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Title: Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939 by Mark Evan Swartz ISBN: 0-8018-6477-1 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $57.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: yes, but no
Comment: Everything you've ever wanted to know about Baum's Oz career, written, alas, by a perfectly dreadful stylist who can't synthesize information, can't shape a thought, and, basically, can't write.
The photos are nifty, though.
Rating: 5
Summary: What a Surprise!
Comment: Prior to reading this wonderful book, I was somewhat of a newbie to the works of L. Frank Baum. I was familiar with the Wizard of Oz movie, but had never bothered to read the book from whence it came. Reading Mark Evan Swartz's "Oz Before the Rainbow" opened my eyes to Baum's additional works as well as the 1903 stage extravaganza based on "The Wizard of Oz".
Before the 1939 Judy Garland film, the 1903 stage adaptation was THE definitive version of Baum's first book. David Montgomery and Fred Stone were the definitive Tin Man and Scarecrow. In fact, the play made the team of Montgomery and Stone household names for several years after the play's successful run. While the storyline of the musical did differ from Baum's original work, you'll be surprised to find out how much of it translated over to the '39 movie.
Several adjustments were made to the story in order to get it to the stage, rendering the story vaguely recognizible, but way off from Baum's originial work. While wary of the many differences, Baum and songwriting partner Paul Tietjens composed several tunes for the show -- none of which carried over to the film versions. But through extensive research, Swartz provides the words to many of these forgotton melodies -- a real find for any Oz fan.
There are also many other interesting revelations concerning the 1903 play as well as the other film versions that followed. For instance, did you know Oliver Hardy (of Laurel & Hardy fame) played a part in one of the early versions of Oz?
This is a great book for any fan of the Oz books or movies. It's all beautifully arranged between text, documents and pictures. It'll make a wonderful addition to your Oz colletion and make you want to discover more about Oz prior to 1939. Highly recommended reading!
Rating: 4
Summary: Impressively Researched and Finely Focused
Comment: Oz Before the Rainbow (L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939) is an amazingly well researched and thorough piece of work by archivist Mark Evan Swartz. This piercing view is directed at the 1902-3 stage version and the three subsequent incorporations of the story into the silent movies, often rather loosely incorporated in odd and often surprising ways for those familiar only with the book. All of these versions of Baum's first book have fallen out of public consciousness, pushed aside, as it were, by the memorable 1939 film verion (the version that remained the truest to the spirit and not just some of the ideas of the book). Concepts from the previous incarnations do leak into the 1939 movie and it is fascinating to watch this evolution. This is a tremondous piece of research that is a must for fans of Oz.
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Title: The Making of the Wizard of Oz : Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM by Aljean Harmetz ISBN: 0786883529 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 02 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: All Things Oz : The Wonder, Wit, and Wisdom of The Wizard of Oz by LINDA SUNSHINE ISBN: 1400048486 Publisher: Clarkson Potter Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: 100 Years of Oz : A Century of Classic Images by John Fricke, Willard Carroll ISBN: 1556709404 Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang Pub. Date: 09 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Munchkins of Oz by Stephen Cox ISBN: 1581822693 Publisher: Cumberland House Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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