Author: Jane Albright

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.  

Guest contributor J. Dianne Dotson takes us to the 2019 San Diego County Fair. This year marked my very first visit to the San Diego County Fair. I ordinarily would not sign up for long traffic lines to go to any fair, anywhere. But nostalgia crept in. I grew up close to the Appalachian Fair in Gray, Tennessee. So I had fond memories of cotton candy, nauseating rides, baby ducks, and seeing my friends. When I realized the Del Mar Fair had an Oz theme this year, I felt my past and present collide: my lifelong love for all things Oz, and my younger child’s field trip to the fair. I knew I had to go. To give you some context, the San Diego County fair in Del Mar, California is immense. It attracts a huge audience for its run over a period of weeks every year. So imagine my utter delight when I discovered that Oz would be on display everywhere…and it did not focus on the 1939 film, but on Baum’s actual Oz books! You can see them over the gate as you exit, as well as in an educational exhibit. There was an L. Frank Baum exhibit, and the backs of the displays were giant Oz book covers. Each display gave insightful information about Baum’s history, the stories, and the illustrators of his books. And the purist in me absolutely adored the silver shoe display! I think most people today do not realize that Dorothy’s shoes were actually silver in the books. I also loved the lighting of this space, which captured everything from the twister to the moods of various Oz locales. Very “Ozzy” characters roamed the fairgrounds as well. So much love and care were put into the San Diego County Fair Oz displays. I felt truly seen as a hardcore Oz fan, and absolutely delighted that people of all ages learned more about L. Frank Baum and his Oz books. My thanks to Dianne for sharing her photos and report.  Jane

Best Bill Beem moment ever? Cheering as he accepted the Oz Club’s 2019 L. Frank Baum Memorial Award last weekend in Louisiana. Since meeting Bill at a Club convention in Castle Park, Michigan, in 1981 he has never ceased to amaze me. Often because when the Club really needs help⏤any kind of help⏤he’s the one who steps up. In 1999 the Club’s centennial convention was looming. There was a 30-foot wide display case in a hallway that would be a perfect Oz display.  Not only did Bill agree to fill it, he visited the facility in advance, found a SECOND 30-foot case on another floor and filled both of them! His public library displays in Michigan, Club convention displays, and loan of material to a multi-collector display at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures here in Kansas City just continue to demonstrate the generosity that distinguishes him as a collector.  Pieces from his collection were included in the Wizard of Oz Collector’s Treasury, too. And he’s provided checklists to the Bugle for things like Oz glasses.   Then, set aside his collecting for a minute. He’s still stepping up!  Like when Fred Meyer’s death left two apartments crammed full of Club publications, mailings and materials that needed to be sorted, inventoried, packed and shipped. There was Bill, diving in to make order of the chaos.  With his wife Anita he chaired the 2005 Ozmapolitan convention. He was both a director-at-large for the Club, and served as our recording secretary for several years.  Currently he receives all our incoming mail, inputs the details of every single member into the  spreadsheets that serve as our membership database, participates in both monthly conference calls and the annual board meeting. His written reports come complete with charts so we who read them can get info at a glance.  Bill’s the person who sends you renewal notices (and who lets you know when you’ve inadvertently renewed so many times you’re good through 2023…) He mails Bugles to those who join later in the year, and handles all the questions mailed to our post office box. In recent years Bill has begun attending public Oz events to represent the Club and to recruit members. He’s at Oz-Stravaganza, the Michigan and Ohio Oz festivals, Autumn in Oz, and more. Lynn Beltz who works many of those events with him swears he is personally responsible for all the members we sign up. For a little perspective, our 2018 membership increased by more than 40% over 2017 once Bill’s grin became the face of the Oz Club at these public events.  I can think of other moments where we’d have been stumped without his help, but I suspect this run down helps you understand why he rose to the surface of the current nominee slate. The L. Frank Baum Memorial Award sometimes honors someone like Gregory Maguire who brought a whole new audience to Oz, or Willard Carroll whose productions and collections-based books have given more traditional Oz fans so much to enjoy.  But some years the winner is honored for the unselfish, generous support that keeps our Club strong. Bill has been that faithful supporter, and I’m thrilled he’s been recognized for all he’s done. PS. Even as I wrote this draft he offered to input information on 500 members into a new online program supporting our shop.ozclub.org store.  There’s no end to our appreciation for him!