The Scarecrow Of OZ!

The Scarecrow of OZ is reputed to be Frank Baum's favorite of his numerous yarns about this strange territory. Perhaps this story's strange origins have something to do with that feeling on his part. The book was published in 1915, but before that there had been a movie. 

His Majesty, the Scarecrow of OZ was a 1914 movie and the second from The OZ Film Manufacturing Company after The Patchwork Girl of OZ. This was a company begun by Baum with other investors specifically to take his OZ creation to the relatively new medium of motion pictures. This second movie was well liked by the critics but didn't do much business. Later it was released again under the title The New Wizard of OZ and did better. The film exists today only in fragmented form, but it does exist. 

Silent movies are an acquired taste for certain. I am not able at this distance of over a century to know if the film is technically fine, but it is compelling to watch if only as a relic of a time lost. 

The book is likewise requires a bit of literary archelogy to understand. It seemed after the massive success of The Wizard of OZ that Frank Baum spent much of the rest of his life trying to divert from the world he'd or at least find a way harvest its popularity on stage and in film. He also wanted to write non-OZ books and to that end he created Trot and Cap'n Bill who had together had adventures under the sea with mermaids as well as in the far distant upper atmosphere on a floating island. These books didn't do as well, so he did the inevitable and inducted Trot and Cap'n Bill into the land of OZ. The Scarecrow of OZ is also it seems using parts of an unpublished Trot and Cap'n Bill adventure blended with the movie story. Baum had a lot of energy put into making this ninth installment of his legendary series. 

The story begins when Trot and Cap'n Bill find themselves lost in a cave and after much wandering about run across a strange bird creature called an Ork with which they strike up a partnership. The escape the tunnels but find themselves stranded on some islands, one of which is Mo, the domain of the Bumpy Man. The then discover their old ally Button-Bright is also on Mo. This trio eventually get to the land of OZ by using strange fruit to make some birds big enough to haul them the land of the Quadlings where they are soon enough battling a tyrant named King Krewel. Eventually the titular Scarecrow gets involved. There is an atypical love story which hits a ditch when the Princess Gloria's heart is frozen by the witch one-eyed witch Blinkie. Cap'n Bill gets turned into a grasshopper at one one point, but as you might suspect gets better. Our whole mob (Trot, Cap'n Bill, Button-Bright and the Scarecrow) are whisked away to OZ in the final pages. 

The next installment is called Rinkitink in OZ and it too has a strange origin. 

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