Over 100 years ago lived a man who loved to entertain neighborhood children by telling magical fantasy stories to them. The children loved the stories. Then, on the evening of May 7th, 1898, a little girl asked him, ( about the wonderful characters he had created, ) “Where do they live?” The man looked at a filing cabinet in the room. The top drawer was labeled A-N the bottom drawer was labeled O-Z.
And on this night the land that is now a part of our culture was, “born”. This man’s name was L. Frank Baum, and he is the reason for The Wizard of Oz. He wrote a book on this marvelous land called Oz. Nearly 40 years later, Samuel Goldwyn at MGM bought the film rights for Oz.
And so a classic motion picture was born, that has now been enchanting millions for over 60 years. It is The Wizard of Oz. Lyman Frank Baum lived from 1856-1919. He was an American writer, born in Chittenango, New York. From 1880 to 1902 he was involved with a newspaper and began a series of books. In these books he created an original fairyland, the land of Oz; a world of fantastic characters and adventure.
The most famous of these books was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from 1900. In 1901 Baum adapted it as a musical show entitled The Wizard of Oz, and before his death Baum wrote 13 more books about Oz. After his death various writers continued the series, producing different variations of the story. A musical film, The Wizard of Oz from 1939, based on the original books by Baum, has become a classic. My Literary Day character will be a character from the Wizard of Oz.
I will be the scarecrow. Dorothy meets the scarecrow on her quest through the Land of Oz. The scarecrow doesn’t have a brain but he can still march along the yellow-brick road.
