Description: Like many of us, Mark Evan Swartz first encountered Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion while watching the 1939 MGM musical starring Judy Garland. Although the obvious source for this film was L. Frank Baum's children's book, Swartz reminds us in Oz before the Rainbow that various stage and screen dramatizations of Baum's story preceded and influenced the 1939 film. Musical-comedy elements in the MGM film, extensive scenes with the Kansas farmhands, and even the ending in which Dorothy realizes that her visit to Oz was only a dream -- all originated in stage or film versions rather than in the pages of Baum's book. This richly illustrated book contains many rare photographs, film stills, sketches, theater programs, and movie advertisements from the different productions.

Piecing together the Chicago and Broadway stage productions (1902-3) from contemporary reviews, surviving script pages, and published song lyrics, Swartz shows how Baum and his many collaborators worked to transform the book into a popular theatrical attraction -- often requiring significant alterations to the original story. Because small dogs were difficult to control on stage, Toto became Imogene the cow, portrayed by a costumed actor. And Dorothy, a young girl in the book, matured into a young woman, to add romantic complications to the plot. Throughout its run, the elaborate stage musical incorporated elements of slapstick and burlesque comedy -- including minstrel songs and scantily clad chorus girls. Swartz meticulously documents how the show evolved during its tour of the United States, changing songs or adding topical jokes to keep the production fresh.

As Swartz makes clear, thepopular stage musical influenced silent film depictions of Oz, including a multimedia show (1908), a one-reel short produced by Selig Studios (1910), and a full-length feature film (1925) that portrayed Dorothy as a flirtatious flapper and co-starred Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman (before his famous teaming with Stan Laurel). The elements of Baum's story recombined from genre to genre as new characters and plot elements were introduced, with each version drawing not just from the original book but also from the previous stagings and films. Oz before the Rainbow is a detailed case study of adaptation and commercialization in the formative years of American mass culture.

Comprehensive examinations of each production provide fascinating behind-the-scenes information, including: battles over the legal rights to Baum's stories and over the financial backing for each play or film; different strategies to market each production; set and costume designs; special effects (such as how to simulate a tornado onstage); box-office receipts; reactions of audiences and newspaper critics. To offer the most complete comparison of the different versions, Swartz also provides a full plot-synopsis of each production -- including lyrics from the early musicals, some written by Baum himself. Oz before the Rainbow concludes with an examination of the famous MGM film, the first version of the story to locate Oz in a land "Somewhere over the Rainbow".

Swartz argues that Baum created "the first truly American fairyland, using language and imagery that would be familiar to the ordinary American child". His look at early dramatizations of Oz places our own captivation with Baum's tale in a historical context,and allows for a much deeper reading of the 1939 musical.

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