Author: Jane Albright

The Oz Club has published three Baum Bugles every year since 1957. That’s more than 180 issues.  Until now, the most popular icon of Oz, the Ruby Slippers, has never appeared on our cover.  The image used for our current issue was provided by the Smithsonian to illustrate a feature story about the famous shoes. At the eleventh hour, that article’s writer, Jonathan Shirshekan, was contacted about an additional interview. Bugle editor-in-chief, Sarah Crotzer, opted to publish his work in two shorter pieces so Jonathan could incorporate the new material without further delay of this issue. Personally, I’m thrilled the Ruby Slippers are finally the “cover story” of the Oz Club’s journal and astonished that it didn’t happen many years ago. One of Sarah’s intents as editor is to always have the front cover illustrate a feature story, and to use the back and inside covers to extend other content.  For this issue’s covers, there’s also a stage set designed by our “Adventures in Oz” contributor, a page advertising books Bill Thompson has covered in an extensive bibliography, and one of the fun pieces of original art recently exhibited at the Animazing Gallery in Las Vegas. Additional stories include a report from a 1939 MGM publicity tour. Did you know the two ponies that pulled Dorothy’s carriage through Munchkinland toured the country? Jay Scarfone and Bill Stillman did, and they’ve provided Bugle readers with previously unpublished photos from the tour. Past Bugle editor Scott Cummings continues his Oz Under Scrutiny series with an intriguing look at a “tea party” Reilly and Lee hosted for Ruth Plumly Thompson. You’ll also find the conclusion to some research I did a while back about Oz puppetry (Part One was in the Spring 2018 Bugle*), as well as timely news and reviews sections—although one review by Michael Patrick Hearn, of Behind the Iron Curtain, is as long as a feature story! Included in the mailing are two other pieces.  The Oz Gazette is our children’s newsletter edited by Nick Campbell, and Dave Kelleher  provides another delightful children’s project in an ongoing series of hands-on fun. You’ll find an apology from Sarah in her letter from the editor tied to this excruciating delay. As president, I believed for the best while she climbed hurdle after medical hurdle these past months. We’ve never tried to institute a “Plan B” to keep the Bugle on schedule when its editor is down for the count. Shared files, more rigid deadlines, and “stocking up” on finished content that to use as needed are steps we’re taking behind the scenes in that direction. For now, we are working to get the Autumn and Winter 2018 Bugles on the fast track. You’ll be relieved to know a good 20 pages of Autumn is already in layout, and Sarah has lots of content for Winter in hand. Wish a little Oz magic our way and we should have delivery lining up with appropriate seasons before your 2019 memberships are up. If you have an idea for an article to contribute—be it one page or 10—drop Sarah a note at [email protected] and make the suggestion.  We want the Bugle to appeal to our wide and diverse Oz-loving membership; your contribution might be exactly what will help that happen. *Puppet fan?  There could be an entire book about Oz puppetry!  I had no idea how much there’d be to share. Too much, it turns out for the Bugle. We uploaded a few topical pieces as Baum Bugle Extras to our website if you’d like to read more.

I’ve been hearing about Ryan Jay’s condo in Milwaukee for a bit more than a year.  He’d describe the Oz colors going on the walls, or the arrangement of Oz art. It all sounded like a magical must-stop. This was my chance.  When we first met, Ryan was a 10-year Oz enthusiast attending his first Oz Club convention. Today he’s is a film critic, syndicated radio host, and all-round on-camera personality in Milwaukee. Through the years his profession has allowed him to interview some amazing performers and personalities associated with Oz; he’s often written about those interviews in the Baum Bugle or shared footage with Oz festival and convention audiences. He’s currently working on a documentary about “Over the Rainbow.” I’m grateful to have him on the Oz Club board of directors.  We met for lunch and quickly fell into our usual pattern of non-stop Oz talk about Oz collecting, Club business, mutual friends, and our most recent individual Oz experiences.  My Oz adventures aren’t quite so celebrity-studded as his, but I live vicariously through his visits with Lorna Luft, Kristin Chenoweth, and Todrick Hall. Before the day was out we’d also Skyped with Emma Ridley and Aaron Harburg. Eventually we headed home.  There is no place like it. Stepping over the rainbow rug inside the door, I was stopped in my tracks. There was the Sawhorse!  Centered happily in the living room was a wooden sawhorse Ryan bought at that first Zion, Illinois, Oz convention in 1985.   I tore myself away to let Ryan lead my tour through his collection, which is tastefully displayed throughout his home. Much of it was in his office which would double as my guest room, but from Oz mugs in the kitchen to paintings in the bathrooms I spotted Oz everywhere.   He is also a Harry Potter enthusiast, and has posters and ephemera from his career and favorite films all cheerfully displayed. It was just a mini-immersion into his passions and profession to visit his home—a Winkie spear from a local stage production, leaning against a poster quoting him as a film critic. Ryan fired up the massively large wall-mounted television to let MGM’s classic Wizard of Oz roll as background to our conversation.  We watched a few unusual Oz films he’d recently uncovered online. Back home we consolidated three partial Return to Oz games I had with me into one complete playable game for his collection, because it always comes back to Oz. A late night ensued.  I needed to get started on the long drive to Kansas City, but Ryan first wanted to show me that portion of his collection that was still at his childhood home.  We headed that way after brunch at a nearby restaurant.   Passing walls lined with framed photos of Ryan performing in stage musicals, we worked our way to the basement and were laughing in no time. Ryan hadn’t looked at some of these boxes in years, and once we got started it was just too amusing.  We had to open more. “My Life” one would be labeled. “$MILLIONS WORTH OF OZ” in screaming all caps on another—that turned out to be old Baum Bugles, well-worn Mego dolls, an Oz lap robe, and some of his own early Oz art.  “$5000 in Oz Merchandise” read another, clearly aimed to keep his parents from tossing the contents as worthless.  Most were prominently marked to “Never Throw Away!!!” with a series of exclamation marks. Rummaging through the games, books, toys, and memorabilia, Ryan found a few things to take home. When I admired a piece of artwork he promptly gave it to me. We consolidated things a bit more efficiently, and I found myself eyeing the clock.  I was facing a 10-hour drive home with just one more stop. To paraphrase Dorothy, it’s always hard to say “goodbye.”

Road trip Day 3 started with a detour. Garry Parrett had encouraged me to see the antique mall in Appleton where there was a Glinda figurine I’d likely want. He started listing other things he’d just seen there and I was a goner. Once Glinda was safely in the car—along with a Denslow plate, a couple foreign translations, three Ruthellen Oz dolls, and a random OzKin of the soldier with green whiskers who looked too lonely to leave on the shelf—I was back en route with a lighter wallet. In my next stop, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, I had plans to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the classic MGM film with Laura DeNooyer. I met Laura when something led me to a lovely entry on her blog about her visit to one of my favorite places, Chittenango, NY, birthplace of L. Frank Baum and now home to the All Things Oz museum. We’d exchanged a few pleasantries online and I’d encouraged her to stop in KC if she visited the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, too. She was researching a book she’s writing that includes L. Frank Baum as a character, so Oz/Baum research trips were in her crosshairs.  Her KC “stop” turned into a wonderful visit of many hours. We discovered much common ground and I found I had a new friend. She even spends some of each summer in Baum’s old summer stomping grounds, Macatawa! I was delighted when a short story version of her forthcoming book won the Oz Club’s 2019 Oz Fiction Contest. After dropping my bags at her home, and digging into a delicious lunch of bratwurst grilled by Laura’s husband, we headed to Oconomowoc armed with folding chairs, water bottles and lap robes for after-dark. The town’s main street was blocked off and there were already thousands of chairs lined up. I mean a daunting, curb to curb crush of chairs as far as the eye could see.  We took a risk and kept moving forward hoping to find a spot closer to the screen. Eureka!  There it was, only about a third of the way back from the screen. Claiming space with our chairs we then wandered through the vendors and activities filling the street and surrounding area. People in costumes — some outlandish — were everywhere. So many excited kids! A stage was set up for competitive games, and for a costume contest scheduled just before the film. Some booths offered hands-on activities for kids. Lots of reporters milling around and cameramen logging B-roll. Yes, I posed for a photo with the city’s Oz marker. Yes, I got the t-shirt. The main event before the main event was the unveiling of outdoor Oz sculptures. The Wizard was already unveiled and pressed into service as a photo op.  We did our best to position ourselves to see the ribbon cutting, but it was a losing battle. The speaker had a microphone and was saying something, but from our spot I’ve no idea what. My guess is thanking everyone who raised funds or otherwise made it possible. They cut a large ribbon, then pulled away tarps that were covering Dorothy and friends.  Lots of cheers. Lots of photos snapped.  The crowd regrouped to pose for keepsake photos. I ran into my friend Sue Boland briefly who just moved to Wisconsin from the Chittenango area.  Fun to see her; it had been some years.  Finally it was film time. The announcer described Oconomoc as the site of the film’s “midwest premier,” perpetuating, with a fresh twist, the town’s less-than-accurate claim to Oz fame. Then he called Wisconsin’s own Meinhardt Raabe the “Mayor of Munchkinland.” So … well… hmm.  It’s all about family fun, right?  Everyone was too busy eating kettle corn to take notes for an Oz history test.  Great movie, by the way. (Spoiler: she wakes up in the end.) We stopped for frozen custard on the way home—another Wisconsin specialty I’d happily have again. For the third night in a row I was up late jabbering away about Oz. Eventually sleep was in order and morning called for me to get back on the road. After coffee outdoors on the deck (beautiful weather this entire trip), I pulled a bunch of Bugles Laura didn’t have out of my packed car for her, and set my GPS for destination Day Four: Ryan Jay.  

The Land of Oz Museum in Wausaukee, Wisconsin, is jaw-dropping fun. Garry Parrett started his collection with a single collector’s plate and in 30 years it’s easily grown to be one of the largest Oz collections in the country. While most of us with lots of Oz material fill the corners of our homes with it, Garry managed to acquire a vacant two-story American Legion building to display his. And what a legacy he has built! There’s the gobsmacked moment when you first walk in and stand on the hand-hooked map-of-Oz area rug for a slow pivot. Floor to ceiling Oz everywhere. Walls covered. A row of albums circles the entire room at the ceiling like cove modeling. Displays, cases, and mannequins fill the space.  Most of Garry’s visitors have seen little—if any—of this material before. I’m a different nut to crack, so his tour with me focused on unusual items, clever displays, and acquisition stories tied to friends we have in common.  I loved spotting things I’d not known about, or had heard of but not seen before. A few delightful surprises included the discovery that a 1970s metal wastebasket was made in three nested sizes!  And his Tales of the Wizard Dorothy was about half the size of my own. I had no idea there was more than one size. (Now I wonder about the Socrates and Dandy Lion dolls in that set.  Did Rick Goldschmidt have a small Dandy Lion? The hunt is on.) Garry had a great chalkboard with Denslow-style witches that had a clock in it.  And that Land of Oz plastic tea set I’ve never even seen in person was still in its original plastic. His Story-lites Christmas bulb covers were still in their original box, too. There were over-sized puzzles. A five-gallon can of Tin Woodsman Wood Preserver. Just something to see at every turn. Garry filled the building’s kitchen with cookie jars, glasses, dishes, and tea sets. What were once bathrooms are now Christmas and Halloween Oz displays. A back room is packed with games, puzzles, and toys—the 1923 Parker Bros. Wonderful Game of Oz worked in with 1939 British puzzles, and pieces of more recent vintage. Think you’re about done with the tour?  Think again. There’s a whole ’nuther floor yet to explore! The stair landing area is piled with plush toys of all sizes.  Then downstairs the real toy show begins. Children’s playthings are just everywhere tucked in and around child-size Oz furniture. There’s even a small bed covered in Oz sheets and blankets. By the time he’d pointed out everything he thought would be of particular interest, I’d seen stage-used props from Wicked, shelves of Oz beauty products, store merchandising stands, a run of Ron Lee sculptures (he still needs Toto!), and a case filled with Ruby Slippers.   We eventually wrapped up to find dinner and call it a day.  But what a day I’d had.  I suspect it’s the dream of every collector to have this much space, although, speaking as someone who has more space than many, Oz can fill as much space as you can give it.  I think maybe it multiplies overnight.  Thank you, Garry, for a glorious time. And thanks for stamping my Oz Passport as I begin to keep track of my Oz adventures.  Next up? Oconomowoc, Wisconsin!

Day Two:  I’m off to Appleton, Wisconsin.  Although the Oz Club pulled loads of material out of Fred Meyer’s storage decades ago, he had wanted some publications on hand to send to his correspondents.  His sister Nancy and her daughter Catherine still have boxes and shelves of Club publications in a storage unit. I’ve known for a couple years that they would like to see the Club take it and get it back into circulation. This trip was my chance.   I was a couple hours into catching up with Nancy and Catherine when they proposed we move to the library.  Nancy’s Oz collection, much of it what remains from Fred, was a delight to see. There was original Bill Eubank art that I hope Sarah Crotzer can use in the Baum Bugle, and two fun pieces Nancy wanted me to have. One, an unsigned figurine of Ozma someone made Fred, and the other a fun tin globe to which the map of Oz had been applied.  I was grateful and delighted, of course.  As Catherine is telling me there’s a matching Glinda figurine at an antique mall booth she manages, and I’m taking pictures of Bill’s art, Nancy slipped out and came back with one of Fred’s treasures. I remembered it from an old show-and-tell session. Ruth Plumly Thompson had given him her monogrammed silver dinner bell, the inspiration of the one that Jinnicky carries in her Oz books.  He kept ringing it, Fred had said, but the magic must only work in Oz because no one showed up with trays of treats.  We shared the story reminiscing about Fred until Nancy said she wanted me to have it.  I was speechless. I am still speechless. I will treasure it always.  Time was passing and I had yet to really load the publications they wanted me to take. Catherine also was selling me a dresser she’d made that featured a Denslow image of the Cowardly Lion. We put it in first, pulling the drawers out to stack on top.  At her storage unit we then filled the base of the dresser and every remaining nook and cranny around it. Bugles and Bugles and Bugles. Club publications we’ve since reformatted to be consistent with Reilly & Lee Oz books, so we no longer offer them in this format in our online store. An armload of Eric Shanower graphic novels. An armload of the Fricke/Scarfone/Stillman 50th anniversary MGM book. Bags with the miniature version of Musical Fantasies of L. Frank Baum. I’d open a small box and find enameled Oz flag pins. It was just a vast supply of materials the Club now can give away to promote membership at festivals, to use as prizes, or to give attendees at Club conventions. I’d barely made a dent, but the car was full.  I  couldn’t express my gratitude to them enough, and those of you reading it will just have to imagine what a delight it is to have the coffers filled with material we can use to promote the Club. With Catherine’s encouragement to drive back through Appleton the next day to see the Glinda figurine when the antique mall was open, I headed north to Wausaukee, anticipation mounting, on what would be the second half of my second day. That stop, at the Land of Oz Museum, will be my next President’s Corner blog entry.  

Plane time is great time for blogging. Particularly when you’re off on an Oz adventure and haven’t even blogged about the last one yet. That trip took me to the homes of Oz friends in the Chicago/Wisconsin area as two opportunities turned into four, then six. Day One: The Oz collection of Charles Van Wissink (we called him Woot) was auctioned in Addison, Illinois, in July. I won three lots, including his archive of Oz Club related material.  When I was notified my 63 pounds of boxes (!) would come with a $248 shipping bill, my friend Steve Smith offered to pick them up on his lunch hour, instead. He’d store them until I had reason to drive his way.  Steve’s illustrating a story I wrote, and I’m always happy to see him and his wife Kris. I started looking at my calendar and a month later I headed north.  At Smiths’, Steve led me on an exploration of his extensive, diverse collections and art before we started sorting my five Oz cartons. The books were as I’d expected. I was happy to find a few early Bugles for my personal collection in Woot’s archive as well as many duplicate copies I know will quickly find homes in the hands of friends. (I already sent a box of early issues off to our current Bugle editor Sarah Crotzer.) He had a few signed books from the 60s and 70s, and a pile of organized correspondence — including 1979 letters to and from me! Tucked inside books were clipping and ephemera. An invitation to the gallery exhibit of Michael Herrings paintings was inside a Del Ray, for instance. There was a whole press kit of Del Ray material, including a folded poster I don’t think I’d ever seen, and advertising fliers for the Reilly and Lee “white” editions. I was amused by books he had signed via correspondence.   The most exciting bit for me was the discovery of the 1927 coloring contest Oz map. I didn’t have one and wanted to include it in the Club’s 2020 calendar that I’m currently putting together.  I briefly despaired over a missing corner, then Steve discovered it in the bottom of the box. So, big score! There were reference books and reading reprints I already have boxed up to ship to the All Things Oz library or to give away to kids in Wamego next month.  It was just treasure. Steve and I caught up as friends do. He gave me copies of his recent projects, and I picked his brain on a few publishing topics (his profession). He even offered to help the Club with fundraising for the East Aurora convention next summer.  My trip was off to a terrific start. 

Instead of words about the Oz Club’s convention, held just outside New Orleans in June, I’m opting to serve up a photo gallery. Thanks to Mike Gessel, who takes MUCH better photos than I do! If you have photos from anything I’ve missed that would be fun to share, send them my way and I’ll work them in. Thank you again to all who attended. And particular thanks to Karen and David Diket. This convention was their’s from start to finish, and I am so very grateful for all the thought, energy, and care they put into it.  Click the photo below to get started.