Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919), better known as L. Frank Baum, was an American author chiefly famous for his children's books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote a total of 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and the nascent medium of film; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book would become a landmark of 20th century cinema. His works anticipated such century-later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), police corruption and false evidence (Phoebe Daring), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work).
Wikipeida says:
The stories, as critics have noted, lack the high-fantasy aspect of the best of Baum's work, in Oz or
out. With ironic or nonsensical morals attached to their ends, their
tone is more satirical, glib, and tongue-in-cheek than is usual in
children's stories; the serialization in newspapers for adult readers
was appropriate for the materials. "The Magic Bon Bons" was the most
popular of the tales, judging by number of reprints.
Two
of the stories, "The Enchanted Types" and "The Dummy That Lived,"
employ knooks and ryls, the fairies that Baum would use in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus the
next year, 1902. "The Dummy That Lived" depends upon the idea of a
department-store mannequin brought to life, an early expression of an
idea that would be re-used by many later writers in television and
films.
