Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
Encyclopedia
Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz (1939
) is the thirty-third in the series of Oz books
created by L. Frank Baum
and his successors, and the nineteenth and last written by Ruth Plumly Thompson
. It was illustrated by John R. Neill
.
The phrase "The Wizard of Oz" was included in the title to coincide with the MGM film The Wizard of Oz
, which was released the same year the book was published. As such, the focus of the story is on characters who appeared in the first book. Thompson focuses the book most strongly on Jellia Jamb
, though that character was unnamed in the first book and was absent from the film.
, the Scarecrow
, the Tin Woodman
, and the Cowardly Lion
, along with the Wizard
, Jellia, and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers
. (Baum named the latter personage Omby Amby, but Thompson re-christened him Wantowin Battles.) The dinner is hosted by the Wizard, preparatory to his introduction of his newest invention. After a long session of reminiscence that fills the first chapter, the Wizard takes his guests to a glass-domed building that contains two gleaming silver aircraft, the newly-created ozoplanes. The Wizard has named them the "Ozpril" and the "Oztober." The guests enthusiastically pile into the craft to inspect them.
The Soldier with the Green Whiskers ate twenty-nine pickles at dinner, and is suddenly overcome by a violent cramp. He slams into the control panel of the Oztober, depressing the up, south, fast, spin, spiral, zig, zag, slow, and circle buttons simultaneously. The Oztober zooms off into the sky, headed for parts unknown, with the Soldier, the Tin Man, and Jellia on board. The Wizard, startled and appalled, takes the Ozpril in pursuit and in search of the Oztober, accompanied by Dorothy, Lion, and Scarecrow.
Enduring a chaotic flight, the resourceful Tin Man eventually gets the ozoplane under control; he decides to teach himself to fly the craft, and then return to the Emerald City
. In the dawn of the new day, he sights an unknown country in the sky, and lands the plane there. He enthusiastically but undiplomatically claims the place for Ozma
as a colony of the Land of Oz. The country, however, has a name, and inhabitants, and a touchy, egotistical, and aggressive ruler: Stratovania is the domain of King Strutoovious the Seventh. (He calls himself "Strut of the Strat" for short.) This king quickly decides to turn the tables and conquer Ozma and Oz. He holds the new arrivals prisoner — though his hostility is somewhat mollified by his affection for Jellia; he likes her smooth brown hair, so different from the upstanding "electric hair" of the Stratovanians. Strat impulsively names Jellia his "starina" — a pun on "czarina." (Similar puns flow thick and fast: the new starina is addressed as "your Skyness" and "your Stratjesty.")
Despite his affection for Jellia, Stratoovious assembles his army of Blowmen and forces the Tin Man to pilot the ozoplane back to the Emerald City. The other Ozites, left behind, try to find a way to counter this threatened invasion of Oz. Jellia tries to use her influence as starina — but faces the opposition of Strut's existing queen, Kabebe. Jellia and Wantowin are in danger on being thrown off the edge of Stratovania, when the Wizard and company arrive in the second ozoplane. But the plane is blown up by the Blowmen, and the Ozites have to leap off the edge of the skyland to save themselves.
The Wizard uses the magic in his "kit-bag" (it has green eyes and emits feline yowls) to cushion their fall. The Ozites land at Red Top Mountain in the Quadling Country
. The place's rightful ruler, Princess Azarine, has escaped the clutches of the usurper Bustado (an even worse villain than Strut) who captures the Ozites. This villain sends the Wizard in search of Azarine, and holds the rest of the party hostage. Yet the hostages escape, and meet up with the Wizard, Azarine, and her protectors, the great stag Shagomar and his wife Dear Deer. The group reaches the palace of Glinda
, though the sorceress is absent with Ozma; the Wizard is able to use Glinda's magic to combat the Stratovanian invasion.
Strut and his forces reach the Emerald City; the residents flee or hide. Strut tries to obtain Ozma's Magic Belt from her safe, but is frustrated; the Wizard has united with Ozma and Glinda to rescue the Belt, the most powerful magical talisman of Oz. Once in possession of the Belt, Ozma sends Strut's army home and ends his bid for conquest. She turns the usurper Bustado into a red squirrel, so that Azarine can resume her rightful place after enjoying an Emerald City vacation.
Thompson gives her protagonists some odd adversaries, including sky creatures called spikers that are something like iridescent octopuses, and a large fierce bugbear that is half insect and half bear in form. And she indulges in extravagant nonsensical tech talk, as with the Wizard's "elutherated altitude pills" and Glinda's "triple-edged, zentomatic transporter." She also misuses the word "entomophagous" to mean insect-like; it actually means something that eats insects.
. Thompson included several sky countries in her Oz books, and later Oz authors employed comparable materials (see Hightown in Jack Snow's The Shaggy Man of Oz
for a pertinent example). Thompson's "splendid cloud mountains and cities" in this book shares in this established trope.
In Ozoplaning, Thompson exploits current interest in developments in aeronautics and atmospheric science. She plays with the new terms "stratosphere" and "troposphere." (Similarly, the Wizard refers to "the outer stratosphere" in the 1939 MGM film.) Instead of lemonade, people in Stratovania drink "air-ade" (a pun on "air raid"), as well as "liquid air."
As the Tin Man struggles to control the Oztober on its wild first flight, he spies, in the light of dawn, what looks like a land in the clouds —
Yet when he tries to land there, the plane crashes through a "frozen cloud."
Stratovania proves more substantial when they reach it; Thompson refers to the place as an "airland" or "skyland," while the Tin Man calls it an "airosphere." Its altitude is 101,867 feet; the controlled climate is so benign that the people live under canopies rather than in houses. The locale is described in brilliant terms —
The Stratovanians themselves are comparably impressive —
Their silver footwear recalls the silver slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East
in Baum's first Oz book. Thompson's puns maintain the skyey theme: the newspaper Strut reads is a "morning star." His people live the "high life."
1939 in literature
The year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*December 25 - A Christmas Carol is read before a radio audience for the first time....
) is the thirty-third in the series of Oz books
The Oz books
The Oz books form a book series that begins with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , and that relates the fictional history of the Land of Oz. Oz was created by author L. Frank Baum, who went on to write fourteen full-length Oz books, all of which are in the public domain in the United States...
created by L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
and his successors, and the nineteenth and last written by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson was an American writer of children's stories.-Life and work:An avid reader of Baum's books and a lifelong children's writer, Thompson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began her writing career in 1914 when she took a job with the Philadelphia Public Ledger; she wrote...
. It was illustrated by John R. Neill
John R. Neill
John Rea Neill was a magazine and children's book illustrator primarily known for illustrating more than forty stories set in the Land of Oz, including L. Frank Baum's, Ruth Plumly Thompson's, and three of his own. His pen-and-ink drawings have become identified almost exclusively with the Oz series...
.
The phrase "The Wizard of Oz" was included in the title to coincide with the MGM film The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, which was released the same year the book was published. As such, the focus of the story is on characters who appeared in the first book. Thompson focuses the book most strongly on Jellia Jamb
Jellia Jamb
Jellia Jamb is a fictional character from the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. She is the head of all the maids at the palace in the Emerald City and in The Road to Oz, is described as Princess Ozma's favorite servant...
, though that character was unnamed in the first book and was absent from the film.
Synopsis
The story opens with a dinner party, attended by seven of the characters from Baum's inaugural book. Present are the famous foursome, Dorothy GaleDorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is the protagonist of many of the Oz novels by American author L. Frank Baum, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels...
, the Scarecrow
Scarecrow (Oz)
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator William Wallace Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely...
, the Tin Woodman
Tin Woodman
The Tin Woodman, sometimes referred to as the Tin Man or the Tin Woodsman , is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum...
, and the Cowardly Lion
Cowardly Lion
The Cowardly Lion is the main character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is a Lion, but he talks and interacts with humans....
, along with the Wizard
Wizard (Oz)
The Wizard of Oz, known during his reign as The Great and Powerful Oz, is the epithet of Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L...
, Jellia, and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers
Soldier with the Green Whiskers
The Soldier with the Green Whiskers is a major character in the Oz books of L. Frank Baum and his successors. His name is Omby Amby, but this was so obliquely stated that he also became known briefly as Wantowin Battles.-Early appearances:...
. (Baum named the latter personage Omby Amby, but Thompson re-christened him Wantowin Battles.) The dinner is hosted by the Wizard, preparatory to his introduction of his newest invention. After a long session of reminiscence that fills the first chapter, the Wizard takes his guests to a glass-domed building that contains two gleaming silver aircraft, the newly-created ozoplanes. The Wizard has named them the "Ozpril" and the "Oztober." The guests enthusiastically pile into the craft to inspect them.
The Soldier with the Green Whiskers ate twenty-nine pickles at dinner, and is suddenly overcome by a violent cramp. He slams into the control panel of the Oztober, depressing the up, south, fast, spin, spiral, zig, zag, slow, and circle buttons simultaneously. The Oztober zooms off into the sky, headed for parts unknown, with the Soldier, the Tin Man, and Jellia on board. The Wizard, startled and appalled, takes the Ozpril in pursuit and in search of the Oztober, accompanied by Dorothy, Lion, and Scarecrow.
Enduring a chaotic flight, the resourceful Tin Man eventually gets the ozoplane under control; he decides to teach himself to fly the craft, and then return to the Emerald City
Emerald City
The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
. In the dawn of the new day, he sights an unknown country in the sky, and lands the plane there. He enthusiastically but undiplomatically claims the place for Ozma
Ozma
Ozma may refer to:* Ozma of Oz, a 1907 and third book in the Oz series* Ozma , a 1989 album by the Melvins* Ozma , a rock band from Pasadena, California* Ozma Wars, a 1979 arcade game...
as a colony of the Land of Oz. The country, however, has a name, and inhabitants, and a touchy, egotistical, and aggressive ruler: Stratovania is the domain of King Strutoovious the Seventh. (He calls himself "Strut of the Strat" for short.) This king quickly decides to turn the tables and conquer Ozma and Oz. He holds the new arrivals prisoner — though his hostility is somewhat mollified by his affection for Jellia; he likes her smooth brown hair, so different from the upstanding "electric hair" of the Stratovanians. Strat impulsively names Jellia his "starina" — a pun on "czarina." (Similar puns flow thick and fast: the new starina is addressed as "your Skyness" and "your Stratjesty.")
Despite his affection for Jellia, Stratoovious assembles his army of Blowmen and forces the Tin Man to pilot the ozoplane back to the Emerald City. The other Ozites, left behind, try to find a way to counter this threatened invasion of Oz. Jellia tries to use her influence as starina — but faces the opposition of Strut's existing queen, Kabebe. Jellia and Wantowin are in danger on being thrown off the edge of Stratovania, when the Wizard and company arrive in the second ozoplane. But the plane is blown up by the Blowmen, and the Ozites have to leap off the edge of the skyland to save themselves.
The Wizard uses the magic in his "kit-bag" (it has green eyes and emits feline yowls) to cushion their fall. The Ozites land at Red Top Mountain in the Quadling Country
Quadling Country
The Quadling Country is the southern division of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz. It is distinguished by the color red, worn by most of the local inhabitants as well as the color of their surroundings. Like the Munchkin Country, the outer regions of the Quadling Country are rich, pleasant and...
. The place's rightful ruler, Princess Azarine, has escaped the clutches of the usurper Bustado (an even worse villain than Strut) who captures the Ozites. This villain sends the Wizard in search of Azarine, and holds the rest of the party hostage. Yet the hostages escape, and meet up with the Wizard, Azarine, and her protectors, the great stag Shagomar and his wife Dear Deer. The group reaches the palace of Glinda
Glinda
Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
, though the sorceress is absent with Ozma; the Wizard is able to use Glinda's magic to combat the Stratovanian invasion.
Strut and his forces reach the Emerald City; the residents flee or hide. Strut tries to obtain Ozma's Magic Belt from her safe, but is frustrated; the Wizard has united with Ozma and Glinda to rescue the Belt, the most powerful magical talisman of Oz. Once in possession of the Belt, Ozma sends Strut's army home and ends his bid for conquest. She turns the usurper Bustado into a red squirrel, so that Azarine can resume her rightful place after enjoying an Emerald City vacation.
Thompson gives her protagonists some odd adversaries, including sky creatures called spikers that are something like iridescent octopuses, and a large fierce bugbear that is half insect and half bear in form. And she indulges in extravagant nonsensical tech talk, as with the Wizard's "elutherated altitude pills" and Glinda's "triple-edged, zentomatic transporter." She also misuses the word "entomophagous" to mean insect-like; it actually means something that eats insects.
"Airland"
The stereotypical idea of landscapes in the clouds, "castles in the air," cities and countries in the sky, can be found repeatedly in imaginative literature. Baum used it, most prominently in his Sky IslandSky Island (novel)
Sky Island: Being the Further Adventures of Trot and Cap'n Bill after Their Visit to the Sea Fairies is a children's fantasy novel written by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by John R...
. Thompson included several sky countries in her Oz books, and later Oz authors employed comparable materials (see Hightown in Jack Snow's The Shaggy Man of Oz
The Shaggy Man of Oz
The Shaggy Man of Oz is the thirty-eighth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the second and last by Jack Snow. It was illustrated by Frank G. Kramer....
for a pertinent example). Thompson's "splendid cloud mountains and cities" in this book shares in this established trope.
In Ozoplaning, Thompson exploits current interest in developments in aeronautics and atmospheric science. She plays with the new terms "stratosphere" and "troposphere." (Similarly, the Wizard refers to "the outer stratosphere" in the 1939 MGM film.) Instead of lemonade, people in Stratovania drink "air-ade" (a pun on "air raid"), as well as "liquid air."
As the Tin Man struggles to control the Oztober on its wild first flight, he spies, in the light of dawn, what looks like a land in the clouds —
- "far ahead, between a bank of fog and an arch of platinum sun rays, loomed a long, lavender crescent. Nick even fancied he could see people moving about its glittering surface."
Yet when he tries to land there, the plane crashes through a "frozen cloud."
Stratovania proves more substantial when they reach it; Thompson refers to the place as an "airland" or "skyland," while the Tin Man calls it an "airosphere." Its altitude is 101,867 feet; the controlled climate is so benign that the people live under canopies rather than in houses. The locale is described in brilliant terms —
- "Jellia saw a country of such dazzling beauty, she was almost afraid to breathe lest it vanish before her eyes. The trees were tall and numerous, with gleaming, prism-shaped trunks and a mass of cloudlike foliage. Some bore fruit that actually seemed to be illuminated — oranges, pears, and peaches glowing like decorated electric light bulbs! Moon and star flowers grew in great profusion, and in the distance caves and grottoes of purest crystal scintillated in the high noon sun."
The Stratovanians themselves are comparably impressive —
- "The Airlanders were a head taller than even the Tin Woodman. Their hair grew straight up on end, sparkling and crackling with electricity in a really terrifying manner. Their eyes were star-shaped and shaded by long, silver lashes; the noses and mouths were straight and firm, the foreheads transparent. Some shone as from a hidden sun, while across the brows of others tiny black clouds chased one another in rapid succession. Watching their foreheads would be a good way, decided Jellia Jam, to find out whether they were pleased or angry. Strut and his subjects wore belted tunics of some iridescent, rainbow-hued material, and silver sandals laced to the knee."
Their silver footwear recalls the silver slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East
Wicked Witch of the East
The Wicked Witch of the East is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum in his Oz series of books....
in Baum's first Oz book. Thompson's puns maintain the skyey theme: the newspaper Strut reads is a "morning star." His people live the "high life."