Editing L. Frank Baum (section)

===Writing===
[[File:Baum poster 1b.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Promotional Poster for Baum's "Popular Books For Children", {{circa|1901}}]]
Baum's newspaper failed in 1891, and he, Maud, and their four sons moved to the [[Humboldt Park, Chicago|Humboldt Park]] section of Chicago, where Baum took a job reporting for the ''[[Chicago Evening Post|Evening Post]]''. 

{{anchor|Visual Merchandising + Store Design}}
Beginning in 1897, he founded and edited a magazine called ''The Show Window'',<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.vmsd.com/content/throwbackthursday|title=#ThrowbackThursday|work=Visual Merchandising and Store Design|access-date=October 4, 2017|language=en}}</ref> later known as the ''Merchants Record and Show Window'', which focused on store window displays, retail strategies and visual merchandising. The major department stores of the time created elaborate Christmas time fantasies, using clockwork mechanisms that made people and animals appear to move. The former ''Show Window'' magazine is still currently in operation, now known as ''VMSD'' magazine<ref name=":0" /> (visual merchandising + store design), based in Cincinnati.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.vmsd.com|title=Visual Merchandising and Store Design|access-date=October 4, 2017|language=en}}</ref> 

In 1900, Baum published a book about window displays in which he stressed the importance of mannequins in drawing customers.<ref name=Smithsonian>Emily and Per Ola d'Aulaire, "Mannequins: our fantasy figures of high fashion," ''Smithsonian'', Vol. 22, no. 1, April 1991</ref> He also had to work as a [[Vendor (supply chain)|traveling salesman]].<ref>Rogers, pp. 45–59.</ref>
[[File:W._W._Denslow_1900.png|right|thumb|upright|alt=Black and white photo of man seated, drawing at a desk|Denslow in 1900]]
In 1897, he wrote and published ''[[Mother Goose in Prose]]'', a collection of [[Mother Goose]] rhymes written as prose stories and illustrated by [[Maxfield Parrish]]. ''Mother Goose'' was a moderate success and allowed Baum to quit his sales job (which had had a negative impact on his health). In 1899, Baum partnered with illustrator [[William Wallace Denslow|W. W. Denslow]] to publish ''[[Father Goose, His Book]]'', a collection of nonsense poetry. The book was a success, becoming the best-selling children's book of the year.<ref>Rogers, pp. 54–69 and ff.</ref>

[[File:Ad for Baum-Parrish Mother Goose book.gif|thumb|upright|right| The Baum–Parrish Mother Goose used to promote a breakfast cereal (part 1 of 12 as a free premium)]]

====''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''====
In 1900, Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' to much critical acclaim and financial success.<ref>Rogers, pp. 73–94.</ref> The book was the best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. Baum went on to write thirteen more novels based on the places and people of the [[Land of Oz]].

====''The Wizard of Oz: Fred R. Hamlin's Musical Extravaganza''====
[[File:Tin-Man-poster-Hamlin.jpeg|thumb|left|upright|1903 poster of Dave Montgomery as the Tin Man in Hamlin's musical stage version.]]
Two years after ''Wizard''{{'s}} publication, Baum and Denslow teamed up with composer [[Paul Tietjens]] and director Julian Mitchell to produce a [[The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)|musical stage version]] of the book under Fred R. Hamlin.<ref>Rogers, pp. 105–110.</ref> Baum and Tietjens had worked on a musical of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' in 1901 and based closely upon the book, but it was rejected. This stage version opened in Chicago in 1902 (the first to use the shortened title "The Wizard of Oz"), then ran on Broadway for 293 stage nights from January to October 1903. It returned to Broadway in 1904, where it played from March to May and again from November to December. It successfully toured the United States with much of the same cast, as was done in those days, until 1911, and then became available for amateur use. The stage version starred Anna Laughlin as [[Dorothy Gale]], alongside David C. Montgomery and [[Fred Stone]] as the [[Tin Woodman]] and [[Scarecrow (Oz)|Scarecrow]] respectively, which shot the pair to instant fame.

The stage version differed quite a bit from the book, and was aimed primarily at adults. Toto was replaced with Imogene the Cow, and Tryxie Tryfle (a waitress) and [[Pastoria]] (a streetcar operator) were added as fellow cyclone victims. The Wicked Witch of the West was eliminated entirely in the script, and the plot became about how the four friends were allied with the usurping Wizard and were hunted as traitors to Pastoria II, the rightful King of Oz. It is unclear how much control or influence Baum had on the script; it appears that many of the changes were written by Baum against his wishes due to contractual requirements with Hamlin. Jokes in the script, mostly written by Glen MacDonough, called for explicit references to President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], Senator [[Mark Hanna]], Rev. Andrew Danquer, and oil tycoon [[John D. Rockefeller]]. Although use of the script was rather free-form, the line about Hanna was ordered dropped as soon as Hamlin got word of his death in 1904.

Beginning with the success of the stage version, most subsequent versions of the story, including newer editions of the novel, have been titled "The Wizard of Oz", rather than using the full, original title. In more recent years, restoring the full title has become increasingly common, particularly to distinguish the novel from the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood film]].

Baum wrote a new Oz book, ''[[The Marvelous Land of Oz]]'', with a view to making it into a stage production, which was titled ''[[The Woggle-Bug (musical)|The Woggle-Bug]]'', but Montgomery and Stone balked at appearing when the original was still running. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman were then omitted from this adaptation, which was seen as a self-rip-off by critics and proved to be a major flop before it could reach Broadway. He also worked for years on a musical version of ''[[Ozma of Oz]]'', which eventually became ''[[The Tik-Tok Man of Oz]]''. This did fairly well in Los Angeles, but not well enough to convince producer [[Oliver Morosco]] to mount a production in New York. He also began a stage version of ''[[The Patchwork Girl of Oz]]'', but this was ultimately realized as a ''[[The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914 film)|film]]''.