Line #11 Creator/LFrankBaum


1	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/baum-frank_9228.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:200:Not pictured: the ball and chain attached to silver shoes.]]
3	->''"When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything 'great,' I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward."''
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5	Lyman (long for "L.") Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author, best known for ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''--a work so popular that, in fact, he was chained to the series and wrote Oz book after Oz book while longing to write ''anything'' else. He wrote the second ''Oz'' book to capitalize on the success of the stage version of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', and although he didn't plan to turn it into a series, he was talked into writing four more books by the publisher. After trying to end the series at six books and move onto a new fantasy adventure series starring his characters Trot and Cap'n Bill, some bad theater investments and poor book sales necessitated his return to the ''Oz'' series after only a three year absence, which he would be stuck writing for the rest of his life. That the series was in no way pre-planned helps explain what a ContinuitySnarl the ''Oz'' books are, as well as the fact that he often juggled various side projects while rushing out yearly ''Oz'' books, such as theater productions (arguably his true passion over writing) and later, silent films for his short-lived film studio. Baum also wrote many novels for adult audiences under various pen names; in total he wrote close to 80 books in his lifetime, and only 15 were Oz books (counting a short story collection). Even in death he was not able to escape Oz, as in a state of tenuous after a stroke and a short coma, he awoke one last time to tell his wife "Now we can cross the Shifting Sands." [[note]] This being one of the areas of the Deadly Desert that surrounds Oz. [[/note]]
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7	Before being utterly trapped by Oz, he wrote a number of other works, such as his first best selling book ''Mother Goose in Prose'', and ''Literature/TheLifeAndAdventuresOfSantaClaus''.
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10	!!Works by L. Frank Baum with their own trope pages include:
11	[[index]]
12	* The first 14 books of the Literature/LandOfOz series:
13	** ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''
14	** ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''
15	** ''Literature/OzmaOfOz''
16	** ''Literature/DorothyAndTheWizardInOz ''
17	** ''Literature/TheRoadToOz''
18	** ''Literature/TheEmeraldCityOfOz''
19	** ''Literature/ThePatchworkGirlOfOz''
20	** ''Literature/TikTokOfOz''
21	** ''Literature/TheScarecrowOfOz''
22	** ''Literature/RinkitinkInOz''
23	** ''Literature/TheLostPrincessOfOz''
24	** ''Literature/TheTinWoodmanOfOz''
25	** ''Literature/TheMagicOfOz''
26	** ''Literature/GlindaOfOz''
27	* ''Literature/TheSeaFairies''
28	* ''Literature/QueenZixiOfIx''
29	* ''Literature/TheMasterKey''
30	* ''Literature/TheLifeAndAdventuresOfSantaClaus''
31	* ''Literature/TheMagicalMonarchOfMo''
32	[[/index]]
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35	!!Other works by L. Frank Baum provide examples of:
36	* AuthorAppeal: Magic (he had a strong interest in Theosophy), strong and sensible female characters in positions of power (his wife and mother in law were suffragettes and proto-feminists).
37	* CameoProp: Baum died before MGM's version of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' was filmed, but, in a remarkable coincidence, his coat played a role in the movie. The studio wardrobe department had trouble getting just the right look for Frank Morgan's "Professor Marvel". Finally, they went to a nearby thrift shop and bought an old, shabby frock coat for him to wear. While on the set, Morgan turned out the pocket of the coat, and noticed a name tag of the previous owner: L. Frank Baum. (This was later [[http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/ozcoat.asp confirmed]] by Baum's widow and the tailor that made the coat.) Amusingly, when Margaret Hamilton first heard about it, she initially refused to believe it, claiming it to be nothing more than an MGM-concocted rumor to drum up publicity for the movie.
38	* CreatorBacklash: While he didn't exactly ''hate'' the [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz book that made him famous]], he was disappointed that none of his other literary attempts were anywhere near as successful, forcing him to continue writing Oz sequels [[MoneyDearBoy for the money]]. He tried several times to end the series (for instance, by having Oz be permanently cut off from communication the outside world), but the public would have none of it.
39	* DirectLineToTheAuthor: Was fond of using this trope in the introductions to the ''Oz'' books, calling himself the Royal Historian of Oz; and since they're in a SharedUniverse with his other fantasy books one could presume this trope applied with all of his books, whether stated or not. For instance, after Oz was shut off from the rest of the world, he was able to find a way to communicate with Oz via telegraph in order to get more stories.
40	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Baum considered his first name Lyman to be embarrassing and preferred going by Frank, hence his abbreviation to “L”. He was named after his uncle.
41	* ExpansionPackWorld: The continent of Nonestica, which later was revealed to be the location of Oz, Ev, Mo, Noland, the Forest of Burzee, and nearly every other fantasy location in Baum’s work.
42	* GrowsOnTrees: Appears in ''Literature/TheMagicalMonarchOfMo''. In the land of Mo, everything the people need in their daily lives grows on trees. This includes swords, hats, rings, peanuts, medicine, preserved apricots, shrimp salad, animal crackers, and bicycles.
43	** This was also true in Ev (where lunch pails grow on trees) and some parts of Oz (particularly the region of Oogaboo, where anything from books to guns grow on trees).
44	* MeaningfulName: ''Literature/TheSeaFairies'' has the mermaid queen, named "Aquareine", "Aqua", invokes the water in which a mermaid lives, while "reine" is similar to "Siren", also used as a word for mermaids.
45	* MurderousMannequin: In the "The Dummy That Lived", a fairy named Tanko-Mankie pulls a cruel prank in which they bring a mannequin to life by breathing on her forehead and then leaving her without guidance just to see what chaos follows. The mannequin can talk, reason, and walk, but those are the only skills she has that separate her from a newborn. She wears clothes and accessories because she saw the women gawking at her do that, but the clothes she picks don't match. She sits down at a cafe and orders coffee 'n' rolls because she sees another person do that, but the coffee burns her waxen and wooden body and she walks off without knowing she's supposed to pay. When a man raises his hat in greeting, she copies the greeting unaware of the gender association. Eventually, she's hit by a car and the huge hole in her head positively identifies her as a living dummy. She's taken to the police station, where Tanko-Mankie takes her life away the moment no one's looking.
46	* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: He wrote the Oz books partly because he thought traditional {{Fairy Tale}}s were too scary (and definitely had a point there).[[note]]The other reason was that he felt American children needed a fantasy world distinct from and unconnected to classical European fairytales.[[/note]] But when your first book has a character who was enchanted to hack himself to pieces with an axe, becoming a {{Steampunk}} {{Cyborg}}; the second book has a protagonist forced to live her life as the wrong gender; and the third book has a vain princess and her hall of interchangeable heads, then you kinda missed the point about not loading your work with Nightmare Fuel.
47	** Baum even [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerates]] this trope, because the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' series is known for its {{Surprisingly Creepy Moment}}s, with a fair amount of FamilyUnfriendlyViolence and NightmareFuel for a little kid's series. Many readers have also noticed some oddities about how Oz is presented (often due to ValuesDissonance), such as how [[BanOnMagic no one but the two regents are allowed to use magic]] or how the former Wizard of Oz is [[DesignatedHero treated as a "good man" despite all his previous misdeeds]]. It's essentially a dictatorship, [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans but it's a ''benevolent'' one, so few citizens are unsatisfied]]. Still, these UnfortunateImplications are enough to make writers brainstorm. So the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books are reinterpreted as more [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical political than intended]]. As a result, Oz and its characters routinely get referenced in dark, political manners and many adaptations politicize the setting. Glinda the Good Witch and the Wizard of Oz are especially prone to getting reinterpreted as more [[AdaptationalVillainy amoral than intended]]. The Emerald City will also be turned into a StepfordSuburbia that looks pretty and shiny but hides darker secrets underneath. To resume, Creator/LFrankBaum unintendedly created a whole literary genre, that is a Sub-trope to FracturedFairytale called DystopianOz.
48	* PublicDomainCharacter:
49	** SantaClaus appears in both ''The Road to Oz'' and his own earlier book, ''The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus''.
50	** All of Baum’s ''[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Oz]]'' books are now public domain. Certain aspects from later books and adaptations are still copyrighted, most famously the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz 1939 film's]] [[AdaptationDyeJob Ruby Slippers]] (they're silver in the original).
51	* SantaClaus: ''The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'' is a partial TropeCodifier for some of our modern Santa mythos.
52	* SharedUniverse: It may not have started this way, but by ''Literature/TheRoadToOz'' and its MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ending it was canon that all of Baum's fantasy novels took place in the same universe. Later on when maps of Oz and the continent it resides on were created, it was revealed that all of Baum's fantasies take place on the same continent. This later allowed Baum to rescue Trot and Cap'n Bill after their series was cancelled by having them end up in Oz.
53	* TogetherInDeath: This seemed to be Baum's last thought before he passed away, saying he and his wife could finally cross the Shifting Sands. She would however later become the executor of his estate and basically the go-to source for information on Oz and Frank, as well as the person who selected Creator/RuthPlumlyThompson to write more Oz books, and only join him 40 years later where they share the same gravestone.
54	* WackyWaysideTribe: The Oz books in particular are ''loaded'' with them.

Context Creator / LFrankBaum