The Yellow Knight of Oz

Thompson's 1930 book focuses on one of her first memorable characters: Sir Hokus of Pokes. Although he was mainly a supporting character, Sir Hokus was actually one of my favorites. A bluff, old-fashioned knight who would always try to be the hero? What's not to love? Of course he needs to be the focus.

Wait... It's not called Sir Hokus of Oz? Oh, it's The Yellow Knight of Oz. So, who's this yellow knight?

The book starts with Sir Hokus planning an adventure, but everyone in the Emerald City plans to go with him. Not wanting the company, he steals out alone. He travels through Marshland inhabited by giant turtles and frogs, and ruled by an ugly woman named Marcia. With the help of a giant turtle named Ploppa, he escapes.

Meanwhile, in the little kingdom of Samandra, the Sultan has had his Seer Chinda looking for the Comfortable Camel for ten years. In an argument, Chinda reveals he just discovered the Camel is in Ozma's court now. So, the Sultan sends Tuzzle the Grand Vizier to collect the Camel. Arriving at the Emerald City, Tuzzle does the smart thing: just asking for the Camel back! However, the Camel cannot be found. They send Tuzzle back, promising to send a message when the Camel returns. After he leaves, they go to check the Magic Picture, but it's gone. The Wizard says he has a magic searchlight that can find anything but decides against using it unless the Camel, Sir Hokus, and the Magic Picture don't turn up soon.

... Seriously? Yeah, Wiz, security must not be a big issue anymore.

Meanwhile, a young boy named Bill, but better known as Speedy, is testing his uncle Billy's rocket, which they plan to use to go to Mars.

Don't you love how little we knew of space exploration in 1930?

Anyways, it launches with Speedy alone and it crash lands in Subterranea, a country of quiet people under Oz. During a subter-rain, Speedy gets lost and finds a golden statue of a princess named Marygolden. It has fallen over, so Speedy starts to put it upright when it comes to life as a real flesh and blood princess. Using an umbrella, they escape Subterranea.

Meanwhile, Sir Hokus is joined by the Comfortable Camel and they eventually come across a deserted overgrown city. Finding a pack of dates in the Camel's saddle bag, Hokus eats one and tosses it away, but it hits a vine and transforms it into a Jester named Peter Pun. As the three journey on, the Comfortable Camel is captured by Chinda.

In Samandra, the Camel cannot talk anymore, but the Sultan is outraged that the Camel has lost his saddle bags.

Thompson returns to Speedy and Marygolden, who find themselves in Quick City, where Speedy is made King of the Quix. These people, as they wear special hats, age rapidly and then repeat their aging in just a few moments. It's actually one of Thompson's more amusing side-creations.

Escaping Quick City, Speedy and Marygolden arrive in a forest, where Speedy turns a horse chestnut into a chestnut horse named Stampedro, who says he belongs to the Yellow Knight. They soon are joined by Sir Hokus and Peter Pun, who go to Samandra to retrieve the Comfortable Camel. This they manage to do, but Hokus is separated from the rest, and they take the Sultan's dog Confido.

Confido, now being able to talk, is bribed into spilling all of the Sultan's secrets. He transformed the countries of Corumbia and Corabia, and Confido knows how to undo the enchantment, using date seeds that grow from a magic tree he instructs them to grow. He gives them the instructions, and the kingdoms are shortly restored. However, Stampedro demands the Yellow Knight be restored. But the Yellow Knight cannot be disenchanted until exactly ten in the morning. The Queen of Corumbia must eat the smallest date on the tree, and fling it from the tallest tower in the castle.

When this is done, the date seed strikes Sir Hokus, who turns into Prince Corum, the Yellow Knight. Backtracking, Thompson reveals the knight who Hokus fought and sent to Pokes all those years ago was really the Sultan of Samandra.

The Sultan is captured, and with a quick arrival by Ozma, the Wizard, and Dorothy. They see to the Sultan's punishment (return his stolen goods, all magic tools confiscated, and restricted to Samandra) and see Corum married to Marygolden, who was his bethrothed. (Before you ask, Thompson mentions that Sir Hokus hid the Magic Picture so the people in the Emerald City wouldn't come after him, but the Wizard found it.) The Camel stays with Corum, while Speedy returns home to Uncle Billy.

The Yellow Knight of Oz feels like it could have been more than what it was. Sadly, most of the story is about disenchanting things, which isn't too exciting. Yes, Ozma of Oz also had dispelling enchantments as a major plot point, but it felt more exciting there because there was also a large chance of danger for our heroes.

And Thompson winds up making one of her best characters into a character that isn't so interesting. And here, he drops out of Thompson's books. We never get to see what kind of character Prince Corum is, whether he became a completely different person, or if Sir Hokus was a part of his character exemplified. And the final problem is that if Thompson was going to do this, why place it ten years later? Ah, well.

The redeeming factor of Yellow Knight is Speedy, another adventurous child character to move the plot along, and guess what? He'll be back later!

The Royal Podcast of Oz: A Chat With Miriam

I chat with Oz fan Miriam Goldman, an Oz fan with some interesting and unique views on Oz books, movies, events, plays, and even video games! Warning, this is a little long...

As always, you can listen or download at the podcast site or use the player below:

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Selig's Silent Oz Musical Anniversary

In 1910, the first of 4 Selig Baum short films was released: "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz" on March 24 or 26.

Even though it's late, I - Sam Milazzo - have made an Anniversary Tribute to this black-and-white 1 reel/1000 ft short film with music graciously permitted by Joe Cascone.

I have sharpened and brightened the actual video, as well as fixed up a few frames that were 'out of order'. Any more info can be seen in the description.

The Selig Baum films that followed were "Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz" (April 19), "the Land of Oz" (May 19) and "John Dough and the Cherub" (December 19). It would be truly wonderful if the other films were found and released, along with a restoration, together with "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz".

The video can be seen here on YouTube.

The short film can be purchased on DVDs "the Wizard of Oz: 3-disk Collectors' Edition" (2005), "the Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary 4-disk Ultimate Collectors' Edition" (2009), the "More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931" and maybe a few others.

You can buy Joe Cascone's new CD here!

Thanks go to Joe Cascone for graciously letting me use his music, and Thanks to Blair Frodelius for helping me with the dates for these films' releases.

Happy One Hundredth Anniversary, Selig Polyscope Co's "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and others!

New writer for the blog!

We're expanding our staff here at the Royal Blog of Oz! I invited Nathan DeHoff, an already established Oz blogger who has posted Oz entries to his blogs at LiveJournal and WordPress.

Nathan lives in New Jersey, and has written a number of Oz stories that he put online. He's also appeared in two of our podcasts. So, join us in welcoming him to the team.

I'll be right back!

Last Sunday, my motherboard on my computer went screwy and wouldn't use my peripherals, including the monitor, mouse, and keyboard. I've ordered a replacement, but it only just shipped today. Right now, I'm using my sister's computer, trying to be respectful of their property.

As just about all of my Oz projects were on my computer, I'm officially taking a break from them. Which is nuts because I've got a backlog of Thompson books to blog about! Right now, I have all of her Famous Forty books, except Ozoplaning and Captain Salt. Actually, I ordered a copy of Captain Salt, but even though the seller was based in America, they'd only ship to the UK, forcing me to get help from a UK friend! (Got a few of them...) They told me they haven't received it yet.

Right now, I'm only lacking Neill's books from the Famous Forty. I'd also like to get A Runaway in Oz, Thompson's Enchanted Island, and Cheerful Citizens.

Podcasts are in the same boat. I'm arranging an interview later this month, as those are easier to edit. Sam and I recorded a couple podcasts, but these will take longer to edit, so they should be out in January and February. Which is a good thing, as I plan to be moving during that time and would have even less time for editing then...

SO, until I get that motherboard in the mail, and even more importantly, get it installed, I bid you adieu for now, and maybe Sam will blog once or twice while I'm gone.

... Actually, something I thought about... Would it be more interesting to have multiple writers writing Oz blog entries on one blog so you'd get a nice variety of topics? Or would it be confusing as each writer would need to specify in each entry who they are because they'd have conflicting opinions? (Believe me, Sam and I don't see eye to eye on everything!)

HorrOz!

Okay, I'm going to take a whack at answering some questions about rather dark subjects in the Oz books.

1. How did the Wicked Witch of the West melt?
   In Michael Patrick Hearn's The Annotated Wizard of Oz, he quotes an article in the Baum Bugle by Dr. Douglas A. Rossman. This mentions hydrolysis, "a chemical process in which a certain molecule is split into two parts by the addition of a molecule of water." Baum mentions the Wicked Witch of the East, who crumbles into dust, "was so old... that she dried up quickly in the sun." The Wicked Witch of the West doesn't bleed when Toto bites her, explaining "she was so wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before."
   
   From this, it is easily assumed that the Wicked Witches were not immortal by nature. They have enchanted themselves to keep themselves from crumbling into dust. When the Wicked Witch of the East is struck by Dorothy's house, the force is too great for even her magic, and she is rendered unconscious, if not dead, by the weight of the house. Her enchantment wears off, letting her body crumble into dust.
   
   Similarly, the Wicked Witch of the West's body cannot stand certain forces. Thus, when water strikes her, her molecules are split by the addition of water, or, if you prefer, her body absorbs the water, turning her into a liquid, like how flour can become paste by the addition of water. Dorothy further liquidates this goo in the book by throwing another bucket of water on her.
2. Do people die in Oz?
   Baum maintained that people and animals could not die under normal circumstances, but they could be "destroyed." I'd assume that if someone was cremated in Oz, they would be considered "destroyed." Thompson refers to people being "utterly destroyed" by magic. I'd assume this would mean being removed from existence, but in all cases where a villain threatens this, it is never carried out. However, it has happened in the past, though this could easily have been another transformation.
   
   In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we have some conflicting reports. The Kalidahs that fall into a gulf, we are told, "were dashed to pieces on the sharp rocks at the bottom." Not quite killed, as a Kalidah in The Magic of Oz survives being impaled and goes to be magically mended by the Kalidah King.
   
   We are told definitely that the Wicked Witch of the West's crows, wolves, bees, as well as the giant spider died. It would appear death was in Oz, and somehow, death stopped after Ozma took the throne. Edward Einhorn's excellent Paradox in Oz explains this with a delicious time travel twist. (Assuming no death is a side effect of the anti-aging enchantment.) That book also explains the conflicting report in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, how Nick Chopper managed to stay alive, imparting his life and consciousness into his new tin body.
   
   I assume there are other fan theories aside from Paradox in Oz detailing how death was removed yet Nick Chopper survived dismemberment before that. One I had was that he had fairy blood in his family.

Okay, and if you have any other questions, post them in the comments, and if I can come up with an answer, I'll edit it in.

Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz

Well, isn't this an appropriate time of year to write this one?

In a change of pace for Thompson, we open in Philadelphia with Peter from The Gnome King of Oz. He and his grandfather put the gold Peter got in that story to use, putting one bag in the bank for Peter's college fund, and the other bag they basically blew. (All on fun stuff, but still...) Peter kept the sacks, though, and he finds a small leftover gold piece. He toys with it and wishes he was back in Oz and then he finds himself just outside Jack Pumpkinhead's home.

Jack greets him and theorizes that the coin was a "piece of change." They decide to head to the Emerald City, but Jack takes the wrong road.

Thompson really gets on a roll with new places to explore here: they visit Chimneyville, home of the Chimney-villains, who are living beings of smoke; a Goody Shop that sells only Good things, but not exactly what they want; and they even come across a live Christmas Tree that is ready to snatch what it can for ornaments. However, when they refuse to give things to it, it throws ornaments, including a silver bell inscribed "The Red Djinn's dinner bell," which when rung summons a black servant boy who gives Peter a dinner.

Then we head over to Scare City, where King Harum Scarum finds Jack and Peter un-scare-able. Using the dinner bell, Peter defends himself by throwing dishes at Harum. Finally, their luck runs out, and Harum is about to attack, when the pirate sack Peter's been carrying from home sucks up Harum, and all the other Scares in the city, except a griffin called Snif, who has lost his growl—his "gr—rr"—and now calls himself an Iffin and often speaks in rhyme. He offers to fly them to the Emerald City.

The trio takes a break in the Land of Barons, where they meet Baron Belfaygor, who has a constantly growing beard that has led him to a life of seclusion, while the cruel Baron Mogodore has kidnapped his love Shirley Sunshine to force her to marry him. The quartet decides to rescue her, but before they can get to Mogodore's castle, Snif eats some shrinking violets and shrinks. But, a clever plan from Snif helps them reach the castle.

For a bit, we follow Mogodore and Shirley Sunshine, who doesn't think much of the cruel Baron. She unwittingly convinces him to conquer Ozma and the Emerald City. We also learn of the Forbidden Flagon. If it is opened, a dreadful disaster will befall Mogodore's city of Baffleburg. Mogodore is curious as to what exactly would happen.

Peter and his friends arrive and pretending to be powerful magicians, make their way to Mogodore, who sees through their bluff and has them thrown into a dungeon, the sack falling to the ground.

Peter and Snif escape when the effect of the shrinking violets wears off, making Snif burst through the bars of the cell. They quickly free the others, find the sack, and, having heard about the Forbidden Flagon, take that as well.

After a misadventure in Swing City, a city of acrobats, they find Mogodore on the march to the Emerald City. They attempt to swoop down and have him swallowed by the sack, only to have Snif, Peter, and Belfayor swallowed instead, leaving Jack with a broken leg, the Flagon, the sack, and the dinner bell. Having an idea, Jack rings the bell and grabs the black boy who appears, disappearing with him into the castle of the Red Jinn. (The spelling mysteriously changes in the book.)

Jack finds himself in the palace of the Red Jinn, a portly fellow who wears a red glass jar. He gives Jack some advice before Jack mysteriously vanishes.

It so happens that Mogodore arrives in the Emerald City as Ozma and her court is playing Blind Man's Bluff. Mogodore sees that Ozma is prettier than Shirley Sunshine and decides to marry Ozma instead. As a banquet for Mogodore ensues, Mogodore uses the Magic Belt to bring the Flagon. Jack appears, removes his head, and hurls the Flagon at Mogodore.

Mogodore and the people of Baffleburg are restore to their original forms: tiny people only a few inches high. Mogodore's ancestors had done a sorcerer a favor, and he returned it by making them normal sized people, the enchantment maintained as long as the Flagon was intact. Ozma returns the Baffleburgians to the now reduced city of Baffleburg.

The people captured by the sack are restored simply by holding it upside down and shaking it, so even the people of Scare City are restored and head home. Peter, Snif, and Belfayor emerge. Snif has found his growl again, so he is a Griffin again. Belfayor's beard is permanently gone, and he marries Shirley Sunshine. Peter goes home.

Altogether, I was impressed by Thompson's story. I thought her characterization for Jack was a little off, but she explained it was because of Jack's changing heads also making variations in his character. Unlike some of her other books, a linear plot was maintained, stepping away only to introduce situations when they were coming into the story.

Even better, at the end, no one is left unjustly punished or enchanted or transformed in a disturbing way.

So, Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, well done, Thompson!

But who was that Red Jinn guy? Will we ever find out exactly where Jack went off to? Or is this going to be left unanswered?

The HorrOz Return . . . !

This is Sam Milazzo of Australia.

Back in 2009, I made and uploaded my first Halloween Oz video to Youtube:


Now, in 2010, it has spawned . . . . a SEQUEL. Duh-duh-duuuuuuuuuuuuuhh!!



Yes, it's too early to be posting, but Jared suggested I do so. And I agree, it will allow Youtubers to see it with plenty of time and more comments to come in on the day.

Still, even though it's early, Happy Halloween for 2010!

The Monarch

For the next story in Dark Music, I decided to record it as a podcast.

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The Penhale Broadcast

The fourth story in Dark Music is less macabre and more mysterious.

In the Penhale cemetery, the voice of late opera soloist Sonya Parrish has been heard singing. This happens regularly, so the WXAT radio station devises an immense broadcast experiment: someone will sit out in the graveyard with a microphone, and the ghostly singing will be broadcast throughout the world.

The man selected is Adrian Ramsey. At midnight on broadcast night, Adrian is in the graveyard alone with only a microphone. After a long introduction, the ghostly singing is heard, filling the entire world with wonder.

Adrian continutes the broadcast.

"Sonya Parrish has sung," a slight tremble in his voice betrayed his emotion. "Sonya Parrish has sung for the greatest audience ever assembled. As I look about me, I bow my head with humility. Never was a mortal man favored with such a sight. I see the world's immortals gathered in this little graveyard to pay homage to the divine artistry of Sonya Parrish. There—not twenty oaces from me—stands great Caesar with his Roman court. And there—resplendent in the many-colored robes of the Orient—Marco Polo, the dreamer and adventurer. And there—kindly-visaged Shakespeare, mightiest of all the men of letters. His keen eyes gleam with heart-felt appreciation of the artistry he has just witnessed. And there is another divine woman, whose memory the world cherishes—the great Bernhardt, more magnetic and lovely than words can tell. Her eyes are moist with tears, a beautiful tribute to Sonya Parrish's art."

This confounds the listeners, but then Sonya's ghost performs an encore. Adrian concludes:

"Sonya Parrish has sung again," came the voice from the loudspeaker. "She will sing no more tonight. For those who have assembled here she has displayed the magic of her great art. I bow my head in the glory of the moment in which I am permitted to speak. Such glory has never before come to a man. I am humble before the multitude that is Sonya Parrish's audience." Ramsey pause, then continued in a voice that was curiously subdued. "And reverently, worshipfully I speak of One who has lately joined the multitude. For Him the great ones made way as for a King. He is garbed simply in a white robe that falls from His shoulders. A circlet of thorns crowns His head. His eyes are kind and gentle and more wise than—"

Adrian cuts out. Everyone is glad of the success, and the technicians just outside the graveyard go to collect Adrian. They cannot see him until they are at his microphone. At the base, Adrian lies dead.

In his eyes shone the light of a greater glory than any living man had ever before looked upon.