''Oz Before the Rainbow'' is a book written by Mark Evan Swartz in 2000 chronicling the early stage and film versions of '' The Wizard of Oz'', before the 1939 movie, as well as an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

featuring music from the early stage versions. Half of the book is devoted to the 1902 stage musical of ''The Wizard of Oz'' that Baum adapted from his book, with substantial revisions by the director and producer. The adaptation was a tremendous success, first in Chicago, then on Broadway, where it ran for two years, and then on tour for an additional seven years. It starred the comedy team of David C. Montgomery and

Fred Stone Fred Andrew Stone (August 19, 1873 – March 6, 1959) was an American actor. Stone began his career as a performer in circuses and minstrel shows, went on to act in vaudeville, and became a star on Broadway and in feature films, which earned h ...

as the

Tin Woodman Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, also known as the Tin Man or—mistakenly—the "Tin Woodsman," is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book '' ...

and the

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley ...

. The production was a lavish extravaganza. Swartz explores how this production influenced stage and film adaptations that followed, including the 1939 MGM movie.Berman, Ruth
"The Wizardry of Oz"
''Science Fiction Studies'', vol. 30, no. 91, part 3, November 2003, accessed January 12, 2011 The book also discusses Baum's 1908 '' Fairylogue and Radio-Plays'', a presentation narrated by Baum, involving live action, slides and silent film, which included stories from Baum's original book and from its first two sequels, ''

The Marvelous Land of Oz ''The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman'', commonly shortened to ''The Land of Oz'', published in July 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and th ...

'' and ''

Ozma of Oz ''Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Billina the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People Too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein'', p ...

''. Among other adaptations, the book also discusses the

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

and

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

silent film adaptations (the latter with Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman), some of which used material from other Oz books. In 1913, another stage version, adapted from ''Ozma of Oz'' was ''

The Tik-Tok Man of Oz ''The Tik-Tok Man of Oz'' is a musical play with book and lyrics by L. Frank Baum and music by Louis F. Gottschalk that opened at the Majestic Theatre in Los Angeles, California on March 31, 1913. It is loosely inspired by Baum's book ''Ozma of ...

'', which itself was adapted into ''

Tik-Tok of Oz ''Tik-Tok of Oz'' is the eighth Land of Oz book written by L. Frank Baum, published on June 19, 1914. The book has little to do with Tik-Tok and is primarily the quest of the Shaggy Man (introduced in ''The Road to Oz'') to rescue his brother, ...

''. The book contains numerous illustrations, advertisements, photos from many of the versions, program covers, posters and sheet music. It goes into great detail about performers, staging and designs. The book notes that, despite many attempts, Baum was unable to repeat the extraordinary stage success of the 1902 musical and its revivals, although some of the adaptations were then turned into successful novels. He notes, however, that the various versions influenced each other and led to the 1939 MGM movie.

Notes

References

*Swartz, Mark Evan
''Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' on Stage and Screen to 1939''
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000 Works based on The Wizard of Oz Books about film Oz studies {{Oz-stub