An Ozpicious Celebration-Baum's Wizard Marks 100 Wonderful Years

Directly south of Tattypoo, by the great map of the marvelous land, and just west of the Fiddlestick Forest lies the glistening Emerald City - centerpiece of a fantastic realm surrounded on all sides by shifting sands and impassible desert where Winkies, Munchkins, winged monkeys...and one great and powerful wizard, call home.

Long before kid-wiz Harry Potter appeared on the landscape, L. Frank Baum's fable of the travels and travails of a certain lost little girl from Kansas enchanted the imaginations of millions the world over, commemorating this year it's 100th anniversary as one of literatures most significant and beloved achievements.

Oz was conceived one May evening in 1898 as Baum sat around improvising a tale of fantasy characters to entertain his young sons and a gathering of children, when a neighborhood girl named Tweety Robbins suddenly pushed forward. "Oh please, Mr. Baum," she inquired "Where did they live?"

Momentarily off guard, Baum looked about the room for a clue when his eyes caught sight of a nearby three-tiered filing cabinet. The first drawer was labeled A-G, the middle H-N, and the bottom O-Z.

"Oz." Answered Baum.

As the storyteller's yarn progressed, Baum felt a hunch that he was onto something. shooing the children outside, he grabbed a piece of paper and began jotting the adventures of a six-year-old girl in a magical land and of her friends - a tin woodman, a cowardly lion, and a scarecrow. Baum, already a published author with the titles Mother Goose in Prose and Father Goose, His Book to his credit, felt this new tale taking on a life of it's own. "It really seemed to write itself." said Baum. "Then I couldn't find any regular paper, so I took anything at all, even a bunch of old envelopes."

Though he may not have realized it, Baum had set the foundation for what would become his life's work. Born on May 15,1856 into a well off family, Baum had worked a variety of occupations including newspaper reporter, salesman, chicken breeder, and store window designer. It was while displaying wares in one particular shop that Baum set about creating a whimsical-looking metal man using a wash board, stovepipe, and a saucepan topped with a funnel for a hat. the amusing character would become Baum's model for the tin woodman.

William Denslow, an illustrator who had collaborated with the author on his previous works, drew more than 100 pictures and 24 color plates for the book, unusual for a time when most illustrations were exclusively done in black and white.

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