't see much of one with MAGIC OF OZ. Assuming the BoW edition of LAND didn't omit any of the color plates, and I don't think it did, then there's no color plate of Ozma as a blonde. OZMA would be the first Oz book where Ozma was pictured in color, and that may well have been the reason why Neill changed her to a brunette in that book. I'm not sure that Glinda is a more major character in WIZARD than the GWN; it's true that she gives Dorothy the means to return to Kansas (or tells her how to use the means she's had all along), but the GWN's kiss protected Dorothy from the Winged Monkeys and the WWW, and she was the one who told Dorothy to take the silver shoes in the first place. And in terms of time on stage, and number of lines, I suspect the GWN comes out ahead in both cases. Glinda is definitely the more important character over the course of the series, but inWIZARD alone? Arguable, to say the least. Although I agree with Eleanor that based on her costume the GWN more strongly resembles a fairy godmother. (One wonders - did Disney, in his conceptualizing of CINDERELLA and SLEEPING BEAUTY, think of Denslow?) Dave: That's an interesting question, and I don't know the answer. Does anyone know of an example of a good witch (as opposed to a good fairy who may appear as an old crone, or the like) in literature prior to WOZ? David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 00:05:58 -0400 (EDT) From: EMiner0411@aol.com Subject: Wizard of Oz Can you tell me why the Wizard of Oz is called Oz? Our Social Studies teacher said it has to do with the depression. Also can you tell me what were the shoes originally and why Dorothy's shoes were a different color in the book than they were in the movie? [Can someone E-Mail this person privately with the answer? -- Dave] ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 00:43:11 -0400 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 04-28-97 The first thing I noticed when reading "Ozma of Oz" was "Why did Ozma's hair change from strawberry blonde to black?" When the text made no mention at all of Ozma's hair color, I concluded the illustrator goofed or deliberately disobeyed the author. That's why I usually portray Ozma with reddish-gold hair now. Ozma is also haughty. Ozma looked around her proudly. "Do you wish your ruler to plead with this wicked Nome King?" she asked. "Shall Ozma of Oz humble herself to a creature who lives in an underground kingdom?" "No!" they all shouted, with big voices... Thus Princess Ozma of Oz (cringe) comes across as less likable than her alter-ego, Tip. (Though Tip was too given to pulling pig's tails and playing tricks on Mombi to be strictly perfect, either.) Going from simple peasant boy to ruler of all the land of Oz must have gone to her head, at least for a while.As Baum did to the Tin Woodman. Ozma: I was new to ruling at the time, and I thought princesses were *supposed* to act that way. Another Neill/Baum inconsistency: Baum says the Nome King has bushy hair, Neill depicts the Nome King's hair & beard as slicked up & down into points. In a later book, Baum goes along with Neill's depiction of his villain. However, Baum never mentions Ozma's hair color again. Perhaps Baum liked Neill's "suggestion" for the Nome King but not Ozma? The usual human pattern is for head hair to be flowing and the beard to be bushy. Suppose the Nome King's bushy hair and flowing beard were meant to be subtle hints that the Nome King was not human? "Zauberlinda the Wise Witch," an obvious imitation of "Wizard," featured a little girl who is lured to an underground kingdom by a Gnome King. Since "Zauberlinda" predates "Ozma," one wonders if Baum pulled a "turnabout is fair for all," and imitated his imitator. Come to think of it, that would be a good way for Baum to hurt the sales of the rival book. Oh, yes, and can anyone tell me how Languidere got all her heads? Public executions? By other means? It is also interesting that Baum characterizes her most beautiful head as the meanest. When I illustrated Phyllis Karr's "Gardener's Boy of Oz," I got stuck when it came to portraying the Rackpat. So I wrote and asked her, "Is your rackpat a mammal or a reptile? I cannot tell from the text." She made the imaginative suggestion of making the rackpat a furry critter with scales--so that's the way I drew him in the pics. She made other good suggestions for illustrating her stories as well. Chris: You have a hot temper? You don't, by any chance, have Scotch or Irish in you, do you? The Celtic temper is quite notorious. "My blood began to boil, me temper I was losin'....." (Line from "The Rocky Road to Dublin.") There's some Scotch in my family, which might be why two of my boy cousins used to rock and sock each other all over the place at the drop of a hat. Think twice before hurling that shillelagh! :-) :-) Shillelaugh: An Iris cudgel, traditionally of blackthorn or oak. Dave: You've been pretty quiet, lately. It *is* depressing when reality socks us with the fact that our parents (and us) are not presently blessed with perpetual health and an unlimited lifespan. Hope your mother starts doing well enough for you to post regularly again. We miss you! Phyllis Karr had the same complaint about the portrayal of the fairy Blackstick from "Rose and the Ring" that Oz fans have about MGM's portrayal of Glinda. Every stage or movie adaptation portrayed the powerful, impressive Blackstick as a silly, dizzy airhead. Are directors terrified of strong female characters or what? Glinda and Blackstick: Absolutely! To be fair, some have complained bitterly about how Disney turned the powerful, impressive Merlin into a bumbling boob for "Sword in the Stone." Zim: And if I am ever unfortunate enough to become famous, I suppose I am next. Rick Moranis: Hey, Zim! Guess who I get to play in the upcoming Disney version of "Disenchanted Princess?" Zim (thought balloon): I knew it. Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 23:59:41 -0700 From: Ken Cope Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 On Silent Oz on tape: I would heartily recommend the boxed set, (great box art) with some easily remedied reservations. They've recorded two wacky synthesized background melodies that are quite um, cute. Once each. Also, the voice actress reading the caption cards is not ready for prime time. We used to watch Chaplin shorts with Gershwin playing on the CD player instead of whatever royalty-free junk was provided. You'd be amazed, but no matter what played, it looked like the action was choreographed. Actually, that's the principle behind the average music video. No matter what's happening, you'll make the visual and aural accents fit. Just about anything is better. Hey, I just found my old copy of _Dark Side of the Moon_... On Ozma/Leia: Whether intended it or not, I was hooked on that film the second I saw Leia discovered by threepio. Knocked back in my chair, I recognized the Ozma ref immediately. In 1977 I hadn't seen an Oz book since the last one I returned to the library 10 years earlier. The rule of references in film, or other media in general, is that if you are reminded of antecedent material, and it doesn't look like a cheap knock-off, there is at least a possibility that the author wanted an association to be made by their audience. Sometimes it's the author showing off, sometimes it's shorthand for gaining instant sympathy among a certain type of target fan. Certainly Star Wars is a collection of quotes from famous SF; it can easily be argued that Dune, (spice mines) and especially Foundation Trilogy are at least inspirational. (Han Solo was a Korellian.) I can't figure out whether the long skeleton in the desert was from a sandworm, or maybe it was just Terrybubble. ;) Ozma's poppies: This deserves an article, but Denslow went wild with the poppies, and it's my guess that Neill recognized a good thing when he saw it. This is from an era long before prohibition, or the war against drugs, and Opium poppies especially were associated in the mind of the average consumer of patent medicines with Laudanum. Just the thing to take unsettled children to the land of dreams. Also, Little Nemo's Princess of Slumberland, whose illustrator (Winsor McCay, the kick starter of animation as an art-form) Baum would have preferred for his tales, adorned the Princess of Slumberland in a crown and pair of side ornaments that had the same overall shape as the poppies. This was an era where not long before, Louisa May Alcott could publish a tale about a group of young girls who have an eventful, but innocent afternoon eating hashish with a dashing young medical student without the risk of a raised political eyebrow. For more than you might care to know about Laudanum, you might remember Poe was fond of it, as were many of the romantics. If you don't mind an evening of bizarre entertainment, you might sometime rent _Gothic_ by Ken (nothing exceeds like excess) Russel, wherein Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and the author of the first Vampire novel, all scare themselves silly on Laudanum in a foreboding castle, telling each other tales and having the horrors that they would later put to paper in novels like _Frankenstein_. So if anybody has followed the tale of Sandman, the tragedy of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, that 70 plus comic book run contains many references to Oz, not the least of which is found in a trade poster where a pale Dream muses in his garden holding poppies. The Sandman series is available in about 8 or 9 trade paperbacks, and is enjoying a second run. They have started reissuing the series as a monthly (since the tale did end), and are up to maybe issue 10 by now. Highly recommended. Oz transcends mere dreams, of course. We certainly are united in our passion for Oz, and this medium certainly is conducive to the presentation of public personae that we would blush to portray in person. I have a friend who has net.fans of his net.self who probably wouldn't take him so seriously face to face. The strongly phrased flame is usually a better sentence, and we forget that some of us on the digest have a lot of straw in our composition. I tend not to contribute, till I see something that I get passionate about that I just must respond to, and then the strong language demands publication... My friend who is jealous of his net.self says he wished life had a delete key and optional send button. I just think it's harder than it looks to get so many of us now on the same page at the same time. We're all certain that if the others knew what we knew, they'd agree, then we're shocked and dismayed when things we thought everybody knew, weren't known by everybody. (For example) Tyler, how can you live without case sensitive file names? NT is driving me nuts with that! Ken Cope Ones & Zeroes SurReal Estate pinhead@ozcot.com ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 12:39:55 +0200 From: Bill Wright Subject: RE: Ozzy Digest, 04-27-97 Dave H: >Both Vanderbilt and Gates created jobs for a lot of people - but they paid less than their competitors I know a lot of people at MS who get paid very, very well. The pay is not only salary but also stock options, and this has made a very large number of millionaires of ordinary employees, even non-technical ones like office assistants. Wish I had been smart enough to work for Gates a few years back!!. I have had a lot of business dealings with MS and have never encountered any unethical practices. They do have very hardnosed business practices, but this in my view is just good ole American competitiveness, the stuff that has put the USA on top of the world. Gates and MS do get a lot of "evil empire" press, but this always has to be considered in the light of the source..........competitors engaging in mindgames and psychological warfare. Bill in Ozlo ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 07:25:53 -0400 (EDT) From: earlabbe@juno.com (Earl C. Abbe) Subject: Ozzy Digest Submission - The Anti-Aging Spell In the 4/28 Digest, David Hulan says I agree that would be the more rational choice. However, in this reaction phase of response to the anti-aging spell, the people were not making fully conscious decisions in complete possession of the facts. It had only become obvious there really was an anti-aging spell. They didn't yet understand the controlling effect their wis process. Magic practitioners, more attune to such things, might have an idea of the workings or the spell, but not the general Oz public. (Still, with the scarcity of children and the increased appreciation of those few that remained, I think there were plenty of willing secondary care-takers to assume some of the child maintenance burden.) Later, the spell was better understood. The mothers and fathers of these perpetual infants had experienced years of carrying, feeding, burping, diaper changing, etc. Some few births had occurred, which gave assurance that the arrival of new life had slowed, not stopped. Finally it was generally agreed that perhaps it would be good to ease off on the breaks and let the children grow slowly. This is the current phase of reaction to the anti-aging spell, the rational phase. Earl Abbe ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 08:10:38 +0600 From: rri0189@ibm.net Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Bob Spark wrote: >As a parallel (and totally off the point) when >are bovine "cows" and when can they be called "cattle"? Cows are female. "Cattle", by the way, is a recent specialization; the word is related to "chattel", and can apply to any beasts kept for dairy, meat, work, etc, although the particularized sense of "bovine" has been making steady inroads since the 16th century, to the point where nowadays it would be unsafe to use the word otherwise. "Deer", which originally meant any wide animal (c.f. German "Tier") is a parallel case. I suppose it is due to a vague awareness of this that you will sometimes find the word "beef" (pl. "beeves") used instead. (As "Ivanhoe" rightly points out, modern English in general has a unique trick of using Anglo-Saxon words for animals on the hoof and French words for the same animals as meat.) Dave Hardenbrook wrote: >Was "good witch" really a "mind-shattering notion"? Were there no >good witches before Baumgea rose from the Nonestic sea? I guess I'm >more used to witches being good...I guess I consider Oz, Elizabeth >Montgomery in _Bewitched_, and Hermone Gingold in _Winter of the Witch_ >more part of my makeup than _Hansel and Gretel_, etc... The history of the word is complex, but outside of occasional British dialect use, I think it is safe to say that ca. 1900, a "witch" was generally assumed to be female (except -- obviously -- in "he-witch") and wicked (except in the phrase "white witch"), and the assumption of wickedness was much stronger in puritan America. The instances you speak of are both post-Oz, and "Bewitched", in particular, came out only some years after the 1939 movie had become a American TV fixture. On the other hand, "Zauberlinda" demonstrates clearly that the notion of a "good witch" was not utterly repugnant. I can at any rate safely say that as a child in the 50's, more literate than most and raised in a family with no religion to speak of, I found the notion of a "good witch", after the surprise wore off, an intriguing oxymoron, and I think, judging from Dorothy's reaction in the book, that this was more or less what Baum expected. But a prose narrative is not a drama. Narrative does not demand that the writer "find the fingerprints" of the characters, and this is just as well for Baum, because it's something he was, as a writer, pretty much incapable of doing; "The Last Egyptian" is really the only time he ever even made an approach to it. But drama, if it is to go beyond farce, pantomime, or pageant, does require this of the writer, because the dramatist is constrained to deliver something an actor can be. Imagine the words of the dialog between the GWN and Dorothy transcribed verbatim in a play. Now imagine being an actress having to play the role of Dorothy; it can't be done, at least at any level of conviction beyond an elementary-school play. Somehow more meaning has to be put into it, either by a long (and dramatically deadly) digression or by the concentration of meaning in a few words that is characteristic, for example, of late Shakespeare. (Imagine Imogen in Oz! Indeed, it took the utter poetic mastery of Shakespeare's last years to make possible the combination of the fantastic and the earnest that is the final romances.) // John W Kennedy -- Hypatia Software -- "The OS/2 Hobbit" ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 10:24:59 -0700 From: "Stephen J. Teller" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 > > Still, OZMA OF OZ is an enjoyable story, and Billena is a strikingly successful > creation. She is unmistakably a hen in character and outlook, and one of the > few "adult" characters (yes, there were others) which Baum ever sent to Oz > who hadn't anything noticably peculiar about them. > Actually I consider Billina the true heroine of the story. > > Dave Hardenbrook wrote: > >One thing I've always wondered -- Since they're never mentioned at all in > >any FF text, how do we for certain that they *are* poppies, or that she > >*always* wears poppies, and doesn't also don hybiscus or elysium for > >variety? > > Because poppies are Romantic High Art. I don't know why, but they are. > (Of course given the tendencies of the _spaetromantik_ era in general, > one explanation comes to mind....) It's one little Art Nouveau idiom > that made it into post-Denslow Oz, somehow. > Perhaps the popularity of Poppies in the aesthetic movement was their association with rest and sleep (consider the deadly poppy field) and with opiates. Shakespeare's Iago (about 1604 says, "Not poppy nor mandragora . . . Shall ever Medice thee to that sweet sleep which thou owedst yesterday." > > >I agree heartily with Gordon about Billie Burke's "ditzy" portrayal > >of Glinda...She seems to be the most maligned of all Ozians (by both > >MGM and _Wicked_)... > > I don't think "ditzy" is quite the right word (although BB spent most > of her later career doing "ditzy"); the character never says or does > anything that is foolish or a non-sequitur. MGM's Glinda is clearly a > figure of authority, drawn from both of Baum's characters, but then > utterly diluted to an "acceptable" and "fairy-tale" degree of feminine > power. > > // John W Kennedy -- Hypatia Software -- "The OS/2 Hobbit" > I find Billie Burke's portrayal of Glinda as rather patronizing rather than ditzy. The way she smiles at the Munchkins looks more like a mother looking at performing children than anything else. > Re: Easton Press editions (_Wiz_ thru _Emerald City_) > > The pamphlet I had at work didn't give the price. Since I personally didn't > buy them, my price estimate may have been off. I usually don't like to buy > the "instant" collectible (or collectable--Webster's says it can be spelled > either way) stuff, either. But I have to admit, IMHO, these are the best > editions of Oz books 1-6 that have been published to date. The only thing > better they could have done was included a slipcase. > > Scott (still trying to figure out Windows 95) Olsen > Different people have different ideas about what constitutes a best edition. Textually the Easton Press versions are identical to Books of Wonder/Morrow. > Was "good witch" really a "mind-shattering notion"? Were there no > good witches before Baumgea rose from the Nonestic sea? I guess I'm > more used to witches being good...I guess I consider Oz, Elizabeth > Montgomery in _Bewitched_, and Hermone Gingold in _Winter of the Witch_ > more part of my makeup than _Hansel and Gretel_, etc... > > -- Dave > One of the reasons for one school board trying to ban the Wizard of Oz was that it had "good witches" because witches are worshippers of pre-Christian deities. Therefore, to a "true" Christian "Good Witch" is a contradiction of terms. Steve T. ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 13:19:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Saroz@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Regarding the Wiz.....I'm going to go see this magnificent performance next week...I've never seen it before, and I know it's much different from the film (which I own). The only thing I have to go on is the '75 soundtrack and a two-page article in THE WORLD OF OZ. Could someone tell me more about this musical, and how it differs from the film? Thanks Sarah Hadley ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 12:19:58 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@cord.iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Dave, George Lucas admitted to being inspirfed by the Oz books, Flash Gordon, John Ford's _The Searchers_, Eiji Tsuburaya's _Ultraman_, and films by Ishiro Honda and Akira Kurosawa. I'm absolutely certain that Avalow in John Boorman's _Zardoz_ wears her hair like Princess Leia (that film was made in 1973, mind you) was a direct reference to Ozma. After all, it was inspired, in part, by the Oz books. Scott ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 14:13:46 -0400 (EDT) From: ZMaund@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Dave: Did you manage to post my request that anyone with auction material please contact me? If you did and I missed it, many thanks. If you did not, can you do so? Should I re-send the text? A new favor. We have a problem in that I won't be at Munchkins and we do not have anyone volunteering to coordinate the auctions. No coodinator, no auction, as far as I can tell. Therefore I am hoping you can post the following in the Ozzy Digest, and perhaps even run it again in a week if I get no response. Thanks, Dave -- this is a truly Ozian public service!: ============================================================ The following is an appeal to everyone planning to attend this year's Munchkin Convention of the International Wizard of Oz Club: The Munchkin Auction is in need of a coordinator. Without a coordinator, there may not be an auction this year at this convention. The coordinator would have the following duties: 1) Become familiar with the computer program being used to clerk the auction. 2) Accept books and other auction materials in advance. The books will have already been catalogued, auction slips will have been prepared, and the information will have been entered into a database. The books can be sent directly to the hotel, or anywhere else designated. 3) Make sure a computer is available for use. .Loans of equipment can likely be arranged with other Munchkins who are attending. 4) Accept any last-minute donations or consignments; catalog and lot them, and enter information into the database. 5) Make sure the auction materials and computer are brought to the auction room, and the room is set up. 6) Oversee the security of all the auction material at all times 7) Supervise the silent auction. 8) After the conclusion, make sure payment is collected from the buyers, and the money forwarded to Theo Carson, the Club's treasurer.. We have volunteers already to clerk the auction, and other volunteers can be found to do much of the chores outlined above. There will be experienced people available at all times to assist. What we need is someone to coordinate everything, to delegate jobs and make sure they're performed, and in general to take the responsibility to shepherd the process through. Anyone interested should contact Patrick Maund (ZMaund@AOL.com) ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 97 13:20:34 (PDT) From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things BARRY AND _OZMA_: I think you're right -- Glinda planned the whole thing... BANNING OZ: Some people get so uptight -- What do they think, that if kids read about "good witches" they'll all be converted to satanism??? That seems as reasonable as the assertion that if kids have gay teachers then *they'll* turn out gay! Locasta: Besides Dave, don't you remember when Larry King had on his show representatives of the national congregation of Christian witches? COWS: The term "cow" is also applied to the females of other species, e.g. elephants and whales...I've even heard it applied to female dinosaurs! THE EVENTS IN _OZMA OF OZ_: Ozma: I wish people weren't always reminding me of the stupid things I did when I was young... :) Jellia: You're Queen -- I'm afraid it come with the territory, Milady! Dan: We still love you! :) -- 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, MAY 2, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 22:33:45 +0000 From: "Estelle E. Klein" Subject: ozzy cookie cutters Thanks for all the info about the cookie cutter- yes we have the "second series" with holes-- but, not to belabor an issue, who is this munchkin Jerry Mendel? The S.Cox book does not have him as part of the list of male munchkins in the movie? Thanks, estelle ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 18:03:29 -0500 (EST) From: sahutchi@cord.iupui.edu Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-01-97 Melody: Have you noticed that Baum describes Polychrome's eyes as "violet" in _Road_, and "blue" in _Tik-Tok_? I mentioned at least three times in my book that her eyes were violet, since I don't think Baum really thought about that much, since there were, to my knowlede, only two mentions of her eye color. Sarah, I have wanted to see _The Wiz_ on stage very much; however, I have read the script and it is one of the closest dramatizations of the novel. The dialogue is original, but so, of course is MGM's. Some unsual highlights include the lion arrested by field mice for associating with the poppy girls (prostitutes). Dorothy's friends are placed in barrels on the shelf after they are torn apart. The Kalidahs are five people with masks and claws, and the Wizard it obsessed with money. Some of the things Allen Eyles claims the play features are not in the script as published by Samuel French, such as the helicopter, the billboard, and the football player. Scott ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 18:53:40 -0500 From: "David G. Hulan" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-01-97 Barry: You could be right, although in my opinion you're making Glinda vastly more powerful than she seems to be elsewhere in the series. It's hard to imagine, for instance, that if she could cause a storm on the Pacific, so accurately controlled as to pop Dorothy and Billina off a ship without wrecking it, that she wouldn't be able to send Dorothy home at the end of either WIZARD or OZMA on her own, without bothering with silver shoes or magic belt. There's also the case of Billina's unfortunate coop-mates, who appear to have drowned because of the storm; would Glinda do that? On the other hand, it's certainly an amazing coincidence that Dorothy would turn up in Ev less than 24 hours before Ozma's expedition arrived, if there were no guiding intelligence involved. I'd be more inclined to suspect Lurline than Glinda, though. Bear: What Ozma was doing was, except for the fact that it was done on land, essentially the same thing as the classic "gunboat diplomacy" - which was what it was called when the representatives of a country that considered itself to have a higher set of moral standards used its clearly higher military technology to punish the inhabitants of countries who didn't share their moral views. The only problem was that Ozma was pretty ineffective; her "gunboat" turned out to be more of a canoe. Only a couple of amazing coincidences made the operation successful. You may be right, of course, that if Billina hadn't happened to overhear the conversation between Roquat and his steward, Glinda would have rescued Ozma. But if Glinda had that much power, why didn't she just liberate the Queen of Ev and her children without sending Ozma and her ridiculous little "army" to Ev? Robin: I think the attempt to ban WOZ because of the good witch was in either east Tennessee or western Virginia. I know I have a mental picture of its happening in the general area of Bristol, which sits on the state line there. I don't think this qualifies it as a "mind-shattering notion", though; I mean, those same people feel the same way about evolution, and I don't think anyone would say that evolution is a "mind-shattering notion" today, even though some people bitterly denounce it. >I'd like to know, too, if Glinda is the first "good" witch in popular >literature. I can give you an unqualified "no" on that one. The Good Witch of the North comes the better part of a whole book earlier than Glinda. :-) Melody: Since I didn't read the Oz books in sequence my first time through, I was more surprised when I finally read LAND (which was one of the last few I read in my initial "read all I can get hold of" phase back in 1942-45) and saw she was a blonde in it. OZMA was another one that I read relatively late in that phase, as far as that goes. (If anyone's interested, the ones I didn't read in that phase, besides the ones that hadn't been written yet, were CAPTAIN SALT, HANDY MANDY, WONDER CITY, and SCALAWAGONS.) >It is also interesting that Baum characterizes her [Langwidere's] most beautiful >head as the meanest. I don't think this is strictly true. That is, he neither says that her No. 17 head is her most beautiful one (just that it's particularly beautiful) or that it's her meanest (just that it has a bad disposition that causes her to do things while wearing it that she regretted with wearing her other heads). It seems unlikely that Langwidere got her heads from public executions. Beautiful women are rarely executed. I would guess that she got them from a fairy godmother or something of the sort. After all, when she wanted Dorothy's head she was going to swap one of her other heads for it. >Chris: >You have a hot temper? You don't, by any chance, have Scotch or >Irish in you, do you? Nah, I don't think Chris drinks. Now, I frequently have Irish in me, though bourbon is my more typical tipple, but my wife likes Scotch... (I'm playing on the fact that the Scots make a fairly big deal out of the view that "Scotch" is an adjective properly applied only to whisky; the adjective for a person from Scotland is "Scots", though "Scottish" is acceptable.) Ken C.: There's a classic 19th century book, though from the opposite end from Baum, called CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER. De Quincey, or something like that. I've never read it, but have seen quite a lot of references to it. And I can remember my high school Latin teacher reminiscing about being sent down to the drugstore by her next-door neighbor, when she was a little girl, to pick up an ounce of opium. (I also remember a friend of mine telling me about having tried smoking opium when he was in China while in the Navy shortly after WW II. He said it gave him technicolor daydreams, which were sort of neat, but it wasn't worth the hassle of getting hold of it.) Bill: A lot of people at Microsoft have done very well, though most of them are people who got on board early. My opinion of the company is influenced by my wife, who's worked in the computer industry for 21 years now and has known a lot of people who have worked at MS at one time or another. It does not have a good reputation in the industry as a place to work. (And the companies where she's worked haven't really been in competition with MS.) Earl: You got your theory and I got mine. (About aging in Oz.) Neither of us can prove ours conclusively. Dave: >Some people get so uptight -- What do they think, that if kids read about >"good witches" they'll all be converted to satanism??? That seems as >reasonable as the assertion that if kids have gay teachers then *they'll* >turn out gay! The problem with the people who want to ban WIZARD (and a lot of other good books for children) is that they want to stop children from thinking for themselves, for fear that they'll stray from the path that their parents know is Truth. This is not me demonizing them; they say that in so many words themselves. However, as far as I'm concerned this _is_ the equivalent of demonizing them - and the fact that those people have a lock on the Republican party in a lot of areas is the biggest reason why I reject the Republicans, even though in general I disagree with about as many Democratic stands as I do Republican. I just feel much more strongly about some issues than others, and this is one that's almost a "litmus test". As long as the Republicans cultivate the Know-Nothings, I'll stay clear of them. David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 19:49:28 -0400 From: Richard Bauman Subject: Today's Oz Growls Oh no David! You are not going to start the idea that Ozma is hooked on her poppies? I know that recreational drugs were not illegal in Baum's time but surely not. :) Melody - I am amazed you characterize Ozma as "haughty." She is an immortal fairy and the ruler of Oz. I thought her behavior was perfectly consistant with her position. Oz isn't some commune where everyone is "equal." Monarchically, Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 19:55:55 -0400 (EDT) From: "Aaron S. Adelman" Subject: Wierd Magical Properties in Oz 1) Barry et al., perhaps Glinda had nothing to do with Dorothy ending up in Ev. An anomalously large number of unusual events, many of them magical, seem to happen in Dorothy's presence. This can be explained in one of two ways: 1) She is a favorite character of Oz writers. 2) She has a property which makes her a virtual magnet for magical and improbable events. Undoubtedly the second is the correct explination. (: Other characters which may have such a property are Trot, Cap'n Bill, the Wizard, Peter, and Speedy, all of which travelled to enchanted countries at least twice spontaneously; once is extremely rare, but what are the chances for a repeat? More study of this problem would be indicated. 2) On Baumian books not being named for their main characters: Oh dear. _Woozy_'s main character IS the Woozy! I'll have to rename it after a less important character. How about _A Moose over Oz_? moose: Well, whadaya know! I appear only in one scene, but they name the entire book after me! litle girl holding a teddy kalidah: Why _A Moose _over_ Oz_? 3) Ladies and Gentlemen, I present for your entertainment Review Theater! moose: Run for your lives! It's not that bad. Victim #1: _The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa_ by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Exceeds my expectations for how different it would be from Baum's _The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus_. Not only violates Baum's conception of Santa (and the general American conception as well), but it also violates without possible rationalization all conceptions of cosmology since Ptolemy. Neptune (a character from Greek mythology) shows up, calling into question Thompson's theology--Christianity and ancient Greek religion aren't compatible, except according to neo-Platonists. Truly wierd is that Penny the Penguin, one of Santa's helpers, collects three small alligators on the expedition to be used as Christmas presents. While reptiles are cool, alligators, if I remember correctly, aren't quite designed to be good pets. God only knows what that penguin was thinking. Santa has much to explain. Victim #2: _Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch_ by Eva Katharine Gibson. This book actually struck me as not particularly Ozzy. Much of the book is dedicated to portraying the situation the protagonist, Annie McGrew, is in, and when she finally goes on her journey, she's fairly passive. (Dorothy could beat her up, no contest. Come to think of it, Roquat-Ruggedo could--and would--beat up the Gibsonian Gnome King even without the Magic Belt.) No thrills. Nothing to write home about. Victim #3: _Der Wizard in Ozzenland_ by Dave Morrah. I am not amused. I don't think Germans would be amused by the mock-German. Didn't even get to the second story in the book, I was so underimpressed with the title story, which is the shallowest and least complete rendition of _Wizard_ on record. Victim #4: "The Exiles" in _The Illustrated Man_ by Ray Bradbury. Bizarre. Can't explain. This is so wierd that you have to read it yourself. Victime #5: _The Other Side of Time_ by Keith Laumer. This is not an Oz book, but it was mentioned in _The Annotated Wizard of Oz_ along with "Exiles" as being Oz-related. Read this book. This guy writes even better than his brother March. Even harder to describe without sounding flaky. Aaron Solomon (ben Saul Joseph) Adelman adelman@ymail.yu.edu North Antozian Systems and The Martian Empire ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 19:40:44 -0700 From: Bob Spark Subject: Ozzie Digest-ruminations Bear, Immediately upon receiving that information about the videotapes, I called Critic's Choice and placed my order. Thanks,I appreciate that. You saved me a not inconsiderable amount of money given their total cost. I am in your debt. Everyone (or at least one knowledgeable person), I have noted the convention that most of you seem to use, denoting book titles by underscores i.e. _Ozma Of Oz_. At times the titles seem to stand alone, no prior or subsequent punctuation. I have attempted to use the underscoring punctuation, but have no idea If I am doing so correctly. I am sure that there are rules, but don't know where to find them. Could you let me know, please? Also, do the same rules apply to monograph and movie titles? Thanks, Bob Spark -- "A dead atheist is someone who is all dressed up with no place to go." James Duffecy ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 23:01:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Kiex@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Re Billina and role as eavesdropper/"narrator": Many authors create characters such as that to expedite the telling of the story. Denslow and fairy godmother--interesting idea... David: You say,(One wonders - did Disney, in his conceptualizing of CINDERELLA and SLEEPING BEAUTY, think of Denslow?) I think it more likely Disney thought of Glinda (Sorry, but I'm baaack!) Melody: I don't think Ozma displays haughtiness in her comments, <"Do you wish your ruler to plead with this wicked Nome King?" she asked. "Shall Ozma of Oz humble herself to a creature who lives in an underground kingdom?"> This is said for effect and to keep her followers following her, so to speak. Dramatic effect, not haughtiness! Until next time, Kiex (alias Jeremy Steadman) ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 00:19:01 -0400 From: Tyler Jones Subject: Oz Robin: The episode rings a bell. ISTR that the people in favor of the banning said that witchcraft is always associated with Satanism, and thus _The Wizard of Oz_, by having a "Good Witch" (two in fact), was promoting devil worship. While I consider myself to be a member of the religious right, this kind of attitude is ludicrous. I cannot believe that anybody who has sat down and actually read the book could seriously beleive that it promotes such things. Bear: Thanks for the compliment. What precisely was I explicating? David: I'm not sure where our options differ. In mine, I said that one possibility is that Lurline altered the spell after Ozma ascended the throne, and in your theory, Lurline also does the same thing. Am I missing something? Lulea's action in _Zixi_ does provide precedent, although simply removing the cloak from circulation is more trivial than altering a spell over an entire nation. I will concede that the alteration is a possibility, but so far I remain uncomitted either way. Just to mention it, I am one of those who views Lulea, Lurline and Zurline as three separate entities. I would love to discuss the nature of the roles of Glinda vs GWN in _Wizard_ and Dorothy and the Wizard vs Zeb, but that is part of a project so top secret, it's not even listed on my web page! Melody: AHA! You have finally given me the opportunity to show off this little bit of knowledge: Scotch is the stuff you drink, your family is Scottish. :-) Ken: I pity thee. :-) I cut my teeth on the Apple ][+, which had no lower case. Therefore, I came of age without knowledge of or need for case-sensitive names. I sometimes use underscores to separate words, though. I believe that NT 4.0 allows case-sensitive names, though. "Remember WHEN..." My cousin used to complain that her mother would bring things up that happened long ago over and over and... It looks like Ozma is having the same luck. As Dave, says, though, we all still love her :-) --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:35:47 -0400 (EDT) From: HermBieber@aol.com Subject: For Ozzy Digest Dave Hulan: I wasn't aware until this week that all Purple Dragons weren't cut from the same cloth! Maybe there were several printings and only the first state had the Baum facimile. Does anyone else know about this? Robin? On Cooperation Bewteen Author and Illustrator: It is fairly certain that Neill did not communicate in person with Baum frequently. Most of the time he was working on the Baum books he was living on his estate, Endolane, in Flanders, NJ, while Baum was in Chjicago or California. On the other hand, Thompson, living in Philadelphia only 50 miles south of Flanders, was probably much more accessible. Cheers, Herm ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 09:59:48 -0400 (EDT) From: CrNoble@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-01-97 David: You're right about Baum not liking Neill's work. His feelings surfaced in a letter to Reilly & Britton complaining about Neill's _The Oz Toy Book_, which was published in 1915 without Baum's permission. He wrote, "I see my characters and incidents so differently from the artist that I fail to appreciate his talent." Baum apparently felt that Neill's pictures weren't humorous enough. For a while he wanted to find another artist who was stylistically more of a cartoonist. This, of course, is hard to accept by those of us who know and love Neill's work and can't imagine Oz without it. More on this can be found in the introduction to IWOC's reprint of _The Oz Toy Book_ and on pages 41-47 of David L. Greene and Dick Martin's _The Oz Scrapbook_. -- Craig Noble ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 09:03:38 -0500 From: Gordon Birrell Subject: Ozzy Digest Many thanks to all of you who responded to my chicken question! On Glinda's "ditziness": when I wrote "ditzy Billie Burke," of course I was also influenced by memories of her as Mrs. Cosmo Topper. As Glinda she doesn't appear flighty or scatter-brained, but I still think her *voice* is ditzy--that high-pitched tight vibrato and her tinkling little laugh. (It's positively refreshing, as an antidote to the BB performance, to listen to Harburg and Arlen singing the Munchkinland sequence in their tough urban acccents on the Rhino CD.) Joyce: I agree with Bear that Ozma's interventionism isn't really "gunboat diplomacy":--I think of her group more as a human-rights delegation, though it's true that she brings along an army to back her up, and the abused human rights in question happen to be those of fellow royalty. I find it interesting that there is in fact so much discussion in the book of the legal ramifications of Ozma's intervention, and it is primarily Tik-Tok, the mechanical man, who argues along strictly legalistic lines with regard to the contractual arrangements between Evoldo and the Nome King. (Could Baum have been making a comment on lawyers?) I have always assumed, incidentally, that Evoldo had already reached his decision to commit suicide by the time he locked Tik-Tok up--otherwise why would he do such a thing to his useful and loyal servant?--and informed the mechanical man of his intention to throw both himself and the key into the sea. Since there has been quite a bit of talk about BoW's discreet correction of typographical errors, I'd like to report that as far as I can see, every one of the typos from the first state are intact in the BoW edition ("Noma King" on p. 112; "you re" on p. 208; "now useful" (for "how useful") on p. 118; "it's next visitor" on p. 213; and a couple of others). In other words, this really does appear to be a true facsimile edition except for the understandable omission of the ad page. --Gordon Birrell ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 09:10:59 -0500 From: jswilliams@UH.EDU (Jim Williams) Subject: The Wonderful Land of Oz-UH Children's Festival The Children's Theatre festival presents new productions each summer. We are in our 20th year. Last year Dr. Sidney Berger (director of the University of Houston School of Theatre) and Nationally know musician and composer Rob Landes wrote The Wonder Land of Oz. This one hour musical was a compelation of some of the Oz stories and characters. Dorothy returns for a visit to Oz just in time for Ozma's birthday. The gnome king sends his hunchmen to the Emerald City and steal the Ruby Slippers. Through a number of adventures, Dorothy and her friends get back the slippers and save the day. No video was made of the production, but interested parties can contact the Univesity of Houston School of Theatre secretary at sjudice@uh.edu to reach Dr. Berger. JSWilliams@uh.edu ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 10:24:20 -0600 (CST) From: Ruth Berman Subject: ozzy digest Joyce Odell: I like the idea of "true-blue Lulu" as a revision! Very Baumish, even though he didn't think of it. Dave Hardenbrook: I don't think there were any good witches before Baum. There were benevolent old female magic-workers, but their stories referred to them as fairy godmothers or wise women, or sometimes even sorceresses and enchantresses (like Melissa in Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso," in English translation, and I suppose the original Italian words were something close). MacDonald avoided specifying what kind of being Grandmother Irene is in "The Princess and the Goblin," and the miners in "The Princess and Curdie" who call her a witch and assume she is wicked are rebuked as ignorant fools. David Hulan: I think the belief that the animals' revolt in "Magic" is based on the Russian Revolution goes back to Warren Hollister's "Bugle" article on "Baum's Other Villains" in the 70's. He discusses it only briefly, quoting Ruggedo's speech urging the animals to take over the houses and cities and drive the humans out to live in the forest as rhetoric that reminds him of the Russian Revolution. I assume the resemblance he meant was in an analogy between animals urged to take over humans' place and proletariat urged to drive out aristocrats. The resemblance to the Russian Revolution isn't as close as it might be, because it doesn't have the ideals about sharing things equally, regardless of class. It's rather more like the hatred of the aristos in the French Revolution. Still, it does seem plausible that Baum at least had the current revolution in mind in coming up with a revolution, although it probably overstates the case to refer to it by implication as the only model or the main one. Melody Grandy: I don't think having a Gnome/Nome King in both "Ozma" and "Zauberlinda" would undercut the sales of the earlier book, but it seems plausible that "Zauberlinda" help alerted Baum to the idea that gnomes could be fun to write about. (As I discussed in my Dunkiton pamphlet on gnomes, though, Baum would almost certainly have also been familiar with the gnomes who were popular figures in operetta throughout the 19th century.) How Languidere got heads -- perhaps she made artificial heads (like the ones the Magical Monarch of Mo tried when the Purple Dragon swallowed his) and paid women to swap? If the heads weren't any better than the Mo ones, the deals weren't very fair, though. (If the artificial heads were a lot better than the Mo heads, Languidere herself might have been using artificial ones. But her intention of swapping with Dorothy implies that she'd done similar deals before.) Ruth Berman ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 12:20:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Gili Bar-Hillel Subject: digest Hi Dave, hard to believe the day has come, but I would like to ask you to unsubscribe me from the digest, temporarily. I simply have no time to read it, and the unread digests are piling up in my inbox and making me feel guilty and unhappy. My love to all, especially you for all your work and the trouble you take with the digest. I promise I will be back one of these days. Gili ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Gili Bar-Hillel abhillel@fas.harvard.edu gili@scso.com http://www.scso.com/~gili ====================================================================== "He thought he saw a Rattlesnake |\ _,,,---,,_ That questioned him in Greek: /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ He looked again, and found it was |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' The Middle of Next Week. '---''(_/--' `-'\_) 'The one thing I regret,' he said, (cat by Felix Lee) 'Is that it cannot speak!'" - Lewis Carroll, "Sylvie and Bruno" ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 17:21:01 +0000 From: oclc-fs@oclc.org (First Search Mail) Subject: FirstSearch text delivery ------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO NOT REPLY OR SEND MESSAGES TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. ------------------------------------------------------------ ACCESSION: 35137900 AUTHOR: Phillips, Matthew. TITLE: The witches of Oz / PLACE: Chieveley : PUBLISHER: Capall Bann, YEAR: 1994 1991 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: ii, 149 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. NOTES: Originally published: Australia : 1991. Bibliography: p. 142-146. ISBN: 1898307180 (pbk) : SUBJECT: Witchcraft. Ritual. Magic. Goddess religion. Paganism OTHER: Phillips, Julia, 1953- ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for using FirstSearch. This e-mail account is only for distribution of FirstSearch documents. Please contact your librarian with comments or concerns. ------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 17:23:36 +0000 From: oclc-fs@oclc.org (First Search Mail) Subject: FirstSearch text delivery ------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO NOT REPLY OR SEND MESSAGES TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. ------------------------------------------------------------ ACCESSION: 34501771 AUTHOR: Hockney, David. TITLE: [Oz poster]: for the Oz obscenity fund ... PLACE: [London, PUBLISHER: n. pub.] YEAR: 1971 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: [1] f. illus. 58 x 90 cm. ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for using FirstSearch. This e-mail account is only for distribution of FirstSearch documents. Please contact your librarian with comments or concerns. ------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 17:31:29 +0000 From: oclc-fs@oclc.org (First Search Mail) Subject: FirstSearch text delivery ------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO NOT REPLY OR SEND MESSAGES TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. ------------------------------------------------------------ ACCESSION: 30623639 AUTHOR: Wilson, Wayne, 1932- TITLE: Sexuality in the Land of Oz : searching for safer sex at the movies / PLACE: Lanham, Md. : PUBLISHER: University Press of America, YEAR: 1994 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: ix, 419 p. ; 22 cm. NOTES: Includes bibliographical references (p. [377]-393) and indexes. ISBN: 0819196223 (cloth : alk. paper) 0819196231 (pbk. : alk. paper) SUBJECT: Sex in motion pictures. Cinema -- Films (Motion pictures) -- Special subjects -- Sexuality ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for using FirstSearch. This e-mail account is only for distribution of FirstSearch documents. Please contact your librarian with comments or concerns. ------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 17:43:34 +0000 From: oclc-fs@oclc.org (First Search Mail) Subject: FirstSearch text delivery ------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO NOT REPLY OR SEND MESSAGES TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. ------------------------------------------------------------ ACCESSION: 25769636 AUTHOR: Wilder, Alec. TITLE: Land of Oz PLACE: Banner Elk, N.C. : PUBLISHER: Land of Oz, YEAR: ? 1900 1992 PUB TYPE: Recording FORMAT: 1 sound disc : analog, 33 1/3 rpm ; 12 in. NOTES: Live cast recording of the musical performed at the Land of Oz amusement park, Beech Mountain, Banner Elk, N.C. Notes on container. Lorri Ham, Joey Powell, Roger Brantley, Jim Cremins, and others. Fanfare -- Did you come to see the Wizard? -- I'd like to have a brain -- I lost my heart -- I'm a scairdy cat -- Open your eyes -- Over the rainbow / Arlen -- The wonderful Land of Oz -- Scarecrow vignette -- Tin woodsman vignette -- Cowardly lion vignette -- Wail of the witch -- How do I brew this stew? -- Did you come to see the Wizard? MUSIC NO: PRP22201--PRP22202; Land of Oz SUBJECT: Musicals. OTHER: McGlohon, Loonis. Land of Oz (Banner Elk, N.C.) ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for using FirstSearch. This e-mail account is only for distribution of FirstSearch documents. Please contact your librarian with comments or concerns. ------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 17:32:38 +0000 From: oclc-fs@oclc.org (First Search Mail) Subject: FirstSearch text delivery ------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DO NOT REPLY OR SEND MESSAGES TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. ------------------------------------------------------------ ACCESSION: 30389041 AUTHOR: Mieras, Emily, 1968- TITLE: Oz in the valley of ashes : Visions of tomorrow at the New York World's Fairs of 1939 and 1964 / YEAR: 1993 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: ix, 141 leaves : ill., maps ; 29 cm. NOTES: Typescript (photocopy) Vita. Thesis (M.A.)--College of William and Mary. Bibliography: leaves 134-140. ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for using FirstSearch. This e-mail account is only for distribution of FirstSearch documents. Please contact your librarian with comments or concerns. ------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 97 12:52:51 (PDT) From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things OZMA'S FIRST 100 DAYS: Bear wrote: >Oh no David! You are not going to start the idea that Ozma is hooked on >her poppies? FWIW IMHO, one of the most un-Ozzy things in any Oz book is in _Healing Power of Oz_, when one of the visiting Outside-World criminals attempts to purloin Ozma's poppies in order to manufacture narcotics...But then, I'm on record believing that it's OK to have "Un-Ozzy" behavior from an Oz *villian*... FWIW, Ozma *was* just starting out her rule in _Ozma_ and I think she acted as she best knew how under the circumstances...The only time I really fault her is in _Glinda_, because she knew better then! Ozma: Sigh...Even *I* make mistakes... Jellia: Actually, "Do you wish your ruler to humble herself to a creature who lives in an underground kingdom?" was only her for-the-record remark...Her off-the- record remark was, "Do you wish your ruler to bring herself down to the sub-human level of this vile, ruthless, smelly twerp of such sickening anti-social smeggy-ness that he lives underground away from decent, peaceloving souls?" But she *does* believe in diplomacy, after all. Ozma: Thank you, Jellia. :) :) -- 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, MAY 3, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 16:06:39 -0400 (EDT) From: ZMaund@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-30-97 Please post the following: If anyone has books or other materials which they intend to donate to the auctions at the International Wizard of Oz Club's Ozmapolitan, Winkie, or Munchkin Conventions this summer, I would be very grateful if you can contact me. Thanks! Patrick M. Maund ZMaund@AOL.com ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 16:46:19 -0500 (EST) From: better living through chemistry Subject: RE: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 Estelle: Jerry Mendel is an EAST COAST Oz Club member. Therefore, he is a MUNCHKIN. And on top of that, a very nice man with wonderful craftsmanship. Cheers, Scott ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 16:22:54 -0700 From: "Stephen J. Teller" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 > Everyone (or at least one knowledgeable person), > I have noted the convention that most of you seem to use, denoting > book titles by underscores i.e. _Ozma Of Oz_. At times the titles seem > to stand alone, no prior or subsequent punctuation. I have attempted to > use the underscoring punctuation, but have no idea If I am doing so > correctly. I am sure that there are rules, but don't know where to find > them. Could you let me know, please? Also, do the same rules apply to > monograph and movie titles? > > Thanks, > Bob Spark I do not call myself the most knowledgable, but this matter was discussed some months ago and no concensus was reached. I concluded that all caps was the way to go, and I have used it ever since. Others do differently. > Melody: > AHA! You have finally given me the opportunity to show off this little bit of > knowledge: Scotch is the stuff you drink, your family is Scottish. :-) > > > --Tyler Jones > Tyler, how do YOU know what MELODY drinks??? > AUTHOR: Phillips, Matthew. > TITLE: The witches of Oz / > PLACE: Chieveley : > PUBLISHER: Capall Bann, > YEAR: 1994 1991 I wonder if this has *anything* to do with our Oz. "Oz" is a common name for Australia in Australia. > AUTHOR: Hockney, David. > TITLE: [Oz poster]: > for the Oz obscenity fund ... > PLACE: [London, > PUBLISHER: n. pub.] > YEAR: 1971 > PUB TYPE: Book > FORMAT: [1] f. illus. 58 x 90 cm. This certainly does NOT have anything to do with our Oz. I sure would like that Banner Elk recording. It would bring a fortune at an Oz Convention auction. Steve T. > ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 17:22:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 Here's the catalog record from my library for the book David Hulan cites in today's Ozzy Digest. Despite his addiction to opium, in the form of laudanum I believe, De Quincey lived to a rather respectable age for his era, dying three years after the birth of L. Frank Baum. Peter Hanff 22. De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859. Confessions of an English opium-eater. London : Taylor and Hessey, 1822. vi, 206 p. ; 18 cm 22. Call #: PR4534 .C65 1822 Bancroft Author: De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859. Notes: 1st ed. Subjects: De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859. Also listed under: Moyes, J. (1822) [book producer]. Birdsall (W.) & Son. [binder]. Non-circulating; may be used only in The Bancroft Library. Circ. note: Copy 2: Permission of librarian required. Library has: 2 copies Note: Copy 1: bound in full polished calf. Note: Copy 2: autographed by Richard Garnett on t.p., and on flyleaf with the note "From this copy the edition in the Parchment Series (1885) was printed"; marginal manuscript notes by Garnett; his bookplate mounted on Non-circulating; may be used only in The Bancroft Library. Note: (cont'd) flyleaf. Note: Copy 2: bound in olive levant morocco, gold-tooled and lined with green silk, by Birdsall, Northampton. ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 22:00:11 -0500 (CDT) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 Jerry Mendel is not a "little person." He is a regular attendee at the Munchkin Conventions of IWOC, thus a "Munchkin." David: I fell into the same trap as Dave, or whoever 'twas who started the query. Of course the GWN was before Glinda. Did Baum create the first juvenile "good witch"? Bob: I'm not sure there's a formal standard for title punctuation in e-mail. It seems that the underline format may be more acceptable to more people than the all caps version, but no one really seems to care much as yet. Aaron: One of our old threads in the DIGEST concerned the inordinate number of things that just seem to happen around some of the major Oz characters. Many of us, IIRC, believe in what Robert Jordan calls the Ta'averen concept. In other words, as you guessed, these characters have properties that cause crossroads in the sequences of important events. Purple Dragon: I, too, was unaware of variants. Ruth: Thanks for your discussion of early good female magic workers. Your memory tallies with mine. For the life of me, I can't think of a pre-Baum good *witch*. Or good *witch.* (I'm beginning to wish there *were* some truly standardized e-mail grammar rules. Robin O. ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 23:08:45 -0400 (EDT) From: CrNoble@aol.com Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 Ruth Berman: I just finished reading _The Oz Scrapbook_ and noticed it makes the link that you and David Hulan have been talking about between _The Magic of Oz_ and the Russian Revolution. Could this have come from the Hollister article you mentioned? Which came first the article or the _Scrapbook_? -- Craig Noble David Hulan: I think the belief that the animals' revolt in "Magic" is based on the Russian Revolution goes back to Warren Hollister's "Bugle" article on "Baum's Other Villains" in the 70's. ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 23:53:54 -0400 (EDT) From: HermBieber@aol.com Subject: For Ozzy Digest Estelle: Jerry Mendel is not a 1939 MGM Munchkin. I call him a Munchkin because he lives in the East and attends Munchkin IWOC Conventions. This is IWOC custom! Herm Bieber ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 01:39:07 -0500 From: International Wizard of Oz Club Subject: RE: wanted 'Dave Hardenbrook' Ozzy Digest subscribers and club officers - FYI -----Original Message----- From: Marilyn Hill Allen [SMTP:allendesign@worldnet.att.net] Sent: Saturday, January 23, 1904 3:10 AM Subject: wanted My sones school is having their annual auction. The theme this year is "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" This is a school for dyslexic children. The only one in this area. If anyone would like to donate items related to this theme, they would be greatly appreciated. Contact me at. allendesign@worldnet.att.net ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 11:26:17 -0500 From: "David G. Hulan" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 Scott H.: >Melody: Have you noticed that Baum describes Polychrome's eyes as >"violet" in _Road_, and "blue" in _Tik-Tok_? Well, the old poem says "Violets are blue," after all. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Polychrome's eyes changed color with her moods, at least over the violet-blue-gray-green range. Bear: I didn't say Ozma was _hooked_ on her poppies; just that her actions in OZMA aren't inconsistent with her being under the influence of something that diminished her mental capacity. :-) Aaron: You could add Button-Bright to your list of those who traveled to enchanted countries more than once - though I suppose that technically his trips to Sky Island and Mo weren't "spontaneous", since he used the magic umbrella. OTOH, by that argument Trot and Cap'n Bill probably don't qualify either; their only "spontaneous" trip was in SCARECROW, since both their earlier adventures were entered into with premeditation. Many of the later Oz books were titled for their main character, and it could be argued that Scraps is the main character of PG and Dorothy and the Wizard are the main characters of DOTWIZ, though they're certainly not noticeably more important than Ojo and Zeb respectively. Grampa, Ojo, the Purple Prince, Speedy, Handy Mandy, and Lucky Bucky all were clearly the major characters of their books, and Kabumpo and the Shaggy Man were arguably the major characters of theirs. THE CURIOUS CRUISE OF CAPTAIN SANTA wasn't intended to relate to the Oz universe, and doesn't. It's not very good Thompson, I agree. Tyler: I don't think "Lurline did a thorough psychological study of the effects of non-aging over a period of centuries, then made a major alteration to the spell of enchantment after it finally all came together?" is equivalent to "after Lurline had observed the effects of non-aging for a few years after Ozma's accession, she realized that it had some serious problems and she modified it to remove them." Granted, both options involve Lurline altering the spell, but there's a considerable difference between doing a thorough psychological study over a period of centuries, and observing what happened for a decade or so. The first, I concede, is improbable, but the second seems quite likely. Whether Lulea and Lurline are the same or not, they're both fairy queens, and would presumably have similar powers and psychologies. If Lulea was capable of deciding she'd made a mistake with a spell, and altering some of its results, then surely Lurline could do the same thing. (And Lulea didn't just remove the cloak from circulation - that was effectively done by the sailor who lost a piece of it. She also reversed most of the wishes that it had granted.) I agree, by the way, that Zurline is distinct from Lulea and Lurline; I'm neutral on whether the latter two are distinct from each other, since we never actually see Lurline on-stage in the FF. Herm: The colophon in my copy of PURPLE DRAGON says it's part of the first printing, but I have no independent verification of that. Gordon: Most if not all of the typos in DOTWIZ are uncorrected in the BoW edition as well. Ruth: Since there isn't yet a BEST for the BUGLES of the '70s, and I wasn't a member then, I've never seen Hollister's article you refer to. Still, I don't think there's much resemblance between the war of animals against humans that Ruggedo was trying to inspire and the Russian Revolution. It's not as if the humans of Oz were actually oppressing the animals of the forest; the war, had it happened, would have been in the nature of a pre-emptive strike by the animals against something that was not, in fact, going to happen. (It would probably be most closely comparable to something like the Oklahoma City bombing, though obviously Baum couldn't have had that in mind.) Gili: Ave atque vale. Hope to see you again when you're less busy. Whoever inserted those First Search items (Scott H.?): I was interested to note that it seems Alec Wilder wrote songs for a second musical version of WIZARD, many of which apparently paralleled the Arlen/Harburg songs. I found this particularly intriguing because in his excellent book, AMERICAN POPULAR SONG, Wilder says at one point that while he greatly admires Gershwin, Kern, Youmans, and Rodgers, he considers Arlen the greatest composer that American popular song has ever had. (He also considers "Over the Rainbow", while a first-rate ballad, the Arlen song that least reflects his style.) David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 12:18:00 -0500 From: Gordon Birrell Subject: Ozzy Digest Bear: >Ozma is an immortal fairy. >She may have enjoyed a brief rest as an ornament. She also has a friend, >Glinda, with a magic book. "Hmmm, I wonder where Ozma is? Oops, there she >is in the Gnome King's trinket collection." As far as I'm concerned, >Glinda can pin the Gnome King with one finger, assuming Ozma can't >extricate herself, which isn't clear. This is the old deus-ex-machina problem again, i.e., "If you've got a problem, why not go straight to Glinda?" The way I see it, though, is that it's anything but clear that Glinda *could* have reversed the ornament spell. She has considerable expertise in certain kinds of magic but is thoroughly stumped, for instance, by Coo-ee-oh's spell in _Glinda_, and her evident interest in holding on to the Magic Belt at the end of _Ozma_ indicates that the belt exercises magic powers that she doesn't already possess. On the other hand, Glinda might be able to "pin" Roquat and force him to undo the spell himself, but is there any evidence that her powers extend to the areas beyond the borders of Oz? (And isn't that one of the most extraordinary features of the Magic Belt--that its magic range extends even into the "real" world?) Joyce: "True-blue Lulu" is a wonderful idea--RPT, with her penchant for zany internal rhymes, would have loved it too. Peter Glassman: is there any possibility of incorporating Joyce's suggestion into the next printing of _Patchwork Girl_? On collectable/collectible: An antique dealer once informed me that "collectable" is an adjective and "collectible" is a noun. Speaking of collectibles, it strikes me that there are some intriguing parallels between Roquat's underground rooms filled with ornaments and Langwidere's inner chamber filled with heads in mirrored cupboards. In some ways Langwidere is turning herself into a living ornament by switching out one decorative head for another. What fascinates me here is that the idea of a purely "ornamental" existence was very much in the air at the turn of the century. The dedication of one's life to the pursuit of beauty, the rejection of "useful" activities, the attempt to make one's existence into a work of art: these ideas were familiar to a whole generation of poets and aesthetes, from Rimbaud to Rilke and beyond. Hofmannsthal, in the poem that he wrote as an introduction to Schnitzler's _Anatol_, describes his contemporaries as existing in a kind of enchanted garden behind heavy rusty gates, perfumed voluptuaries reclining decorously and langorously, as immobile and as artificial as the antique sculptures and topiary hedges that adorn the garden. I also think of Yeats, in "Sailing to Byzantium" (1927), wishing himself "out of nature" and into a form of pure artifice "of hammered gold and gold enameling . . .set upon a golden bough to sing / To lords and ladies of Byzantium / Of what is past, or passing, or to come." Dorothy's reaction to the Nome King's subterranean palace could describe as well the feelings of Americans encountering the hothouse atmosphere of European Decadence: "Yes, it was a beautiful place; but enchantments lurked in every nook and corner, and she had not yet grown accustomed to the wizardries of these fairy countries, so different from the quiet and sensible common-places of her own native land." --Gordon Birrell ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 18:02:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Enchanted Island of Yew Hi Dave, There has been sufficient discussion lately of the image of poppies worn as ornaments by Ozma of Oz that I thought some readers might want to know that the central fairy character of Baum's 1903 fantasy, _The Enchanted Island of Yew_, sports a pair of poppies as well. Indeed the image was fairly common in art-nouveau posters of the period, as well. The cover image, drawn by Fanny Y Cory, is decidely art-nouveau in style. Alphonse Mucha certainly used such an image in some of his posters. The diaphonous garment of the fairy is stamped in pale coral, the petals of the iris (?) are stamped in mauve, and the dazzling tip of the fairy's staff is stamped in yellow. I'll attempt to attach a "tif" version of the first-edition cover for those who are interested in seeing the image. The voluptuousness of Fanny Cory's drawing is striking enough in 1997, but one wonders about its impact in 1903. Peter Hanff Attachment Converted: "c:\Dave\Internet\Archive\merle.tif" (See my comments below. -- Dave) ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 22:19:12 -0400 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 05-02-97 To: "Dave L. Hardenbrook" Content-disposition: inline David, Tyler & Bear (Oh, My!): To my Panel of Esteemed Judges.... :-) (One of these days I'm gonna' submit a post so full of malaprops, mistakes and grammatical errors you boys will be busy fixing them for a week! :-) :-) :-) ) The Random House Dictionary says: Scotch: adj. 1. (used mostly outside Scotland and esp. in referring to whisky, fabrics, etc.) Scottish (def. 1) --n. 2. (often Lc.) Also called Scotch whisky. whiskey distilled in Scotland, esp. from malted barley. 3. Brit. Scots (fef 1.) 4. Scottish (def. 2). Scottish: adj. 1. of Scotland, its inhabitants, or the dialect of English spoken there. 2. the people of Scotland. 3. (U.S.) Scots (def. 1.) Scotchman: : (used usually outside Scotland) Scot Scot: 1. Scotch. 2. Scotland. 3. Scottish. Crossreference of all definitions above says that "Scotch" as applied to Scots is *correct* usage in the U.S. But I'll try to remember your advice if I ever travel to Scotland. It would be so humilitating to be laughed at by the natives... :-) :-) By the way, I understand that L. Frank Baum was of Irish descent, thus the Emerald City (Emerald Isle). Ozma in "Ozma" still sounds a bit prejudiced against people who live underground. "Shall Ozma of Oz grovel to a wicked Nome who enslaves innocent people?" would have sounded more like she wasn't simply prejudiced, or thought she was better than, "creatures" who live in underground kingdoms . :-) Sorry, Bear, but the words, "I am better than you," whether explicit or implied, have been "fighting words!!" throughout history. In the Bible, even God himself has been known to use the word, "Please," which is how Dorothy persuaded the Nome King to give her friends an audience. :-) :-) Hmmm. Baum sneaked in a lesson on good manners in that episode, didn't he? Graciously and egalitarianly yours, Melody Grandy P.S. Baum also slipped in more fatherly advice for children earlier in the book. In "Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail," he says, after she eats, "Dorothy packed the rest of the food back into the pail, so as not to be wasteful of good things..." Baum doesn't badger and browbeat his reader; he kindly passes on his advice and then goes on with the story. ====================================================================== Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 22:15:55 -0400 From: Richard Bauman Subject: Today's Oz Gruel To: DAVE HARDENBROOK Content-disposition: inline David - I thought we were going to avoid politics but since you brought it up, >The problem with the people who want to ban WIZARD (and a lot of other good books for children) is that they want to stop children from thinking for themselves, for fear that they'll stray from the path that their parents know is Truth. This is not me demonizing them; they say that in so many words themselves. However, as far as I'm concerned this _is_ the equivalent of demonizing them - and the fact that those people have a lock on the Republican party in a lot of areas is the biggest reason why I reject the Republicans,..... I defy you to produce statistics showing this is true. I think there are as many of "these people" in your party as in mine. By the way, none of them are allowed in Oz. Bob - Glad to help. Thank you for your "dead atheist" definition. :) Tyler - See your previous post. Great! Have a good weekend all. Bear (:<) ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 97 12:49:43 (PDT) From: Dave Hardenbrook Subject: Ozzy Things CONVENTIONS: As others have pointed out, being a "Munchkin" just means you go to the Munchkin Conventions and live in that region of the USA...I am a "Winkie", but I *don't* go around singing, "Oh ee oh..." :) Hmmm...I never thought about it until this minute, but "Oh ee oh" rhymes with Coo-ee-oh!!! Coincidencee??? "BEASTS OF OZ"???: I don't know about the _Magic of Oz_/Russian Revolution parallel, but I have always noted the resemblence _Magic_ bears to Orwell's _Animal Farm_...Maybe that's why I've never been crazy about _Magic_... BOOKS: Steve T. wrote: >I wonder if this has *anything* to do with our Oz. "Oz" is a common >name for Australia in Australia. This is true...In other Internet groups outside the Ozzy Digest, "Oz" is pretty much synonymous with "Australia"...When I introduce myself, I always have to say I'm a fan of the "Wizard of Oz" books because if I just say "Oz books" they think I like books about Australia... >> AUTHOR: Hockney, David. >> TITLE: [Oz poster]: >> for the Oz obscenity fund ... >This certainly does NOT have anything to do with our Oz. Are you sure? Maybe someone is trying to ban Oz books somewhere, and Hockney is raising money to fight them... EMERALD ISLE: Is *that* where Emerald City comes from? I always thought it might have to do with the fact that Baum's birthstone was the emerald (I've wanted to ask about this for a long time and always forgotten to...) "GLINDA CAN'T DO THAT, CAN SHE?": Perhaps the caveat in the Aladdin/Agrabah world that "You can't mix magics" applies to Baumgea as well, and so Glinda can't break spells created by totally alien means...Though perhaps she can learn how in time, but our hero(ine)s find their own solution sooner... "YEW" PICTURE: I have posted Peter's _The Enchanted Island of Yew_ cover picture temporarily on my "Oz Gallery" page. I hope Peter doesn't mind, but I reduced it by 25% and converted it to JPEG so it would load faster. I also increased the contrast so that the picture comes out better...It *is* voluptuous, as Peter says -- I don't think Ozma would *ever* wear a getup like that, even for Dan! :) Ozma: I *do* have my queenly dignity to think about... :) The URL is: http://people.delphi.com/DaveH47/Oz_Gallery.html and the "Yew" picture is at the bottom of the page (I know, my "Gallery" page is due for major upgrading, but this will have to do for now...) Well, that's my comments for today...Back to working on writing _Red Dwarf in Oz_... :) :) -- 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, MAY 4, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 17:03:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Mark Anthony Donajkowski Subject: oz bookmark serena and another sorry i cant rememebr who else it was but serena i got your disk nad its messed up my puter cant read it i know its the disk cause all my other ones work adn when i try yours it says unable to read drive a but to you and the other who wanted it w hose name i forget i know have access to aol my freind is giving me a account so if you will kindly write anthonyvp@aol.com ill send it to you lickety split just write and request thanks hugs anthony van pyre ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 15:04:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Hanff Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-03-97 Dave, Your edited version of the cover of _The Enchanted Island of Yew_ is greatly improved over the original scanned image. I didn't realize sufficient data was included in the scanned record to make that possible. Thanks! Peter ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 19:48:14 -0500 (CDT) From: atty242@mail.utexas.edu (R. M. Atticus Gannaway) Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-03-97 RE: email grammar rules the more i think about this, the more i feel it's understandable that email possesses no real grammar rules. besides its neostatus, email is naturally less formal than physically existing correspondence because we are limited in our control over its appearance once it's transmitted (ASCII, or whatever process it undergoes, can be unkind). besides, it's easier and faster to send: hence, no real rules regarding the more particular points of form. as for me, i don't even use caps most of the time. but that's just because i'm so bohemian. atticus * * * "Catherine thought, perhaps if we travel together, I shall get to know them at last, for so far I have been all wrong, and they have turned out different to what I thought. How is one to know what people are like? . . . Perhaps one can never know; perhaps people are uncapturable, and slip away like water from one's hand, changing all the time." ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 21:09:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Kiex@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Doings Re Lurline and Lurlea: Assuming the time at which each was written about was roughly the same, they c an't be the same person because of physical impossibility. (Any more than someone can be in two places at the same time.) That is, if two characters from the same era were described in the same way, doing the same things, either the author erred and got one of the names wrong, or the entire situation is impossible. Re Oz and a continent in the Pacific: Well, of course! Oz-strailia! If I'd only known before I turned down those free tickets ... (If I can't get over the rainbow any other way, why not try it?) Boy! Using AOL to respond to a long post is rather a pain . . . Perhaps that's why AOL is not terribly well-liked among the majority of Digesters. I'll see what I can do about getting my parents to change servers, but who knows what'll happen. Until my next attempt at posting, Jeremy Steadman (Kiex) ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 22:11:43 -0500 (CDT) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-03-97 Gordon: As is frequently the case, there's good food for thought in your last post. Living for aesthetic pleasure...Baum just might have been playing with that. Langwidere does as little as possible. Roquat's extensive collection may be a dig at collectors, as well as at aesthetes. Baum says:"...the underground palace was quite a museum of rare and curious and costly objects." His description indicates that the collection was kept in a suite of rooms used exclusively to house it, not just scattered through palace rooms that had any other function other than to be beautiful and show off the collectibles. Dave: How's your mom? Better, I hope. --Robin ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 00:20:04 -0400 (EDT) From: JOdel@aol.com Subject: Ozzy Digest I can't buy the "manufactured storm" theory, but I CAN believe that the entry in the Great Book that "Dorothy Gale of Kansas has been swept overboard in a chicken coop in the South Pacific" showed up just about when Glinda, or whoever she set to monitoring the progress of Ozma's expedition, took up their watch. Locasta's kiss kept the coop afloat, and Billena's own tenatiousness kept her on board. Glinda, remembering the child, MIGHT very well have made the time/space shift to bring the coop from the Pacific into the Nonectic, (as Ozma did in ROAD) placing it in Evian coastal waters, and may have managed to send some sort of Ozian influence to grant her companion the power of speech (and intellegence). If this is accepted, it may be assumed that Glinda, still monitoring the progress, made sure that Billina woke up in time to hear the discussion between Roquat and Kaliko that was going on over her head. Glinda is not identified as a (good) witch. She is a sorceress. David; And from the name Dulabone (sp?) it is quite possible that Chris has Bourbon in him too. Or at least French. ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 07:43:11 -0400 (EDT) From: earlabbe@juno.com (Earl C. Abbe) Subject: Ozzy Digest Submission - Irrelevancies & Nonsense Comments based on the 5/3 Digest... Robin Olderman asks Robin, which of Baum's good witches are juvenile? On title punctuation in e-mail: Using the underscore before and after book titles expressed in mixed case looks better to me. And the e-mail etiquette that has been pounded into me for the last decade says that all caps is SHOUTING. :-) And we thought the postal service was slow: Marilyn Hill Allen's note is dated January 23, 1904 3:10 AM! (This is amazing. I did not know that they had e-mail or even life then, at 3:10 a.m. :-)) Where is her son's school located? On Glinda's magical powers: As a minor magic worker myself -- I program; it IS magic. -- and as someone who has been around for several decades, I have noted that magics I knew very well five or ten years ago, but not used since, are not easy to recall. They can be remembered with effort, looking at the documentation or examples, and experimentation, but that takes time. As to keeping the Magic Belt, a good tool is worth diamonds, regardless how much you can instantly recall. To Melody on Scotch/Scottish/Scot: I'll drink to that! (And buy you one, too.) Earl Abbe ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 06:59:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Eric Gjovaag Subject: Announcement: Ozzy Digest I have FINALLY made some additions to my all-"Wizard of Oz" web page, and I'm very excited about the possibilities. No, I haven't updated the FAQ yet (that's my big project for the summer), but I've added three new sections, and for those sections to work I'll need lots of input from my fellow Oz fans. I hope everyone with access to the web will take a look. Please remember to send all comments about my page directly to me at tiktok@eskimo.com, since I won't be able to read it otherwise. --Eric Gjovaag ### Visit my "Wizard of Oz" web site! http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/ ### ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 10:59:11 +0600 From: rri0189@ibm.net Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-01-97 Melody G. Keller wrote: >There's some Scotch in my family, which might be why two of my boy >cousins used to rock and sock each other all over the place at the drop >of a hat. As a person of _Scottish_ ancestry, may I recommend A.A. to your cousins? And why does your family allow little boys to get at the usquebaugh in the first place? >Are directors terrified of strong female characters or what? Here, don't go blaming the director for what the producer did.... >To be fair, some have complained bitterly about how Disney turned >the powerful, impressive Merlin into a bumbling boob for "Sword in >the Stone." Indeed, the Matter of Britain provides a useful test here. Offhand, it seems to me that in any given production, Merlin and Morgan receive roughly equal degrees of misrepresentation, except that Merlin is more likely to be given a cameo when he doesn't belong in the story -- but of course he was a member of the court. >(For example) Tyler, how can you live without case sensitive file names? >NT is driving me nuts with that! NT (and OS/2, for that matter) are case-insensitive because too many DOS-based programs would drive users nuts if the underlying file system became case-sensitive, and DOS is case-insensitive because CP/M was, and CP/M was because the old DEC system it was based on was case- insensitive, and that was case-insensitive because it used a three-characters-packed-into-two-bytes encoding for file names to save disk space. (It had 6.3 names, not 8.3; CP/M decided to be generous on that point.) >Gates and MS do get a lot of "evil empire" press, but this always has to >be considered in the light of the source..........competitors engaging >in mindgames and psychological warfare. Well _I_ am not a competitor. And I tell you that MS repeatedly lies. They lied about supporting OS/2. They lied about having secret hooks in Windows and DOS that only their own applications division could use (which is in itself unethical, and given MS's position, quite possibly a violation of antitrust law). They lied about Windows '95 being a new operating system from the ground up. They lie out of habit, even without need, even knowing that they will be caught, because the public, most of the the press, and, unfortunately, the Justice Department are so besotted with MS that no matter how many lies they are caught in, it doesn't seem to matter, or to diminish in any way the impact of the Big Lie that Microsoft software is in any way generally superior to the competition, or particularly innovative. (There hasn't been anything significantly original from MS in nearly a decade.) They have on at least one proven occasion incorporated code in a product (Windows) for the express and sole purpose of disabling a competitor's product (DR-DOS). Even new release of MS system software has broken a substantial portion of applications software, which would be unprofessional or inept if inadvertant, but considering that MS always has a "new and improved for $50 more" version of _their_ software ready to go, while users of competeting products have to suffer, would seem to support a more sinister interpretation. Whenever something new and available on a broad range of computers appears, they immediately produce a twisted version that works only in an all-MS environment and dump it on the market to drive the originator out of business. (Recent instances would be MS Internet Explorer -- it is more expensive to buy Windows '95 _without_ Internet Explorer than _with_ -- and J++.) They also do their best to present a massively false image of Bill Gates himself. It is very little known to the public at large that he has been a multimillionaire since birth, and that the last piece of software he made any substantial contribution to was the MS BASIC interpreter from the 70's. Stephen J. Teller wrote: >One of the reasons for one school board trying to ban the Wizard of Oz >was that it had "good witches" because witches are worshippers of >pre-Christian deities. Therefore, to a "true" Christian "Good Witch" is >a contradiction of terms. Err.... If you're talking about extreme fundamentalists, I suppose they might not accept the notion of a "virtuous pagan", though mainstream Christianity has certainly always known better, but if you _are_ talking about extreme fundamentalists, then they certainly do not define "witches" as pagans, but rather as willing servants of the Christian Satan. // John W Kennedy -- Hypatia Software -- "The OS/2 Hobbit" ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 12:00:02 -0500 From: "David G. Hulan" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-03-97 Gordon: I don't know about the technical usages in the business world, but generally speaking "-able" is a "live" suffix in English, which means it can be attached to any verb or verb phrase, even new coinages. (E.g., a "bootable" disk.) "-ible", on the other hand, isn't "live"; it's properly used only with verbs appropriated fairly directly from the Latin 3d and 4th declensions. However, since "collect" is such a verb, either ending is linguistically acceptable. (At least, I've seen this analysis in a linguistic publication, not specifically for "collect" but for a similar verb. I'm not a professional in linguistics myself, and the above may be disputed by those who are, for all I know.) I think the attitude of living as an ornament that you speak of was pretty common in the wealthy classes through most of history, especially for the women. (It was OK for men to fight and be in politics, though heaven forfend that they do anything useful.) The _fin de siecle_ decadence of a century ago wasn't particularly new; it's just that it was the last flicker of a traditional way of life that was to largely disappear in the 20th century. (It never struck very deep roots in America.) Peter H.: Definitely that fairy on the cover of YEW is one sexy babe. Did Cory do that one? The style looks very different from her interior illustrations, besides which I know that I've seen that same illustration on the cover of another book somewhere. I thought maybe Bobbs-Merrill used it as a kind of stock cover for their fairy-tale books. Bear: Apologies for the political post. I wanted it back after I sent it, but it was too late. (Not that I didn't mean it, but it didn't belong on the Ozzy Digest.) Dave: I doubt that the Emerald City had anything to do with the Emerald Isle (Baum's several unkind characterizations of Irish immigrants to the US in his early books don't indicate that Irish ancestry, if he had it, was something he took pride in). It probably didn't have anything to do with his birthstone, either. I suspect it was just because he liked green. There aren't profound esoteric reasons for everything an author puts into his books. (Or, looked at from a different point of view, it's because the Wizard made everyone wear green glasses, and he did that because _he_ liked green!) David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 12:42:17 -0400 From: Tyler Jones Subject: Oz Dorothy: Clearly, many usual thigns happen to Dorothy, but I'll lean to the theory that it is either coincidence, or Dorothy being some kind of magent to magical events. As David Hulan says, if Glinda has that much power, then many things in Ozian history would be different. Bob: I believe that underscores denote italics in ASCII type where italics are impossible. As far as I know, there are no hard and fast rules, at least in the digest. I do not know of any official rules in general. However, the point is to set the title apart from the main text, be it a book, film or whatever. I myself use underscores, but quotes are just as good. Ozma and her Gunboats: When Roquat originally balked, Ozma mentioned that "I am here with my friends and my army to conquer your kingdom and oblige you to obey my wishes". While Roquat did not seem threatened by this display of bravado, Ozma is indeed close to the line of Gunboat diplomacy, if not across it. Adieu: Even though Gili will not read this, I am sure that we will all miss her until her triumphant return. Jerry Mendel: At first, I though this was a mispelling of Jerry Maren, but it looks like they're two different people. David: Very well. The misconception is cleared up. The difference, I gather, was in how much effort Lurline put into her decision. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 15:45:45 -0400 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-13-96 Upon first reading of Ozma of Oz, I instantly disliked the changes the illustrator had wrought in both Ozma and Dorothy--changing Ozma's hair from blonde to dark, and then his Dorothy--she didn't look like Dorothy to me, but a rich relative who had been miscast in the part. And as it turned out, that's exactly what Neill had done. A Baum Bugle article said he used a couple of well-dressed girl relatives as models for Dorothy and Ozma. By rights, he should have kept Ozma a blonde, and made Dorothy the brunette. Ruth: What kind of materials did the Monarch of Mo have his artificial heads made out of? Alas, I no longer have a copy of "The Magical Monarch of Mo" in my possession. Hmmm. If some of Languidere's heads WERE artificial, wouldn't some of her subjects have noticed? As it was, they knew she *could* change her appearance, but didn't know why. Her heads, even if some are artificial, must look almost exactly like flesh and blood. Melody Grandy ====================================================================== -- 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, MAY 5, 1997 *** |@ @| | V | \\\ |\_/| | ;;; \-/ \ ;/ >< ] ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 18:47:17 -0500 From: "David G. Hulan" Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-04-97 Atticus: Grammar rules in E-mail are the same as grammar rules in any other form of English communication, because grammar is an attribute of spoken language independent of the method of transcription. How to denote things like book titles are a matter of style, not grammar. And, as someone (I think maybe Tyler) says later in the Digest, all that's really important is that it be clear to the reader that something is a title. I prefer all-caps for short titles and underscores before and after for longer ones, but that's a personal decision, much like your failure to capitalize. Jeremy: There's no more reason why Lulea and Lurline can't be the same person than that Pipt and Nikidik can't be the same person, and most people on the Digest seem to agree that the latter pair are the same. Two names don't necessarily imply two individuals. It's even possible that, say, "Lulea" is a diminutive of "Lurline" in fairy-speak, as "Alyosha" is a diminutive of "Alexei" in Russian, or "Peggy" of "Margaret" in English. I think you're not using AOL's offline mail reader properly; there are many faults with AOL, which is why I'm not using it for E-mail any more, but they're in getting and sending your mail. Responding to long posts is no problem at all. Do you still have the E-mail I sent you a few weeks back explaining how to do it smoothly? If not, would you like me to re-send it now that you're actually using AOL? (E-mail me privately if so, but I put this on the Digest in case anyone else on AOL shares your problem and would like a quick tutorial.) Joyce: I doubt Glinda has the power to shift Dorothy and her raft from the Pacific to the Nonestic. Transportation spells in general don't seem to be her forte. (She couldn't even transport Ozma and Dorothy out of the Skeezer dome.) Can anyone think of a case where she actually transported someone from one place to another by magic? She twisted the path from Oogaboo so that it crossed the Deadly Desert instead of going into the rest of Oz, but that's not quite the same thing. Giving Billina the power of speech (and maybe intelligence, if she didn't already have that), on the other hand, and waking Billina at the appropriate moment to overhear Roquat and his steward talking, both seem to be very possible applications of her power. Glinda is called a sorceress in most of the books, but in WIZARD she's identified as a witch. (I know, I lost some points on a Winkie Master's Quiz once because I didn't count her as a witch.) I'm sure the name Dulabone is French in origin, but probably not Bourbon... Earl: True, all caps is SHOUTING, but then that's more or less the function of italics and/or underlining in normal typography - emphasis, anyhow. So it's not incongruous to use all caps for things that would be in italics or underlined if either were available for ASCII text. IMHO. John K.: Thanks for your rundown on the evils of Microsoft. I've heard all these things but not being personally involved in the computer industry, I don't have direct knowledge of them. Me: Dang, my brain slipped its clutch at one point in what I was typing. It's 3d and 4th _conjugation_ verbs than can take "-ible". Declensions are things you get with nouns and adjectives. I have a bad feeling that several people are going to point this out to me, so I thought I'd at least mention that I know better. Melody: If Neill's illustrations of Dorothy and Ozma were based on a couple of Neill's relatives, I can understand why he made Ozma the brunette and Dorothy the blonde. Dorothy, after all, was supposed to be rather pretty, but not truly beautiful (according the Langwidere); Ozma, on the other hand, was supposed to be extraordinarily beautiful. And looking at his drawings, there's no doubt that his brunette relative was much more beautiful than his blonde one. (I don't know how difficult it would be for an artist to transpose the hair from one to the other, or just to change the hair color of a model, not being at all artistic myself [at least in the graphic-arts realm; I think I have some degree of artistry with words].) The King of Mo had heads of candy, dough, and wood before he regained his proper one. (There's something of a parallel with King Fumbo in GRAMPA, who had his head replaced with cabbage and dough, along with an offer of an iron one. Don't know if Thompson was familiar with MO or not.) David Hulan ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 20:04:38 -0500 (CDT) From: Robin Olderman Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-04-97 Earl: You'll have to ask Willard about the juvenile good witch. He's the one in charge of "The Oz Kids." ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 21:42:56 -0400 From: Tyler Jones Subject: Oz Joyce: Glinda is definitely referred to as a witch in _Wizard_. By the time of _Land_, she is called a sorceress. --Tyler Jones ====================================================================== Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 22:20:39 -0400 From: "Melody G. Keller" Subject: Ozzy Digest, 05-04-97 Earl: To Melody on Scotch/Scottish/Scot: I'll drink to that! (And buy you one, too.)< Thanks Earl! But make it a mixed drink--to me the hard stuff is horrible! :-P :-) :-) John Kennedy: Nope, the cousins managed to lose their Celtic-style tempers regularly without the hard stuff. (One friend of mine, a native Scot who once lived in Scotland, said HER Scottish cousins used to fight so often and hard it was a wonder they didn't kill each other! Sounded like my cousins all right.) And it's okay to call oneself Scotch in the US or England, but one had better not call oneself Scotch in Scotland... :-) Though I might have enough English ancestors for the Scots to consider me a Sassinack. About the Giant with the Hammer: In Oz-Wonderland War, the iron giant is given enough intelligence to attempt the deliberate smashing of our heroes. The same was done in the much earlier _Oz Encounter_ featuring Doc Phoenix and his ability to enter people's mindscapes. The Oz of _Encounter_ was a little girl's mindscape, and also one of the earliest dark visions of Oz that I remember being written. Ruth: Though perhaps Baum meant for his description fo be metaphorical rather than literal, when our heroes return from the underground kingdom, they find Princess Languidere: "admiring one of her handsomest heads--one with rich chestnut hair, dreamy walnut eyes, and a shapely hickorynut nose." :-) :-) Back before the turn of the century, women of the noble and wealthy classes *were* expected to be ornamental and useless--proof of their or their husbands' great wealth. One such woman, complaining to her seller that her silk shoes had come apart at the first wearing, recieved the reply, "But Madame, you must have *walked* in them!" :-) :-) Footbinding was done to women in the Orient for similar reasons. Melody Grandy ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 05 May 1997 11:30:59 -0500 From: Gordon Birrell Subject: Ozzy Digest David: >The _fin de siecle_ >decadence of a century ago wasn't particularly new; it's just that it >was the last flicker of a traditional way of life that was to largely >disappear in the 20th century. (It never struck very deep roots in >America.) I hardly ever disagree with anything you say, but in this case I think you're wrong. Turn-of-the-century aestheticism (or "decadence," in the eyes of the middle class) wasn't just the last flicker of a centuries-old tradition of artistocratic self-indulgence, though that tradition received various nostalgic tributes in fin-de-siecle culture (Hofmannsthal's garden, in the poem, contains among other things a tapestry based on a Watteau painting, and the whole atmsophere is described as evoking "das Wien von Caneletto"; similar associations are present in _Der Rosenkavalier_). What is new here is a radicalized form of the Romantic dictum "truth is beauty; beauty, truth": art for the first time becomes the principal supplier of the meaning of life, supplanting religion and/or science. The artist assumes a priestly function, mediating the mysteries of existence to the less enlightened. This is one of the principal points that Kandinsky made in his 1912 treatise "On the Spiritual in Art," which set the stage for twentieth-century abstraction. In the new aestheticism, art declares its independence from everyday reality, and it particularly declares its independence from all notions of utility, pragmatical purpose, and moral improvement. ("All art is quite useless," is the way Oscar Wilde put it, proudly.) What was also radically new here was that the devotees of aesthetic culture were no longer primarily the traditionally idle aristocrats, but a whole generation of upper-middle-class young people who bought into the idea of cultivating the senses and making their lives into refined works of art, retreating into an exquisite self-enclosed pleasure garden, turning their backs on the courseness and philistinism of politics and the business world. Carl Schorske's _Fin-de-siecle Vienna_ gives a very good overview of the socio-economic factors that led these offspring of liberal bourgeois parents to embrace an "amoral cultivation of feelings." There's an enormous difference, in other words, between the conventional pampered artistocrats, who still considered beauty an ornament of power, and the likes of Sar Paladin and his circle who cultivated beauty for beauty's sake. I also think of the German poet Stefan George with his private park in Munich, in which he sat resplendent in flowing white priestly raiments while middle-class youths dressed in monastic black robes moved about at a stately pace reading from George's slim, delicate volumes of verse. There's something of this in the description of Glinda among her maidens in the opening chapter of _Glinda of Oz_, though Baum is careful to state that the maidens are still involved in something marginally useful such as embroidery; and Glinda's decorous group is certainly not inspired by the George circle but no doubt from parallel images such as the paintings of Puvis de Chavanne and his many imitators. As for the idea that all of this largely disappeared in the modern world: how nice it would be if the self-absorbed pursuit of sensory gratification had *not* become an increasingly prominent factor in twentieth-century life. (There will be a pop quiz on this material at the end of the hour. :-) ) Robin: Good point that Baum was poking fun at obsessive collectors. It's amusing to think of the Nome King appearing (like Jane!) on a super-collector segment of Personal FX, escorting a dazzled Ayo Haynes through his palatial undergroun