In 1888, searching for new business opportunities, Baum moved with his family to the frontier town of Aberdeen in the Dakota Territory. The “Oz” series almost came to an early end.Īuthor and suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage, Baum’s mother-in-law. He died in 1915 in New York, four years before Baum. Denslow continued to work as an illustrator (the Scarecrow and Tin Man characters from “Oz” showed up in some of his designs) but his career eventually went into decline after he developed a drinking problem. After clashing over royalties from a popular 1902 musical production called “The Wizard of Oz” (the first time “wonderful” was deleted from the title), the men parted ways. Although they released one more children’s book together, 1901’s “Dot and Tot of Merryland,” they never collaborated on another “Oz” book. Their next project, “Oz,” for which they shared the copyright, quickly became a best-seller however, the pair’s relationship soured, with each man believing he deserved the credit for the book’s success.
Baum and Denslow met in Chicago in the 1890s and Denslow did some drawings for “The Show Window,” Baum’s trade magazine, before the two teamed up on “Father Goose,” the surprise 1899 best-seller. When “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” debuted, it was praised for its lavish illustrations, created by Philadelphia-born artist William Wallace Denslow. The author and his “Oz” co-creator had a major falling-out.Īn illustration by W.W. In 1899, he published his second work for children, “Father Goose, His Book.” An unexpected best-seller, it got his literary career rolling and helped generate interest in “Oz,” which he was already working on. Meanwhile, Baum had grown tired of life as a traveling salesman and founded a well-received trade magazine about window trimming (he got the idea after observing poorly organized store-window displays during his time on the road). The result was Baum’s first children’s book, “Mother Goose in Prose,” which failed to sell well when released in 1897. While away from home, he invented stories to tell his four sons, and when his mother-in-law heard some of these tales she encouraged him to try to publish them. By the early 1890s, he’d moved to Chicago and was employed as a traveling salesman for a glassware firm. However, following some shady dealings by his bookkeeper, plus a fire that destroyed a theater owned by Baum, he tabled his show-business dreams and went to work as a salesman for a company that made lubricating oil. cities in the early 1880s, with Baum in a leading role. One of his plays, “The Maid of Arran,” toured a number of U.S. As a young man in upstate New York, he bred prize-winning chickens, published a trade journal about poultry and was as an actor and playwright. (Credit: Interim Archives/Getty Images)īaum was 44 when “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was published and by then he’d tried his hand at a variety of jobs.
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