Oz before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939 (Hardcover)

~ Mr. Mark Evan Swartz (Author) "MENTION OZ, THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, the Munchkins, the Scarecrow, or any other major images or characters from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of..." (more)
Key Phrases: Tin Woodman, New York, Cowardly Lion (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Swartz artfully achieves his purpose of showing "that the infiltration of the Wizard of Oz story into our cultural bloodstream was not an overnight process" by tracking the influences and popularity of the many stage and screen productions of the story that preceded the 1939 Judy Garland film. And a big body of work those productions are. There were many Oz musicals staged between 1902 and 1918, and a raft of silent Oz films produced between 1908 and 1925. Swartz briefly profiles Oz creator L. Frank Baum but focuses his spirited account on the variety of those stage and film adaptations. He vividly describes specific performances, compares and contrasts them with others, and shows how each influenced the ones that followed, up to the 1939 movie and beyond to contemporary stage adaptations. Swartz's scholarship is evident in his many citations of primary source material, which, together with the book's profuse illustration in both black-and-white and color, makes the book irresistible to dedicated Oz buffs. Sally Estes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Invaluable. It is well illustrated and is the first major book to show how much of our favorite American fairyland was informed by the early Oz stage shows and films... This book is essential for any Baum scholar's shelf and, indeed, should be informative and enjoyable for those interested in the MGM film, too." -- David Maxine, The Baum Bugle

"Swartz artfully achieves his purpose of showing 'that the infiltration of the Wizard of Oz story into our cultural bloodstream was not an overnight process' by tracking the influences and popularity of the many stage and screen productions of the story that preceded the 1939 Judy Garland film. Swartz's scholarship is evident in his many citations of primary source material, which, together with the book's profuse illustrations in both black-and-white and color, makes this book irresistible to dedicated Oz buffs." -- Booklist

"Like Walt Disney, Baum was ahead of his time with his interest in imaginative visual productions, and this book revisits them in detail, proving that his impact on popular culture is almost unequaled." -- Anne Morris, Austin American-Statesman

"A pleasantly scholarly account of the various stage and screen versions that were made of Baum's story before Judy Garland came along." -- Herbert Kupferberg, Parade Magazine

"Attractively produced, this book fills a gap in the literature." -- Choice

"Fascinating and timely..Swartz has compiled early stage show photographs, posters, movie stills, actors' costume shots and artists' impressions of the story generously enough to make Oz Before the Rainbowa book of lustrous appeal." -- The Age (Melbourne)

"Swartz has painstakingly researched the history of L. Frank Baum's 1900 best seller, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, from publication to the ultimate film version, the MGM 1939 Technicolor musical... The author examines the nature of popular culture and mass media while showing how changes made in the stage and film versions that followed the initial productions affected later versions and the 1939 film... This unique study is highly recommended." -- Library Journal

"Thorough and fascinating... A significant achievement and addition to Oz scholarship. It provides interesting and new directions for other researchers to follow, and adds to the cultural, mythical, and historical richness that the Oz tradition encompasses for so many people... Scholars and researchers -- and perhaps those readers who are more than casual fans of the books and/or the 1939 film -- will find themselves returning to this book repeatedly. It is a worthy addition to an Oz lover's library." -- Diana Dominguez, Cercles: Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone

"Swartz reminds us that Oz, from the turn of the 20th century on, has continued to live in America's consciousness." -- Andrew Karp, Utopian Studies

"The book reprints a wealth of rare illustrations--photos from the various productions, advertisements and posters, program covers, photos and drawings of Baum's collaborators, sheet music, etc." -- Ruth Berman, Science Fiction Studies

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (August 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801864771
• ISBN-13: 978-0801864773
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #820,762 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #93 in

  Books > Entertainment > Movies > Adaptations

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than A Trip to the Emerald City, November 30, 2000

By	Greg Zygiel (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

This is a marvelous book for Oz lovers, but especially for those interested in the history of musical comedy and silent movies. Mark Evan Swartz has has written a scholary, meticulous book that is clear and exciting. The book pays off in loads of information about Baum and the development of his ideas for Oz in print, on stage and in motion pictures. What I found most fascinating was Swartz's account of how "The Wizard of Oz" became one of the biggest hits in American theater and about the business of managing a big production that ran, in New York and on tour, for years.

Swartz performs a near-miracle in marshaling information about business issues into a cogent and exciting story. His retelling of how the show looked and sounded to audiences of the time is masterful. The show made enormous stars of the comedy team Montgomery and Stone as the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. (Stone lived long enough to act in movies in the 30's and 40's, so that it's possible for us to see one of the biggest broadway stars of the eary 20th century in movies like "Alice Adams" and "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." Even as an old man he has some of the twinkle that enchanted theater audiences.)

Swartz is equally good in drawing a picture of the Oz silent movies and of how MGM came to make the "Rainbow" version in 1939. And speaking of pictures -- the book is lavishly illusrated with pictures of the original production and its stars, with shots from the silents and with wonderful color reproductions of posters and other ads. It's a scholarly book that is fun to browse and a handsome book you can learn something from.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Surprise!, November 18, 2002

By	James Choma - See all my reviews

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!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressively Researched and Finely Focused, September 23, 2001

By	Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.