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Children's book writer Frank Baum created the popular Wizard of Oz series. Ruth Plumly Thompson continued to write the series after his death.
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Play NowFrank Baum. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:18, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328.
Frank Baum. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328 [Accessed 21 May 2013].
"Frank Baum." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 11:18 http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328.
"Frank Baum," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328 [accessed May 21, 2013].
"Frank Baum," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328 (accessed May 21, 2013).
Frank Baum [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328.
Frank Baum, http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328 (last visited May 21, 2013).
Frank Baum. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/frank-baum-9202328. Accessed May 21, 2013.
The first movie versions of his Oz tales were made as short films.
Death and Legacy
In declining health, Baum underwent gall bladder surgery in 1918. He spent the last year of his life confined in bed, never fully recovering from the operation. Just days before his birthday, Frank Baum died on May 6, 1919, at his home in Hollywood, California. Glinda of Oz was the last title he wrote for the Oz series.
While the nation mourned this great storyteller, Baum's characters lived on. Several other authors, including Ruth Plumly Thompson, were hired to continue to create new Oz adventures. Twenty years after his death, a new film version of his classic tale appeared on the big screen. The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger and Frank Morgan, debuted in 1939. The Wizard of Oz went on to become one of the most watched movies in cinematic history.
Baum's stories continue to fascinate and enchant to this day. Writer Gregory Maguire has written several books exploring the lives of some of Baum's most famous characters. His 1995 book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, was used as the basis for the popular Broadway musical Wicked. On the big screen, James Franco played the magician who ends up as the Wizard of Oz in 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful. His character must tangle with forces of good and evil, which are manifested in the film by Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz.
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View groupLike in Gone With the Wind, The Sun Also Rises after Twilight, even in a Pet Cemetary Where the Wild Things Are. But let's not be too morbid and discuss creepy things like The Satanic Verses or try to get an Interview With a Vampire from The Stranger Who Professes 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.' Going round in round like this, you may never know Where the Sidewalk Ends, and that would be unfortunate since Uncle Tom's Cabin is just around the corner...
Okay, we could go on, but we won't torture you. You get the point. Our attempt at creative writing is nothing compared to the imaginative minds of our Famous Fiction Authors Group.
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