Each year the Oz Club provides our Sustaining, Patron, and Wizard’s Circle Members an Oz calendar for the coming year. It serves as our thank you gift; we appreciate your financial support and hope to express it without incurring substantial expense.
Each year the calendar has a different Ozzy theme. I do the majority of the work on the calendar and particularly enjoy finding and designing the full-color layouts for each month. Some years I have members contribute personal stories to fit the theme — for 2019 we featured different L. Frank Baum books outside the Oz canon with members sharing how they came across favorite copies. This year the calendar focuses on the decade of the 1920s.
The 1920s were rich in Oz milestones. Oz had a new author who brought us new books and new characters. It was a decade of firsts, like the first Oz film made after Baum’s lifetime, the first Oz Club, and the first Oz toys. It was also the decade in which Judy Garland was born. From Jean Gros’ French Marionettes to the Junior League plays of Elizabeth Fuller Goodspeed, Oz found its way to new audiences during this period.
These topics and more filled the 12 months. Scattered across the dates are bits of trivia tied to Oz. I generally always include publication dates of the Oz books as well as birth and death dates of important contributors to the world of Oz. But then I try to add anything I can find tied to the theme. So, for instance, this year I added the birth dates of actors from the 1925 film, dates of the 1927 coloring contest using Oz maps, and the 1929 read-aloud radio program that featured the Oz books. Of course dates for 2020 Oz events also are marked!
Next year’s calendar will feature animals of Oz as they’ve appeared in Oz books and productions. From the earliest appearances of Toto and Imogen, to Billina’s starring roll in Return to Oz and the Sawhorse rolling across the Wicked stage, our 2021 calendar will revisit Oz through the appearance of some of its most beloved non-human characters. Join or renew at one of the supporting levels and we’ll acknowledge your generosity with the 2021 calendar.
