Neill Endpapers

After posting about some of W. W. Denslow's endpaper designs, it's only fair to look at some of John R. Neill's work. One of the great things about the Oz series is the quantity of illustrations, which spill over to preliminary pages and onto the endpapers of the books. Only one Oz book was published without pictorial endpapers, The Wishing Horse of Oz from 1935.
Neill found a number of ways to incorporate the Oz logo into quite a few of his endpaper designs. The first two shown are the early ornate color endpapers seen in Dorothy and the Wizard and The Road to Oz. Oz titles through Tik-Tok of Oz all included color in the endpapers, as part of the unique features of the books.

Beneath these, we see Grampa in Oz, using the logo as a border element, and The Hungry Tiger of Oz where the Oz logo seems to have been dropped into the picture for no particular reason.

In the four examples above, Neill used simple bold images featuring the logo and characters from the stories - The Lost King of Oz, Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, The Silver Princess in Oz and Lucky Bucky in Oz.

Below, The Cowardly Lion of Oz uses it subtly, as decoration on the lion's blanket, and The Giant Horse of Oz has one of my favorite designs - a wild game of hoops, featuring the logo in various sizes!

Whose Soul?

Whose Soul Have I Now is one of the W. W. Denslow/Rand McNally titles that has intrigued me since I first heard of it, simply from its title. As it turns out, it's a fairly obtuse book set in Hawaii and dealing with the suffering and eventual recovery of the wife of a drug-addicted, abusive husband.

However, it does have a very nice cover by Denslow. It's one of his more pictorial efforts, with a wraith-like woman drifting through the trees. It also has an interesting color scheme of lavender, yellow and olive green that is very striking.

More Endpapers

W. W. Denslow broke into full color endpaper designs with his own books. For Denslow's Mother Goose in 1901, the design is reminiscent of Dot & Tot of Merryland. Both books were published in the same year, but this time, rather than a parading toy band, we have a repeating design of geese.

In Denslow's Night Before Christmas, published the following year, the endpaper design bursts across the page in full color with an array of toys, Santa, and a Christmas tree that only Denslow could have come up with!

Of the three remaining full length children's novels illustrated by Denslow, only The Pearl and the Pumpkin from 1904 has pictorial endpapers. Here the design covers both pages but is printed in a single color, turquoise. The endpapers are also seen in two colors, orange and black, in what are generally thought of as later printings of the book, although priority is uncertain. Billy Bounce and The Jeweled Toad both have plain endpapers, which is too bad - I'd like to see what Denslow could have come up with to welcome readers into these stories.

Denslow Endpapers

In looking at a few books illustrated by W. W. Denslow, I noticed an interesting progression in endpaper design. The earliest example I have is from 1898, in A Cruise Beneath the Crescent, one of the Rand McNally titles with a Denslow designed cover. He also provided illustrations, including an endpaper drawing that runs along the left side of the front cover. This is a street scene in black & white.

The following year, 1899, Denslow illustrated Father Goose, His Book for L. Frank Baum. Here again he provided a simple endpaper design running along the left side of the cover. This time there is color added, in the tan background and the orange bill of the goose.




In 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. Here, Denslow extended his endpaper design to cover the entire left side, as opposed to a smaller strip design. But by confining the Cowardly Lion between two trees, he almost gives the same impression of a narrow illustrated strip on the left side. Once again there is a tan background to the image, although no additional color is added.

In 1901, the final Baum/Denslow title was published, Dot & Tot in Merryland. Here, Denslow has extended to fill both endpapers with his design. Three colors are used - black, with a rich brown and orange.


Finally, in 1903 Denslow provided a new endpaper design for The New Wizard of Oz, this time another double page spread in two colors, orange and green. This is a break from the tan and brown tones of his earlier designs, and feels far less regimented in the way the flowers spread across the pages. By this time, he had also started publishing some of his own picture books with more colorful endpaper illustrations.

The first endpaper design is quite detailed and a basically straightforward depiction of an eastern street scene. From there the designs become more playful, appropriately for children's books, with the final design for New Wizard being the most appealing to my mind.

In the Swim

An archive of Rand McNally titles was recently offered at auction, including many books with W. W. Denslow covers. I didn't win the auction, but I have been able to add several titles to my collection through the kindness of Cindy at Avant Garde Books - the auction winner. Consequently, here's yet another Rand McNally title with a Denslow cover, this time In The Swim by Richard Henry Savage.

In The Swim was published in 1898. This book and my copy of Lost Princess Falka both came from the collection of books mentioned above, and both bear a library label on the spine, presumably from the Rand McNally archive. "EDITORIAL" is rubber stamped inside the front cover on both copies. In comparing notes with Cindy, I am finding that there are more variations on these many covers than I expected, which is surprising considering how difficult the books can be to find.

This title is an example of Denslow's simpler shield covers, which he came up with for several books. In spite of its simplicity, the cover is stamped in both gold and silver. Most Rand McNally titles include gold stamping, but off-hand the only other title I know of to use both metallics is The Waters of Caney Fork.

In my past examples of titles by Savage, I've commented on the excessive use of exclamation marks throughout the books - practically on every sentence. Oddly enough, although this book is also written by Savage, it appears to be perfectly readable without any excessive punctuation. It is later than either of his other titles that I've mentioned - maybe the editors caught on to the problem. I'm looking forward to reading the book to learn the significance of the cow on the spine!

Puppets in Oz

While poking around on my computer the other night, I ran across a web page (here) with this photo of characters from a 1950's puppet adaptation of The Land Of Oz. These puppets were designed by Burr Tillstrom, the creator of Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

In March, 1950, Billboard magazine ran a small article stating that Tillstrom had started production on a new half-hour series called The Wonderful Land of Oz.

There's a mention of the project in April, and another in May stating that there was a successful audition of the series held at NBC in Chicago. No further mentions are made, as the project apparently went down the tubes. However, in 2000 the Library of Congress included a May, 1950 airing of Burr Tillstrom's The Wizard of Oz as part of their Oz film series, so that first episode must still exist. It's too bad that the series didn't continue - these puppets look like fun!

Lost Countess Falka

Another Rand McNally book from 1896 with a W. W. Denslow cover is Lost Countess Falka by Richard Henry Savage. Denslow created covers for several books by Savage, one of which I've shown before (In the Shadow of the Pyramids).












I found Shadow of the Pyramids very difficult to read, due to the unrestrained use of exclamation points! I thought this might have been due to poor editing on this book! Looking at Lost Countess, I find it has a similar problem, and just as virulent! It's really hard to read a book written this way!

I've seen another Denslow cover for Lost Countess - this one makes use of the design created in 1898 for Whoso Findeth a Wife, lifting the cover motif from the later book while using the original title lettering. There are a few changes to the image, and the simple cover is printed in a single color without any gilt stamping.

Neill Drawing

After a busy holiday season, complete with travel and a computer meltdown, I'm finally getting back to posting.

Here's a nice John R. Neill drawing, probably published but location unknown. It appears to be a fashionable young man, carrying his traveling bag and perhaps a tennis racket? He might be headed off to college, or maybe returning home to visit. In many ways, he has the appearance of an adult Button-Bright – still traveling and unconcerned about where.

The suitcase makes me think of the black bag of magic tools carried by the Wizard of Oz.

Woman and the Shadow

Woman and the Shadow is another of the titles published by Rand McNally with a cover design by W. W. Denslow. I like this one, both for the color combination and the variety of pictorial elements. This was published in 1898 and bears Denslow's seahorse signature. The story is a convoluted Victorian romance featuring sacrifice, bad judgement, and a reasonably happy ending.

This cover seems to have a bit of everything, from the crown/jester's cap on the front to the silhouetted cat gazing at the moon on the rear board. The British pound symbol relates to the overall theme of money in the story, and the leafy vine is a motif seen on some other Denslow covers. Finally, the spine has a great jester's dummy. The colors make me think of the soon to be published Father Goose, His Book.

Merry Christmas!

1903 Oz

Here's a final little group of images from the New York Public Library digital archive. These feature the stars of the 1903 Broadway Wizard of Oz, Fred Stone and David Montgomery, as well as Anna Laughlin. I don't think I've run across these particular photos of Montgomery (the Tin Woodman), and Stone (the Scarecrow) before. I particularly like the Tin Woodman shot, as he is captured in a much more dynamic pose than I'm used to seeing.

Anna Laughlin played Dorothy, and I think both of these photos have a sense of mischievous playfulness that she must have brought to the role. The picture on the right shows her in costume for the Ball of All Nations sequence from act 2, in which Dorothy performed a cakewalk!

Bloomsbury Auction

For more information on Caroline Siedle, visit my Caroline Siedle Costume Designer blog.

Last week's auction held by Bloomsbury Auctions in New York featured several rare Oz and related pieces, including original artwork by John R. Neill. But the piece that intrigued me, which unfortunately I didn't win, was this lovely costume design by Caroline Siedle for Babes in Toyland. I've talked about Siedle here before, as she designed costumes for the Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz among a number of other shows. It's interesting that there seems to be confusion about her name - I've seen Siedle, Seidle, and Siedel used in various places! I don't know which is correct, but her obituary spells the name Siedle. I believe this is also the spelling on her tomb at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. (After writing this this morning, it occurred to me that the obvious way to figure out the answer is to look at her signature! She spelled her name Siedle.) This particular design was for the Moth Queen (Edit - I have since learned  this was not for the Moth Queen, who I believe was costumed in white). Synopses of the original storyline for Babes in Toyland seem to vary, but I believe the Moth Queen helps to rescue the Babes from the Spider's Forest, a scene that sounds reminiscent of the rescue of Dorothy and her companions from the Poppies in The Wizard of Oz - not too surprising as that was inspiration for this later show! I found the photo shown above, featuring the moths, on an Australian website.

Gingerbread Time

This coming weekend my partner & I are having a Christmas party, to celebrate the season as well as 30 years together. As part of the holiday decorating process (we're aiming for over the top), I decided to make a gingerbread house for the desert table.

Trying to give it an Oz theme, I hit on a gingerbread Emerald City palace. I haven't made a gingerbread house in a while, and found it took quite a bit more time than I remembered! Matters weren't helped by the loss of a piece to a small dog named Pepper. After replacing the damaged piece (which was the back of the main tower), things progressed smoothly.

I considered making some John Dough cookies while I was in gingerbread mode, but they may have to wait for another year!

Oz in Boston?

Here's another interesting little group of Oz stage photos, once again from the New York Public Library. These are all labeled Boston in the photographers stamp, and it's possible that they may be from the Castle Square Theater production of the show, which debuted in that city in 1911.

Here we have Dorothy, and the Cowardly Lion (who was played by Arthur Hill, the man who created the role in the original Chicago and Broadway productions). A song was added for this production, called "Fraidy Cat" and sung by Dorothy in the third act. Maybe these photos relate to that song? In the library files these are all archived with Babes in Toyland, so it's really anyone's guess. (An update, 10 years later - the character shown with the Cowardly Lion is Bardo, the Wizard’s assistant. David Maxine is currently writing an excellent blog on the subject of The Wizard, which can be viewed here - https://www.vintagebroadway.com/ )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Anna Fitzhugh

While exploring the New York Public Library's archive of digital images the other day, I pulled up a group of vintage studio portraits from Babes in Toyland, the Broadway extravaganza that followed The Wizard of Oz in 1903. I was pleasantly surprised to find several photos from The Wizard erroneously filed with the later show.

Most of the misfiled photos feature Anna Fitzhugh, who was a member of the Wizard chorus. According to my February 1903 program from the show, she portrayed a Munchkin Youth, a Snow Boy, a Pierrot Boy, and a Cook . She may well have played other parts in other performances, as I've also seen a photo of her in a Poppy costume - of course, she couldn't be a Poppy and a Snow Boy at the same time! The photos I'm showing include her as a Snow Boy, a Pierrot Boy, and possibly a Munchkin Youth. With the exception of the Snow Boy picture, the photos were all taken in Chicago so they may date from the 1902 version of the show.

After leaving the show, Anna Fitzhugh starred with her own company in Baroness Fiddlesticks, which was not a success. This was followed by a role in Sergeant Brue which was moderately successful . By 1906 she had tried vaudeville, travelled to Europe (where she studied music), and married in Ontario. After returning to the USA she pursued a career in opera, using the name Anna Fitziu, and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1916. She returned to Chicago and worked with the Chicago Opera, and took up teaching. She died in 1967.

It's amazing how much you can find out about a relatively obscure chorus girl on the internet!

Armageddon

Armageddon, by Stanley Waterloo, is another Rand McNally title with a W. W. Denslow cover. This book's cover is very simple, and at first glance doesn't really make me think of Denslow, other than the lettering which is in his typical style. This was published in 1898, the last year that Denslow designed Rand McNally covers.

But, this is another title with a poster designed by Denslow, viewable at the New York Public Library website. When compared with the poster, it becomes clear that this is indeed a Denslow design. The same cloud profiles are used as the cover motif, and the setting sun on the poster is the main element on the spine of the book.

An Update

Last summer, I mentioned that an upcoming project for me was to produce a stained glass window based on the 1930's Oz mural painted by John R. Neill for Marie and Elgood Lufkin. In a nutshell, it hasn't happened yet! Between moving our studio this spring, and playing catch up since then, the time just hasn't been available. But, I do hope to get started and produce something within the next year.

Whether the actual painting still survives is something I've been unable to find out. I did contact the Lufkin family, but they were unable to help. Marie Lufkin had 3 children by an earlier marriage, and that particular branch of the family seems to have slipped off the radar.

The best image of this painting is a nearly finished sketch featured on the cover of Oz-Story #6, published by Hungry Tiger Press. It was also featured in the article on Neill's work published in the Summer 2006 issue of Illustration magazine, but the picture is a bit murkier and not as crisp as the Hungry Tiger printing. This original sketch is still in the collection of the Neill family. Aleph-Bet Books is offering a set of additional sketches for the painting, but none are as finished as this particular piece. In the final painting, Glinda's head was turned to 3/4 view, and her face was a portrait of Marie Lufkin. The only photo of the finished mural that I know of is a not very good black & white picture in the Spring 1965 Baum Bugle.

Currently the window only exists as an unfinished cartoon that I have been working on, for building the final piece. But with any luck, some progress will be made before long. The intention is to place the final window into a window seat in the converted attic of our house.

Marvel

The Marvel Comics edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been high on the New York Times list of graphic novel bestsellers for a few weeks now. The adaption by Eric Shanower, drawn by Skottie Young, is very enjoyable, including many incidents from the original book that would be unfamiliar to fans who only know the MGM film.




The original artwork for this series of graphic novels has been available for sale online for a while, and I finally purchased a couple pieces. With so many pages available, I couldn't decide what I wanted - but as the pages I was interested in kept disappearing, I had to make a decision! In the end, I chose two pieces that deal with the Wicked Witch of the West.

The artwork by Skottie Young is very fun, and takes a fresh approach to the characters. On the original art, the initial sketching is done with blue pencil, which adds nice movement and shading to the finished piece. (See comments below concerning the blue "pencil"). It's also fascinating to see the choices made by the artist as to which lines to ink or ignore. The drawing on the left shows the Witch wearing the Golden Cap and summoning the Winged Monkeys.


There's quite a contrast between the drawing, and the printed image which has been colored. The color adds a lot of depth and atmosphere to the scene, but after seeing the original, I think a lot of Young's lovely line work gets lost.


The second drawing shows the events leading to the melting of the witch. Both drawings have a nice darkness to them, in contrast to some of the lighter, cheerier images in other parts of the story. But I have to admit, I can't help thinking of Sam Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes when I look at Dorothy's face in the final panel!