Vol. 53, no. 1 (Spring 2009)
| Editor-in-Chief | Sean P. Duffley |
| Production Editor | Marcus Mébès |
| Bibliography Editor | Peter E. Hanff |
| Review Editor | Joe Bongiorno |
| Contributing Editors | Angelica Carpenter, Scott Cummings, Atticus Gannaway, Sharon Ray |
Front cover art by Marcus Mébès, adapting Mabel Tebbits (Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch)
Back cover art by an unknown artist (The Wonderful Land of Oz)
Spring 2009 Selected Contents
This is a guide to the articles and reviews from the issue that will most benefit researchers, scholars, and collectors. The printed issue includes additional content such as news, editorial letters, and other commentary-based departments.
The Wise Witch and the Wonderful Wizard
Phyllis Ann Karr compares Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with one of its most famous antecedents, Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch (1901). Through careful analysis of different aspects of the texts and their authors’ intended themes, she suggests that the latter novel may have an undeserved bad reputation, and that it was the publishers who decided to so closely mimic Wizard through presentation alone. Includes many examples of illustrations from Zauberlinda and a biographical sketch of author Eva Katharine Clapp Gibson by Sean P. Duffley.
The “Vegetable Extravagance”: Denslow and West’s The Pearl and the Pumpkin
A Denslow Dummy
Ruth Berman carefully examines the rare extant dummy (working layout) of Paul West and W. W. Denslow’s The Pearl and the Pumpkin (1904), including rough sketches and pencil notes for illustration placement. This article features many comparisons of sketches to final, published layouts and is preceded by a two-page introduction from editor-in-chief Sean P. Duffley.
Denslow Under Scrutiny: Contemporary Reviews of The Pearl and the Pumpkin Extravaganza
In a slight change from the usual overall title of Oz Under Scrutiny, Sean P. Duffley looks at reviews of Denslow’s Pearl and the Pumpkin stage extravaganza contemporary with its original production.
Oz on a Budget: The Making and Selling of Barry Mahon’s The Wonderful Land of Oz
Marc Berezin provides a comprehensive look at the production and limited distribution of Barry Mahon’s infamous “kiddie” film adaptation, The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969).
The Wonderful Home of Oz
Sally Roesch Wagner describes the influence of suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage on her son-in-law, L. Frank Baum, and takes readers on a tour of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Home in Fayetteville, NY, in which Baum and his wife Maud were married. The Home was restored shortly after publication to become a museum centered around Gage, her life, and her writings. This is a spiritual successor of sorts to Wagner’s article, “The Wonderful Mother of Oz,” from Winter 2003.
In Memoriam
Mickey Carroll (actor, MGM’s The Wizard of Oz), Jerry Mendel (Munchkin convention stalwart), and Susan Koelle (Oz Club member and daughter of former editor-in-chief Barbara Koelle).
Reviews
Emerald City Confidential (computer game; reviewer Mike Conway)
The Tin Woodman of Oz (independent animated film; reviewer Nathan DeHoff)
The Book Collector’s Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz by Paul R. Bienvenue and Robert E. Schmidt (non-fiction; reviewer Bill Campbell)
Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story by Evan I. Schwartz (non-fiction; reviewer Marcus Mébès)
A Promise Kept in Oz by Dennis Anfuso (fiction; reviewer Joe Bongiorno)
The Mysterious Cavern of Oz by Marcus D. Mébès (fiction; reviewer Sue Henshon)