Lyman Frank Baum biography. L f baum the amazing in the wizard of oz baum lyman frank biography

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L F Baum

Baum L F

Amazing in The Wizard of Oz
Baum L.F.

Amazing in The Wizard of Oz.

Preface

American writer Lyman Frank Baum /1856-1919/ entered the history of world literature as the creator of one of the most famous and most widely read fairy-tale series. Like the books of L. Carroll and A. Milne, J. R. Tolkien and J. Barry, Baum’s stories have crossed national literary boundaries: more and more new generations of the inhabitants of our planet are being brought up on them.

Baum's characters - the girl Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion - in their popularity can compete with such favorites of children and adults as Alice and Winnie the Pooh, hobbits and Peter Pan.

For almost a century now, the works of the Court Historian of Oz, as Baum liked to call himself, have been published and republished in America, translated into dozens of foreign languages, and plays, musicals, and films have been staged based on them. Civilization does not stand still Newest technologies change our lives beyond recognition, but intricate computer games and super series are not able to overshadow Baum’s fairy tales, because they talk about the Most Important and Necessary - about strong friendship, about self-confidence, about the ability to win victories in the most difficult circumstances. Baum's books are full of amazing characters and incredible adventures, but the main thing in them is amazing warmth, cheerful kindness, optimism.

The famous American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, an ardent fan of Baum’s series, noted that these tales are “all sweet buns, honey and summer holidays". Carroll's Wonderland in comparison with the Land of Oz "a cold porridge of arithmetic at six in the morning, dousing with ice water and long sitting at a desk." According to Bradbury, intellectuals prefer Wonderland, and dreamers choose the Land of Oz: "Wonderland is what what we are, and the Land of Oz is what we would like to become."

The name of this magical country, according to the Baum family legend, was born by chance. On a May evening in 1898, Baum was telling his and neighboring children another fairy tale, making it up as he went. Someone asked where all this was happening. Baum looked around the room, looked at the home file cabinet with drawers A-N and O-Z and said, "In the Land of Oz."

“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was published in 1900 and was so loved by readers that Baum decided to continue the story about the wonderful country. Readers were looking forward to new stories, but after releasing the sixth fairy tale in 1910, the author decided to take a little rest. He published two fairy tales about the girl Grotto and Captain Bill, which were generally well received by readers, but they could not imagine that the story of the Land of Oz was completed. Letters of protest were sent, with proposals to return to their favorite characters. Actually, fans of Sherlock Holmes reacted in much the same way when Conan Doyle rebelled and decided to part with his hero. The insidious plans of both writers were doomed to failure. Readers prevailed - both Conan Doyle and Baum returned to their series.

Baum left fourteen tales about the Land of Oz. Perhaps he would have written even more, but death from a heart attack confused all the cards of the Court Historian of Oz. However, the reader's love turned the period into an ellipsis. Also in 1919, the Reilly and Lee publishing house, which specialized in publishing stories about the Land of Oz, commissioned twenty-year-old Philadelphia journalist Ruth Plumley Thompson to continue the series.

Ruth Thompson completed her task well, and as for the number of titles that came from her pen, here she surpassed Baum himself. The tradition of “continuation” did not die out - a variety of writers took up the baton. The illustrator of most of Baum's lifetime publications, John Neal, also tried his luck in this area, offering readers three of his stories.

A new surge of interest in Baum occurred at the end of the fifties. On the initiative of a thirteen-year-old schoolboy from New York, the International Wizard of Oz Club was created in 1957. The club still exists today and has its own periodical, which, as you might guess, talks about the details of life in the magical Land of Oz and the latest publications on this burning topic.

In 1939, as Americans lined up outside movie theaters to watch the Hollywood version of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland as the Road, Alexander Volkov retold the series' first fairy tale in Russian. In general, he adhered very carefully to the original, although he omitted several scenes (the episode with the Warring Trees, the story of the Flying Monkeys, a visit to the Porcelain Land). Subsequently, Volkov proposed his own series, inspired by Baum’s motifs.

The real discovery of Baum in Russia, however, occurred in the nineties. The first sign here was a book published in 1991 in "Moscow Worker", which included the second, third and thirteenth tales of the series, and a little later a translation of "The Wizard" was proposed, where Volkov's Ellie gave way to Baumov's Dorothy and the text appeared in its original form - without cuts or additions.

This publication is the most complete of all ever undertaken in Russia. Firstly, this is the entire Baum series:

1. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" /1900/

2. "The Country of Oz" /1903/.

3. "Ozma from Oz" /1907/.

4. "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" /1908/.

5. "Journey to Oz" /1909/.

6. "The Emerald City of Oz" /1910/.

7. "The Little Girl from Oz" /1913/.

8. "Tik-Tok from Oz" /1914/.

9. "The Scarecrow of Oz" /1915/.

10. "Rinkitink in the Land of Oz" /1916/.

11. "The Lost Princess of Oz" /1917/.

12. "The Tin Woodman of Oz" /1918/.

13. "The Magic of Oz" /1919/.

14. "Glinda from Oz" /1920/.

Secondly, readers have the opportunity to get acquainted with the “Sea Fairies”, where the characters of the series operate, although the Land of Oz itself remains behind the scenes. In addition, the fairy tale “Jenny Jick in the Land of Oz” by illustrator John Neal Baum is also published.

Baum did not prepare for publication full meeting works dedicated to the Land of Oz - otherwise he might have paid attention to some discrepancies in the interpretation of events, including the origin of the magical country itself. We, however, did not dare to interfere with Baum’s texts and left everything in accordance with the original.

^ THE AMAZING WIZARD FROM THE COUNTRY 03

1. HURRICANE

The girl Dorothy lived in a small house in the middle of the vast Kansas steppe. Her Uncle Henry was a farmer and Aunt Em ran the farm. The house was small because the boards for its construction had to be transported by cart from afar. It had four walls, a roof, a floor and one single room in which there was an old rusty stove, a sideboard, a table, several chairs and two beds. In one corner there was a large bed for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and in the other there was a small bed for Dorothy. There was no attic or basement in the house, except for a hole under the floor where the family fled from hurricanes.

In these places, hurricanes were so fierce that it was easy for them to sweep a small house out of their path. There was a hatch on the floor in the middle of the room, and below it was a ladder that led to the shelter.

Coming out of the house and looking around, Dorothy saw only the steppe around. It stretched to the very horizon: a dull plain - not a tree, not a house. The sun in these parts was so hot that the plowed soil under its burning rays instantly turned into a gray caked mass. The grass also quickly turned gray, like everything around. Once Uncle Henry painted the house, but the sun began to crack the paint, and the rains finally washed it away, and now it stood the same dull gray as everything else. When Aunt Em first came to these places, she was pretty and cheerful. But the scorching sun and fierce hurricanes did their job: the perky sparkles quickly disappeared from her eyes, and the blush from her cheeks. The face turned gray and haggard. Aunt Em lost weight and forgot how to smile. When the orphaned Dorothy first came to this house, her laughter frightened Aunt Em so much that she shuddered and clutched her heart every time. And now, as soon as Dorothy laughed, Aunt Em looked at her in surprise, as if not understanding what could be funny in this gray life.

As for Uncle Henry, he never laughed. From morning to evening he worked as hard as he could, and he had no time for fun. He, too, was all gray - from his beard to his rough shoes. He looked stern and concentrated, and he rarely spoke.

Only the dog Toto entertained Dorothy, preventing her from succumbing to the dullness that reigned around her. Toto was not gray. He had charming silky black fur, a funny black nose and small, perky black eyes that sparkled with merriment. Toto could play from morning to evening, and Dorothy doted on her faithful friend.

But today they had no time for games. Uncle Henry went out onto the porch, sat down on the step and looked intently at the sky. It was grayer than usual. Dorothy, who was standing next to Toto in her arms, also looked up at the sky. Aunt Em was in the house washing dishes. Far to the north the wind howled quietly, and the tall grass near the horizon swayed in waves. The same quiet howl was heard from the opposite, southern side. Uncle Henry and Dorothy turned around at the new noise and saw that there, too, the grass was agitated, like the sea.

Uncle Henry stood up from the step.

There's a hurricane coming, Em! - he shouted to his wife. - I’ll go and see how the cattle are doing! - And he ran to the stalls where there were cows and horses.

Aunt Em left the dishes and walked to the door. One quick glance was enough for her to understand that trouble was approaching.

Dorothy! - she called. - Alive in the shelter!

At that moment, Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed. The girl rushed to catch him. Frightened Aunt Em opened the hatch and quickly began to go down the stairs to the shelter. Finally Dorothy caught Toto and decided to follow Aunt Em. But before she had time to take a step, the wind howled terribly and the small house shook so much that the girl lost her balance and sat down on the floor.

It was then that the incredible happened.

The house turned around its axis several times, and then began to slowly rise into the air, like a balloon.

Just in the place where Dorothy’s house stood, two winds, north and south, collided, and from this collision a fierce hurricane was born. In the very center of a hurricane it is usually quite quiet, but because the air currents pressed harder and harder on the walls of the house, he rose higher and higher until he found himself on the crest of a huge air wave, which carried him like a light feather.

It was pitch dark outside the windows, and the wind howled like a wild beast. In fact, it was even pleasant to fly. Apart from the fact that at first the house twisted a little, and once it tilted very strongly, Dorothy felt only a slight rocking, as in a cradle.

But Totoshka clearly didn’t like it. With a loud bark, he rushed around the room around the hostess, and she sat quietly on the floor and tried to understand what would happen next.

One day Totoshka got lazy and fell into an open hatch. At first Dorothy thought he was gone forever. But then I saw that the edge of a black ear was sticking out of the hatch. The air pressure prevented the dog from falling to the ground. Dorothy crawled to the hatch, grabbed Toto by the ear and pulled him back. Then she slammed the hatch shut so that it couldn't happen again.

Time passed, and finally Dorothy calmed down completely. But she was lonely, and besides, the wind howled with such force that Dorothy was afraid of going deaf. At first she thought that the house would fall and she and Toto would fall to death, but nothing like that happened. Then Dorothy forgot about her worries and decided to hope for the best. She crawled along the shaking floor to her crib, climbed onto it, and Toto perched next to her. Despite the fact that the house was rocking and the wind was roaring with all its might, Dorothy closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

^ 2. CONVERSATION WITH MUNCHUNKS

Dorothy woke up with a shock so strong and sudden that, if she had not been lying on a soft bed, she would have been seriously hurt. The girl quickly pulled herself together and began to think about what happened. Toto buried his cold nose in her face and whined. Dorothy sat up in bed and discovered that she was no longer flying anywhere. The sun was shining brightly through the window. Dorogi got out of bed and, accompanied by faithful Toto, went to the door and opened it.

What she saw made her eyes widen and she screamed in surprise.

The hurricane destroyed her house - I must say, quite gently for a hurricane in a charming country. All around there is a green lawn with fruit trees strewn with ripe and juicy fruits. Amazing flowers grew everywhere. Birds sat on the trees and bushes and sang loudly. A clear stream ran not far away, whispering something very pleasant - at least that’s what it seemed to the girl who had lived her whole life in the dry, arid steppe.

Dorothy stood and admired these wonders and did not notice how a group very close to her strange people. They were about the same height as Dorothy, but it was still clear that they were adults. The three men and a woman were dressed in fancy costumes. They all wore tall, pointed hats with bells that jingled melodiously as they walked. The men's hats were blue, the women's were white. She also wore a white cloak that hung loosely from her shoulders and was decorated with stars that sparkled in the sun like little diamonds. The men were dressed all in blue and had sparkling boots with blue over the knee boots. Dorothy decided that they were about the same age as Uncle Henry. Two of them had beards. And the woman was older. Her face was all wrinkled, and she moved with some difficulty.

Approaching the house on the threshold of which Dorothy stood, the newcomers began to whisper to each other, as if they were afraid to come closer. Finally the little old lady came up to Dorothy and bowed low to her and said in a pleasant voice:

Welcome to the Land of Munchkins, O noble sorceress! We thank you very much for killing the Wicked Witch of the East and freeing the Munchkins from slavery!

Who doesn’t know Volkov’s fairy tale about the girl Ellie, who ended up in a magical land? But not everyone knows that in reality Volkov’s work is just a free retelling books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Lyman Frank Baum. In addition to this fairy tale, Baum dedicated thirteen more works to the Oz universe; in addition, other, no less interesting children's fairy tales came from his pen.

Baum Lyman Frank: biography of his early years

Frank was born in May 1856 in the family of a cooper in the small American town of Chittenango. Due to heart problems in the baby, doctors predicted that he would short life- 3-4 years, but, to everyone’s surprise, the boy outlived all his brothers and sisters.

Soon after Frank was born, his father became rich and was able to provide for his children Better conditions for growing up. Baum spent his entire childhood with private teachers teaching him.

Having become interested in books early on, Baum soon read his father’s entire huge library, which made him proud. Baum's favorite authors were Dickens and Thackeray.

In 1868 the boy was sent to military academy in Peekskill. True, Frank soon persuaded his parents to take him home.

One day, a guy received a miniature printing machine designed for publishing newspapers as a birthday gift from his father. Together with his brother, they began publishing a family newspaper. The Baums' home newspaper published not only chronicles family life, but also the first fairy tales written by young Frank.

From the age of seventeen, the writer was seriously interested in philately and tried to publish his own magazine dedicated to this topic. He later worked as a bookstore manager. His next hobby was breeding purebred chickens. Baum even dedicated a book to this topic - it was published just when the guy turned twenty. However, later he lost interest in chickens and became interested in the theater.

Baum's personal life

After spending some time with the traveling theater, Lyman Frank Baum, at the age of twenty-five, met the beautiful Maud, and a year later they got married. The parents of Frank's beloved were not very fond of their dreamy son-in-law, but his father's wealth forced them to agree to this marriage.

Frank and Maude had four sons, whom Baum loved very much and often told bedtime stories of his own composition.

Over time, he began to record them, and soon published them - and so began writing career Bouma.

Successful writing career

After the success of the first children's book, a couple of years later Baum wrote a sequel, Father Goose: His Book. However, as he watched his own children grow up, he realized that it was necessary to compose a fairy tale for older children who were no longer interested in reading about the adventures of geese in the barnyard. This is how the idea arose to write about the girl Dorothy, who accidentally found herself in the fairy-tale land of Oz.

In 1900, the debut tale of the cycle about the land of Oz was published. This work instantly gained popularity, and tens of thousands of children began to read Dorothy’s exciting adventures. On the wave of success, the author published a fairy tale about Santa Claus, and two years later - its continuation. However, readers were still waiting for a new book from him about a fairy-tale land, and in 1904 another fairy tale from the “Land of Oz” cycle was born.

Baum's final years

Trying to move away from the theme of Oz, Baum wrote other fairy tales, but readers were not so interested in them. Later, the writer completely switched to writing books about a magical land. In total, Baum dedicated fourteen books to her, the last two of which were published after the death of the writer, who died in 1919 from heart problems. It is noteworthy that the Oz series was so popular that even after the death of its creator, other writers began to publish numerous sequels. Of course, they were inferior to the original.

Summary of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

The main character of the most popular first part and most of the remaining books in the series was the orphan Dorothy (Volkov renamed her Ellie).

In the first book, a girl with faithful dog Toto is carried away to Oz by a powerful hurricane. Trying to return home, at the prompting of the good sorceress, Dorothy heads to the Emerald City to Oz, who rules there. Along the way, the girl makes friends with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. They all need something from the wizard, and he promises to fulfill their requests if his friends rid the country of the evil witch. Having overcome many problems, each hero gets what he wants.

The plot of the story “The Wonderful Land of Oz”

In the second book, the main character is the servant of the evil witch Mombi Tip. One day, a boy runs away from her, taking with him a magic powder that can breathe life into inanimate objects. Having reached Emerald City, he helps the Scarecrow escape from there, as the city is captured by an army of militant knitting damsels led by Ginger. Together they ask the Tin Woodman and Glinda (the good witch) for help. It turns out that they need to find the true ruler of the city - the missing Princess Ozma. After a while, it turns out that Tip is Ozma, bewitched by the witch Mombi. Having returned to their true appearance, the princess and her friends regain their power.

The plot of "Ozma of Oz", "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz", "Journey to Oz", and also "The Emerald City of Oz"

Girly Dorothy appears again in the third book. Here she, together with the chicken Billina, finds herself in a magical land. The girl learns with horror the tragic history of the Yves royal family. Trying to help them, she almost lost her own head. However, having met Princess Ozma (who came to the aid of the royal family in the company of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman), Dorothy manages to lift the spell from the Eve family and return home.

In the fourth book, as a result of an earthquake, Dorothy, her cousin Jeb and the decrepit horse Jim find themselves in a magical land of glass cities. Here they meet the wizard Oz and the kitten Eureka. To get out of this not at all friendly country, the heroes have to overcome a lot. The journey ends again in the land of Oz, where the old people are waiting for the girl good friends, who help her and her companions return home.

In the fifth book of the series, Princess Ozma had a birthday, where she really wanted to see Dorothy. To do this, she confused all the roads, and the girl, showing the way to a tramp named Shaggy, herself got lost and, after numerous wanderings and adventures, ended up in the land of Oz to Ozma.

In the sixth story of the "Land of Oz" series, due to problems on the farm, Dorothy's family moves to live in the Magic Land. However, trouble looms over the Emerald City - an evil king who is building an underground passage is trying to capture it.

Books about Santa Claus

Although world fame and the name Baum received thanks to the endless epic about the land of Oz, he also wrote other fairy tales. So, after the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the writer composed a wonderful, good Christmas tale, “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.” In it, he talked about the fate of a kind boy raised by a lioness and the nymph Nekil, about how and why he became Santa Claus and how he received immortality.

The children also really liked this fairy tale. Apparently, Baum himself was closer to the story of Santa Claus than to the land of Oz, and he soon published the book “The Kidnapped Santa Claus.” In it, he talks about Klaus' main enemies and their attempts to disrupt Christmas. Later, the plot of this book was often used for many films.

For my own sake long life Lyman Frank Baum wrote more than two dozen books. These books were received differently by the public. It was his fairy tales that brought him the greatest popularity. And although the author repeatedly tried to write on other topics, and very successfully, for his readers he will forever remain the court chronicler of the country of Oz.

Baum Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 - May 6, 1919), American writer, “creator” of the magical land of Oz.

The famous American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, an ardent fan of Baum’s series, noted that these fairy tales are “all sweet buns, honey and summer holidays.” Carroll's Wonderland in comparison with the land of Oz is “a cold porridge of arithmetic at six in the morning, doused with ice water and long sitting at a desk.” According to Bradbury, intellectuals prefer Wonderland, and dreamers choose Oz: “Wonderland is who we are, and Oz is who we would like to become.”

How can you talk if you have no brains? - asked Dorothy.
“I don’t know,” answered the Scarecrow, “but those who have no brains love to talk.” (from the book "The Wizard of Oz")

Baum Lyman Frank

The name of this magical country, according to the Baum family legend, was born by chance. On a May evening in 1898, Baum was telling his and neighboring children another fairy tale, making it up as he went. Someone asked where all this was happening. Baum looked around the room, looked at the home filing cabinet with drawers A-N and O-Z and said, “In the Land of Oz.”

Letters of protest were sent, with proposals to return to their favorite characters. Actually, fans of Sherlock Holmes reacted in much the same way when Conan Doyle rebelled and decided to part with his hero. The insidious plans of both writers were doomed to failure. Readers prevailed - both Conan Doyle and Baum returned to their series.

No, the heart is much better,” the Tin Woodman stood his ground. - Brains do not make a person happy, and there is nothing better in the world than happiness. (from the book "The Wizard of Oz")

Baum Lyman Frank

In our whole world there is nothing more beautiful than the happy face of a child.

Baum Lyman Frank

In 1939, as Americans lined up outside movie theaters to watch the Hollywood version of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, Alexander Volkov retold the series' first fairy tale in Russian. In general, he adhered very carefully to the original, although he omitted several scenes (the episode with the Warring Trees, the story of the Flying Monkeys, a visit to the Porcelain Land). Subsequently, Volkov proposed his own series, inspired by Baum’s motifs.

The real discovery of Baum in Russia, however, occurred in the nineties. The first sign was a book published in 1991 in “Moscow Worker”, which included the second, third and thirteenth tales of the series, and a little later a translation of “The Wizard” was proposed, where Volkov’s Ellie gave way to Baumov’s Dorothy and the text appeared in its original form - without cuts or additions.

Frank Baum (Lyman Frank Baum)(15.5.1856 - 6.5.1919) - American writer and journalist, playwright, author of children's stories, classic of children's literature. Until recently, his works were known in our country only through retellings by A. Volkov (“The Wizard of the Emerald City”).

Born in Chittenango, New York. Frank and his family moved to South Dakota in 1888, where he worked for a newspaper. Then in 1891 the family moved to Chicago, Frank Baum and there began to work as a journalist.

The sick boy turned out to be healthier than his brothers and sisters

However, tell in mid-19th centuries who Benjamin and Cynthia Baum that their seventh child would live so long - they would hardly believe this prophecy. If only because Frank, born on May 15, 1856, had very little chance of even living to be three years old. Already in the first year of his life, doctors did not hide the truth from his parents: the baby had a congenital heart defect. And only a calm, measured and happy life, preferably not in big city, and rural areas.

By the time Frank was born, Benjamin was a cooper making oil barrels. Precisely those that were called “barrels” due to the fact that that is how much oil was placed in them. But the seventh child became like a lucky talisman - soon Papa Baum from a cooper became a seller of black gold, and his business took off so rapidly that he became rich in a short time.

But the children were his headache. Four died before they even lived a few years, and five eventually became adults, but, alas, only Frank lived to an old age. But then, at the dawn of Benjamin and Cynthia’s youth, it seemed to them that their main task was to help their sick seventh child.

A typewriter is the best gift

They didn’t just blow away specks of dust from him. He lived on a ranch, although his father had his own house in New York, devoted most of his time to walks, and endured both heat and cold equally. Ben could allow the teachers to come to Frank; he did not go to school. He was such a bookworm that he soon overcame his father’s entire, by no means small, library. Most of all the boy liked Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. Dickens was still alive at this point, so all the new products that came from the pen of the classic were immediately delivered to Frank. By the way, such a passion for his son was a source of special pride for Ben. He told everyone: “My Frank cracks these books like nuts!” Although you must agree - the master psychological novel Dickens is not “too tough” for every adult...

Frank's 14th birthday was perhaps one of his happiest days! The father came to his son’s room early in the morning and brought him a very large gift. When the boy unfolded the paper, he gasped: it was a typewriter! Quite a rarity at that time. Needless to say, that same day Frank and his little brother already delighted their parents with the first family newspaper. And then the newspaper, which later grew into a magazine, began to be published regularly. In addition to family chronicles, it also contained fiction - Frank often wrote fairy tales for the younger ones...

Restless Frank

At the age of 17, the future writer began publishing a completely adult magazine. Since his second hobby after books was philately, the pages of the new publication were devoted to the history of stamps, various auctions, and travel. Frank himself was truly restless - whatever he did in his youth. He started as a reporter, was the director of a bookstore, and studied at a military school for two years, where he experienced an almost physical aversion to drill. Then he decided to become a farmer, raised poultry, and at the same time published a magazine dedicated to poultry farming. But soon he got tired of this rather “unaesthetic” work. He returned to the city, became a producer at a number of theaters, and appeared on stage several times, playing in plays.

He was easy to speak, and his great erudition and erudition made him an interesting and memorable interlocutor. Ben and Cynthia were very proud of their son, believing that their Frank would not be lost in life. Moreover, he was quite purposeful and stubborn, the Scots-Irish sourdough affected him...

In 1881, Frank fell in love with the charming Maud. The “candy-bouquet” period dragged on somewhat; the somewhat frivolous young man, with his head in the clouds, did not seem to Maud’s parents to be an exceptionally successful match. But, firstly, the girl said that she would not marry anyone else but Frank, and, secondly, he, after all, was the son of a rich oil magnate, so he could well provide for the future of their daughter. If they knew that stubborn Frankie would rather go begging than take money from his parents, they might have thought about it. But young Baum adhered to the position that he should become a self-made man, because his father also once started from scratch...

Baum's children loved fairy tales very much

Be that as it may, on November 9, 1882, Frank and Maude got married. They had four children, for whom Baum actually began writing fairy tales. Or rather, they were initially oral. Needless to say, the children listened to Frank with their mouths open, because he really loved to compose good fairy tales, in his stories good always prevailed over evil. And, besides, Frank admitted to Maude that he really didn’t want the children to learn life on “ evil fairy tales Brothers Grimm."

His first book for children was Mother Goose in Prose, 1897. It was followed by Father Goose: His Book (1899), which quickly became a bestseller. In memory of how he raised Christmas geese in his youth. The children really liked the fairy tales, but since the older ones were no longer kids, they pointed out to the parent some inconsistency. Like, we want to know about magical adventures, and Uncle Gusak is “tied” to the poultry yard.

Frank took the remark into account and began writing a “saga” about the magical land of Oz, about a little girl Dorothy from Kansas, who was “transported” by a hurricane along with her little dog to a land that none of the adults had any idea about.

Perhaps, while finishing the first book, Baum did not even think that the “series” would stretch for as many as 14 episodes. But the children demanded “a continuation of the banquet,” and the writer’s imagination worked with redoubled energy.

Although Frank Baum wrote more than 70 children's books, his fame rests primarily on The Wizard and the other 13 Oz stories, including Ozma of Oz (1907) and The Scarecrow. of Oz, 1915), all of which emphasize the American virtues of practicality, self-reliance, tolerance, and egalitarianism.

How Dorothy became Ellie...

And how quickly Baum’s magical story spread around the world! It was translated into several languages, and only in the country of victorious socialism, far from the United States, almost no one had heard about the author of Dorothy and the Land of Oz. Because there was one clever man, named Alexander Melentyevich Volkov, who, taking Baum’s “saga” as a basis, rearranged it in his own interpretation, “shamefully” keeping silent about the fact that Frank’s book is already at least 40 years old. Volkov’s work was called “The Wizard of the Emerald City” and appeared on the bookshelf in 1939.

It must be said that Volkov, a mathematics teacher in the Urals, was a good translator. And when in 1938 Lazar Lagin’s book “Old Man Hottabych” was published, which immediately gained wide popularity, Alexander Melentyevich realized that, probably, a book in which even the most magical miracles would be “exposed” would be no less successful.

However, God did not offend Volkov’s conscience. After the release of the fairy tale about the girl Ellie, he did not take on the continuation of the story for almost a quarter of a century. At first, he slightly changed his own version - in 1939 Ellie, like Baum, is an orphan raised by her aunt and uncle, and in 1959 she is already an ordinary girl who has a mother and father. And dozens of such discrepancies appeared. And as soon as the period defining Baum’s copyright passed, Volkov “gave birth” to numerous sequels, which are still fewer than Baum’s. Volkov simply did not have enough time - he died in 1977, shortly after writing “The Secret of the Abandoned Castle.”

19 years of full glory!

But let's return to Baum. Over 19 years of writing, Frank wrote 62 books. Moreover, 14 of them, as I already said, were dedicated to The Magic Land of Oz, 24 books were written exclusively for girls and 6 for boys. And although we don’t know everything, in the USA the beginning of the 20th century was marked by the “Baum boom” - it was decided to film his book, and Frank personally participated not only in writing the script, but also in directing the film. In total, during the writer’s lifetime, 6 films based on his “saga” were made. In addition, from 1902 to 1911, the musical based on this book was staged on Broadway 293 times!

To be closer to the set, Frank Baum and his family moved to Hollywood. This is where he died...

Frank Baum's book was dramatized in 1902, and the story was made into a hugely popular movie in 1938.

Film adaptations

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 1910 film based on the 1902 musical directed by Otis Turner
The Wizard of Oz 1939 film musical produced by MGM, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley.
Journey back to Oz Cartoon 1971 official sequel to The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard 1978 film musical based on the 1975 Broadway musical, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross
Return to Oz 1985 film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, an unofficial sequel to The Wizard of Oz, directed by Walter Murch, in leading role Feyruza Bolk
Iron Man (miniseries)

On May 15, 1919, 90 years ago, the numerous relatives of the famous American writer Lyman Frank Baum were supposed to gather for his next birthday. It was not a big date, but about a month before the event, invitation cards were sent to the guests, and by the end of April they had already been received by the recipients.

Then none of the invitees knew that they would gather at Baum’s house a little earlier, and for a completely different reason - on May 6, 1919, Frank’s heart stopped. The writer, beloved by many generations of children, never lived to see his 63rd birthday.

The name of this magical country, according to the Baum family legend, was born by chance. On a May evening in 1898, Baum was telling his and neighboring children another fairy tale, making it up as he went. Someone asked where all this was happening. Baum looked around the room, looked at the home filing cabinet with drawers A-N and O-Z and said, “In the Land of Oz.”

“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was published in 1900 and was so loved by readers that Baum decided to continue the story about the wonderful country. Readers were looking forward to new stories, but after releasing the sixth fairy tale in 1910, the author decided to take a little rest. He published two tales about the Trot girl and Captain Bill, which were generally well received by readers, but they could not imagine that the story of the Land of Oz was completed. Letters of protest were sent, with proposals to return to their favorite characters. Actually, fans of Sherlock Holmes reacted in much the same way when Conan Doyle rebelled and decided to part with his hero. The insidious plans of both writers were doomed to failure. Readers prevailed - both Conan Doyle and Baum returned to their series.

A well-known classic of children's literature, whose books have been filmed dozens of times, giving rise to many imitations and parodies.

Biography

Around the same time, Baum became interested in theater, but this hobby brought a lot of trouble. He was invited to join the visiting troupe with one condition - the costumes had to be his own. Baum bought the most expensive costumes and wigs, but they went into the coffers of other actors, and Frank got roles without words. However, this deception did not break Baum, and some time later he became an actor, as well as the author of melodramas and the owner of several semi-professional theaters that wandered around the Midwest and played for farmers, lumberjacks, and oil field workers - in conditions that hardly resembled theater ones. Once, Baum recalled, Hamlet was performed on a stage hastily built from boards. The Ghost King took only a few steps and fell into the gap. The inexperienced public, mistaking this for a spectacular trick, began to demand its repetition and did not calm down until the actor threatened to sue for bruises from repeated falls. The carefree years of his acting youth remained the happiest in Baum’s life. They, however, soon ended. Marriage and the birth of a son made me think about a more respectable occupation.

It was then that fate, which had so far indulged him, began to hit him painfully. Bankruptcy and death of his father, then a fire that destroyed all the theater property at once. We had to start from scratch. Then, following the example of many compatriots, the small Baum family went to the West in search of happiness. Dakota, where they arrived in 1888, was an almost completely bare prairie, dissected by a newly built railroad. The “city” of Aberdeen numbered about three thousand inhabitants - mostly young, with little money and high hopes, attracted here by rumors of gold and fertile lands. As for Frank Baum, he had a special plan for getting rich: with his last money, he opened the first department store in the city, where all sorts of things were sold cheaply - Chinese lanterns, pots, sweets, bicycles. The store was a wild success among children: they were attracted here not so much by the ice cream, but by the magical stories that the seller told without fail and with sincere passion. He never refused a loan to anyone. The number of debtors grew, and Baum's modest capital melted away. On New Year's Day 1890, the store closed forever, which did not stop the bankrupt owner from throwing a party for the birth of his second son.

A month later, filled with new hopes, he took the place of editor of the Dakota Pioneer newspaper. Baum supplied materials to the room almost single-handedly. Considering the peculiarities of his character, it is not surprising that the humorous column was most successful in the newspaper. By the way, the newspaper flashed this joke on the topic of the day:

“Is there feed for the cattle?” - they ask the poor farmer. “No,” he replies, “yes, I came up with the idea of putting green glasses on her and feeding her sawdust.”

Years later, this “trick” was remembered by Baum the storyteller: the Wizard will order everyone entering his city to wear green glasses, which will transform any piece of glass into an emerald.

Baum was not averse to political journalism either. In an editorial in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer in 1891, he endorsed the massacre of Indians at Wounded Knee, writing:

The Pioneer has already stated that our safety requires the complete destruction of the Indians. Having oppressed them for centuries, we should, in order to protect our civilization, oppress them once again and finally wipe out these wild and untameable creatures from the face of the earth. This is the key to the future safety of our settlers and soldiers who find themselves under incompetent command. Otherwise, we will face problems with the Redskins in the future, no less than in previous years.
Original text(English)

The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilizations, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.

The Dakota Pioneer newspaper lasted a little more than a year. Grieving over yet another ruin, the family at the same time rejoiced: a third son was born.

Unable to find happiness in the West, the Baums moved back to the East - to the rapidly growing Chicago. Lack of money and instability followed.

It was then that Baum came up with the idea of trying to write for children. In 1897 he published " (English)Russian" - witty variations on the themes of traditional children's fables. The experience turned out to be successful. But a serious turn in his fate would appear later, when first in the imagination, then on paper (the stub of the pencil with which that first draft was written, Baum kept as a relic) a fairy tale about the girl Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard and their amazing adventures in some fairyland. The country was still nameless.

The name, according to the Baum family legend, was born on a May evening in 1898, when, as usual, the family and neighbors’ children gathered in the living room and the owner of the house, improvising as he went, told one of his fairy tales. “Where was all this, Mr. Baum?” - asked a child's voice. “And it was in a country called ... - the narrator’s gaze, running around the room in search of a clue, accidentally fell on an old bureau in the corner with drawers for home filing cabinets, on the top were the letters A - N, on the bottom O - Z. - ... Oz! » This is how the newborn got his name fairy world. Baum himself at first did not attach any importance to this event. But child readers reacted differently: they sent letters, came, visited and demanded that the unsuccessful actor, merchant, journalist and poultry farmer finally take up his business - they demanded a new fairy tale about the land of Oz. Baum gave in, although not immediately. It was not until 1904 that a sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) was born. New fairy tale It was called "The Land of Oz". There is no Dorothy in it, but there are her friends the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and there are also new extraordinary characters: Pumpkinhead Jack, a ridiculous, glorious creature built from poles and pumpkins and brought to life with the help of magic powder; Goats, thanks to the same powder, turned into dashing horses; the smug pedant Tumbling Beetle and the boy Tip are actually the enchanted Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of the land of Oz.