James Baquet

    Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) is better known as L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and its 13 sequels, as well as 41 other novels, 83 short stories, and numerous other works — poems, scripts, and other writings.

    His most famous work was made into the film “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939. Some of his fantasy works were futuristic, and seemed to foreshadow such inventions as television, the wireless telephone, and laptop computers.

    Frank (as he liked to be called) was born in upstate New York. His father was a wealthy businessman, and the boy grew up on a huge estate. He was schooled at home with his siblings, though he spent two years at a military academy as a teen.

    As a boy, he received a printing press from his father, and this encouraged him to write. He and his brother published a few issues of a journal, complete with advertisements. He also published a journal — and later a book — about poultry-raising.

    To these two interests — writing and entrepreneurship — Baum added a third: the theater. After he played numerous roles in small productions, his father built a theater for him in 1880, where he wrote, directed, and acted in plays. Unfortunately, while Baum was away, the theater burned down, with many of his scripts stored inside.

    Baum married in 1882, and in 1888 he and his wife — the daughter of a famous suffragette — moved to what is now South Dakota and opened a store. When that failed due to his poor business practices, he edited a local newspaper.

    The paper failed in 1891, and the Baum family — including four sons — moved to Chicago, where Baum wrote for a newspaper, edited a magazine, and continued to work on his own writing projects. He also worked as a door-to-door salesman.

    With the success of the first “Oz” book in 1901, Baum’s life took on a pattern which continued until his death following a stroke in 1919. Most of his books were successful, but he spent all his earnings and went into debt on theatrical and film productions.

    Once a dreamer, always a dreamer.

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. brothers and sisters

    2. books or films that follow a previous one

    3. looking into the future

    4. person who goes from house to house selling something

    5. growing chickens, ducks, and other birds for food

    6. predict

    7. a woman who campaigned for women’s voting rights

    8. the text of a play, movie, TV show, etc.

    9. interest in or skill at business