Okay, so I was looking at the Daily Ozmapolitan, when I found this page:
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/13287243/detail.html
It is an article about Roger S. Baum, who now resides in Springfield, Missouri, the city where I live.
Did this article make me proud of a new resident of Springfield? (That's funny. I thought he lived in Branson... Oh, wait. That's a tourist attraction.) No! In fact, I got a little annoyed. The article was horribly written (it was a transcript of a video embedded in the page, and it doesn't sound any better, either) and had some innaccuracies. Roger S. Baum setting the record straight? That is funny!
I will let you know now that I have met Mr. Baum TWICE, but was not impressed with meeting him either time. I have a photo of him and me somewhere... Maybe someday, if I can find it, I'll post it.
"Baum said his great grandfather failed at running a chain of movie theaters," the article reads. No, that was not movie theaters, Rog. Those were opera houses his father gave him. AND there was also the Castorine company, Baum's Bazaar and the newspaper in Aberdeen, and he didn't do too well with selling crockery, either.
"The story Baum remembers about the Tin Man was the character was based on a figure the author once made in Kansas out things like cans and a kettle." Um, Roger, that didn't happen in Kansas...
When I talked to Roger, he didn't seem to know much about his great-grandfather, not even when my father brought up the silent films. He did mention how valuable his great-grandfather and great-grandmother's autographs were, not surprising, as Maud was not the famous one.
Maybe Roger is more knowledgeable than I'm giving him credit for, but to me, it's never seemed like it... and he's a Baum, and I'm a Davis who's been studying Baum and the Oz Legacy for about seven years, having learned from folks who've studied Baum's life much longer, like Micheal Patrick Hearn, Eric Gjovaag, Angelica Shirley Carpenter and Jean Shirley, Katherine Rogers, John Fricke, Ruth Berman, and all the other wonderful folk, most of whom are connected with the International Wizard of Oz Club.
So now I'm figuring, if I know so much, why not do something with it? (Well, there is the Dorothy & Ozma Productions website, but I'm thinking of something else.)
So, I came up with the idea of doing a series of short video documentaries on Baum and the Oz Legacy to be posted on YouTube.
Sound good?
Maybe I could do one about the fans and include some footage of a certain Springfieldian kid when he was about 8 sing "We're Off To See The Wizard."
I thought Roger's DOROTHY OF OZ was decent, if a little heavy-handed and overly whimsical (even for Oz). I've heard that most of his other books aren't very good, though, and a review of THE LION OF OZ AND THE BADGE OF COURAGE says that the book has the Cowardly Lion coming from Africa and journeying to Oz with the Wizard. Um, Roger, did you even read your great-grandfather's FIRST Oz book, let alone the others? It sometimes seems like he's more interested in milking his famous ancestor's name than actually learning anything about his life and works.
ReplyDeleteMind you, LAUGHING DRAGON and DINAMONSTER suggest that even Baum's own sons didn't inherit any of his writing talent.
He did mention how valuable his great-grandfather and great-grandmother's autographs were, not surprising, as Maud was not the famous one.
Didn't Maud forge her late husband's signature on some letters shortly after Frank's death? I wonder how much THOSE signatures are worth. {g}