| | Academics, especially economists and historians, use the story to study the images of [[politics]] and [[economics]] in the [[U.S.]] in the 1890s. Several hundred college level economics courses feature a unit on ''the Wizard of Oz'' to analyze money policy. | | Academics, especially economists and historians, use the story to study the images of [[politics]] and [[economics]] in the [[U.S.]] in the 1890s. Several hundred college level economics courses feature a unit on ''the Wizard of Oz'' to analyze money policy. |
| − | The author was L. Frank Baum (1856-1919); the illustrator of the 1900 book and 1902 play was editorial W. W. Denslow (1856-1915).<ref>see Michael Patrick Hearn, "The Man Behind the Man Behind Oz: W. W. Denslow at 150," ''AIGA'' (July 05, 2006) at [http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-man-behind-the-man-behind-oz-w-w-denslow-at-150]</ref> The book was a runaway best seller, though the two coauthors became alienated, and both went bankrupt. Baum recouped by moving to Hollywood and writing a new series of Oz books; the series was continued after his death in 1919, with 40 Oz books in all. The first book became a smash Chicago hit musical in 1902 and moved to Broadway in 1903. Best known is the spectacularly successful Hollywood movie adaptation of 1939, starring Frank Morgan as the Wizard and [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy, which benefited from technological advances in using color filmography. | + | The author was L. Frank Baum (1856-1919); the illustrator of the 1900 book and 1902 play was editorial W. W. Denslow (1856-1915).<ref>see Michael Patrick Hearn, "The Man Behind the Man Behind Oz: W. W. Denslow at 150," ''AIGA'' (July 05, 2006) at [http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-man-behind-the-man-behind-oz-w-w-denslow-at-150]</ref> The book was a runaway best seller, though the two coauthors became alienated, and both went bankrupt. Baum recouped by moving to Hollywood and writing a new series of Oz books; the series was continued after his death in 1919, with 40 Oz books in all. The first book became a smash Chicago hit musical in 1902 and moved to Broadway in 1903. Best known is the spectacularly successful Hollywood movie adaptation of 1939, starring Frank Morgan as the Wizard, [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy, and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West, this movie (along with ''[[Gone with the Wind]]'') was one of the first widely popular successes of Technicolor filmography.<ref>https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-first-movie-made-in-color</ref> |