A TEA PARTY FOR OZ

by Scott Cummings

Originally published in The Baum Bugle, vol. 63, no. 1 (Spring 2019), pgs. 14–19

Citations

Chicago 17th ed.:

Cummings, Scott. “A Tea Party for Oz.” Baum Bugle 63, no. 1 (2019): 14–19.

MLA 9th ed.:

Cummings, Scott. “A Tea Party for Oz.” The Baum Bugle, vol. 63, no. 1, 2019, pp. 14–19.

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

 

In the 1920s, the Reilly & Lee Company actively promoted the Oz series, employing Ruth Plumly Thompson’s “A Day in Oz” playlet, radio-show readings of the Oz stories, inventive Oz character advertising displays, the Ozmite Club and revived Ozmapolitan newspaper, and a syndicated Oz comic strip. David L. Greene and Dick Martin note in The Oz Scrapbook (1977) that “after the death of Frank K. Reilly in 1932, there were few Oz promotions.” This installment of The Great Book of Records looks at an unusual social event held in 1933 that brought together an interesting mix of people associated with Oz books and theatrical shows.

A tea party celebrating the 40^th anniversary of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was held in New York City on September 21, 1933. If you don’t find that odd, check your math. Forty years earlier, L. Frank Baum and his eventual collaborator W.W. Denslow explored the grounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago—but they had yet to meet each other, and their collaboration on Wonderful Wizard was still years away.

Articles about the 1933 Oz party, reportedly thrown by the Reilly & Lee Company, appeared in newspapers across the country. Many contain such unusual inaccuracies that one has to wonder how much can be blamed on a press release from the official (but poorly named) “Wizard of Oz Fortieth Anniversary Committee” and how much on journalists’ fading memories of the Oz series and its creator.

The party was intended to promote the launch of NBC’s tri-weekly radio show, The Wizard of Oz, which would begin airing four days later on September 25, 1933. Bugle collectors can find a detailed description of the show in John Fricke’s two-part research article, “The Radio Road to Oz” (vol. 30, no. 3 / vol. 31, no. 1), while publicity photos of the radio cast appear in “The Radio Road to Oz: Revisited” (vol. 35, no. 1).

The Oz tea took place in the Book Center of the Hotel Duane. Located at 237 Madison Avenue, the hotel remains in operation today as Morgans Hotel. In 1933, other literary events met in this space, including an exhibit of artwork by Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) and a seminal meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars, the American Sherlock Holmes literary society.

 

Five Million Oz Books

One of the first reports on the Oz tea, appearing in the New York Times (Sept. 19, 1933), touted series sales and named three of the special guests:

Book Notes

The statement that 5,000,000 copies of “Oz” books—that is, books of the series started forty years ago with the late L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz—have been sold since the first publication date, Sept. 21, 1893, is made by “The Wizard of Oz Fortieth Anniversary Committee,” which is to give an anniversary tea next Thursday at the Hotel Duane. Guests of honor will be Charles Dillingham, who produced the play, Wizard of Oz; Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven Oz books following the death of Mr. Baum in 1919, and Nancy Kelly, Oz radio player.

At least nine different newspapers ran pieces repeating the incorrect calculation of Wonderful Wizard’s anniversary.

Aside from this whopping error in publication date, there is also a more subtle revelation contained in this and several other reports (see below). With the publication of Ojo in Oz on June 3, 1933, Thompson had officially contributed only twelve titles to the Oz series. Of course, we know now what the publisher knew then: she was also the sole author of The Royal Book of Oz (1921), which was publicly attributed to Baum. Only in a 1985 reprint of Royal Book was Thompson finally credited as the author. Is this press release one of the earliest admissions of that book’s true author?

 

The Ghostwriter of Oz

Several newspaper articles assert Thompson was a “ghostwriter” for Baum, although—aside from Royal Book—all her Oz titles are credited to her name. An attempt by the Freeport (N.Y.) Daily Review (Oct. 11, 1933), to clarify the “ghostwriter” label only adds to the inaccuracies, but it also offers a unique portrait of an introverted Ruth Plumly Thompson:

About New York

by William Gaines

Ruth Plumly Thompson has been the “ghost” for the late L. Frank Baum, for 24 years.

I’ve met few people who respect their responsibilities more than this quaint little woman of 44, who has written 13 books about Baum’s wonderful land of Oz since his death.

Baum wrote 14 books about Oz. He left some notes. Miss Thompson took them over, enlarged upon them, and created new material. In her writing of them she has used the name of L. Frank Baum, dead these many years.

She is just the sort of little person you would expect to meet under such conditions. She shrinks from society; she gives her life to her work.

A Party for Her

Recently a party was given in her honor at a New York hotel, commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the first publication of an Oz book. Miss Thompson, it was at once evident, is no lion of the literary teas.

She was gracious and charming, but, it seems to me, anxious to have done with it all as quickly as possible. She is, she readily admits, not so strong for the books she writes under her own name.

Through Miss Thompson’s contributions, the books about the adventures of delightful people and strange creatures in Ozland have achieved a sales record of more than 5,000,000 copies.

We who had the pleasure of reading Baum’s own books in our childhood might wish that she could have used her own name. Not only because it would have meant so much to her, but we might feel that a man who did so well by his own names as Baum should not be ghosted.

 

Engineer and Cartographer

The Syracuse Journal (Sept. 24, 1933) printed a lengthy feature on their famous former citizen. Unfortunately, their memory of Mr. Baum seems to have become rather blurry, as his hometown paper reported that he was an engineer by training (he wasn’t), that he had written Wonderful Wizard while living in Syracuse (it was in Chicago), and that he had written pseudonymously before The Fate of a Crown in 1905.

Homage Paid to L. F. Baum,

Writer of Oz Stories

Literary World Eulogizes Late Syracusan’s

Works as Unsurpassed Standard

in Entertainment of Child

There was little thought in the mind of L. Frank Baum, 40 years ago, when he jotted down for the first time the fantastic, imaginative story of The Wizard of Oz, that the day would come when that event would be marked as an important literary anniversary.

During the last week, however, literary circles the country over have been paying their tribute to the late Mr. Baum. They have marked the anniversary of his first “Oz” book with special ceremonies and with radio broadcasts …

L. Frank Baum, the Syracuse engineer whose imagination has been the delight of two generations of children, did not live to see the full popularity achieved by the characters he invented. He died in May 1919. His place as historian of Oz has been filled by Ruth Lumly [sic] Thompson of West Philadelphia.

EULOGIZED FOR WORK. The literary world this week eulogized Baum for his work, described as setting an unsurpassed standard in wholesome, imaginative entertainment for children.

Too few Syracusans realize that Baum created the Land of Oz while he was a resident of this city.

L. Frank Baum was born in Chittenango in 1856, the son of Benjamin and Cynthia Stanton Baum. When he was a child his parents came to Syracuse and he was educated here, receiving his initial training as an engineer. He drifted into newspaper work in 1880, and from that time his writings were prolific.

He first told his Oz stories to his sons and their playmates. They were so delighted with the American fairyland he created that they demanded more and more stories. Finally, Baum began to jot them down. He published several books under an assumed name before he put the Oz stories down on paper. He found the name for his mythical land in his engineering filing cabinet. They were inscribed on the letter guide of his file.

Their success was immediate and outstanding. Adults as well as children revelled [sic] in the characters he drew so skillfully. Musical extravaganzas were written on them. There were a host of toys based on such characters as the Wizard, Ozman [sic], Toto, the Scarecrow and their friends.

FLOW BECOMES STEADY. The flow of Oz books and other juvenile literature from Baum’s pen was steady almost until the time of his death. In all there were 14 books on the Land of Oz.

The fortieth anniversary of the conception of The Wizard of Oz has also served to bring into the literary spotlight Ruth Plumly Thompson, his successor as Royal Historian of Oz. She has modernized this most celebrated American fairyland, added new kingdoms and a host of characters and she placed 13 Oz books beside those of Baum.

When Mr. Baum died in 1919, he left the uncompleted manuscript for The Royal Book of Oz. His publishers looked about for someone to complete his work. They found Miss Thompson editing a children’s page for a newspaper syndicate. Her work seemed to be in the proper spirit.

Plenty of literary “ghosts,” named and unnamed, have edited uncompleted manuscripts left behind by a famous author’s untimely death. Then, in most cases, the “ghost” dies a natural death.

SPURRED BY LETTERS. Not so in the case of Miss Thompson. The Royal Book of Oz apparently complemented the popularity of its predecessors, and the publishers were besieged by thousands of letters from children who wanted to read more about Oz. Miss Thompson was then 21. She assumed the job of perpetuating the wonderful adventures of the already world-famed juvenile classic.

She was spurred by thousands of letters from her children readers, many of them full of suggestions for new adventures. She had a good grasp of the intricate geography and interrelationships of the characters in the Land of Oz and she went ahead with the work.

Because of his scientific training, Baum’s “Land of Oz” was filled with all sorts of amazing and often practical inventions. This scientific imagination was far outside the training of Miss Thompson, but she found ideas for other inventions from the suggestions of her readers.

PLAY ON WORDS. She succeeded because she never “wrote down to” the children. She believed her juvenile readers had keen sense of humor. She listed her rules for success this week:

“Children enjoy play on words more than adults do. They love proper names that mean things. They like plausible geography and exact locations. They want action and respond to imaginative appeal. But especially they appreciate beautiful words, even when they don’t entirely understand them.”

Which may account for some of the reasons why the Oz books, launched by Syracuse’s L. Frank Baum, and continued by Miss Thompson, now rank as among the most wholesome, imaginative influences in children’s literature.

A report in the New York Evening Post (Sept. 21, 1933) includes several of the blunders about Baum mentioned above and references a mysterious “long-eared hare” radio progenitor. The article also credits Thompson with development of an Oz map. We know that in the 1930s, she made additions to Baum’s pair of 1914 Tik-Tok endpaper maps in an effort to entice Reilly & Lee to reprint them as promotions; her hand-written notes were reprinted in the Spring 1982 Baum Bugle.

Land of “Oz” has Birthday

The fortieth anniversary of The Wizard of Oz is celebrated this week, and today Miss Ruth Plumly Thompson is feted with a tea because she served faithfully as a “Royal Historian of Oz,” a post she inherited when Frank Baum, originator of the story, died in 1919.

Forty years ago Frank Baum, an engineer, jotted down a story about the Wizard of Oz, made up from day to day to meet demands of the neighborhood children for fairy tales. Today the sales of books about the Land of Oz have topped five million, putting this American juvenile classic second in popularity only to Alice in Wonderland.

Mr. Baum loved children and wrote his stories to amuse them. He had published several under assumed names before he thought of the idea of the adventures of the famous Wizard, and he always maintained he was more surprised than anyone else at its phenomenal success. Because of his scientific training, his Land of Oz was filled with all sorts of amazing and often practical inventions—strange animals and gadgets. The antics of his long-eared hare proved to be, like some of Jules Verne’s fantasies, prophetic, in that this same hare was a crude forerunner of the modern radio. The name of “Oz” came from one of the letter guides in Baum’s engineering file.

Miss Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued writing the “Oz” books (by request of the publishers) in the past thirteen years, has added thirteen “Oz” books to the fourteen which Mr. Baum completed before his death.

“As a child I had practically learned the ‘Oz’ books by heart, so I had something of a grasp of the intricate geography and interrelationships of characters involved,” Miss Thompson explains. “I made a complete map of Oz, as completed by Mr. Baum, and went to work.”

Educators and women’s club leaders have applauded the radio dramatization of Dorothy’s adventures in the Land of Oz as the most wholesome, imaginative entertainment for children. And children themselves seem to enjoy the humor, the proper names that mean things, plausible geography and exact locations.

All the letters Miss Thompson receives are addressed “Dear Ruth,” and many of the children are eager to succeed her in the role of “Royal Historian of Oz.”

 

Other Party Guests

A United Press story appearing in the Binghamton (NY) Press (Sept. 26, 1933) and several other papers describes Thompson’s voluminous fan mail and mentions two other guests present at the Oz tea.

Wizard of Oz Has Birthday

The 40^th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz was celebrated here recently by literary leaders, educators, stage and radio stars ….

The guest of honor was Ruth Plumly Thompson, author of the 13 Oz books, which followed the 14 L. Frank Baum wrote before his death in 1919.

Miss Thompson is the only literary ghost who has continued a classic to new heights of success after the original author’s death. Taking over the notes left by Baum when she was 20, she had modernized this fairyland tale from year to year. She has received more than half a million letters from children and grown-ups asking questions about the Land of Oz. “Don’t ever write down to children and say ‘now, my dear little friends,’” advised Miss Thompson. “Remember that children have a keen sense of humor. They love proper names that mean things. They like plausible geography and exact locations.”

Among those arranging the celebration were Mrs. Sidonie Gruenberg, director of the Child Study association; Helen Ferris, editor, and Charles Dillingham, who produced the Wizard of Oz, in which Montgomery and Stone scored a hit nearly a generation ago.

Thompson’s receiving a “half a million letters” is certainly an exaggeration (again, do the math: that would amount to more than one hundred letters a day during her tenure as Royal Historian!). Examples of many of the charming letters she did receive were reprinted in the Autumn 1991 Baum Bugle.

Guest Sidonie Gruenberg (1881-1974) was director of the Child Study Association of America and author of a popular parenting book, Your Child Today and Tomorrow (1913). It is interesting to note that her A Selected List of Books for Children Cumulative Selection, 1909–1920 (Federation for Child Study, 1920) included no Baum or Oz titles. Also present was Helen Ferris, a close associate of Eleanor Roosevelt who served as editor-in-chief of the Junior Literary Guild from 1929 until her retirement in 1959.

 

Dillingham’s Wizard

The 1933 Oz tea party in New York included a special guest allegedly associated with the famous Wizard of Oz musical extravaganza, which had opened there three decades earlier. The Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Gazette (Sep. 25, 1933) and several other newspapers ran this story about him:

Out of Theatrical Past

At the reception given for Ruth Plumly Thompson, ghostwriter of the majority of the Oz books, one of the least noticed and by far most interesting guests was Charles Dillingham, the producer. Dillingham now is snowy white and frailer than he was about 30 years ago when he saw possibilities for the stage in the book The Wizard of Oz.

Dillingham tells an interesting story about the difficulty he had in getting the stage version of the book written. And then about the search he had for actors. Finally he hired a new team, a frisky couple of lads who took life in such a gay way that they disturbed rehearsals and caused even Dillingham to question his own sagacity in hiring them.

However, later events proved his wisdom. For they were, of course, the team of Montgomery and Stone.

Charles Dillingham (1868-1934), however, was not the producer of the Wizard extravaganza. The team of Montgomery and Stone, who played the Tin Man and Scarecrow, went into business with Dillingham after their Wizard run, performing in his production of Victor Herbert’s The Red Mill (1906-07). Dillingham reportedly was interested in Baum’s proposed Ozma of Oz extravaganza, which eventually was revised and produced in 1913 as The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. How he passed himself off as the Wizard producer at this tea is an amusing mystery.

 

Cello-phane-wrapped Fairyland

A report in the Dallas Morning News (Sept. 24, 1933) revealed that three performers from NBC’s Wizard of Oz radio show attended the tea: Nancy Kelly (Dorothy), Bill Adams (the Scarecrow), and Jack Smart (the Cowardly Lion). This news story also tells of Oz illustrations decorating the event. One has to wonder if the Chicago office of Reilly & Lee sent original Neill artwork to adorn the hotel walls.

Just Off the Press

Publisher Celebrates Anniversary of Oz Books

The fortieth anniversary of the publication of the Wizard of Oz was celebrated last week at a tea given at the Hotel Duane, New York City, by the Riley [sic] & Lee Company, present publishers of the Oz series. Ruth Plumly Thompson, author of the last thirteen excursions into that cello-phane-wrapped, sanitary fairyland which has almost displayed the primitive beauties and terrors of Hans Christen Andersen and old Grimm in the heart of the Nation’s children, was the guets [sic] of honor.

Illustrations from the earlier books of L. Frank Baum, original creator of Oz, who was succeeded at his death by Miss Thompson, were on the wall of the reception room and the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy, heroine of so many of the books, were there in the flesh of the performers who take their parts in the Oz radio hour. The books, of which there are twenty-seven, beginning with TheWizard of Oz, have sold more than 5,000,000 copies.

 

Oz Heads to Hollywood

A story in the New York Sun (Sept. 22, 1933) noted that Nancy Kelly was hoping to parlay her role as Dorothy in the NBC radio show into a part in a big-screen production of The Wizard of Oz:

Parties

There was a party too at the Book Center in the Hotel Duane, given by the Wizard of Oz Fortieth Anniversary Committee. Ruth Plumly Thompson, who has written thirteen of the twenty-seven Oz books since the death of L. Frank Baum in 1919; Charles Dillingham, producer of the play, and Nancy Kelly, the Dorothy of the radio dramatization, were guests of honor. This is mentioned only because Universal, it seems, is considering a movie version of the Wizard of Oz, and young Nancy, with fifty movie roles to her credit, hopes to play Dorothy on the screen as well as the radio.

In fact, Nancy Kelly (1921–1995) had only six movie credits as of 1933. She is perhaps best known for her role as the distraught mother in The Bad Seed (1956).

That Universal Studios was considering a film version of The Wizard of Oz in 1933 is an interesting note. Just three days after this story in the Sun, the Los Angeles Examiner reported that Samuel Goldwyn was planning to produce a Wizard film starring Eddie Cantor as the Scarecrow, W. C. Fields as the Wizard, and either Helen Hayes or Mary Pickford as Dorothy. By October 5, newspapers were reporting that Goldwyn had obtained the film rights from Frank J. Baum. As late as January 7, 1934, Nancy Kelly’s hometown newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, reported that both Paramount and Universal studios wanted Kelly (then thirteen years old) to play the role of Dorothy in a movie version of the Wizard. [These reports are “largely press agentry” observes MGM Oz historian John Fricke; neither studio is likely to have had real interest in producing The Wizard of Oz in 1934.]

Imagine being invited to an afternoon tea to celebrate Oz among a gathering of celebrity guests that included the second Royal Historian of Oz, literary elites, a future film star, and a legendary theater producer. Perhaps this was the first Oz convention for adults?

 

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