L. Frank Baum

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1919 of author L. Frank Baum. He wrote The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, but he's best known for the Wizard of Oz series. Baum's works are available online. The books have been adapted for film several times, and 2 early ones are available online.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 short):


Wizard of Oz (1925) is really a completely different story using some of the same characters. Oliver Hardy plays a farmhand who disguises himself as the Tin Woodman.:


There's a 1982 animated Toho production of the story starring Lorne Greene as the voice of the wizard, but as far as I can tell this was never made available on DVD and the VHS is out of print. It's at youtube in 12 parts. part 1:


The wikipedia artcle says that Baum was originally a Methodist. Baum has a Facebook page. Fantasy Magazine (via SFSignal) has a profile.