Exciting Art!

There was an auction today at Sotheby's in New York, and two of the lots were lovely pieces of original Oz artwork by John R. Neill. Sad to say, I didn't win either piece, but they are quite exciting to see!

Both are drawings used in L. Frank Baum's The Scarecrow of Oz, from 1915. These are the only known surviving pieces from Scarecrow, and until they turned up at auction I believe their existence was unknown. Both are color plate drawings which were watercolored after publication.

One drawing shows Blinkie the witch being carried away by a band of Orks. This is a fun image of the old crone, clearly taken by surprise as she flies over the chimney below. It's been very nicely watercolored, and closely matches the colors used in printing the plate in the book.

The other drawing was used as the book's frontispiece. In this, the Scarecrow is about to be burned at the stake, while a band of Orks is seen in the distance, flying in to save the day! This has also been colored nicely, but with some interesting differences from the printed plate.

The overall background tone seems to be more golden than the pink tone seen in the book. Also, the Scarecrow is a bit different - there are tones of pink and blue in his face, and his hat and boots are both in blue. In fact, he's colored to match Baum's original description of the Scarecrow.

In the book, the hat band and boot tops are red, while the hat itself is yellow. This is the standard coloring used on the Scarecrow since The Patchwork Girl of Oz. An interesting point is the hatband, which Neill shaded heavily with black ink in the drawing - this has been removed by the printer in order to add the brighter red. In fact, the Scarecrow has been brightened up all around!

A Baum by any other name...

1906 was a busy year for L. Frank Baum. In addition to his major fantasy work of the year, John Dough and the Cherub, he published ten books written under various pseudonyms for a variety of audiences!

As Laura Bancroft, the six volume series of short Twinkle Tales - I'm showing Prince Mudturtle - which were later compiled into a single volume, Twinkle and Chubbins.

As Schuyler Staunton, Daughters of Destiny - a novel for adults, and the second title written under this name.

As Suzanne Metcalf, Annabel - aimed for the teen market.

As Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea - later reprinted as part of the Boy Fortune Hunters series, under the new pseudonym Floyd Akers - again, for the teen market.

And, as Edith Van Dyne, Aunt Jane's Nieces. The Aunt Jane books were nearly as popular as the Oz books and became another important series for Baum. The second title, Aunt Jane's Niece's Abroad, has a 1906 copyright but was published in 1907.

Aside from all this excitement, he and his wife also took an extended tour abroad - the first and only time Baum traveled overseas. That's quite a year!

Annabel

I filled one of the gaps in my collection of books by L. Frank Baum this week, by picking up a copy of the first edition of Annabel, from 1906. I've been keeping an eye out for this title for quite a while, and when this copy popped up on eBay at the don't-blink-now price of $13, I was thrilled to be able to add it to the bookcase!


Annabel was Baum's first pseudonymous novel for young adults, written under the name Suzanne Metcalf. I already had a copy of the 1912 second edition, which was issued with a new cover design, different interior art, and a new spelling of the author's first name (Susanne rather than Suzanne). I blogged about that copy a couple years ago.

One of the fun elements of the first edition is the cover label, which is die-cut in the shape of a bow. An interesting point that I hadn't realized, is that the paper stock used for this label is the same heavily textured paper used five years later on the cover label of The Sea Fairies. Annabel seems to have held up better than many copies I've seen of Sea Fairies, which tend to suffer from heavy rubbing of the cover label.

Under the Ban

It's been a while since I've had a Rand McNally book with a cover by W. W. Denslow to feature. Here's Under the Ban, a South Carolina romance from 1898. I think this is one of Denslow's most streamlined and graphic covers!

This is the third variation of this cover that I'm aware of. It is a later printing of the design - two earlier versions (seen below, courtesy of Cindy Ragni) carry Denslow's hippocampus signature at the bottom of the woman's skirt, and use gold ink on the title, author's name, the woman's hair, and her bow. What appears to be the earliest version also features a blue background at the top of the cover, where the book title appears, and carries the design to the rear cover.

On the copy I'm showing, the seahorse is gone and the author's name is now stamped in white ink, along with the woman's hair and bow. Also, the rear cover is blank. I'm quite surprised by how difficult these titles can be to find, when they clearly went through a number of printings!

As it happens, I've also run across another Denslow cover, this time a paperback. This one is "There Is No Devil", and it features a cover design that could easily double as a poster for the book. This is one of a number of titles published in paperback by Rand McNally that don't seem to exist in hardcover versions with Denslow covers.

Scarecrow Postcard

Here's a souvenir postcard of Fred Stone as the Scarecrow in the 1903 Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz. This is one of a series of photo cards that were produced for the show. This example was posted in July 1906, which would have been after the end of Fred Stone's run as the Scarecrow (his final performance was May 19), but in the midst of the postcard craze.

Picture postcards seem to have begun being used in the 1870s, but the golden era was from the 1890s until the first World War. The sudden drop in popularity was due to the fact that the majority of picture cards sold in America at this time were printed in Germany. Consequently, the war effectively ended the supply of finely printed cards. The reverse side of this example states that it was printed in Germany.

It was illegal to write on the address side of a postcard before March, 1907. This meant that messages had to be written over the decorative side, which can create some very difficult to read cards!

A Wonder City Dragonette

Earlier this month I attended the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. There are always fascinating things to be seen at the Fair, many with amazing prices, and the experience is very enjoyable and a lot of fun.

At any rate, I didn't come away empty handed. This is the half-title page from The Wonder City of Oz, the first Oz book to be written as well as illustrated by John R. Neill. I've been considering this drawing for some time, and have finally added it to my collection.

Neill created a half-title drawing for most of the Oz books he illustrated. Off-hand, I know of four that still exist - Road to Oz, Patchwork Girl, Tik Tok  and Wonder City. In this case, the drawing features the two headed Dragonette, who appears briefly in the story. I think this creature bears a strong resemblance to some of the creations of Dr. Seuss!

One of the reasons this drawing has fascinated me is the wonderful inscription by Neill:
Dear Children - The question is - Were the pictures made for the story, or was the story made for the pictures?
This is signed with his initials and address. As anyone familiar with the publishing history of Wonder City knows, this is actually a pretty legitimate question - the book was heavily edited and rewritten before publication, without Neill's input, and a number of the drawings were adjusted and reworked to fit the new story additions.

This same basic sentiment was used in the Author's Note published in the book, which was headed with a different illustration. I'm not quite certain why Neill would have written the lines on the half title - perhaps he had a moment of inspiration and didn't want to forget it!

Montgomery & Stone Sing!

I've just received an original Victor recording of Montgomery & Stone performing "Travel, Travel Little Star", a comic number the duo performed in The Old Town. This show was the first to be presented at the Globe theater, now called the Lunt-Fontanne, on Broadway in 1910, and the recording dates from that time. On the left is an image I found online of the sheet music for this number.

Apparently, Montgomery & Stone only made 3 recordings. These numbers are an opportunity to get a sense of what the performers style was like, and the material could have been as easily lifted from The Wizard of Oz as any of their other shows. All three songs are available on the two-disc set of vintage recordings from The Wizard of Oz, released by Hungry Tiger Press. They can also be found online.

Here's a little video of the record playing- not much to watch, but fun to listen to! It's easy to see the duo as precursors to Abbott and Costello, with the bit of "who's on first" style cross-talk dialogue. The lyric for the song even includes the classic "man with a wooden leg named Smith" bit - in this case, a Sheriff with a wooden leg named Jim!

Neill Newspapers

Here are a couple more early newspaper pages by John R. Neill, published in the Philadelphia North American in 1902.

The first is a simple carousel scene, with ink paints at the bottom of the page. These can be used with a damp brush for coloring the image - less messy than pulling out the paint pots! Another of this style of page can be seen on the Hungry Tiger Press blog here.

This particular page was to be used for a painting contest that the paper was running. There seem to have been contests every week in the comics - another good example is the "What Did the Woggle Bug Say" contest which ran with the Queer Visitors From the Land of Oz comics in 1904 - 1905.

The second page is a variation on this painting idea. For this, you just use a damp brush on the images themselves and the moistened ink colors the page. Some of the blue ink color can be seen on the cat and one of the figures.

This page is also interesting as a very clear example of the ethnic stereotypes that were so common and accepted at the turn of the last century - of course many are still with us, although perhaps not always depicted quite so graphically in the Sunday paper!

Spoolicles in Oz

I've really been neglecting my blog this year - but I'm afraid that's bound to happen from time to time!

Here's an endpaper image from The Gnome King of Oz  that I've always liked. As usual with John R. Neill's endpaper drawings, this doesn't illustrate any specific part of the story - it's just a fun image to catch the reader's interest. It's also appropriate for the book as part of the story takes place in the kingdom of Patch, where much sewing and mending takes place.

The idea of spool toys just feels right for Oz, in my opinion. Something easily made from common objects, just like Scraps or Jack Pumpkinhead, and put to a new use. As a kid I would make vehicles with spool wheels, and even a wind up tank that really ran (involving a rubber band, a sliver of soap, a matchstick and a spool). Of course these were still the days of common wooden spools - something of a rarity now!

Personally, I'd prefer spool cars to the Scala- wagons that Neill came up with for Ozian transport in his own stories. But Neill didn't forget the idea of spool toys in Oz - his original cover sketch for The Runaway in Oz  features Scraps pedaling away on her spoolicle, which we are told is her favorite mode of transport. This was the inspiration for the handsome cover design by Eric Shanower, who illustrated and also edited the 1995 publication of this final Oz tale by John R. Neill.

Valentines!

As Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I thought I'd show a couple of Ozzy Valentine cards. These are part of a set of 12 that were produced when the MGM film of The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, and are a popular item among Oz collectors!

The artwork and card sizes vary quite a bit from card to card within the set. They are all clearly MGM inspired, but certainly are not close portrayals of the film characters. Each card is capable of standing, through the use of various tabs and folds. There are no indications to identify the artists, but it would be interesting to know whether any of the original artwork survives.

 I only have three cards from the set, but I'm keeping an eye out for more. Quite a few have popped up on eBay recently, selling for healthy sums!

Happy New Year...A Little Late!

Happy New Year! I'm afraid I'm off to a slow start for posting, but I've been tied up with several projects, mostly non-Oz related.

Lately I've been looking at articles relating to the San Francisco production of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. This show opened in Los Angeles on March 31st, 1913, where it supposedly played 5 weeks. But the Chronicling America newspaper site has a series of pages from the San Francisco Call, covering the 3 week period of April 21 - May 11, when the show was playing in that city - so clearly the L.A. run couldn't have been more than 3 weeks. At the upper left is a striking full page article published during the run, mainly about Oliver Morosco, the show's producer. All the images I'm showing will enlarge when clicked on - depending on your moniter size they should be readable. If not, they can be found on the Chronicling America website!

After San Francisco, the show was to move to Chicago for the summer before heading to Broadway. Of course, it never actually got to Broadway. One reason might be found in an interview with Dolly Castles, an Australian actress who played the role of Polychrome. She's quoted in one article as saying "did you see that matinee last Saturday when there was nobody in the house but dear little kiddies and their mothers and there(sic) aunts and a few uncomfortable looking gentlemen?" This probably didn't bode well for a New York run.


There doesn't seem to be an existing script for the show as it was finally produced, (actually Act One does exist - see comment below), but an earlier draft of the script, when it was still called Ozma of Oz, has been posted by the New York Public Library. On the left, I'm showing an article published before the opening of the show in San Francisco, which contains a synopsis of the story. It doesn't seem to stray very far from the earlier draft; the most notable difference being that the early script ended by pairing off Queen Ann and the Shaggy Man, and Betsy and Tik-Tok. The final version matches up Queen Ann and Tik-Tok, leaving Betsy and the Shaggy Man unattached.

The critic for the San Francisco Call enjoyed the show, although in the review (on the right) it was pointed out that the style of the piece was a throwback to an earlier time. But it sounds as though the show did good business during its run in the city, and was a popular success. It was reviewed again at the start of the second week of the run - this review can be seen at the bottom of this posting.


I'm showing two large ads for the show. The ad prior to the show opening (above) lists Charles Ruggles in the cast. But by the 2nd week of performances (below) he had been replaced by Charles Purcell. According to an article, he had "left the company to take important roles with Morosco's Los Angeles stock company". Of course Ruggles went on to become a well known star of films and stage. Purcell is billed as the "original chocolate soldier" due to his having played that role in the 1908 Oscar Straus operetta. It was a part he revived several times over the next 20 years.

The Lion

Here's a fun item that found its way under the Christmas tree this year. This is a toy lion, of the same variety used by Graham Rawle as the Cowardly Lion in his 2008 illustrations for The Wizard of Oz.

Apparently the lion used in the illustrations was found in a vintage shop in Minneapolis. This one turned up at an antique show at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Perhaps they're related?

As you can see, the lion is in a permanent seated position. For the illustrations, rear legs had to be added digitally to give a greater range of poses!

Merry Christmas!

Here in time for Christmas is another early newspaper piece by John R. Neill, "Tostynge Appels at ye Merrie Yuletide". This was published in the Philadelphia North American newspaper on Christmas Day, 1901.

The characters in this remind me of Neill's Life Among the Macaronis series of drawings - the elongated figures and Colonial time period are the same, although that series appeared ca. 1904-05. This piece and the Christmas Eve page shown in my last post are both quite early Neill pieces!

Christmas is Coming

Here's a newspaper page from 110 years ago, December, 22 1901. This features a grand and colorful John R. Neill drawing of a Christmas tree and gifts, together with photos of Christmas preparations. You can even see a typical Neill Santa in toy form, riding a toy horse! The one curious thing to my eye, for the time period, is the lack of a father in this family group - he's present in the photos, but not in the drawing.

The Musical at NYPL

I'm afraid I've been neglecting my blog this month - but December is always a busy time! The New York Public Library is featuring the 1903 Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz as the musical of the month for December in a series of blogs, written by a variety of authors - including this entry by David Maxine of Hungry Tiger Press. A version of the libretto for the show is available as well.

Here I have a couple more pieces of sheet music from the Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz. Must You was a hit for David Montgomery, who played the Tin Woodman and contributed to the lyric for this song. The Tale of a Cassowary is one of a number of songs added to the show in 1904, for what was known as the Edition De Luxe. Recently I read an interview with a producer of the current Broadway show Spiderman, who mentioned the exciting "new" concept of possibly freshening the show each season with new songs and ideas. Guess what - it's a very old concept!

Paperback Denslow

It's been a while since I've had a new W.W. Denslow book cover to show! Here we have a Rand McNally paperback printing of A Modern Corsair, by Richard Henry Savage - the man who never learned the proper use of exclamation marks!!

The previous Rand McNally titles that I've shown have all been hardcover books. But Denslow designed quite a few paperbacks for the company as well; many times he did the same title in both paper and hardcover, but the designs don't tend to be the same.

For example, on the right is the hardcover version of A Modern Corsair, courtesy of Cindy Ragni of Avant-Garde Books. A shipwreck is a prominent feature of both the hard and soft covers. This must play into the story, but I haven't read this one yet to know the details! The hardcovers make use of bold, colorful stampings, while the paperbacks feature more linear designs.

For another example, here's the hardcover version of In The Swim, also written by Savage. Bill Thompson recently turned up a paperback version with a very different cover design. The paperback cover is much more of an illustration for the story, which deals in part with shenanigans on Wall Street. On the other hand, the hardcover makes use of one of Denslow's more generic shield designs. However, both incorporate a golden calf, symbolizing the worship of money that becomes the downfall of several characters in the story.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a good thing Billina isn't a turkey!

Progress

Here's a quick post to show progress on the Oz window. On the right, I'm working on painting details on various pieces before firing them in a kiln. With any luck, the window will be done this week!

Ike Morgan

I was recently contacted by Ike Morgan's great nephew, who is working on gathering information on his great uncle. Unfortunately, I didn't have much to add to his knowledge - but he kindly allowed me to post this image of a lovely portrait in his possession (on the left) of Ike Morgan's sister - his grandmother.

In looking about, there doesn't seem to be much information readily available about Morgan. My posting from earlier this year has a few tidbits (click here).  He started as a newspaper artist - just like W.W. Denslow and John R. Neill. Unfortunately, newspaper art is very ephemeral and tends to be forgotten over the years, making it more difficult to investigate.

I did find that he illustrated a couple short stories published in 1907 in the Los Angeles Herald - the image on the right is from one, titled Mr Blink's Automobile. Two of these can be found online at Chronicling America, a site featuring scans of newspapers from 1826 - 1922.

Morgan illustrated a number of books - for L. Frank Baum, he contributed illustrations to American Fairy Tales, as well as illustrating The Wogglebug Book. He illustrated the Kids of Many Colors series for Grace Duffie Boylan, which received quite a bit of favorable coverage. A number of reviews for the book can be found in the newspaper archives mentioned above.

One piece I ran across is the painting on the left, which was sold by Buchard Galleries in 2004. It's a charming image and makes me wonder if Morgan did many paintings.



And, he designed the cover for the 1902 Montgomery Ward catalog. Advertising for this specifically calls out Morgan as a well known artist!

Oz Window

Back in August, I mentioned that we would be making another Oz-themed stained glass window for a local client. It's been underway, and here are a couple shots of the progress.

This window is based on the endpapers drawn by John R. Neill for Ozma of Oz, L. Frank Baum's third Oz title. We made some minor adjustments to the image, but it's a pretty straight-forward adaptation of the original illustration. Above, you can see the pattern, or cartoon, for the window.

On the left, pieces are being cut and fit to create the window. Below, all the glass has been cut and fit, and painting on the characters is beginning.





It won't be long before the window is ready for assembly!