A CHAIR-PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE

Behind the Scenes at the Oz Centennial Celebration

by Jane Albright

Originally published in The Baum Bugle, vol. 45, no. 1 (Spring 2001), pg. 12–19

Citations

Chicago 17th ed.:

Albright, Jane. “A Chairperson’s Perspective: Behind the Scenes at the Oz Centennial Celebration.” Baum Bugle 45, no. 1 (2001): 12–19.

MLA 9th ed.:

Albright, Jane. “A Chairperson’s Perspective: Behind the Scenes at the Oz Centennial Celebration.”The Baum Bugle, vol. 45, no. 1, 2001, pp. 12–19.

(Note: In print, this article was supplemented with photographs that have not been reproduced here.)

The International Wizard of Oz Club’s principal event honoring the publication centennial of L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz took place July 20–23, 2000, in Bloomington, Indiana. More than four hundred fans converged on the Indiana University campus for what proved to be an educational conference, celebration, and all-round great time.

The Whirlwind (“It’s a Twister! It’s a Twister!”)

Pulling into the Indiana Memorial Union, I noted canvas banners of our centennial logo hanging from the light posts. It was a welcome sight. As the convention chairperson, I arrived Tuesday with my husband, David (who shouldered the responsibility for audiovisual support of all our events), and our three-year-old daughter Joy. We towed a trailer full of equipment and supplies. I planned to unload all morning, then begin moving cartons from the home of local Club member John R. Neel. He had generously allowed us to ship a steady stream of auction items, commemoratives, art contest entries, and other materials to him for more than a year. Bill and Anita Beem had arrived Sunday to begin filling two forty-foot floor-to-ceiling glass cases with Oz collectibles from Bill’s collection. They met us at the curb to lend a hand.

As we unloaded, David Kelleher pulled up in a far larger truck with the decorations that would transform the massive stone hotel into Oz. As a word, “decorations” falls short. David had mannequins and costumes to unload that would represent the principal Oz characters, numerous Winkies and Winged Monkeys, forty Munchkins, and the Wicked Witch of the West. There were the sixteen-foot-tall Emerald City, five-foot Ruby Slippers, a dozen four-foot Oz “clocks” and hundreds of pounds of silk poppies.[1]

Countless luggage carts and Li’l Tyke wagon loads later (Joy gets credit for the latter) we were inside, waist-deep in cartons and inexpressibly grateful to the first arrivals in a steady stream of volunteers who devoted the next forty-eight hours to preparation. Registration bags were stuffed, silk poppies were fluffed, and exhibits were mounted. Rented glass cases arrived, were dropped and broken, and were returned and replaced for a fantastic display of original artwork that Club president Peter Hanf£ had assembled from members’ private collections. Bill Beem finished his two huge cases and filled a smaller one with movie posters. David Baker mounted a fifty-panel tribute to past winners of the Club’s L. Frank Baum Memorial Award. Another exhibit, consisting of enlarged color copies of Russian Oz illustrator Leonid Vladimirski’s work, filled a corner in one of the vendor rooms. Door prizes, including Scott Gustafson’s Oz centennial lithograph with a remarque of L. Frank Baum, occupied another case. I dropped a commemorative pin—our logo framed with the wings from the original Ozmite Club pins—into each attendee’s goody bag, thankful to pewter caster Mike Bosworth for the hours he spent making them.

We laid out the entries in the contests for writing, research, and art, then loaded the shelves in a spacious hospitality suite with Oz books, Oz reference books, Oz board games, Oz video tapes, Oz sheet music, and a complete run of The Baum Bugle. Giant Oz books provided by Lee Jenkins drew attention to a corner of the lobby where Ricky Birran, a.k.a. “Sir Readalot,” would soon begin his twenty-four-hour read-aloud marathon of Baum’s first seven Oz tales. There were two large rooms of vendors and displays where attendees would be able pick up a centennial T-shirt, browse through both new and rare collectibles, read work submitted in our contests, and more.

What a place we’d created for an Oz party. I couldn’t help thinking it was going to be a great convention, even if the speakers didn’t show up!

Speakers, Speakers and Speakers

The Club had determined in the early ’90s that it should host an educational conference to honor the publication centennial of our raison d’etre, L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I knew I’d fall short on delivering educational content, so I quickly recruited people more qualified than I am to pull that together. Flipping through the beautifully printed program Michael Gessel and Ed Brody produced for the event, I’m most proud of how the resulting team of chairpersons surpassed every expectation.

Angelica Carpenter agreed to line up four solid days of programming concerning the literary role of the book itself. A Baum biographer, librarian, and past coordinator of a massive regional bookfest, Angelica found and brought many of the gifted writers and literary critics on the program. She boldly went where no Oz Club convention chairperson had ever gone before, recruiting Alison Lurie, Suzanne Rahn, Joel Chaston, Jan Susina, Peter Glassman, and Michael McCurdy. Writer Philip Jose Farmer’s presentation wound up on video when he suffered a health setback. And Club members Dick Rutter and Dee Michel extended the program further until any attendee could be well-saturated by the different aspects of Oz’s impact.

Nancy Koupal, another Baum scholar and the director of research at the South Dakota Historical Society, lined up presentation after presentation about the first Royal Historian of Oz. With her leadership, anyone interested in Baum must have felt compelled to attend! She and Angelica had both recruited Michael Patrick Hearn to deliver the keynote address, and he also spoke on Nancy’s program. Baum’s great-granddaughter, Gita Dorothy Morena, spoke on dual invitations, too. Nancy talked fellow Aberdonian Rod Evans into performing in character as L. Frank Baum, and also into directing his original play based on Baum’s Our Landlady columns. Bob Baum (a great-grandson), Brian Attebery, Fred Erisman, Mark I. West, Peter Hanf£, Michael Gessel, and David Moyer also contributed to the biographical cause.

Barbara Koelle, a past Club president, Bugle editor and capable contributor whenever the Club needs something done, offered to ensure that fans whose primary interest is reading the Oz books were as busy as the more academically minded. Deeply involved with getting The Hidden Prince of Oz together for the Club, Barbara scheduled Hidden Prince‘s creators, author Gina Wickwar and illustrator Anna-Maria Cool, as her first presenters. In addition to Gina, Anna-Maria, and Barbara, Kenneth Reck-ford and David Hulan spoke.

Robin McMaster, who owns an Oz collectibles business, was highly recommended to me to coordinate presentations for collectors. I’d never met this active Winkie, but I’m sure glad I called her! She brought producer Leonard Swann to the event to talk about Oz dolls and collectibles, representatives from Kurt Adler and Enesco to talk about current collectibles; and so many collectors I’m sure to miss most of them trying to make a list. Club founder Justin Schiller, joined by our current president, Peter Hanf£, and the owner of Books of Wonder, Peter Glassman, offered a panel discussion about collecting rare books. Kathy Gire led another panel about hand-made collectibles. John Fricke and Willard Carroll walked us through their new book about Willard’s exceptional collection, 100 Years of Oz; Willard also talked about Off to See the Wizard collectibles. Additionally, there were show-and-tell opportunities, a “Basics of Collecting” discussion, a Christmas party, and more.

David Maxine had a great big empty plate to fill when I asked him to take on stage and screen productions. Here was a highly visible aspect of Oz with its own significant following. David dished up a multi-media recreation of Act One of the 1903 Broadway Wizard that proved to be an incredible experience. Hundreds of rare images with narration and music showed a fascinated audience how the Oz story was first produced. We learned much about early Oz music from James Doyle, and about the Oz Film Manufacturing Company features from Michael O. Riley. Steve Teller talked about Oz productions in Russia, Jay Scarfone presented MGM material unearthed (but unpublished) in his work on the new Wizardry of Oz sixtieth anniversary book. MGM Munchkins spoke to a fascinated crowd about their experiences on the set in a discussion moderated by John Fricke. John also spoke on the making of the classic film. (John’s a great friend whom I wrote asking for help in several areas. He e-mailed back, ”Yes, to everything. Just think of me as there to do whatever you need.” Did my heart good!)

And More Speakers

Ruth Berman’s talk is a fine example of one of my many heart-stopping convention experiences. The sudden realization that W. W. Denslow was not turning up on anyone’s program set off alarms in my head. I breathed again when Ruth—a charter member of the Club and a well-respected researcher—agreed to share some of her recent discoveries about Denslow’s early Chicago work.

In addition to the educational programming that our chairpersons lined up, a steady stream of interested parties offered to present, or simply occurred to me and agreed to come when I wrote them. Here’s a sampling from that smorgasbord.

Long-time Oz enthusiasts Steve Cox and Elaine Willingham, co-authors of Cooking in Oz, spoke about their book.
The Reverend Les Groves conducted an Oz-themed service in the campus chapel on Sunday morning.
Bob Baum and Karen Owens each agreed to brief appearances on evening programs. Then they wound up on the agenda instead as their presentation material grew.
Steve Smith spoke about Oz and Disney through the years, having responded to my online bulletin board posting asking for someone to explore that topic. Once we started corresponding, Steve increased his support by soliciting great door prizes we’d not have had otherwise.
Dan Mapes, the chief technology officer from the proposed Oz theme park in Kansas City, came to talk about that project.
Eric Gjovaag led an exploration of Oz on the Internet and gave participants a compact-disc copy of his tour.

One letter was especially intriguing. Russian Oz illustrator and writer Leonid Vladimirski suggested that Sergei Soukhinov speak about the appeal of Oz in Russia. With funding secured through a grant from the George and Frances Ball Foundation, I was soon sending faxes to Russia and searching for translators. As many as six different Russian presenters eventually expressed interested in attending. In addition to Sergei, Ksenya L. Ivanova (Mitrokhina) was able to participate.

Meetings and Money and Choices, Oh My!

There was a Board of Directors meeting in the midst of setup. I confess that the meeting was just a blur to me. The early arrivals were invariably people who’d been pouring their energies into this event—for years, in some cases. My enthusiasm for Oz is inextricably tied to the people who love it, so those meetings were much more memorable. The vast majority of the event was coordinated via e-mail. I was delighted to meet, for the first time, people to whom we are immeasurably indebted for the success of our event. Friends old and new hit the ground running, pitching in to organize the registration desk, to apply touch-up paint to props, and to attend to countless last-minute details. Personal reinforcements, my own mom and dad, arrived Thursday to take care of Joy. Good thing, too, as her hallway trike-riding had begun to strain the hotel staff’s patience.

Kids were everywhere. As the arrivals began to mount, I was especially glad I’d asked Lynn Beltz to oversee our children’s program. While our first topical sessions were commencing on Thursday, she was loading up the younger set in a bus for a field trip to the Wonder lab Museum for a bubblefest. We’d been squirreling away four-hundred-dollar grants for the last three years to ensure that there would be cash on hand to cover whatever expenses our kids’ program might need.[2] We’d also raised funds to drop their registration fee to just thirty dollars for the whole three days.[3] Lynn had lined up arts and crafts, storytelling, an auction, a piñata, sidewalk chalk art, a treasure hunt, a puppet show (based on a Russian Oz story and produced by Ryan Bunch), a lunch-pail tree, an Oz matinee, and more. L. Frank Baum would have been pleased!

Those kids-at-heart who weren’t as interested in educational programming faced a delightful lineup of their own. They could compete for prizes in an endless variety of games and quizzes that tested skill, knowledge, or just plain silliness in Susan Hall’s extensive alternative program.

The agenda presented the best and worst of times for everyone. Oh, the decisions! There was nearly always something in each of the special interest tracks. The over-the-top abundance was a strategic decision I don’t regret, although it complicated the matter of coordinating times, room assignments, and presentation equipment. We were able to offer all kinds of presentation topics and speakers who’d never surfaced at past Club conventions or in the Bugle, but might now! And because of the variety, we were able to attract individuals with Oz interests focused in specific areas.

The Great Outside World

Outside the programming itself, our event became the catalyst for Oz activities that served as a tourist event in the region. The Lilly Library exhibit of its extensive Oz collection from the files of publisher Bobbs-Merrill was right on campus. A fortuitous lift to the “Oz on Stage and Screen” program was the on-campus, weeklong Oz film festival. Attendees had unlimited access to multiple showings of rare films, such as the Meglin Kiddie Land of Oz (introduced for us by a real Meglin Kiddie and MGM Munchkin, Donna Stewart-Hardway), the Shirley Temple version of The Land of Oz, early silent Oz features, and more recent productions, including Zardoz, The Wiz, Return to Oz, and the animated Journey Back to Oz. It was a rich opportunity for those interested in Oz productions.

The community offered Oz exhibits in the local library, mall, and museums. By Saturday morning, there were also Oz events at the Farmer’s Market—such as Cheryl Ann Silich’ s Ozercise program and a silver slippers contest. And more than twenty of the authors and illustrators attending our event headed out to local bookstores for personal appearances. Also in public demand were the MGM Munchkin participants: Margaret Pellegrini, Clarence Swensen, and Jerry Maren.

Assuming that Thursday would be a chaotic time involving harried volunteers, arrivals, and jet lag, we provided mid-afternoon sandwiches for the famished, and had afternoon programming end just before sunset with the departure of the Wizard’s hot-air balloon. Dick Rutter gamely donned Wizard attire, complete with nine tiny piglets running up his arms, to do the honors. We then gravitated to the Lilly Library for an elegant opening reception. The library’s fine exhibit held our attention-although the wine (contributed by a local winery) and the catered food (sponsored by Willard Carroll) were delicious distractions. We carried all the leftovers back to the hospitality suite, where the party continued until the small hours.

Wake Up, You Sleepyhead

Friday morning had early presentations, followed by a coffee break. We were making every minute count! Then the conventioneers filed into the auditorium to hear a keynote address about the impact of Oz by respected Oz scholar Michael Patrick Hearn. I hadn’t seen Michael in years; I also completely forgot to delegate his introduction to anyone. He was gracious on both counts, and his fascinating presentation received warm applause from the audience.

The lunch that followed Michael’s talk was the first glimpse most participants had of the cavernous room David Kelleher had taken over. The stage was filled with Wizard mannequins, and a fountain played in front of the Emerald City. It was all pretty spectacular. Ryan Bunch had prepared a tape of rare Oz tunes for background music, and our placemats depicted a variety of sheet music and album jackets that Bill Beem’s daughter, Aimee, had designed using rare material in his collection.

We headed to the sessions of our choice that afternoon, coming together again before dinner for a costume party. While my parents dressed Joy in her Boris suit (What? You don’t watch The Oz Kids?), I headed to the auction-organizing room, where I knew I’d find Patrick Maund doing his workaholic best to make sure the next day’s auction would go smoothly. Finding the copy of Fred Otto’s Oziads among the auction items, I pushed Patrick down to the party, where he gallantly read the first Oz book in verse. Even better, a prerecorded version of his reading was available on cassette for everyone to take home. Then Eric Gjovaag was spontaneously pressed into service as Master of Ceremonies, and a panel of judges determined the winners in a dozen costume categories. They even added one on-the-spot: the “Shameless Self-Promotion Award” went to a laughing Gina Wickwar and family, who’d arrived as characters from her new book, The Hidden Prince of Oz.

Dinner reflected an L. Frank Baum theme. Katie Fleming had organized centerpieces reflecting Baum’s interests, and Peter Glassman gave everyone a paperback facsimile of Baum’s first book, The Book of the Hamburgs. Following dinner, Bob Baum was to speak about his great-grandfather’s hobbies. Instead, we did some clandestine schedule juggling so he could use his moments at the podium to surprise Fred Meyer, on behalf of the Baum family, with the revelation of Fred’s new honorary title as a Royal Historian of Oz. Peter Hanf£ also announced Club awards, including winners of all the centennial contests; regional convention awards for Katie Fleming (Winkie Award) and David Moyer (Munchkin Award); and me as the winner of the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award. Flattered and pleased, of course, I was also unprepared, speechless, and dumbfounded; I had my own ideas about who should have that award by now. The first four people on my list were all in the audience—and none of them was me! (At least now I get to vote.)

We left the dining room to board buses that carried us to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater for a performance of Patrick Shanahan’s play Oz. Local winners of a “What Oz Means to Me” essay contest read their work before the show began, and Patrick, who’d come down from Chicago for the event, was introduced. The show, nicely staged in a professional theater, was a great treat for all ages. Together we watched Baum develop the story of his new book for a little girl in the study of his home. Joined by a housemaid, the three characters take on all the parts. It was a fun perspective on the well-known story, from a talented cast and director. Funding from Robert Kory and the Oz Entertainment Company made the performance and our attendance possible.

Later that night Carrie Hedges led a sing-along for a packed house in the hospitality suite. (She must have sung opera in another life.) Ryan Bunch was Carrie’s accompanist, and she distributed songbooks of rare Baum music printed inside an original cover design by Shannon Darch. It was a very Oz-filled day.

We’d Only Just Begun . . .

Saturday’s morning programs were followed by Dorothy’s lunch. Placemats designed by Rose Prawsdik (a Canadian fan who’d spotted the event on the centennial Web site and had offered to help) showed the young heroine as depicted by many illustrators; each table had as its centerpiece a Dorothy doll or other collectible I’d fished out of my own collection. Then a dozen little girls filed in wearing costumes that showed still more Dorothy designs. Lee Jenkins had coordinated the costumes, which had been modeled earlier that morning in town. Lee’s support over the years had been inexpressibly meaningful to me, and it was fun to see this particular part of the program fall into place.

Next to the lunchroom, newly placed tables were loaded with treasures for the auction. Robin Olderrnan, in particular, had been stocking up the Club coffers with a vengeance, and how it showed! With Patrick Maund at the gavel, he, Robin, and various helpers—both in advance and onsite—offered up everything from rare autographs to even rarer Wizard of Oz ”Waddles.” The first item was a wastepaper basket that brought a hundred-dollar bid after Patrick (tongue firmly in cheek) used a wad of paper to demonstrate that it still worked. First edition books, usually the highest-ticket items in our auctions, included a George M. Hill edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and a signed copy of Ozma of Oz. The books shared top honors with a costumed Munchkin mannequin and a signed sketch of the Scarecrow by Broadway’s first Scarecrow, actor Fred Stone.

Saturday’s dinner was planned as an announcement-free birthday party, but we did wind up pulling winners’ names for various door prizes. Thanks to Phyllis Gleason, each table was tied in a giant bow to resemble a room of wrapped gift boxes, and each place included a pewter commemorative, courtesy of Mike Bosworth. Participants in the Great and Terrible Gift Exchange dropped off a gift and picked up another over dessert, which was an eight-sided cake that used chocolate enameling to reproduce Denslow’s artwork and was topped with an Emerald City. Bob and Clare Baum led a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” and Gita Morena, also a Baum great-grandchild, cut the cake. We soon adjourned to the auditorium for a multimedia revue of the first one hundred years of Oz.

Opening with Baum’s well-known “to please a child” quote (how many attendees recognized Marc Lewis as Baum’s voice?) and a sequence of loosely chronological audiovisual productions, a program filled with speakers and skits began to unfold. My husband and I had produced a lot of it in advance, including children reading fan letters and excerpts from book reviews. I’d had a narrator race us through collectibles from different time periods. Then came footage of Dick Rutter showing us rare Baumiana from his extensive collection, Doug Greene talking about the Club’s early years, and even an Oz fan from Australia who remembered meeting Judy Garland at the MGM film’s 1939 premiere.

There were clips from every Oz movie I could unearth, including documentaries, animated programs, and television specials. Ryan Bunch and Liz Spencer reenacted a scene from the 1903 Broadway show as Scarecrow Fred Stone described it in his biography. A cast of Club members also had fun with a scene from Ruth Plumly Thompson’s playlet A Day in Oz. More live presenters took turns at the podium to talk about various special Oz interests. The revue ran longer than planned, but ended on a high note with images shot at the Centennial itself.

And Then We Were Done

Our last morning together, Sunday, could have been reduced to a pack-and-run time. Instead we woke to the thrill of finding ourselves on the front page of The New York Times! The Reverend Les Groves conducted the service in the campus chapel, and I scoured the place for volunteers to pull off our Last Great Idea in the dining room. We’d be floating four-foot Oz balloons over all fifty tables. We must have been an amusing set-up crew to the balloon company, since we ranged in age from three to eighty and had three midgets mixed in for good measure! But without a minute to spare, we put the last balloon in place before the crowd filed in for food. Later, as the goodbyes began, we headed outside with the balloons. The countdown for their release culminated in spirited applause as the green balloons sailed off into a beautiful, clear-blue sky. It was the perfect Ozzy ending.

[1] Chris Sterling, who passed away in July 1999, had purchased the props that Macy’s used in its fiftieth-anniversary celebration of the MGM film. He intended for these decorations to appear at the Centennial, and with the help of his partner, Phil Gamble, and David’s tireless work, they did. For those of us who loved Chris, it was particularly meaningful.

[2] My employer, Hallmark Cards, honors employee volun-teerism on behalf of nonprofit organizations with cash gifts.

[3] Nearly sixty individuals contributed to the To Please a Child Fund.

The International Wizard of Oz Club’s principal event honoring the publication centennial of L. Frank Baum’ s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz took place July 20-23, 2000, in Bloomington, Indiana. More than four hundred fans converged on the Indiana University campus for what proved to be an educational conference, celebration, and all-round great time.