Tails of Oz Has Begun!

So this month has been a rough one and one of my New Year resolutions is to be more vigilant about posting on this blog, especially with a new book coming out later this Spring.

Recently, we re-released The Emerald Slippers of Oz with a new Introduction by Roger Baum, great grandson of L. Frank Baum; Royal Historian and author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). We were very pleased with his kind words and continued to be honored by his wonderful support of our work. It had always been my goal to return Oz to the original vision of L. Frank Baum, that of a child's tale of fantasy and adventure. His support and reviews by The Baum Bugle tell me that I have succeeded.

Now, the newest work of Oz has begun and last night, I was able to complete the first short story in our new compilation of short stories entitled: Tails of Oz.

In case you're curious, Tails of Oz will be a collection of short stories, with each story featuring an animal in Oz who has a tail... hence the unusual title.

Each story will also feature an illustration by a different artists with a goal of giving new and upcoming artists a venue to showcase their artistic ability.

This first story is about a Flying Sock Monkey of Oz and I am most pleased.

Happy New Year and a lovely Oz to all!!!

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison of Oz

Return of The Emerald Slipper of Oz!

It has been a few weeks since my last posting. I've attended 3 funerals in the last 6 weeks. In addition, the madness of the holidays, along with the sadness of observing the one-year anniversary of the passing of our beloved granddaughter, Heavenlee has drawn my attention away from current projects, including one for my good friend and co-author, Ron Baxley, Jr.
I intend to remedy that situation fairly soon and those of you who are looking forward to future works can expect volumes 1& 2 of our Oz/Wonderland series to make it to Kindle, Nook, Smashwords and other relevant e-book websites in time for Christmas.

The Emerald Slippers of Oz will also be arriving along those same e-book avenues as we ramp up for the holidays.

If you look in from the outside, it's often hard to discern why things take so long and progress seems maddeningly slow, but from my own personal point of view, Time passes in an instant and before I know it, months have gone by.

Such is the nature of Life.

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison of Oz

Facebook and Their Repression of Free Speech!

The most interesting thing just happened. I tried to post the following on the CNN Facebook page where they are promoting a Ted Turner documentary about all his great achievements.

"Don't forget Ted Turner's greatest achievement. He married Hanoi Jane, a.k.a: Jane Fonda, a traitor to this great nation. If you think I'm kidding, just Google Hanoi Jane or ask a Vietnam Vet."

I'm curious why CNN refuses to allow free speech on the FB page? Especially when it's only the truth? Perhaps CNN prefers the company of traitors than that of honest, decent Americans?

After several attempts to post this, I tried from my own FB page and now I can't post this information. It would seem that Facebook supports repression of free speech as well.  Go figure?

Here's a link to what I assume is a US Marine Corps website that gives some accurate information.

http://www.26thmarines.org/janefonda.html 

 Take it or leave it, we must never forget who supports this country and who does not.

Wizard of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz Silent Film

In my last post, I featured a film about the Land of Oz which was not produced by L. Frank Baum, but which was based on both his books and stage play.

Here is an example of how L. Frank Baum went about making a silent film adaptation of his book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914).

It is an odd film, to say the least, but L. Frank Baum had decided to further cash in on the popularity of his Oz children’s books by producing his own motion picture adaptations. This allowed him to control the cinematic productions, presumably to ensure they captured the tone of his books, but also to reap more profits than if he’d simply license the stories to another film company. The adaptations were inexpensively and imaginatively made, but the company lasted only a few months before production was suspended.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) features the familiar Baum characters, including Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion, and also other characters that are familiar to Oz book fans, including Scraps, the patchwork girl.

In a supporting role as Dorothy is Mildred Harris, only four years before she became the first wife of Charles Chaplin.

This was one of several films Baum produced and each has its own uniqueness and odd flavor. These were, after all, very different times than today and moving pictures was still in its infancy.

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison of Oz

Wizard of Oz and the Silent Films of L. Frank Baum

With the upcoming premier of the original 1939 MGM film, The Wizard of Oz; now in 3-D, I thought I would visit a number of topics related to L. Frank Baum, his books about Oz and his efforts to make them more appealing to the masses... and maybe make a buck or two in the process.

L. Frank Baum, of course, is the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and 13 other books (sequels) about the Land of Oz, as well as other children's books which weren't quite as well loved as his Oz stories.

The Oz Wiki describes L. Frank Baum's movie venture thus:

"In 1914, having moved to Hollywood years earlier, Baum started his own film production company, The Oz Film Manufacturing Company, which came as an outgrowth of the Uplifters. He served as its president, and principal producer and screenwriter. The rest of the board consisted of Louis F. Gottschalk, Harry Marston Haldeman, and Clarence R. Rundel. The films were directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, with casts that included Violet MacMillan, Vivian Reed, Mildred Harris, Juanita Hansen, Pierre Couderc, Mai Welles, Louise Emmons, J. Charles Haydon, and early appearances by Harold Lloyd and Hal Roach. Richard Rosson appeared in one of the films, whose younger brother Harold Rosson photographed The Wizard of Oz (1939). After little success probing the unrealized children's film market, Baum came clean about who wrote The Last Egyptian and made a film of it (portions of which are included in Decasia), but the Oz name had, for the time being, become box office poison and even a name change to Dramatic Feature Films and transfer of ownership to Frank Joslyn Baum did not help. Unlike with The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, Baum invested none of his own money in the venture, but the stress probably took its toll on its health."

Here's an example of how Oz was portrayed in the silent film era.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a 1910 silent fantasy film and the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input. It was created to fulfill a contractual obligation associated with Baum's personal bankruptcy caused by The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, from which it was once thought to have been derived. It was partly based on the 1902 stage musical, though much of the film deals with the Wicked Witch of the West, who does not appear in the musical

We'll take a look at the musical in our next installment about L. Frank Baum and The Wizard of Oz.

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison of Oz