Day 1 - Glinda's Record Book disappears
Day 2 - Wutz's agent steals Ruggedo, Magic Picture
Day 10 - In "late afternoon," Mandy is exploded off Mt Mern -
  arrives in Keretaria - night in Nox's stable
Day 11 - Mandy & Nox leave Keretaria before dawn - cross Munchkin River
  early - Turn Town - Highlanders - captured by Wutz - agent brings Ruggedo,
  Magic Picture to Wutz - Ruggedo released - Mandy & Nox escape, rescue
  Kerry - Himself enchants Ruggedo & Wutz
 
Mandy & Co. spend "a happy week" in the Emerald City - she
then returns to Mt Mern for a month before relocating to Keretaria

From:  Scott Andrew Hutchins <scottandrewh at c...>
Date:  Sat Aug 31, 2002  8:14 pm
Subject:  Was Thompson sexually frustrated? (_Handy Mandy in Oz_)

Well, look at Neill's picture of Himself the Elf on page 239, and consider she used
the terms "horny," "kinky," and "hooker" all in
the same book.  In addition, this is Thompson's first original strong
female character.

It's also one of her shortest books.  It appears, though, that she invented the
word "manubrious," probably relating to Mandy's extra hands.

I'm not being totally serious by my intro, btw.  I'll start my real comments after
the appointed day.

This seems Thompson's best and most Baumian book, on the whole.

Scott Andrew Hutchins

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Sun Sep 1, 2002  11:41 am
Subject:  Some thoughts on HANDY MANDY

I know some people have mentioned that Thompson's Oz books seem kind of
"cartoonish," and I think Handy Mandy has many of the elements of a cartoon
series, including a villain with an overused scheme, a bad temper, idiotic
henchmen, and a lair that would make a good toy. There's also a recurring
villain coming back for another try. (Incidentally, Wutz and his agents
seem to think unusually highly of Ruggedo, considering his constant failures
and the fact that he has lost all of his magic.) I think the book is one of
Thompson's best, though, as is its heroine. As for her animal companion,
Thompson herself admits the similarity to Kabumpo, which certainly exists.
Nox is haughty, grumpy, and sarcastic, but still loyal to his ruler, and his
comment about "tunnely places and people" (p. 127) is very similar to one
made by Kabumpo in PURPLE PRINCE. (How Nox KNOWS that he doesn't like
underground places and people remains a mystery. Kabumpo was a seasoned
traveller by the time he had made this comment, and had visited the
subterranean Illumi Nation. Nox has apparently spent his entire life in the
blue forest and Keretaria.) A fundamental difference between the elephant
and the ox is probably best expressed on p. 52, when Nox tells Handy Mandy,
"I felt if I stayed quietly in my place, Kerry would some day return, claim
his own throne and drive this miserable tyrant out of the country." On the
other hand, when danger threatens Pumperdink in both KABUMPO and PURPLE
PRINCE, the Elegant Elephant immediately rushes out to find help. Compared
to Nox, Kabumpo is much quicker to act, and he tends to take charge of
matters (even if he often ends up going in the wrong direction). Nox must
be goaded by Mandy into doing what Kabumpo would have done on his own.

Even though the "steal magic items and conquer Oz" idea has been used
numerous times by this point, Wutz and his agents still make interesting
villains. Even though Wutz is eventually defeated, he seems to be more on
top of things than many other villains who have shared his plans.

One element in the plot that doesn't seem to make much sense involves Nine
and the Silver Hammer. According to Himself the Elf, Wunchie "traded little
King Kerry to Wutz for a basket of jumping beans and put Wutz's agent on the
throne of Keretaria," after which Wunchie exploded and the Elf buried the
hammer in the Keretarian castle garden. According to Wutz on pp. 138-139,
however, Nine is searching for the hammer, and Wutz is keeping Kerry
prisoner while Nine looks for it. At the time of the trade, however,
wouldn't the hammer have still been in Wunchie's possession? It becomes
even more confusing on p. 205, when Wutz tells Ruggedo that "none of my
agents has been able to find the witch." If Wutz made a bargain with her,
hadn't she been "found" years ago? I suppose Wutz or Nine might have wanted
Keretaria for some other reason, and the search for the hammer was a new
mission after Wunchie's death, but it's still rather confusing.

More thoughts to come later.

Nathan

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Mon Sep 2, 2002  10:00 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY holey moley

A couple of knowledgable Oz fans have now rated HANDY MANDY as among the
best of the Thompson books. I disagree, seeing it in her bottom quartile.

Obviously, we have different criteria for judging books, and I can see how
this one avoids some of Thompson's usual weaknesses. Unlike most of her
books, HANDY MANDY doesn't consist largely of random encounters. There are
only two irrelevant episodes--the Topsies and the hook-nosed Highlanders
(both based on ethnic caricatures). Most of the story involves the struggle
between Mandy and Nox on the one hand and the Wizard of Wutz and Ruggedo on
the other, with the fate of Kereteria surprisingly caught in between. The
wizard and the Nome are formidable villains, and most of the important
magical objects in Oz are in play. Handy, Nox, and the wizard all have
interesting characteristics, which I'll discuss later.

Nevertheless, those qualities don't outweigh the book's flaws for me. I
think HANDY MANDY is a very sloppy book. And I'm not talking about the
never-bothered-to-reread-carefully sloppiness we expect from Thompson and
Reilly & Lee. There are indeed many examples of those relatively minor glitches:
* The narrator starts out calling the title character "Mandy," and
midway through chapter 4 shifts exclusively to "Handy."
* Nox says, "Mt. Mern must lie to the west of Oz" [121], yet
Mandy's rock flies over land "west of Mern" [21] before crossing the Deadly
Desert and landing in Oz.
* Ruggedo says Ozma ducked him in the Truth Pond rather than the Fountain of Oblivion [196].
* The Wizard of Wutz says agent Five tried to steal the Magic Belt
and only then settled for Ruggedo himself [204], but Five grabbed the jug
right away and left Ozma's palace without seeking the Belt [166].
* The Wizard of Wutz credits agent Seven with agent Five's theft [206].
* Kerry greets the ox he's known only as Boz by saying, "Why, hello Nox!" [213].
* Thompson makes clear that water pours out of Nox's loose horn,
but Neill draws it coming out of his head [84, 88].

No, the sloppiness I'm pointing to involves Thompson resorting to
outlandish coincidences or out-of-character actions to move her plot along.
Her stories have always depended on coincidences, of course, so I'm willing
to forgive HANDY MANDY's main ones: that a Mernite happens to arrive in Oz
at this crucial time (though a geyser-like cold spring is hard to accept),
that said Mernite discovers the silver hammer, that she finds her way to
the Silver Mountain without a single clue. Rather, I fault all the smaller
moments when Thompson just inserts unexpected magic or uncharacteristic
behavior to get herself out of a writing jam.

Consider, for instance, accidental magic-working: a character does
something which, despite no earlier hint this is possible, turns out to
fulfill their current wish or desire. As a plot device, it's a bit of a
cheat, best used early in a book to get things rolling. Baum uses this
device rarely in the Oz books (though often in fairy stories set in urban
America). Thompson uses the device rather commonly: ROYAL BOOK, LOST KING,
JACK PUMPKINHEAD, PIRATES, ENCHANTED ISLAND, etc. She resorts to such
accidental magic throughout HANDY MANDY:
* While plunging through the air on a rock, Mandy decides it's a
good time to pluck flower petals--which just happen to cushion her fall [26-7].
* Mandy impetuously tries to straighten Nox's bent horn [a quick
warning: never try this with any sort of livestock], and discovers the
secret message inside [54-5].
* In the midst of the hostile Topsies, Mandy happens to wish for a
drink of water, happens to exaggerate that into a "river," happens to be
touching Nox's horn at the right moment, and happens to unscrew the wrong
horn--all of which happens to work out very nicely [83-5].
* Mandy accidentally pulls out the silver hammer to pound on the
Silver Mountain door, discovering she can summon Himself [117].
* With only a 20% chance, Mandy guesses which of the wizard's
agents she and Nox have indeed met, and thus learns that the Wizard of Wutz wants her hammer [138].
* Mandy breaks the spell over Ruggedo by breaking his jug [191,
204], though Nox specifically warned against this method [172] and even
Ozma didn't foresee the possibility [243].
* Nox simply butts his way out of their cell as soon as they try to leave [198].

Equally convenient, Thompson has characters NOT use magic when that would
resolve things too easily. For instance, Nox insists that Mandy not summon
Himself inside the Silver Mountain, first preferring to randomly search
tunnels [119], then worrying about "being watched" [183]. But they soon
know that they ARE being watched, and that the silver hammer is stronger
than any magic the Wizard of Wutz already has, so why not try it? As soon
as Mandy does summon Himself, he quickly releases them, transports them to
the Emerald City, and bags the bad guys--confirming how powerful the hammer
is. But that also confirms how quickly all this foofaraw would have been
over if Mandy had called on Himself earlier.

Nox's horn of plenty works only when it's attached to him [91], but the
silver balls from his other horn work even when they're in Mandy's pocket
[184]. In fact, because they work so well, Thompson must tell us Mandy and
Nox "both forgot there might be a message to help them in the silver ball"
[191]. When do they remember? Because, by another coincidence, the ball
falls out of Mandy's pocket [199].

Back to those flower petals: Mandy having been saved by them once, it makes
sense for her to think of using them again while falling inside the Silver
Mountain. But how do the petals build up on the "grilled ceiling" instead
of falling through? If they do accumulate enough, how are Nox and Mandy
tilted into the cell in such a way that they end up "side by side on a heap
of soft blue flower petals" instead of one atop the other and covered with
some the petals that they landed on [151-2]? It seems that Thompson decided
Mandy and Nox needed to be locked in from above, and didn't care that
they'd arrived in their cell from above, too. And speaking of falls,
Thompson never adequately explains how Mandy and Nox survive a "forty feet"
fall into a "rocky gorge" without serious injury [91].

Several magical devices we know from other books don't work well in HANDY
MANDY, and Thompson doesn't bother to explain why. She gives no clues about
how agent Seven stole Glinda's closely guarded Great Book of Records [204].
The Book itself never tells the Wizard of Wutz anything useful about the
silver hammer he wants. Nor does Thompson tell us why the Magic Picture
happens to poop out just when the wizard could use it to locate that hammer
[178, 239]. It's also unclear why Glinda's and the Wizard of Oz's magic,
including his "powerful searchlight and looking glasses" [163], can't find
any of the stolen items (but we can infer that the Wizard's been hard at
work recreating Jinnicky's looking glasses from PURPLE PRINCE).

That's just the magic. In a future message, I'll discuss how characters in
HANDY MANDY seem to change attitudes and behavior according to Thompson's
plot needs at the moment.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Tue Sep 3, 2002  12:26 pm
Subject:  Handy Mandy, ice cream, and dramatizations in oz

Nathan Mulac DeHoff: Enjoyed your comparison/contrast of Nox and Kabumpo. I
get the impression RPT was having fun working with an original female
protagonist -- the first time she'd done so (having previously used either
Baum's girls or her own boys as protags). In a sense, Handy Mandy is a
re-working of a character she'd invented previously, except that the
Supposyville Handy Mandy, with her 7 hands, was a robot invention of the
Supposyville Wizard and had no personality of her own; and the goatgirl
does.

Ruth Berman.

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Tue Sep 3, 2002  1:22 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY silver hammer

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<One element in the plot that doesn't seem to make much sense involves
Nine and the Silver Hammer. According to Himself the Elf, Wunchie "traded
little King Kerry to Wutz for a basket of jumping beans and put Wutz's
agent on the throne of Keretaria," after which Wunchie exploded and the Elf
buried the hammer in the Keretarian castle garden. According to Wutz on
pp. 138-139, however, Nine is searching for the hammer, and Wutz is keeping
Kerry prisoner while Nine looks for it. At the time of the trade, however,
wouldn't the hammer have still been in Wunchie's possession? It becomes
even more confusing on p. 205, when Wutz tells Ruggedo that "none of my
agents has been able to find the witch." If Wutz made a bargain with her,
hadn't she been "found" years ago? I suppose Wutz or Nine might have
wanted Keretaria for some other reason, and the search for the hammer was a
new mission after Wunchie's death, but it's still rather confusing.>>

Yes, there are several big loose ends and illogicalities in what Thompson
reports about the silver hammer, which I think is par for the course in
HANDY MANDY.

Thompson seems to have conceived of the hammer or something very like it
early in her writing, when Mandy pockets the "hard metal object" that hit
her in the head [31]. But only later do we learns it's a silver hammer
marked with a W [65]. Thompson was probably still hedging her bets: W could
stand for Wutz; or Wam, who created the emerald necklaces in WISHING HORSE;
or Winkies; or even the Wizard himself. Himself doesn't arrive until page
117.

Several chapters later the Wizard of Wutz describes the hammer as
"belonging to a witch of the West" [205], which in this book means
Munchkinland. Finally Himself reveals that this witch was named Wunchie,
and that she "lived in the Munchkin Mountains for about a thousand years
and used it to control as many of the Munchkin Kings as she could" [240-1].
Of course, since the hammer's primary effect is to summon a powerful elf to
fulfill one's wishes, that means Himself himself has been controlling those
kings.

But how many? At least in post-Dorothean times, Keretaria is the only
country that Wunchie actually seems to have affected. And despite its
impressive marble castle, Keretaria is merely "one of the small countries"
of Munchkinland [102]. The Ozure Isles, Seebania, Halidom, and other major
Munchkin nations have their own troubles. So were there other countries in
the north Munchkin mountains under Wunchie's thumb? Has Himself used tricks
to keep Wunchie from wreaking havoc in Munchkinland? Or was her ambition
actually far more limited and benign than Himself's "control as many of the
Munchkin Kings as she could" phrase indicates? For instance, she may have
tried only to control as many of the kings of Keretaria as she could.

We can also question why Wunchie treated Keretaria as she did. She
inscribed "a prophecy on the west [east?] wall of the castle that has stood
for a thousand years" [48-9], which corresponds to how long she's supposed
to have lived in the nearby mountains. Wunchie also
placed her own white oxen in the country.  Each time she had trouble forcing the King to
do as she wished, she tapped him and the ox on the head with her hammer. [241]
There are lots of mythical overtones here--some scholars of European
prehistory would say the oxen were stand-ins for ancient sacrificial kings.
But it seems like an ungainly system. If Wunchie could remove a king
whenever she wanted, why bother with the ox? Oxen are much harder to
dispose of, after all.

We know modern Keretaria isn't pleased with witches: the bigoted Imperial
Persuader accuses Mandy of being "Undoubtedly a witch" [38]. So it's
possible that Wunchie had to work through oxen because the Keretarian kings
kept her away. Other magic-workers like the Wicked Witch of the East may
also have played a role. But any such limitations are hard to square with
how immensely powerful Himself seems. This seems to be another area where
Thompson just didn't bother creating a logical history, but chose magic and
motives as they suited her story.

The Wizard of Wutz is undoubtedly aware of Oz's pre-Wizard history. His
throne room is decorated this way:

The silver sides of the dome-shaped grotto had
been carved to show all the historical figures
and characters of ancient Oz. Wizards, giants,
knights, witches, huntsmen, robbers, kings,
queens and their patient subjects marched in a
splendid procession round the walls. [129]

In addition, as King of the Silver Mountain, he may be especially
interested in magical implements made of that element. So he's probably
long heard about the silver hammer.

In fact, the wizard thinks Wunchie's hammer is on a level with Glinda's
Book of Records, the Magic Dishpan, and the other most powerful devices in
Oz: "it's the second most important magic in the four Kingdoms!" [139] That
locution may imply that he's not considering the magical implements in the
Emerald City--the Magic Belt, Magic Picture, emerald necklaces, etc. Or he
may be using an old, pre-Wizard term for Oz since the hammer is paired in
his mind with the Magic Belt [205]. Later Thompson tells us that the hammer
is "regarded by many as the most powerful magic in [Ozma's] castle," which
is saying a lot [246].

(The Wizard of Wutz also claims to be "second in importance only to Glinda
and the Wizard of Oz" [137]. By my count that makes him third, but he seems
as fond of "second biggest" claims as Maxwell Smart. Presumably he's
measuring powerful magic-workers in Oz, rather than rulers. At the moment
he says that, furthermore, he possesses Glinda's Great Book of Records, so
he may well be right.)

In any event, at some point the Wizard of Wutz began to covet Wunchie's
hammer, both for itself and for the other magic it could bring him. But he
knew she'd never willingly give it up. Here's one scenario that might
explain what he then did. About two years before the start of HANDY MANDY
[60, 139], the wizard contacted Wunchie to offer a trade. He expressed
interest in the throne of Keretaria, which she controlled: would she
replace young king Kerry with Kerr? In exchange the king offered the witch
"magic jumping beans" [242], which she wanted badly for some
reason.

The Wizard of Wutz actually had no interest in Kerry, nor in Keretaria. (He
keeps Kerry in good health only as leverage over agent Nine [139].)
Instead, his trade with Wunchie was simply a ruse to establish relations
with her, install an agent near her home, put her in his debt, and/or
weaken her in some way.

It's conceivable that the Wizard of Wutz even knew those jumping beans
would be fatal [242]--thus the trade was just a way to make sure that she
was dead. But that's hard to square with the wizard's complaint that "none
of my agents has been able to find the witch" [205]. Thus, a more likely
scenario is that the wizard had been working on scheme to obtain Wunchie's
silver hammer, but it derailed when she secretly exploded.

Himself is once again the wild card in this situation, and his actions hard
to explain. Even while Wunchie was alive, the elf had enough autonomy to
enchant Nox's horns: "I stored enough magic in your horns to help you find
Kerry." After her death, he buried the hammer very near the Keretarian
castle [242]. What logic was Himself following? If he really wanted to
restore Kerry to the throne, he seems to have had the power to do so--if he
could exercise it. If he really wanted to keep the silver hammer out of
evil hands, why place it so near King Kerr? Without knowing more about
Himself's magical link to the hammer, how much he can operate on his own,
and how much he cares about humans, it's impossible to say his actions are
illogical. But at least the logic isn't apparent to these mortal eyes.

In any event, that scenario leads up to the situation at the earliest
events in HANDY MANDY. The Wizard of Wutz has Kerry, agents scurrying
around the country, one agent crowned in Keretaria, and no idea what
happened to Wunchie. Nine is ruling as King Kerr, enjoying his cushy
posting and not really doing much to find her. After a "Bang! Bang!  Bang!"
from the beans, the witch is dead. Himself has had no master for two years;
his hammer buried outside Kerr's marble castle. And Nox is unaware his
horns are now enchanted. All that's needed to shake this up is an
exceptionally lucky goat girl from Mount Mern.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Sep 3, 2002  1:49 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY holey moley

J. L. Bell:
>Nevertheless, those qualities don't outweigh the book's flaws for me. I
>think HANDY MANDY is a very sloppy book. And I'm not talking about the
>never-bothered-to-reread-carefully sloppiness we expect from Thompson and
>Reilly & Lee. There are indeed many examples of those relatively minor
>glitches:
> * The narrator starts out calling the title character "Mandy," and
>midway through chapter 4 shifts exclusively to "Handy."

Well, she really couldn't have been called "Handy" before Nox gave that name
to her. Nonetheless, it's odd that the narrator NEVER uses "Mandy" after
midway through chapter 4.

> * Ruggedo says Ozma ducked him in the Truth Pond rather than the
>Fountain of Oblivion [196].

His memory seems to be rather faulty at this point, considering that it
takes him a while to remember his name. Oddly enough, the end of PIRATES
was one of the few times he WASN'T forced to drink of the Water of
Oblivion.

Incidentally, Five and Wutz want to steal Ruggedo so that he can help them
locate and operate his Magic Belt. Would Ruggedo really be likely to know
where the Belt is kept, though? Although the safe that Wutz robs is first
mentioned in KABUMPO, both Mogodore (in JACK PUMPKINHEAD) and Ruggedo
himself (in PIRATES) are able to steal the Belt without any mention of
safe-cracking, so keeping the Belt in the safe might have come about AFTER
Ozma turned Ruggedo into a jug. If so, how would he know about it? I
suppose it's possible that he heard things while in the jug form (PIRATES
left him with his own face on the front of the jug, a feature mysteriously
absent from the description in HANDY MANDY), but in that case, wouldn't he
remember his name? Or was it just breaking the jug that hindered his memory
for a short while, rather than the transformation itself?

> * The Wizard of Wutz says agent Five tried to steal the Magic Belt
>and only then settled for Ruggedo himself [204], but Five grabbed the jug
>right away and left Ozma's palace without seeking the Belt [166].

Although never even hinted at in the text, one possibility is that he had
tried to infiltrate the palace and steal the Belt before using his monk
disguise, but was unsuccessful. It's also possible that he lied to Wutz
about trying to steal the Belt itself.

> * Thompson makes clear that water pours out of Nox's loose horn,
>but Neill draws it coming out of his head [84, 88].

That illustration always bothered me.

>No, the sloppiness I'm pointing to involves Thompson resorting to
>outlandish coincidences or out-of-character actions to move her plot along.
>Her stories have always depended on coincidences, of course, so I'm willing
>to forgive HANDY MANDY's main ones: that a Mernite happens to arrive in Oz
>at this crucial time (though a geyser-like cold spring is hard to accept),
>that said Mernite discovers the silver hammer, that she finds her way to
>the Silver Mountain without a single clue.

I almost think the "seventh hand of a travelling Mernite" bit would have
worked better if it had been foreshadowed in PIRATES, rather than coming out
of thin air here. Note that, since Ozma didn't know there was such a thing
as a Mernite, she presumably did not want Ruggedo to ever be changed back to
his true form. When you get right down to it, is there really that much
difference between permanent transformation and total destruction, which
Ozma, even with Thompson's more vengeful characterization, is always
reluctant to resort to (Mombi being the exception to the rule)?

>Several magical devices we know from other books don't work well in HANDY
>MANDY, and Thompson doesn't bother to explain why.

Speaking of known magical devices, the end of HANDY MANDY features probably
the ultimate in Magic Belt quick fixes. Ozma uses the Belt to return the
stolen magic items to their rightful owners, free Wutz's prisoners,
transport all of the dwellings inside the mountain, seal the mountain
itself, and transform Wutz's agents into moles (a pun I didn't catch during
my first few readings). She apparently does this all from the Emerald City.
If, as some people think, the excessive use of the Belt at the end of
EMERALD CITY drained its power, it must have been totally ineffective after
HANDY MANDY, yet it is in good working order two books later. These quick
fixes also raise several other questions. If the Belt has the power to
transport other magical items (a power we actually already know it has from
ROYAL BOOK and JACK PUMPKINHEAD), why couldn't Ozma have used it to bring
the Magic Picture back to the Emerald City after Five stole it? Also, how
does the Belt know who the rightful owners of Wutz's stolen property are,
and how does Ozma know that she isn't returning them to magicians just as
dangerous as Wutz? If only Glinda and the Wizard are allowed to practice
magic, doesn't it stand to reason that the magic taken from the Winkies and
Gillikins belonged to other illegal magic-workers? I think one possible
solution is that the quick fixes described on pp. 238-239 really took a few
days to complete, but Thompson made them into quick fixes so as not to bore
herself or the readers with the details.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Sep 3, 2002  5:13 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY silver hammer

J. L. Bell:
>But how many? At least in post-Dorothean times, Keretaria is the only
>country that Wunchie actually seems to have affected. And despite its
>impressive marble castle, Keretaria is merely "one of the small countries"
>of Munchkinland [102]. The Ozure Isles, Seebania, Halidom, and other major
>Munchkin nations have their own troubles. So were there other countries in
>the north Munchkin mountains under Wunchie's thumb? Has Himself used tricks
>to keep Wunchie from wreaking havoc in Munchkinland?

In Melody's SEVEN BLUE MOUNTAINS series, Wunchie has power over some of the
countries in the Seven Blue Mountains until Zim drives her out, and had
apparently used the ox trick in some of them. Within the FF, however, we
have no knowledge of Wunchie controlling any country other than Keretaria.

Nathan

From:  jodel at a...
Date:  Wed Sep 4, 2002  2:43 pm
Subject:  Re: Vengance is Ozma's (Full circle)

<<
I almost think the "seventh hand of a travelling Mernite" bit would have
worked better if it had been foreshadowed in PIRATES, rather than coming out
of thin air here. Note that, since Ozma didn't know there was such a thing
as a Mernite, she presumably did not want Ruggedo to ever be changed back to
his true form. When you get right down to it, is there really that much
difference between permanent transformation and total destruction, which
Ozma, even with Thompson's more vengeful characterization, is always
reluctant to resort to (Mombi being the exception to the rule)? >>

When you get right down to it, is there really that much difference (in
effect, not motivation) between permanently transforming somebody into a jug
and permanently transforming a royal family into ornaments? Which is what
started the whole Ozma/Ruggedo duel cycle in the first place.

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Sep 4, 2002  3:11 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY word count

The electronic texts of almost all of Thompson's public-domain Oz books
shows us an interesting quality of HANDY MANDY: it's significantly shorter
than the books that preceded it.

Here's the word count for Thompson's last five Oz books, rounded off to
thousands--
WISHING HORSE: 44,000
CAPTAIN SALT: 46,000
HANDY MANDY: 34,000
SILVER PRINCESS: 34,000
OZOPLANING: 37,000
In addition, ROYAL BOOK is about 42,000 words.

Thus, HANDY MANDY is only about three-quarters the length of the books that
preceded it, but almost exactly the same as the books that follow.
Furthermore, since Thompson had written and edited a newspaper page for
many years, she probably had an acute sense of how many words she'd
written. That leads me to think this novel's shorter length was a
deliberate choice by either Thompson or Reilly & Lee. It may have reflected
her increased workload after she started writing for the comics, or the
publisher's ongoing cost-cutting.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Sep 4, 2002  3:51 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY Nome King

Nathan DeHoff wrote of Ruggedo:
<<His memory seems to be rather faulty at this point, considering that it
takes him a while to remember his name. Oddly enough, the end of PIRATES
was one of the few times he WASN'T forced to drink of the Water of
Oblivion. . . . was it just breaking the jug that hindered his memory for a
short while, rather than the transformation itself?>>

An interesting aspect of Ruggedo in HANDY MANDY (which turned out to be his
last canonical appearance) is that he shows no interest in ruling Oz.
Instead he says--

"Oh, don't bother me with any of the Oz
Kingdoms. I'm sick of the place!" frowned the
Gnome, wagging his beard vindictively. "All I
want is my own old Kingdom and my own magic belt!
But I tell you what I will do. I'll help you
steal this belt, for I know exactly where it is
hidden, show you how it works so you can transform
Ozma and all her friends and counselors to rocks
and rubble. BUT, when you are safely established
as supreme Wizard of Oz, you must return the belt
to me." [206]

In proposing these terms to the Wizard of Wutz, Ruggedo shows that he's
lost a few teeth off his gears. At his wiliest the old Nome King would
never have driven so easy a bargain.

Furthermore, when Wutz puts on the Belt and wants to transform the leaders
of Oz, the Nome makes his priorities clear:

"But first you must restore my Kingdom!"
insisted Ruggedo, dancing up and down. "Here,
give it to me. I'm used to it and can work faster.
First I'll wish Kaliko off my throne and myself
back in my underground castle, then-"
"Oh, no, you won't!" declared Wutz, holding
the bouncing Gnome King off with one hand. "How do
I know what you will do once you reach your own
Kingdom? Why, I might never see this belt again."
"But I promise to send it back to you,"
hissed Ruggedo, his eyes snapping real sparks. [223]

The Ruggedo we know in other books would be too shrewd to expect this
unenforceable promise to sway the wizard.

It's conceivable that Ruggedo could be trying to fool the Wizard of Wutz
into trusting him. Thompson hints that the Nome at first conceals how much
(or little) he knows of the Magic Belt's location [205]. He does break from
his original terms by asking to be sent home.

Nevertheless, Thompson gives us no hint that Ruggedo plans to betray Wutz,
even as she makes clear how Wutz plans to betray Ruggedo. In past books
she's been quite clear about the Nome's treacherous intentions. She's even
comfortable writing from his inside his head, as in long stretches of
KABUMPO and PIRATES. And throughout the Nome's appearance in HANDY MANDY
Thompson both shows and tells his emotions: he moves from "frightened"
through "thoughtful," "joyful," "exultant," "scornful," "dejected,"
"furious," "suspicious," "anxious," "sulky," "envious," "vindictive," and
"spiteful" to "a perfect rage" against Wutz.

Thus, it strikes me as likely that Ruggedo is genuinely most interested in
becoming the Nome King again, only secondarily so in revenging himself on
Ozma and her subjects. And that seems linked to how he came out of his
enchantment. Even before he remembers his name and history, Ruggedo
remembers his home:

"Caverns!" beamed the gnome, his face
breaking into a wide smile. "What's the matter
with caverns? I LOVE caverns. Why, I used to
live in one myself. And who did you say I was?" [192]

Gradually his memory comes back, and we see that his identity is bound up
not in hating Ozma and Dorothy but in being the Nome King:

"I, why, I am the most important King
on the other side of the desert!" shouted Ruggedo
exultantly. "I am the one and only Metal Monarch
and Ruler of all the Gnomes! My caves and caverns
under the mountains of Ev sparkle with jewels and
precious stones, mined by my faithful workers, and
my grand army of gnomes outnumbers any army in Oz." [193]

Only a moment later does Ruggedo remember how Dorothy and Ozma have treated
him. He never quite seems to recall his humiliations in the Thompson books.

Thus, while Ruggedo's final appearance confirms that he's still a dangerous
enemy to the Emerald City, he may in fact have already moved beyond his
obsession with ruling Oz. But he never gets the chance to try that new
spirit--at least in the Reilly & Lee series.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Sep 5, 2002  9:31 am
Subject:  HANDY MANDY security breakdown

Nathan DeHoff wrote about the end of HANDY MANDY:
<how does the Belt know who the rightful owners of Wutz's stolen property
are, and how does Ozma know that she isn't returning them to magicians just
as dangerous as Wutz? If only Glinda and the Wizard are allowed to
practice magic, doesn't it stand to reason that the magic taken from the
Winkies and Gillikins belonged to other illegal magic-workers?>>

These questions occurred to me as well. Perhaps Ozma believes that the
devices' "rightful owners" can't be malicious, that anyone who was doing or
intending harm with these tools must have stolen them and would therefore
not receive them back. But since she "she knew neither the extent nor the
nature of the wizard's other thefts," that's quite a leap of faith
[238].

Furthermore, malice doesn't enter into Ozma's injunction to "practice no
magic, either for good or evil." Never has that rule been spelled out more
explicitly than in this book: it appears in both text and art [104-5]. Yet
Ozma doesn't even blink when Mandy summons Himself RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER
[240]! Even after learning about how Wunchie the witch has operated in
Munchkinland for her entire reign less two years, Ozma shows no concern
about unauthorized magicians.

Ozma's apathy about magic at the end of the story reflects her seeming
indifference toward magical threats at the beginning, eleven days before
Mandy was blasted to Oz. That was when Wutz's agent Seven stole Glinda's
Great Book of Records.

The Record Book is one of the most powerful magical devices in Oz, a pillar
of the country's security. In LOST PRINCESS, Baum showed us Glinda's
reaction to finding her Book missing:

The Sorceress was now both angry and alarmed. She sat
down in a chair and tried to think how this
extraordinary robbery could have taken place. It was
evident that the thief was some person of very great
power, or the theft could never have been accomplished
without her knowledge. But who, in all the Land of Oz,
was powerful and skillful enough to do this awful
thing? And who, having the power, could also have an
object in defying the wisest and most talented
Sorceress the world has ever known?
...
"Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is
a very foolish person, for in time he is sure to be
found out and will then be severely punished."

The Sorceress immediately dispatches servants to collect the ingredients
she needs for magic to find the thief. When she learns Ozma and the Magic
Picture are gone as well, she flies to the Emerald City and organizes
search parties to explore in every direction.

In HANDY MANDY, what happens? Glinda sends a message to the Emerald City
"by pigeon post"--not the fastest way to send information, but at least the
news gets there in a day. We have to assume Glinda is trying some magical
recovery operation, but that's never mentioned. The Wizard works his
"powerful searchlight and looking glasses" without success, as he confides
to Tik-Tok [163]. But does Ozma look for the Book in her Magic Picture?
More important, do the Ozians take any steps to stop further thefts by such
a "person of great power"?

Obviously not. The Magic Picture is unguarded and easy to take off the wall
[166]. The Magic Belt isn't in Ozma's safe, or else the Wizard wouldn't
have to advise putting it in there [173]. Jellia must know the earthen jug
in her kitchen is Ruggedo because she notices it's missing so quickly
[169], yet even during this parlous time she's letting strangers into the
castle and into that room. Ozma herself is playing croquet ["Now watch me
make this drive"]. Even after Ozma and her friends learn the Magic Picture
is missing, they don't think to inventory their other magical devices
[171].

Despite memories of Ugu the Shoemaker [174], Ozma and her counselors never
consider that the same thief who took Glinda's Book could be after their
own magic until two important items have already disappeared. In sum, in
order for Thompson to make her plot work, she has to give Oz an
unbelievably lousy homeland security plan. This is another way I see HANDY
MANDY as sloppily plotted.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Sep 6, 2002  12:49 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY Topsies and Highlanders

Scott Hutchins wrote:
<< > Other books (such as HANDY MANDY) also
> present racial caricatures, but they're less central to the stories and
> less apparent in the art.>>

What, the Topsies? These don't seem like any racy in particular other than
themselves>>

You may wish to look again at HANDY MANDY after reviewing more of the
rhetoric of American pre-WW2 racism.

Topsy was a character in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, an enslaved young girl. In the
decades after Reconstruction, when the slave labor camps of the ante-bellum
South became a source of quaint nostalgia instead of embarrassment for much
of the nation, stage shows of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN shifted from political
melodrama to minstrel-show spoofs. It was largely in these years that
"Uncle Tom" became a symbol for blacks ingratiating themselves with white
oppressors rather than showing dignified forbearance. In those same years
Topsy was played by a grown male impersonator in a broad black-minstrel
style--leading to the phrase "growing like Topsy." Think of the Patchwork
Girl with cork makeup, exaggerated dialect, and less cleverness in her
brains.

As a result, the name Topsies itself carried clear racial overtones for
Thompson. She makes the connection explicit when she refers to those people
as "small black-and-blue men and women" [78]. She also refers to them as
"the natives" [77]; we saw in CAPTAIN SALT how she uses that plural noun to
refer not to all people born in a region, but only to dangerous and mostly
dark-skinned peoples.

You've already noted the word "kinky" in HANDY MANDY. While writing of its
current sexual meaning, you may have missed how Thompson meant it: as a
sign that the Topsies have tightly curled hair. She refers to "kinky little
black heads," "each kinky head," and "the kinky-headed little citizens."
Thompson also uses the term "wool," another historically common derogatory
term for Africans' hair, and makes clear that becoming a Topsy would mean
Mandy becoming non-white:

"Fine! Fine! That's the way!" cheered the
Topsies heartily. "You'll be spinning circles
before you know it and have beautiful wool like
the rest of us."
"Wool!" gasped Handy, who was extremely
fond of her shining yellow braids. "Oh, I wool
not. That's just too much!" [82]

As in WISHING HORSE, when having her skin turned black reduces Dorothy to
tears for the first time in decades, the prospect of becoming more like
African-Americans seems especially awful to Thompson's white heroine.

Neill's three drawings of the Topsies [75, 78, 81--not available in the
Gutenberg text, of course] reflect Thompson's racial hints: he shows them
with wild curly hair and inhumanly exaggerated features. Because the
Topsies are whirling, their faces are distorted and obscured; their
connection to African-American stereotypes isn't as clear as in SILVER
PRINCESS. Nevertheless, Neill obviously wasn't drawing his usual "white"
faces, but caricatures.

I've already pointed out how both the Topsies and the Highlanders that
follow them in HANDY MANDY are based on ethnic stereotypes. They're not
simply "normal" humans who spin like tops or hang hoops off their noses,
but particular racial and ethnic groups: blacks, Scottish "tribesmen." Both
are also hostile to Mandy and Nox, and Thompson implies they get what they
deserve for attacking her heroes.

To be fair, however, we should note that the Topsies first become angry at
Mandy because she steals their food [77], and that the Highlanders because
she pelts them with rocks [106]. They have every right to be hostile.
Thompson is applying double standards here. That she applies those
standards to both dark- and light-skinned peoples doesn't negate their
unfairness. Nor does her equal unfairness to these two groups negate her
overall demeaning depiction of dark-skinned characters.

It's all very well for you to say, <<For some of those intolerant rednecks
to not be white is ok by me>>, but this approach ignores the larger picture
of how Thompson depicted dark-skinned people. In her pre-WW2 Oz books ALL
people with dark skin are either enslaved or savage. Unlike light-skinned
communities, she gives dark-skinned peoples no chance to be hospitable or
civilized. Unlike light-skinned servants, she gives dark-skinned slaves no
chance to be intelligent or individual--no chance, in sum, to be fully
human. HANDY MANDY is part of that pattern.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say by the phrase <<Ozzy racist
rednecks>>. If you're using "redneck" to mean a specific sort of racist,
how are the peoples of Oz who are hostile to physical differences
particularly "redneck" as opposed to simply racist?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sat Sep 7, 2002  10:02 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY what's Wutz?

The Wizard of Wutz has long struck me as one of Thompson's most successful
villains, indeed one of the most successful in the whole Reilly & Lee
series. A large part of that is because he IS successful at stealing two of
Oz's most powerful treasures, as well as liberating Ruggedo. Unlike Mooj,
Gorba, and other villains who attack merely one or two kingdoms within Oz,
Wutz goes for the grand prize.

Furthermore, unlike Skamperoo, the Sultan of Samandra, and other childish
men, the wizard always acts like a dangerous adult. Most of the magic we
see Wutz perform involves blowing bubbles with his pipe, some of those
bubbles popping with a ringing sound. That might seem like child's play,
but in his hands it comes across quite ominously.

The third aspect of Wutz's character that's made him memorable among
Thompson's villains, and perhaps added to his impression of danger, is his
handsomeness. I was therefore surprised on this reading to see that
Thompson never describes his face as particularly good-looking. Rather, she
says:

The unusual height of the silver monarch was
at once apparent, and his tight-fitting suit of
deepest purple, without ornament save for his
jeweled belt and sword, set off his handsome
figure to the best advantage. His hair, of an
astonishing thickness, was as silver as his cavern.
When he turned his head,...Handy saw that his
eyes were of a clear and piercing violet. [132]

Thompson says Wutz has a "handsome figure," but for facial features she
says only that his hair is thick and his eyes sparkling. In contrast, she
calls Kerry "handsome" three times. So the sour good looks that I remember
were mostly granted by Neill, especially in the pictures on 136 and 175.
Wutz resembles Realbad from OJO, but where the bandit's mustache and mouth
curl up, the wizard's are flat or point down.

As a strategist, unfortunately, the Wizard of Wutz doesn't turn out to be
that much of a foe on close examination. Thompson seems to abandon her
early characterization to have the wizard make all sorts of mistakes about
Mandy and Nox--another instance of her bending character to keep her story
moving along.

Wutz keeps his agents off guard by not revealing how much he cares about
their loot and playing them against each other [176, 180]. He also knows
that Mandy and Nox must have powerful magic at their disposal because they
got past Snorpus [136]. Logically, therefore, he should be even more wary
of these dangerous strangers than of his own men.

Instead, Wutz commits the classic supervillain mistakes that help desperate
storytellers move their plots along and rescue their heroes from danger.
Instead of hiding his intentions, Wutz describes all his plans to Mandy and
Nox [137-9]. He reveals his vulnerability and informs them of the magic at
their disposal: "I've got to have that hammer before I can make myself
supreme ruler in Oz" [139]. And, of course, the wizard never searches his
new visitors or bothers to find out how they got by his guard (it sure
wasn't the blue flower Mandy shows him).

Wutz orders Nifflepok to dispose of Mandy and Nox. On page 180, however,
the wizard learns that these intruders have survived, and are even plotting
to release another prisoner. So they're an even bigger threat to him than
he thought. What further steps does he take? None. He simply sends down
Nifflepok, who's already proven unable to kill them [181]. He doesn't even
bother to ensure Mandy and Nox are in a locked cell [198].

Wutz knows the great power of the Great Book of Records, being cautious
about attracting Glinda's attention [183]. Even after it's told him about
his enemies below, however, he doesn't monitor it for more useful
information. (Consider, as a contrast, how Ugu the Shoemaker uses the Magic
Picture and Book.) And, as Nathan DeHoff also noticed, Wutz simply assumes
Ruggedo would know the location of the Magic Belt in Ozma's palace [205];
logic says that someone who so covets an object would be the LAST person to
know where to get it.

Thompson provides some vivid descriptions of the kingdom of Silver Mountain
and life inside it [129, 147]. When she's in a hurry to finish her book,
however, the mountain almost seems to dissolve. Wutz floats right through
it in a bubble [209]. Mandy, Nox, and Kerry seem to be blasted through it
with Himself's hammer [221]. And Ozma takes it upon herself to turn the
whole mountain inside-out, which surely must disrupt the culture inside
[238].

I don't believe Thompson ever explains where the name "Wutz" comes from.
She shifts from "the Wizard of Wutz" to just "Wutz" pretty early. The
Wizard of Oz also happens to be called Oz, but Oz remains a place with a
wizard. Where is Wutz?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Sun Sep 8, 2002  2:53 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY what's Wutz?

J. L. Bell:
>Thompson provides some vivid descriptions of the kingdom of Silver Mountain
>and life inside it [129, 147]. When she's in a hurry to finish her book,
>however, the mountain almost seems to dissolve. Wutz floats right through
>it in a bubble [209]. Mandy, Nox, and Kerry seem to be blasted through it
>with Himself's hammer [221]. And Ozma takes it upon herself to turn the
>whole mountain inside-out, which surely must disrupt the culture inside
>[238].

As I mentioned before, Ozma's quick fixes at the end seem to be an example
of hasty and sloppy writing. There is no indication in previous books that
the Magic Belt has enough power to turn a mountain inside out. Even putting
that aside, however, the book does not indicate that Ozma bothers to
investigate the mountain before making her changes. She merely has a
conference with Mandy, who was only able to see the Silver Mountain's common
people while speeding through the mountain on a roller coaster ride, which
doesn't exactly qualify her as an expert on the place. Ozma also appoints
Nifflepok as the new king, despite knowing nothing about him. In some ways,
Nifflepok is similar to Kaliko, being a nervous servant of a tyrannical and
bad-tempered monarch, so his promotion is similar to Kaliko's in TIK-TOK.
On the other hand, TIK-TOK demonstrates Kaliko's important role in running
the Nome Kingdom, as well as his unwillingness to obey his master's orders
when they conflict with his own morality. Kaliko refuses to lock Betsy
Bobbin and Hank in the Slimy Cave, but Nifflepok, despite saying that he
feels sorry for Mandy and Nox, obeys Wutz's orders to destroy them without
question. Nifflepok certainly seems to be a kinder man than Wutz, but there
is no indication that he has any idea how to rule, and no known reason for
Ozma, who has never even met the man, to give him a promotion.

>I don't believe Thompson ever explains where the name "Wutz" comes from.
>She shifts from "the Wizard of Wutz" to just "Wutz" pretty early. The
>Wizard of Oz also happens to be called Oz, but Oz remains a place with a
>wizard. Where is Wutz?

Maybe it's a name for the kingdom inside the Silver Mountain, or the area
around it.

Nathan

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Sep 8, 2002  10:40 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY Mernite magic

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<I almost think the "seventh hand of a travelling Mernite" bit would have
worked better if it had been foreshadowed in PIRATES, rather than coming
out of thin air here. Note that, since Ozma didn't know there was such a
thing as a Mernite, she presumably did not want Ruggedo to ever be changed
back to his true form.>>

Yes, I agree that leaving Ozma's explanation of how Mandy so handily broke
the spell over Ruggedo to the end of the book stretches this important
aspect of the plot to transparency. I think a story is much more satisfying
to readers if they have a chance to know as much as the characters do, or
at least some hints. When Jellia first reported the jug missing, Thompson
could have had Ozma reassure her that there was only one way to break its
enchantment, and the monk wasn't well enough armed in magic to do that.

But Thompson had a habit of playing such magical trumps late in a story, as
explanations of the past rather than openings for the future (e.g.,
GRAMPA). (Baum did that, too, in LOST PRINCESS.) Thompson never gets around
to explaining the Magic Picture's behavior in HANDY MANDY, so I suppose we
should be pleased to hear about the seventh hand of a Mernite at all.

This detail may reveal something deeper about how magic works as well. When
Ozma transformed Ruggedo into a jug, she left a way for her spell to be
reversed. Since she didn't understand how to perform that reversal, she
couldn't have done so in order to be able bring Ruggedo back whenever she
chose (i.e., she wasn't using the spell like a safe that she knew the
combination for).

Instead, it appears that Ozma HAD to leave some sort of way to reverse her
transformation, and she chose a very obscure method to minimize the chances
that anyone could carry that out. That in turn may imply there's some sort
of natural law or law among fairies (which would be much the same thing in
Baum's universe) that no enchantment can be unbreakable. That conforms to
the laws of the physical universe--Newton's "every action has an equal and
opposite reaction," the reversibility of chemical reactions, etc.

There's at least one counterexample in the Oz books, however. In TIN
WOODMAN Mrs. Yoop proclaims, "Nothing I transform ever gets back to its
former shape again," but we eventually learn that she's wrong.  However,
Ozma tells Woot:

"Your form of enchantment, my poor boy," she said
pityingly, "is different from that of the others.
Indeed, it is a form that is impossible to alter by any
magic known to fairies or yookoohoos. The wicked
Giantess was well aware, when she gave you the form of
a Green Monkey, that the Green Monkey must exist in the
Land of Oz for all future time."

So while for every spell there may be an equal and opposite counterspell,
this universe also has a law about the conservation of green monkeys.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at a...>
Date:  Mon Sep 9, 2002  7:39 am
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY Mernite magic

J. L. Bell wrote:
> Thompson never gets around
> to explaining the Magic Picture's behavior in HANDY MANDY,

Actually, a close reading reveals that the shrinking spell did,
as suspected, break it.

> That in turn may imply there's some sort
> of natural law or law among fairies (which would be much the same thing in
> Baum's universe) that no enchantment can be unbreakable.

I've encountered that theory in writing somewhere or other in the
last year or so, but can't offhand remember where.

--
John W. Kennedy
Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the
obeisance of others! Thus is bad government born! Hold in your heart
that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government
shall arise of its own accord! Such is the path of virtue!
-- Kazuo Koike, "Lone Wolf and Cub: Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis)

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Mon Sep 9, 2002  11:20 am
Subject:  HANDY MANDY Nifflepok

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<Ozma also appoints Nifflepok as the new king, despite knowing nothing
about him. In some ways, Nifflepok is similar to Kaliko, being a nervous
servant of a tyrannical and bad-tempered monarch, so his promotion is
similar to Kaliko's in TIK-TOK. On the other hand, TIK-TOK demonstrates
Kaliko's important role in running the Nome Kingdom, as well as his
unwillingness to obey his master's orders when they conflict with his own
morality. Kaliko refuses to lock Betsy Bobbin and Hank in the Slimy Cave,
but Nifflepok, despite saying that he feels sorry for Mandy and Nox, obeys
Wutz's orders to destroy them without question. Nifflepok certainly seems
to be a kinder man than Wutz, but there is no indication that he has any
idea how to rule, and no known reason for Ozma, who has never even met the
man, to give him a promotion.>>

Yes, this seems to be one of the moments in HANDY MANDY when Thompson was
just running through the motions of finishing an Oz story. In past books,
tyrants' reluctant servants had been kind to their fellow subjects and
visitors from Oz (e.g., Fizzenpop in HUNGRY TIGER). In past books, servants
had become rulers (e.g., Happy Toko in ROYAL BOOK, not to mention the Baum
precedent). So she seems to have followed the same path as before even
though she hadn't laid any groundwork for Nifflepok ascension. Though we
see him more than any other subject in the Silver Mountain, he shows no
more kindness or leadership than "Timano" or the seventy bellboys who also
serve Wutz [135].

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Mon Sep 9, 2002  1:56 pm
Subject:  ice cream and historians and epithets in oz

John W. Kennedy wrote (regarding David Hulan's comment that "the term "PC"
... was invented to contemn consideration for the feelings of others by
those who don't have any such consideration"):
> Historically, this is not true. It was created as a term of self-satire
by the Left. <

That's true, but although it was invented in that way, it did not come into
general use until the Right started using it without irony to condemn such
consideration. When complaints are made in a vague, general way about PC as
an infringement of free speech, it's usually a good idea to find out just
what offensive epithets the complainer wants to use or retain and in what
contexts. I don't think people can seriously look at Baum's description of
the less-than-human-"dusky"-Tottenhots (and
less-even-than-Mifkets-less-than-human!) and honestly want to keep that now
in an edition published primarily for children, although it's certainly
reasonable to wish that BoW had mentioned that their edition made some small
deletions and was to that extent not a facsimile. (Or keeping the material
as is but putting in the kind of "readers, please note" disclaimers that
were done with some of RPT's books might have been an option, but with bits
of racism so obvious -- RPT's "Topsies," for counter-example, are probably
not obviously Black to most White readers, even adults, although they might
very well be obvious to many Black readers, even children -- and at the same
time so concentrated in single, isolated passages, deletion was probably the
better choice.)

Ruth Berman

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Tue Sep 10, 2002  10:41 am
Subject:  wutz and horn-of-plenty in oz

Looking at the illos of Wutz again, it strikes me that he isn't just
handsome. He is a Great Profile. In fact, he is The Great Profile -- John
Barrymore. Is this a chance resemblance, I wonder, or did Neill actually
have Barrymore in mind, especially in the profile shots (which predominate)
of Wutz?

J.L. Bell mentioned as a minor glitz that Neill draws the river-water as
spouting from Nox's head, when the text makes it clear that it comes out of
the horn. Looking at the passage again -- I don't think it does make it
clear where the water comes from. It could be from the horn, the more so as
it is later referred to as a horn of plenty, and the traditional iconography
of the horn of plenty shows food pouring out of the horn, but so far as the
text says, it could be from Nox's head as drawn, or from nowhere specific at
all (as would seem to be the case with the barrels of molasses dropped on
the Hooknoses -- unless they come out miniaturized and expand as they fly
through the air).

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Tue Sep 10, 2002  1:33 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY rulers and punishments

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<I believe it was J. L. Bell who said that Thompson generally tends to
give weaker punishments to kings and queens than to others.>>

Yes, Thompson tends to leave intact those royals who seem to hold their
titles by hereditary right: Mustafa, Mogodore (in his little way), the
Sultan of Samandra, Skamperoo.

She seems to reserve her worst punishments for people with no hereditary
claim to rule who try to depose a sitting ruler or marry into a royal
family: the Silver Island conspirators, Glegg, Gorba, Mombi, the rough
pasha, Faleero, Mooj, the Ozamandarins, Wunchie and agent Nine, and so on.

Wutz looks like an exception. I recall no hint that he's usurped the title
"King of the Silver Mountain." He deposes a nearby king (but so does the
Sultan of Samandra) and tries to take over the Emerald City (but so do
Mogodore and Skamperoo). Perhaps because he does both, he gets turned into
a cactus.

Ruggedo seems to be in a category by himself. He seems to be both a genuine
king and a usurper, but basically too good a villain for Thompson to
destroy permanently.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Tue Sep 10, 2002  1:33 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY Mernite magic

John W. Kennedy wrote:
<<> Thompson never gets around
> to explaining the Magic Picture's behavior in HANDY MANDY,

Actually, a close reading reveals that the shrinking spell did, as
suspected, break it.>>

This is Wutz's assumption [206-8], but Thompson provides no confirmation
and some reason for doubt. Wutz says he doesn't have time to fix the
Picture, but Ozma can do so "immediately" [239]. The wizard therefore has
little power over the Picture or little knowledge of how it works, casting
doubt on his diagnosis of the trouble.

Thompson herself advances another theory alongside this one: Nifflepok
says, "Perhaps it only obeys the commands of Ozma, its rightful owner"
[178]. The Magic Cloak in ZIXI has that property, but as of LOST PRINCESS
the Magic Picture doesn't. The concept of the "rightful owner" of a magical
device comes up later in the book as well, first when Wutz assumes Ruggedo
knows where the Magic Belt is, then when Ozma returns the stolen items. So
Thompson seems to put a lot of weight on that concept, even while she
offers no mechanism for how it might affect the Picture.

Given what little Thompson says about this detail, and assuming people in
the Emerald City aren't as stupid as HANDY MANDY makes them out to be, we
can imagine a more plausible explanation for why the Magic Picture conks
out so conveniently: in the ten days it took agent Five to reach the Silver
Mountain, Ozma used the Magic Belt to place a haze in front of the
Picture's canvas or otherwise disrupt it so its thief couldn't use it.

All in all, I think Thompson sincerely believed she'd provided enough of a
justification for the Magic Picture's sudden troubles. But, like a lot of
details in this book, that explanation feels like a slapdash afterthought,
which doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Sep 10, 2002  2:40 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY rulers and punishments

J. L. Bell:
>Yes, Thompson tends to leave intact those royals who seem to hold their
>titles by hereditary right: Mustafa, Mogodore (in his little way), the
>Sultan of Samandra, Skamperoo.
>
>She seems to reserve her worst punishments for people with no hereditary
>claim to rule who try to depose a sitting ruler or marry into a royal
>family: the Silver Island conspirators, Glegg, Gorba, Mombi, the rough
>pasha, Faleero, Mooj, the Ozamandarins, Wunchie and agent Nine, and so on.

Wouldn't the Princes of the Silver Island, being sons of the Emperor, have a
hereditary claim to the throne? Irasha is also a member of the royal family
of Rash, although he does steal the throne from the true heir, who is still
alive (as, for that matter, is Irasha's brother Asha). Nine's claim to be
Kerry's uncle is presumably a lie, although there is a theoretical
possibility that a member of the Keretarian royal family had some reason to
team up with Wutz.

>Ruggedo seems to be in a category by himself. He seems to be both a genuine
>king and a usurper, but basically too good a villain for Thompson to
>destroy permanently.

Ruggedo was a genuine king, but he was removed from his throne by a power
greater than Ozma. Whether this was a factor for Thompson is unknown,
however. She mentions Tititi-Hoochoo in KABUMPO and HUNGRY TIGER, but she
and Ruggedo both seem to have forgotten about the Great Jinjin after that.

Nathan

From:  "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at a...>
Date:  Tue Sep 10, 2002  4:37 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] wutz and horn-of-plenty in oz

Ruth Berman wrote:
> J.L. Bell mentioned as a minor glitz that Neill draws the river-water as
> spouting from Nox's head, when the text makes it clear that it comes out of
> the horn. Looking at the passage again -- I don't think it does make it
> clear where the water comes from. It could be from the horn, the more so as
> it is later referred to as a horn of plenty, and the traditional iconography
> of the horn of plenty shows food pouring out of the horn, but so far as the
> text says, it could be from Nox's head as drawn, or from nowhere specific at
> all (as would seem to be the case with the barrels of molasses dropped on
> the Hooknoses -- unless they come out miniaturized and expand as they fly
> through the air).

That's true of the immediate passage (which may be all that Neill was
looking at), but a close reading of later passages makes it clear
that the water is from the horn.

--
John W. Kennedy
Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the
obeisance of others! Thus is bad government born! Hold in your heart
that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government
shall arise of its own accord! Such is the path of virtue!
-- Kazuo Koike, "Lone Wolf and Cub: Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis)

From:  "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at a...>
Date:  Tue Sep 10, 2002  4:54 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY Mernite magic

J. L. Bell wrote:
> John W. Kennedy wrote:
> <<> Thompson never gets around
>
>>to explaining the Magic Picture's behavior in HANDY MANDY,
>
>
> Actually, a close reading reveals that the shrinking spell did, as
> suspected, break it.>>
>
> This is Wutz's assumption [206-8], but Thompson provides no confirmation
> and some reason for doubt. Wutz says he doesn't have time to fix the
> Picture, but Ozma can do so "immediately" [239].

Yes, precisely. She _fixes_ it. Therefore, it was broken. True, we
do not have her explicit word that it was broken by the shrinking, but
it was necessarily broken by _something_, and I think it is only reasonable
for us to assume that RPT intended for Wutz's diagnosis to have been
correct.

> All in all, I think Thompson sincerely believed she'd provided enough of a
> justification for the Magic Picture's sudden troubles. But, like a lot of
> details in this book, that explanation feels like a slapdash afterthought,
> which doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Ah, well, whether the explanation is _adequate_ is a different question
from whether it exists.

--
John W. Kennedy
Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the
obeisance of others! Thus is bad government born! Hold in your heart
that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government
shall arise of its own accord! Such is the path of virtue!
-- Kazuo Koike, "Lone Wolf and Cub: Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis)

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Sep 11, 2002  2:54 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY horn pipeline

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<J.L. Bell mentioned as a minor glitz that Neill draws the
river-water as
spouting from Nox's head, when the text makes it clear that it comes out of
the horn. Looking at the passage again -- I don't think it does make it
clear where the water comes from. It could be from the horn, the more so as
it is later referred to as a horn of plenty, and the traditional
iconography of the horn of plenty shows food pouring out of the horn, but
so far as the text says, it could be from Nox's head as drawn, or from
nowhere specific at all (as would seem to be the case with the barrels of
molasses dropped on the Hooknoses -- unless they come out miniaturized and
expand as they fly through the air).>>

As John W. Kennedy noted, while the first passage about the river from
Nox's horn could be read in two ways, shortly afterward there's an exchange
which shows the water is coming from the horn in Mandy's hand, not from
Nox's head:

"Swim closer and I'll screw it back," she offered,
obligingly holding up the wooden hand in which she still
clutched the right half of the royal headgear. But at
this, poor Nox was deluged by a robust stream that still
poured from the golden horn. Hastily plunging it under
the surface again, Handy watched her fellow adventurer
emerge sputtering and furious from the depths.
"Well of all the stupid tricks!" gasped the Ox,
swimming rapidly away from her. "Stop. Keep off. Don't
you dare come near me."
"But see here," panted Handy, going after him in
real exasperation, "after all, it is your horn, and am I
to blame if there is a river inside? What do you want me
to do, throw it away?"
"No! No!" bellowed the Ox, stopping short and
looking frantically over his shoulder. "If you throw it
away, I'll look like a fool. If you keep holding it,
we'll spend the rest of our lives swimming round in this
torrent. If you screw it back on my head, it will
probably give me water on the brain." [88]

Thereafter, Thompson seems to abandon the image of things actually coming
out of the horn. As you say, the goods instead start to appear out of thin
air [96]. Similarly, while the river didn't disappear until Mandy screwed
the horn back on Nox's head, the breakfast dishes vanish with no mention of
the horn [98]. Again, this element of HANDY MANDY is more convenient than
consistent.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Sep 11, 2002  2:54 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY rulers and punishments

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<Wouldn't the Princes of the Silver Island, being sons of the Emperor,
have a hereditary claim to the throne?>>

Yes, but not as long as papa was alive. The princes tried to speed up the
hereditary process, to their ultimate doom. There are ironies in this
episode because the princes try to disenchant the Scarecrow (normally a
good thing in the Ozian universe), and the Scarecrow offers to turn over
the throne to his eldest son. Nonetheless, there's definitely an act of
lese-majeste going on here, and for Thompson that seems to be a Very Bad
Thing.

Irasha and Faleero are also members of royal families. But neither is yet a
legitimate monarch, Thompson seems to say, and both violated the line of
succession by kidnapping legitimate monarchs.

Another factor that might help monarchs avoid Thompson's ultimate
punishments is how childish they are. Mustafa, the Sultan of Samandra, and
Skamperoo share some of the traits of toddlers. Mooj, Wutz, and a few other
villains are scarily grown-up, as are all those who want to marry some
princess or other.

<<Ruggedo was a genuine king, but he was removed from his throne by a power
greater than Ozma. Whether this was a factor for Thompson is unknown,
however. She mentions Tititi-Hoochoo in KABUMPO and HUNGRY TIGER, but she
and Ruggedo both seem to have forgotten about the Great Jinjin after
that.>>

Thompson seems to be ambivalent about Ruggedo's royal status. She has a
habit of calling him "the Gnome King" as if he hadn't been deposed. She
does so many times in HANDY MANDY [starting in chapter 17, most prominently
in the title of chapter 18], and has Ozma, the Wizard, Wutz, and agent Five
all do so as well. Only the Scarecrow says, "the old Gnome King," and only
once.

In contrast, in MAGIC Baum calls Ruggedo "the Nome King" once, "the old..."
or "the former Nome King" several times. So he seems to have been clearer
that Ruggedo was not, in Thompson's label, "THE GNOME KING OF OZ."

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Sep 11, 2002  11:49 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY the great profile

Ruth Berman's suggestion that Neill modeled Wutz on John Barrymore,
especially the profile on page 175, is interesting and pretty convincing.
By that time, as I recall, Barrymore was playing dissipated types, no
longer as dangerous as Wutz is. So perhaps the wizard fits into the "get me
a young John Barrymore" category. The full-on portrait on page 136 doesn't
remind me of Barrymore, but it reminds me of someone, and I don't know who.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Sep 13, 2002  11:03 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY handy Mandy

Mandy is unique among Oz heroines so far in several ways. As I believe
Nathan DeHoff pointed out, she's the first young heroine Thompson created
as opposed to borrowing from Baum--unless, that is, we consider Peg Amy,
whose perspective sometimes is central to KABUMPO. Mandy is also the first
heroine from neither Oz nor America. (Reddy in HUNGRY TIGER was the first
hero in that intermediate position, and Tandy the next.)

Another quality that separates Mandy from Dorothy and her friends is that
the Goat Girl appears to be a teenager. She says, "I've been taking care of
myself and a flock of goats for ten years!" [54] The dust jacket for Reilly
& Lee's HANDY MANDY (reprinted by the Oz Club), says she has "fourteen
years' or so experience" of life. Kerry has to look up at her [220].  We
don't know how aging on Mount Mern works, but it appears that Mandy is
meant to be older than Dorothy and perhaps even Ozma, whom she calls
"nothing but a little girl!" [106]

We don't see much of Mandy's home, but we hear about it. She "lived all by
herself in a small cottage on Mt. Mern, high above the village of
Fistikins" [24]. That seems to be one of the Nonestic countries where
people die (Mandy's an orphan) and animals don't talk. Yet it's magical
enough for the Mernites to all have seven arms of various materials. It
must also be isolated enough that Mandy finds a castle, talking animals,
and us two-armed folk a shock [28, 40]. In sum, Mandy seems to come from
the same sort of separate little communities of oddly made people that she
later visits.

Mandy and Thompson make a big deal of "my two fine white hands" [38], "her
good white hand" [56], "her best white hands" [184], and so on. It's not
simply that Mandy's flesh hands are useful for certain tasks, such as
holding Kerry, while her other hands do other work [227]. Rather, there's a
value judgment here, and it's connected over and over with those two hands
being "white." There's also a contrast with how Cap'n Bill, the Tin
Woodman, and the Tin Soldier all came to prefer their non-meat limbs over
those made of bone, muscle, and light skin. Thompson may have created a
more physically unusual heroine than any of Baum's, but that heroine has
rather conventional values.

As for personality, on page 150 Thompson tells us, "Handy's good common
sense began to assert itself." But really this is just an excuse for Mandy
and Nox to voice excuses for why they don't use all the powerful magic at
their disposal (the hammer, Nox's horns). In fact, Mandy's defining quality
isn't her common sense but her impetuosity.

Mandy sees an ox harnessed to a plow, so she decides to till some land
[30]. (Plowing is a really hard job, and it seems unlikely a pastoral
mountaineer like Mandy would have had any experience at it, but perhaps her
arms gave her the extra strength to keep the plow in the ground for so long
as Nox runs away.) She sees Nox's horn is crooked, so she decides to twist
it [54]. Thompson tells us that's because Mandy thinks best when she's
working, but that trait disappears while the impetuosity remains. She sees
a river and jumps in--twice [68-9]. She hears about Ozma and takes a
resentment to her [103]. She sees rocks and throws them [106]. Mandy's
attitude comes across especially in contrast to Nox:

"Must we try every door we come to?"
"Yes," Handy Mandy told him firmly, "we must!" [115]

There's only one obstacle in the book that Mandy doesn't overcome with a
lucky burst of magic, and that's getting past Snorpus the Mighty. Here she
actually uses her wit to convince him to take them to his king [126]. At
one point Mandy also declares, "I never tell all I know" [64], and she does
manage to deceive Wutz and keep the silver hammer from him [139].

After that, however, it's back to illogical impulses. Mandy has physical
control of Nifflepok, who she knows has been ordered to imprison her and
possibly kill Nox [142], yet lets him go and climbs into the sled [145].
She develops some sympathy for the people of the Silver Mountain on her
journey down, we might think she would try to make friends with the "twelve
depressed workmen" who open the door of her cell. But instead she chases
them away, leaving herself and Nox trapped [152-3]. (And that was after her
good common sense began to assert itself"!)

There are only a couple more illogical moments like this when Thompson
needs to slow down her action or move the plot along. Despite knowing that
Wutz and Ruggedo are up to no good up above them, Mandy and Nox spend
"almost an hour" talking with Kerry [213]. As I mentioned before, Mandy
summons Himself right in front of Ozma, despite knowing that doing magic is
against the princess's law [240].

Overall, I think Mandy is an interesting character, and Thompson could have
done even more with her personality if she'd put the impetuous Goat Girl in
an environment where things didn't work out so conveniently for her, and
she actually had to use her brains more often. Mandy seems to have some sly
survival instincts to draw on; it's a pity we don't get to see them more.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Sat Sep 14, 2002  5:30 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] HANDY MANDY handy Mandy

>Mandy is unique among Oz heroines so far in several ways. As I believe
>Nathan DeHoff pointed out, she's the first young heroine Thompson created
>as opposed to borrowing from Baum--unless, that is, we consider Peg Amy,
>whose perspective sometimes is central to KABUMPO.

To give credit where credit's due, I believe it was actually Ruth Berman who
pointed that out.

>We don't see much of Mandy's home, but we hear about it. She "lived all by
>herself in a small cottage on Mt. Mern, high above the village of
>Fistikins" [24]. That seems to be one of the Nonestic countries where
>people die (Mandy's an orphan) and animals don't talk. Yet it's magical
>enough for the Mernites to all have seven arms of various materials. It
>must also be isolated enough that Mandy finds a castle, talking animals,
>and us two-armed folk a shock [28, 40].

Mandy has at least heard of castles, however. Since she has never seen one,
however, it is unlikely that there are any on Mount Mern, so rumors of such
buildings must have come to the mountain from elsewhere. Since Mandy has
apparently never seen a person with only two arms, it seems that Mount Mern
has little contact with the surrounding area, or else there are seven-armed
people in the area around the mountain, as well as on it.

Nathan

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sat Sep 14, 2002  6:46 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY what's the plan?

Tyler Jones wrote:
<<Can somebody refresh my memory as to what Wutz's goals were and how he
was going to achieve them?>>

Here are the Wizard of Wutz's plans, from his own mouth:

"I am King of the Silver Mountain and also the
Wizard of Wutz, second in importance only to
Glinda and the Wizard of Oz. And, ha! ha! it won't
be long before I am the ONLY wizard, the sole,
supreme and only Wizard of Oz! Not long! Not
long!" Again the Silver King rubbed his hands
exultantly together. "I have my secret agents in
every Kingdom in this country and even in the
Emerald City of Oz," he told them impressively.
"I already have the Record Book of Glinda, the
Good Sorceress, and many more of the magic
treasures of Oz, and soon I will have them all -
ALL! My agents are clever, and I have trained
them well."

[Insert villainous laugh here. Bond struggles against the metal rings
holding him to the table--oops! Sorry, wrong series.]

"I've got to have that hammer before I can make
myself supreme ruler in Oz. Why, it's the second
most important magic in the four Kingdoms!"
Later Wutz tells the former Nome King and household ornament:
"Well, it's a long story, Rug, but I
don't mind telling you that I have agents working
in every Kingdom of the country. Seven, who
was assigned to the Quadling Country, brought
in the record book, smallifying it in order to
steal and carry it here and restoring it to proper
size when it arrived. Six and Eleven have brought
me useful magic from the Winkies and Gillikins,
but Five managed to steal Ozma's own magic
picture, and - ha ha! - since he couldn't find
the Gnome King's belt, he brought me the
Gnome King himself! Pretty clever of him to
discover you were a jug, eh?"
. . .
"Now," continued Wutz, looking at the Gnome
King through half-closed eyes, "before I attempt
to capture the Emerald City, I must have one of
two things: either the silver hammer belonging
to a witch of the West, or the magic belt that
once belonged to you. So far, none of my agents
has been able to find the witch, locate the hammer,
or discover where Ozma now keeps your magic
belt. But you, its rightful owner, must know
exactly where it is hidden."
Ruggedo, without saying anything,
nodded briefly. "Well then," said Wutz, "if you
will help me steal the magic belt, which I
understand is the most potent and powerful
magic in Ev or Oz, I will kick Kaliko off your
throne, restore your own Kingdom, and give
you besides any one of the four Oz Kingdoms
you may fancy."
"Oh, don't bother me with any of the
Oz Kingdoms. I'm sick of the place!" frowned
the Gnome, wagging his beard vindictively.
"All I want is my own old Kingdom and my
own magic belt! But I tell you what I will do.
I'll help you steal this belt, for I know exactly
where it is hidden, show you how it works so
you can transform Ozma and all her friends
and counselors to rocks and rubble. BUT,
when you are safely established as supreme
Wizard of Oz, you must return the belt to me."
"Oh, naturally!" promised the wizard,
chuckling to himself as he thought how quickly
he would turn Ruggedo to a rock once he was
wearing the famous belt.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sat Sep 14, 2002  6:47 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY Nox the Ox

Even stolid Nox is not immune to Thompson's willingness to bend rational or
characteristic behavior for the sake of story. Nox dozes through the crash
and splash of a very large boulder landing near him [28], yet awakens when
Mandy clicks her tongue [30]. In less than a page he moves from wanting
Mandy to be locked up--"the sooner you lock her upper dupper, the
better"--to speaking as her advocate [34-5].

But after that strained beginning, Nox settles down, and is probably the
most logically consistent character in the book. He's a curmudgeon, dearly
fond of his comforts as royal ox but just enough more fond of Kerry to
leave those luxuries behind. The struggle between his delicate lifestyle
and his, well, bullish body seem central to his character. I especially
enjoy the image of him picking his way down the long spiral staircase
[201].

According to my dictionary, there are two definitions of "ox." It could
mean any bovine animal, hence such species names as "musk ox." Or it could
be a castrated bull from a domesticated species. The fact that Nox
remembers living in a "great blue forest" implies that he's wild, and thus
intact [49]. But Thompson also introduces him yoked to a plow, like a
farmer's ox. Nox could be, like Hank the Mule, particularly devoted to
human young people because he can't have children of his own.

One of Wutz's comments about Nox may provide a stimulating clue about life
in the whole Nonestic region: "I rather thought you came from the Munchkin
Country. Something in the way the Ox talked, though you, yourself [Mandy],
are not a native Ozian?" [138] We know that most nations in the Nonestic
region speak English (or, if one prefers other labels for the same
language, Ozzish or Orkan). But Wutz seems to identify a Munchkin and a
non-Ozian by sound, implying that there are different dialects in and out
of Oz. Maybe Jack Pumpkinhead was partly right!

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Sep 15, 2002  10:43 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY straw man

Rereading HANDY MANDY this time, I was struck by how Thompson used the
Scarecrow. He just didn't seem to be the same fellow I remember from other
books; his jollity and empathy seem to have been put on ice. When we first
see him, Thompson says, he "was quietly reading the paper" while the girls
play croquet [160]. We all know the Scarecrow admires knowledge, but how
often have we seen him sit out games? In fact, in GLINDA he specifically
enjoys croquet.

After Jellia Jamb reports agent Five's theft, the Scarecrow scolds her:
"Really, you know, you shouldn't let perfect strangers into the palace,
Jellia" [170]. Normally the straw man is welcoming, and in this sort of
situation I'd expect him to offer Jellia comfort and reassurance. Then he
declares, "I'll go and drill the army," as if he's shown any interest in
military activity before and as if drilling were the best use for his
brains [173].

I suppose we could explain the Scarecrow's behavior in this book as a sign
that the theft of Glinda's Great Book of Records has discombobulated him.
He does seem to return to his old self in the final scene, after Mandy and
Ozma have restored everything.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Sep 15, 2002  10:43 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY art

HANDY MANDY is, I think, the first time since the Oz series resumed
annually that Neill doesn't draw a full-length picture of the book's main
characters for the front cover. Instead, he draws a portrait of Mandy,
amidst her hands and line drawings of some significant characters in the
book (plus the Tin Woodman, who's merely mentioned once). For the
background he adds colored stripes labeled with the Ozians who like each
color. I don't find the result particularly graceful, but then I don't find
the Books of Wonder dust jackets with striped spines an improvement,
either.

Neill's goal seems to be to conceal how Mandy has seven arms, so as to
avoid spoiling the surprise that Thompson has carefully crafted. He also
leaves off drawing the goat girl's arms until page 35, concealing them with
some effort. Since Neill seems to have sketched picture ideas on
manuscripts as he read, I wonder if he actually started out drawing Mandy
as a normal girl or whether Thompson had let him in on the secret early.

All that effort makes it harder to understand why Neill provided many
images of Mandy with all seven arms visible on the endpapers and the
dedication page. The endpapers almost look like a sketchbook. In these
opening pages Neill also draws Nox with nastily barbed horns and Ruggedo
chained to the table of contents, so he may not have integrated these
frontmatter images into his overall thinking for the book (the way he does
in PURPLE PRINCE, by contrast).

Within the novel, Neill draws a number of full-page illustrations and even
some two-page spreads. Because the book was significantly shorter than its
predecessors, Reilly & Lee may have wanted potential customers not to miss
the art. That produces some big, lively images, like Scraps attacking Mandy
and Wutz's throne room with ancient images on its walls.

Again, that leads to a mystery: the illustrations within the chapters of
HANDY MANDY are even smaller than usual. Pages like 89 and 101 show how
much black space the typesetters left on top and bottom. Comparing those to
similarly framed pictures in earlier books leaves me wondering whether
there was a miscommunication between Neill and Reilly & Lee, or whether the
press decided at the last minute to make the pictures smaller or the spaces
bigger.

Generally, Neill's drawings for HANDY MANDY strike me as among his better
work, especially his images of Wutz and Nox. Mandy's arms could have looked
very awkward, but even when he's making a point of how like an octopus she
is [e.g., 153] Neill never makes her ungraceful. He does seem to portray
some of those hands as gloved, or as if only the hand is of an unusual
substance; this is particularly clear on the cover.

Neill seems to struggle with Wutz's gatekeeper Snorpus as Thompson
describes him:

He wore a huge silver helmet, and his neck,
almost a foot long, kept darting up and down
as he shot his head in this direction and
that. . . . There was something very peculiar
about the eye of the Giant. It seemed to
revolve on a moving belt, peering out as it
passed through the four wide-open lids set at
intervals round the top of his head, so that
half the time he was looking the other way. [122-4]
There's something very BATTLESTAR GALACTICA about that eye, and the neck
seems either mechanical or turtle-like. Neill draws Snorpus with a creased
neck, but gives him two fairly ordinary eyes. I suppose Thompson's idea
might come across well in a still drawing.

Neill also ignores Thompson's description of Wutz's potted prisoners [149]
to daisies with faces [148], a motif he's used before. But here the flowers
are suffering.

Thompson describes Himself as "a gnarled and crooked elf with a purple
beard" [117]. Neill draws Himself as no more gnarled than the next
immortal, adding a dragonfly's wings.

The image on 105 shows Ozma's proclamation against magic. If HANDY MANDY
were translated, that art would have to be entirely relettered in the new
language. While that's feasible, it would be an extra cost for the foreign
publisher. By this time, I therefore suspect, Reilly & Lee had given up
planning to license new Oz books in other countries.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Sep 15, 2002  10:43 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY handy Mandy

Though Mandy has never heard of talking animals or seen a castle, she's
heard of rockets like Uncle Billy's. She thinks, "And that, I suppose,
makes me the first rocket-rider in the country" [23].

She seems to know little about Oz, since she needs a whole chapter to learn
more. (That chapter, like more than a third of those in book, has an
incongruous exclamation point in its title: "Handy Mandy Learns about Oz!"
Okay!) Some of Mandy's ignorance may be due to her deprivation, even within
the society on Mount Mern.

Here are some questions about Mandy's future (and, since this book is in
the public domain, people could even answer them in fiction):
* What happens to the Keretarian officials after King Kerr scurries away?
* How do Mandy's goats feel about coming to Oz, leaving their mountain,
becoming able to talk? (What-a-butter is the fattest and most troublesome,
Speckle the smallest.)
* Will Kerry grow old faster than Mandy and eventually think about making
her his queen? Or will she, seemingly used to aging, grow old faster than
he?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Mon Sep 16, 2002  10:33 pm
Subject:  HANDY MANDY monk

Agent Five's disguise as a monk is one of three details in HANDY MANDY that
point to some knowledge of religion in Oz. (The others being the "church
bells tolling the hour" that Mandy hears as she plummets over Munchkinland
[25] and her mention of Christmas [153].) But what sort of monk is Five
supposed to be?

Thompson describes the man like this:
a weary and footsore pilgrim arrived in the Emerald
City...shuffling with his long staff and beggar's
cup along the shining streets of the capital. The
man's head was clean shaven, and his small cap,
coarse belted robe, and sandals marked him as a
monk of some old and ancient order. . . . To all
he mumbled in a strange and indistinguishable
tongue. [158-9]

There are mendicant monks in the European tradition, but the "clean shaven"
head (as opposed to a tonsured head) makes me wonder if Thompson was
imagining an Asian monk instead. The "strange and indistinguishable tongue"
also implies an origin more exotic even than Sir Hokus's (originally said
to be Arthurian, then revealed to be Corumbian--but in either case
English-speaking). In KIM Rudyard Kipling wrote of a lama making a
pilgrimage with a begging cup to support himself; he's not an exact match
for this monk, but CAPTAIN SALT strongly implies that Thompson knew how to
kiple.

For Thompson, imagining agent Five disguised as an Asian monk might have
had two benefits. First, it would make the pilgrim an even more exotic,
mysterious figure in the Emerald City. Second, it erases the onus of
showing a Christian cleric--even a false one--committing theft.

If that's indeed what Thompson had in mind, then the religious landscape of
Oz would expand even beyond those all-but-invisible churches, Christmas,
and Easter. Jellia Jamb and the people of the Emerald City would somehow
recognize mendicant monks from a non-Western tradition.

Of course, an Oz-as-history interpretation would mean what we're seeing is
Thompson's reflection of what she learned happened in Oz, filtered through
her assumptions and beliefs. In that case, the pilgrim or monk might come
from a strictly Nonestican tradition, or not really fit our understanding
of a religious person at all.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Sep 19, 2002  11:40 am
Subject:  HANDY MANDY stupefaction

Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
<<I knew this would happen! I cut off a firey political debate, and
the List goes into hibernation. >>

Your message happened to coincide with me running out of things to say
about HANDY MANDY, which might have made the silence seem even more quiet
and grateful.

But here's another question: Wutz and Ruggedo sneak into Ozma's palace
after the wizard blows "his patent stupefying powder down all the
chimneys." That renders the Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger "Rigid and
helpless," along with "all of Ozma's other faithful servants and retainers"
[222-3].

We know Scraps and the Scarecrow are away with Ozma at this moment, but
what about Tik-Tok, Benny, the Glass Cat, the Sawhorse, and other
inhabitants of the palace who don't sleep or breath? Does this stupefying
powder work on them as well? Literally "stupefy" means "make stupid or
insensible," so theoretically it could affect non-meat creatures' brains
and sensing mechanisms as well as ordinary ones. But how?

Ozma reverses that spell with the Magic Belt [238], and no more is said
about it. But is that powder still out there for some nasty magician to
use? Since Thompson calls it Wutz's "patent stupefying powder," that
implies the King of the Silver Mountain invented it himself, so Ozma's
spell returning all the magical goods he stole might not have affected it.
Then again, who in Oz was ever issuing patents on magical powders?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Sep 19, 2002  1:18 pm
Subject:  Re: HANDY MANDY stupefaction

J. L. Bell wrote:
<<Then again, who in Oz was ever issuing patents on magical
powders?>>

Obviously, he didn't do his research before sending this comment. Searching
the public-domain Oz books for the term "patent" yields several hints about
government responses to invention in the Nonestic region.

In OZMA Tik-Tok is:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                |
| SMITH & TINKER'S                                               |
| Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive,                        |
| Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking                              |
| MECHANICAL MAN                                                 |
| Fitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment.                 |
| Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live.            |
| Manufactured only at our Works at Evna, Land of Ev.            |
| All infringements will be promptly Prosecuted according to Law.|
|                                                                |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
So Ev seems to have a patent system, at least in name. In SILVER PRINCESS,
Jinnicky refers to "my very own patented trap floor." It's never clear how
the Red Jinn of Ev relates politically to the royal family of that country,
but this may imply that he recognizes their legal system when it's to his
benefit.

A patent system appears to have developed in Oz by the time of MAGIC, which
states that:
To enable the students to devote their entire time
to athletic exercises, such as boating, foot-ball,
and the like, Professor Wogglebug had invented an
assortment of Tablets of Learning. . . . This
method...is patented in the Land of Oz by Professor
Wogglebug.

In OZOPLANING, the Wizard refers to "my own patented balloon attachments"
and "my patent protective air helmets." As an old American showman, he
probably knows the value of claiming a patent--perhaps even when he doesn't
have one.

The Wizard's one of the very few Ozians legally allowed to practice magic
under Ozma. EMERALD CITY actually credits him with inventing Prof
Wogglebug's pills (GLINDA credits the bug). So are patents available to
Ozians outside of Ozma's circle? If a person's invention relies on magic,
either to create it or to work it, would one dare take that claim to the
authorities? And when and how did Wutz receive his patent--did he grant it
to himself as King of the Silver Mountain?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  Tyler Jones <tyler.jones at r...>
Date:  Thu Sep 19, 2002  2:10 pm
Subject:  stupefying patents and where "OZ" came from

> "stupefy" means "make stupid or insensible," so theoretically
> it could affect non-meat creatures' brains and sensing mechanisms
> as well as ordinary ones. But how?

I guess that would depend on the methodology of the powder. If it's mainly organic in
nature, designed to mingle with breathing and the bloodstream, it would
be breated in or absorbed and then carried to your brain that way. In
this case, creatures like the sawhorse would be immune.

On the other hand, if it's just pure magic that directly affects brainwaves and signals,
then any intelligent creature would be affected.

> Ozma reverses that spell with the Magic Belt Well, of course! :-)

As for patents, it's possible that RPT or Wutz himself uses the word simply to mean that
he's the inventor and the only one who knows how to create it. That is,
it's "patented" only in the intellectual sense.  I've seen the word used
this way before.

As for "Oz", I keep forgetting that Baum originally did NOT intend for the whole area to be
called Oz. In fact, I'm not even sure that he had a name in mind for the
entire area. I don't know if "Oz" originally was just the name of the
Wizard or also the name of the green area.

Tyler Jones

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Fri Oct 11, 2002  8:41 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] Handy Mandy in Oz (late I know)

Charles:
>I also
>have a bit of a problem with the inherent stasis that seems to exist
>on all Ozites in the Thompson series.

Isn't that generally true in the Baum books as well? There seems to be a
general desire by later authors to maintain Baum's status quo. Thompson DID
make changes to some of Baum's characters, including the Good Witch of the
North, Ojo, and Unc Nunkie. Whether these changes were for the better or
worse is up to each individual reader to decide, but they clearly indicate
that Thompson did not always feel obliged to keep Baum characters in the
exact same situation in which Baum left them.

>Who was this Wunchie woman? It would have made more sense really to
>mention the Wicked Witch of the East at this point unless Wunchie was
>her daughter.

According to Himself, Wunchie lived in the Munchkin Mountains for 1000
years, so she might have been around BEFORE the WWE.

>How can a civilization the size of the Silver Mountainers have gone
>unknown so long even in oz?

It is localized within one mountain, so I see no reason why it would have
been more likely to have been noticed than any of the other small countries
within Oz.

Nathan

Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 11:41:20 EDT
From: AGannaway7 at aol.com
To: regalia at pauahtun.org
Subject: [Regalia] Pope John Paul II and HANDY MANDY

The following unusual paragraph from a NEW YORK TIMES article about the 
Pope's recent death had a detail that particularly struck me:
************

After a doctor certifies his death, tradition calls for the Vatican 
camerlengo, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, who will run the Vatican until a  new
pope is chosen, to call out his baptismal name three times. He then strikes  the
pope's forehead with a silver hammer to ensure he is dead. The hammer is 
then used to destroy the papal ring, the symbol of his authority. 
***********
The relevance should be apparent to Ruth Plumly Thompson fans.

Atticus
Gannaway