Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 11:26:08 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
"Sky Island": this is something I've said before, but I think it's the most
Swiftian of Baum's books.  He's never as savage in his satire as Swift,
and he has running throughout his books a comically gruesome interest
in the nature of identity (as in: Is the Tin Woodman the same person after
complete prosthetic replacement?  Is Jack Pumpkinhead the same
person after the death of each head?  Is Tik-Tok a person?) that is
related to the sorts of themes Swift used.  But in "Sky Island" he has the
specific punishment Swift's island-in-the-sky people were considering for
Laputa, of slicing people in two and mismatching the halves back
together.  And the perpetual argument between the Sunrise and Sunset
Pinkie tribes as to which is superior recalls the Lilliputian Big-endians and
Little-endians.
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 19:37:00 -0700
From: Bob Spark <bspark at pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-20-97
 
     I find myself not too fond of _Sky Island_.  I already knew and
liked Trot, Cap'n Bill, and Button Bright.  I didn't much care for any
of the inhabitants of Sky Island particularly, and if I never run into
Trot's mother again it'll be too soon.  What a termagant!  I firmly
believe that she was pleasant to Button Bright just to make him feel
indebted to her so she could domineer him too.
 
Bob Spark

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 19:43:36 -0700
From: Bob Spark <bspark at pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-20-97
 
Second post, Sorry (I'll try to do better),
     In _Sky Island_, on page 14, Button Bright is described as wearing
"a blouse waist".  I have no idea what that is.  Can anyone help me?
 
Thanks,
Bob Spark

Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 14:42:52 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-20-97
 
Ruth:
Good point on the Swiftian aspect of _Sky Island_. I wonder to what extent
it was inspired by Laputa? Does anyone know if Baum was a fan of
_Gulliver's Travels_?
 
Speaking of _Sky Island_: As I've said before, this is my favorite of all
Baum's books. It's an integrated story with no Irrelevant Episodes; the
protagonists solve their main problem themselves rather than having a
magical intervention, or even a pure-chance one like Billina's overhearing
the Nome King and his chamberlain saying how to identify the Oz and Ev
ornaments; and on the whole the characters behave in a rational manner.
Probably the travelers shouldn't have taken time to eat lunch when they
first arrived, but it wasn't all that obvious at the time. After that they
act intelligently and even with considerable cleverness at times, such as
when Button-Bright invaded the treasure room.
 
It's true that it takes Polychrome's intervention to save them from being
thrown off the island, but as Rosalie says, she was sure that something
magical would happen to save them or she wouldn't have voted to throw them
off in the first place. (Incidentally, Polychrome is described in this book
as being powerful - which is consistent with her protrayal in _Tin
Woodman_, and to a lesser extent in _Tik-Tok_, but not in _Road_, where she
seems to have had no magical powers at all. Maybe that adventure persuaded
her that she should learn some magic?)
 
The Boolooroo is a villain more along the lines of Ruggedo than Zog, I
think - that is, he's selfish, and unscrupulous, but he doesn't seem to
have any particular desire to do evil for its own sake.
 
I haven't quite finished rereading the book yet, so I'll probably have more
to say when I do.
 
David Hulan

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 00:49:29 -0400
From: Tyler Jones <tnj at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz
Sender: Tyler Jones <tnj at compuserve.com>
 
David:
I've always thought that Button-Bright's action in going into the treasure
room was one of the bravest and courageous acts that he ever did.
 
Perhaps the adventure in _Road_ encouraged Polychrome to learn magic much
in the same way that Ozma's adventure in _Lost Princess_ may have
encouraged her to do the same thing.
 
I've always enjoyed _Sky Island_. It's a good story and has a tightly
contained plot. The end result in the land of the Blues is an unusual
situation for Baum: It's one of the few times that a male ruler has been
deposed and replaced with another male. Of course, Sky Island can be
thought of to represent the masculine (blue) and the feminine (pink), and
in fact the two nations do seem to fit that role, in a stereotypical sense.
 
--Tyler Jones

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 01:06:48 -0700
From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff <vovat at geocities.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
David:
The ring of invisibility that Rosalie gave to Trot could be considered a 
sort of "magical intervention."  Of course, this invisibility didn't 
immediately solve the heroes' problems, but it helped.
 
The Boolooroo does strike me as being quite similar to Ruggedo.  For one 
thing, they both have terrible tempers, and they both rave and throw 
things when they are angry.
 
An interesting point in _Sky Island_ is that the Blue Country seems to be 
a patriarchy.  The only female Blueskins who play any major part in the 
story are the Snubnosed Princesses.  The Queen is literally one card 
short of a full deck, and seems to have very little voice in government. 
In the Pink Country, on the other hand, men and women appear to be 
equals, and, throughout the course of the book, three females rule the 
country.  I suppose you could see some relation here to the fact that 
blue is often considered to be masculine, while pink is considered 
feminine.
--
Nathan Mulac DeHoff
vovat at geocities.com or lnvf at grove.iup.edu

"I'm having a wonderful time, but I'd rather be whistling in the dark."

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 10:56:28 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-21-97
 
Bob Spark:
>     I find myself not too fond of _Sky Island_.  I already knew and
>liked Trot, Cap'n Bill, and Button Bright.  I didn't much care for any
>of the inhabitants of Sky Island particularly, and if I never run into
>Trot's mother again it'll be too soon.  What a termagant!  I firmly
>believe that she was pleasant to Button Bright just to make him feel
>indebted to her so she could domineer him too.
 
I found Rosalie quite appealing, and although I didn't _like_ the Six
Snubnosed Princesses I enjoyed the way Baum played with their faults and
gave them their comeuppances. Agreed that Trot's mother comes through as
pretty awful; maybe Baum wrote her that way so that nobody would think it
odd that Trot wouldn't mind staying in Oz if he needed to bring her there
later? _Sea Fairies_ hadn't done too well in sales, and I suspect that Baum
was already preparing to go back to Oz if _Sky Island_ didn't do any better.
 
I'm not positive about this - I didn't live then and haven't researched it,
but I've inferred it from reading lots of books written in those days - but
I believe "waist" was used back in the early part of this century as being
more or less synonymous with our current terms "shirt" or "blouse",
particularly as worn by women and children. And "blouse" as a verb meant to
constrict a garment while leaving enough loose fabric above it that the
fabric bulged out above the constriction. So I'd interpret a "blouse waist"
as a shirt that was worn outside the pants, with a belt outside the shirt -
something like what we'd probably call a "belted tunic" today. I could
easily be wrong; anybody here an expert on fashion terminology of the 1910s?
 
David Hulan

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 16:52:05 -0500 (EST)
From: sahutchi at iupui.edu
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-21-97
 
> Ruth:
> Good point on the Swiftian aspect of _Sky Island_. I wonder to what extent
> it was inspired by Laputa? Does anyone know if Baum was a fan of
> _Gulliver's Travels_?
 
I thought I read in some _Bugle_ that the patching was a parody of
something in the Laputa section of _Travels to Strange Places by Lemuel
Gulliver_ (apparently he actually credited authorship to Gulliver in the
first edition), but I have only read the Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and Laputa
segments in excerpt, though I have seen the Juran and Sturridge films.  I
think I saw the Fleischer film a long time ago, but that barely had
anything to do with Swift.  The satirical, Swiftian elements are quite
strong in both the Trot books, the Fiddler crab sequence in _The Sea
Fairies_ being similar to the Laputa lad who was expelled for only being
able to play his instrument in tune.  Interestingly, Swift was not writing
for children, though his work is often classified as such in abridged
(i.e. censored) for kids version.  Baum may have thought he was writing
the equivalent as a children's story.
I read this for the first time last Thursday.  I think it is one of Baum's
better books, but it is much more conventional, perhaps because of the
large workload Reilly & Britton had been giving him at the time, it could
not be as experimental as his works from early on in the century.
 
As such, as a story it works extremely well, held together neatly and
tidily.  I liked it a lot, though, and much better than _The Sea Fairies_.
Baum neatly sets up a certian amount of ambiguity as he makes note of how
stupid Button-Bright is regarded to be.  Baum's only support for this is
that he has poor handwriting.  Many genius level people have poor
handwriting.  Button-Bright actually seems quite intelligent, here.
Polychrome's appearance was well worked in, but seem a token role after
what I had heard of her appearance, but I can't be like a Roger Ebert
critic that reviews expectations rathwr than what the work actually is.  I
have heard Oliver Stone's _U Turn_ raved (which incidentally has an Oz
reference, but I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know what).  I noticed in
BoW hardcover edition, presumably just like the original, several major
errors.  Most were typographical, but the confusion of Fredjim and Jimfred
(Fredjim is the one they first meet, according to the rest of the story,
but he says he is Jimfred).  No one on _Sky Island_ is very pleasant, so
it seems a good thing that it was basically a one-shot deal, though I
think Melody added something to it in Oziana 1983 I believe.
 
Scott

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 21:04:34 -0400
From: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest, 10-22-97
Sender: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
 
Sky Island:
 
        More Neill oddities--although the Pinkies are described as plump,
Neill's color plate of Rosalie has her appear tall and slender. And how
'bout those springs in the Blues' legs! And though Ghip-ghisizzle describes
himself as relatively young, Neill apparently only saw the "60 years old",
not the statement that Blues age more slowly than humans, and makes the
poor guy look ancient. 
 
        There *is* one more deux ex machina in "Sky Island"--when
Button-Bright's elephant-head-handled umbrella turns into an elephant that
chases off the fog-bank creatures who call the umbrella "insulting."
 
        One good part is when Trot wins over the pets of the mean
Snub-Nosed Princesses. 
 
Melody Grandy

Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 06:39:25 -0700
From: Bob Spark <bspark at pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-22-97
 
Dave Hardenbrook,
     Please include me in the "Last Digest was on Sept. 20" camp.
     I just had an unpleasant thought.  Do you suppose that there is any
relation between Trot's ring of invisibility and J.R.R. Tolkien's? 
Should she be looking over her shoulder for Gollum?  Is it possible that
she will eventually find herself fading away, feeling stretched thinner
and thinner?  Probably not.  Probably I'm just in a morbid mood.
     Also, I keep looking for some hidden significance to the fog bank
incidents.  The frogs, the lizard, the turtle and the land crab are all
huge. The land crab "had the misfortune to tumble out of the Zodiac some
time ago".  Do the others possibly have something to do with the Zodiac
also?  This whole chapter feels to me like something that Lewis Carroll
could have written.
 
Morbidly,
Bob Spark

Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 16:06:11 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
Bob Spark: No direct relation between Trot's ring of invisibility and
Tolkien's.  The connection is that rings of invisibility have been popular
for millennia.  About the earliest example known is recorded in
Herodotus.  There are also a good many examples in medieval
Romances and in fairy tales.
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 19:55:05 -0700
From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff <vovat at geocities.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
Scott:
Button-Bright has never struck me as being particularly unintelligent.  
In _Road_, he is young and very inexperienced, and, in the later Oz 
books, he is rather absent-minded.  In _Sky Island_, he probably has the 
most opportunities to utilize his intelligence.
 
Bob:
I don't think that there is any connection between Trot's ring and 
Tolkien's Ring, aside from the obvious fact that they both make their 
wearers invisible.  The ring that Trot wore was presumably crafted by 
Rosalie, and had no connection to Sauron or any other dark being.  
Besides that, Trot only wore the ring for a brief period of time, which, 
even if it had the same effects as Tolkien's Ring, would probably not 
have been long enough to corrupt her.
 
--
Nathan Mulac DeHoff
vovat at geocities.com or lnvf at grove.iup.edu

"I'm having a wonderful time, but I'd rather be whistling in the dark."

Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 12:22:41 -0500
From: Gordon Birrell <gbirrell at post.cis.smu.edu>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
Ruth Berman:
You made an interesting point in linking the patching mechanism with Baum's
ongoing concern with problems of identity.  It seems to me, though, that
patching is also specifically tied in with a theme that pervades _Sky
Island_:  the theme of disjunctive pairs, mismatched halves.  The entire
island is marked by divisions:  Pinkies vs. Blueskins, Sunrise Tribe vs.
Sunset Tribe, rule by king vs. rule by queen, dictatorship vs. parliamentary
rule (more on that below).  In other words, the Great Knife reflects,
perpetuates, and institutionalizes the basic dividedness of the island as a
whole.   It is Trot's great accomplishment that she breaks down these
polarities, making herself (temporarily) ruler of both halves of the island;
destroying the Great Knife and turning the patching room into a skating
rink; bringing the Pinks and the Blues into contact so that they can at
least no longer demonize each other; setting up more just forms of
government on both sides and thereby, on the Blue side, eradicating the
hostile division of ruler and subjects.
 
The nice thing about a skating rink, incidentally, is that it is an area
where a sport is played that doesn't usually involve *teams*.  In this
sense, too, Trot is working against divisiveness.
 
Some other comments on _Sky Island_:
 
When Polychrome reminds Button-Bright that they last saw each other in Oz,
Trot exclaims to Button-Bright:  "Oh!  Were you ever in the Land of Oz?"
This is, I believe, the first indication that Oz has passed into general
knowledge within the fictional world of Baum's books.  Trot has apparently
read the Oz books!  
 
And speaking of Polychrome:  it's amusing that the light-hearted sprite of
_Road_ has become an authoritative, take-charge sort of person with a
decidedly legalistic turn of mind, examining and expertly interpreting the
fine print of the law books of the Pinkies.  As a Daughter of the Rainbow
she is also something of an expert on color theory, maintaining that the
homogeneous pink of the country would be heightened by the introduction of a
contrasting color.  This is a restatement of the color theory of Ogden Rood
and Eugene Chevreul, who had maintained in the mid-nineteenth century that
colors are intensified by the immediate presence of their opposite:  red
becomes redder if it is adjacent to green, and so forth.  This theory,
usually referred to as "pseudo-scientific" in art-history books, was
systematically applied by George Seurat and other pointillists and was
widely discussed in art circles at the turn of the century.
 
The Arch of Phinis:  the Arch of Finis (The End)?
 
A Disney connection?
The bridge to "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" in _Cinderella_ goes as follows:
 
Salagadoola means
Michika Boolooroo
But the thingamabob that does the job
Is Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.
 
_Sky Island_ is indeed Swiftian in its political satire.  The realm of the
Blues is a dictatorship masquerading as a democracy (everybody votes for the
Boolooroo, but a terrible penalty awaits those who vote the wrong way), and
the Blues' certainty that they are the center of the Universe is a nice jibe
at hyper-patriotism.  By the same token, the Pinks' exclusivity ("If you're
not pink, take a walk off the side of the island!") can certainly be taken
as a side-swipe at the doctrine of racial purity, which was becoming a hot
issue in international politics as early as the first decade of this
century.  The Pink government is also a parliamentary apparatus (could the
twelve-member advisory panel be a jab at the jury system?) that tricks
itself up with the venerable institution of a royal leader and even
convinces that royal leader that she must forgo all creature comforts
because of the immense power that she wields; but in fact Tourmaline is
simply an instrument of power who carries out the decisions made by
others--she is unwilling even to cast the deciding vote when the two
"houses" reach an impasse in voting on the fate of the outsiders.
 
Bob Spark:
A friend of mine who knows something about fashion says that the term blouse
waist is related to the more familiar term shirt waist.  A shirt waist is a
tailored dress shirt with buttons down the front; it can also be an item of
women's apparel with a pleated skirt attached below.  A blouse waist is a
looser-fitting form of the shirt waist, and in the Edwardian period it
typically had narrow cuffs and a broad collar.
 
--Gordon Birrell

Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 22:38:13 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: SKY ISLAND's the limit
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Bob Spark wrote: <<if I never run into Trot's mother again it'll be too
soon.  What a termagant!  I firmly believe that she was pleasant to Button
Bright just to make him feel indebted to her>>
 
I always thought Mrs. Griffith[s] was pleasant to Button-Bright because (a)
he was a guest, and (b) he was an upper-class guest. His "rich and
expensive" clothing would have shown her that. Mrs. Griffith[s]'s temper is
mentioned briefly in SEA FAIRIES ("'She'd scold me inter shivers!' moaned
Cap'n Bill," p. 32). It's the best explanation of why Trot and Cap'n Bill
seem to have no regrets about staying in Oz.
 
Another Spark: <<In _Sky Island_, on page 14, Button Bright is described as
wearing "a blouse waist".  I have no idea what that is.>>
 
A shirt rises straight up from a waist; a blouse is looser and hangs over.
A shirtwaist (as in Triangle __ Factory) is a woman's garment cut along
men's lines, so a "blouse waist" might be a typically female cut on a
boy--another sign of Button-Bright's deceptively delicate look. 
 
David Hulan wrote: <<Polychrome is described in [SKY ISLAND] as being
powerful - which is consistent with her protrayal in _Tin Woodman_, and to
a lesser extent in _Tik-Tok_, but not in _Road_, where she seems to have
had no magical powers at all. Maybe that adventure persuaded her that she
should learn some magic?>>
 
Polychrome seems to have done a *lot* of growing up since ROAD. That was
her first fall off the rainbow, after all. She's mature and take-charge in
SKY ISLAND, regardless of her powers. I think she regresses temporarily in
TIK-TOK (must be related to forgetting the Shaggy Man).
 
Tyler Jones wrote: <<Button-Bright's action in going into the treasure
room was one of the bravest and courageous acts that he ever did.>>
 
He's the first meat person over the whirling mountains in LOST PRINCESS,
but I don't recall him being especially brave elsewhere. A certain
recklessness attends his wanderings, of course, but that's different.

   Button-Bright may be the Baum character who shows up significantly in
the most books but never gets his own title or plot. I assume folks have
written new stories with Button-Bright as the hero, however. Usually an
author starts with a protagonist who has a need and steadfastly seeks to
overcome that need. Button-Bright, in contrast, is largely content wherever
he is, as long as he's fed; if he had a larger goal, he might well forget
it within the hour. How have plotters gotten around the challenge his
personality presents? 
 
J. L. Bell                       JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 21:38:37 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-22-97
To: "Dave L. Hardenbrook" <DaveH47 at delphi.com>
 
Nathan:
>The ring of invisibility that Rosalie gave to Trot could be considered a
>sort of "magical intervention."  Of course, this invisibility didn't
>immediately solve the heroes' problems, but it helped.
 
Almost any Oz or Oz-related book will have some magical aspect to it. But
the invisibility ring just let Trot use her own ingenuity (or use it
wrongly); it didn't solve the whole problem instantaneously.
 
Melody:
True that the interevention of the umbrella at the end of _Sky Island_ was
a _deus ex machina_, but it had so little to do with the basic story that I
tend to forget it. Just like Dorothy's intervention at the end of
_Rinkitink in Oz_. They're still two of my favorite Baum books. (Wait till
you read the new serial in the _Emerald City Mirror_ next year.  If you
read the ECM...)
 
David Hulan

Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 07:44:22 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
Gordon Birrell: Interesting comments on "Sky Island" divisiveness and
politics.
 
J.L. Bell: I don't think "blouse" implies "feminine" for Button Bright.  I
looked up "blouse" in the OED, and it came into English in the early 19th
century from the French "blouse," which meant the same as "shirt" or
"smock" (I didn't check to see when "shirt" came to apply specifically to
what we would call a shirt, which is not quite the same as what we call a
smock), but was borrowed by people in the fashion field to describe shirt-
style garments for both women and children.  So in Button Bright's case
the term implies that he is a child, rather than that he is woman-like.  (The
development of the French word in this way in English probably implies a
belief that adult women are childish, but that's fashion for you.)  But
"blouse" developed a secondary meaning in English, as a loose-fitting
garment, and the information from Gordon Birrell's acquaintance, that
"blouse waist" meant a specific type of loose-fitting shirt in Baum's time,
sounds likely to be accurate.  Interesting comment on the potential
difficulty of using Button Bright as a protagonist.
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 10:43:09 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-27-97
 
Gordon:
I'm sure that the Arch of Phinis was intended to mean the Arch of the End.
Actually, this was one aspect of Sky Island that I thought Baum should have
done more with - and he may have planned to when he first thought of it,
but found that he'd written a long enough book without it. (And it wouldn't
really have fit with the story as it developed.)
 
David Hulan

Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 23:02:12 -0500 (EST)
From: "Aaron S. Adelman" <adelman at ymail.yu.edu>
Subject: Getting out of Mazes in Oz
 
J. L., I've assumed for a while that Trot's parents had been killed in
an accident between _Sky Island_ and _Scarecrow_ and was adopted
(effectively if not legally) by Cap'n Bill.  Though Trot's mother was a
bit abrasive personalitywise, nevertheless she WAS Trot's mother and
as there is no reason to believe that she was negligent as a parent--and
that she would have chewed out Cap'n Bill for allowing anything bad to
happen to Trot is evidence of caring.  In addition, that Trot's mother may
have been socially disfunctional is not evidence that her father was thus.
Therefore, I find no reason to assume that Trot's parents were deserving
of not even a note saying "Hate you.  Hate California.  Took the
one-legged sailor and left.  Trot", and considering this, I find it odd
that if at least one of Trot's parents was still alive (especially her
mother) that Cap'n Bill didn't insist on Trot and himself being sent home.
Hence my belief that Trot's parents were deceased by _Scarecrow_, though
how we may never know.
 
Aaron Solomon (ben Saul Joseph) Adelman
adelman at ymail.yu.edu         North Antozian Systems and The Martian Empire

Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 22:54:26 -0500
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz movies and Button-Bright
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Aaron Adelman, your assumption that Trot's parents must have died before
she so quickly chose to stay in Oz is heartening. Alas, SCARECROW says of
Cap'n Bill's accident, "ever since that he had lived with Trot's
mother"--implying no break in Mrs. Griffith[s] presence. 

    In the same book Button-Bright decides that he no longer has a home in
Philadelphia simply because he no longer has his magic umbrella to get back
there. In contrast to Dorothy in her early adventures, driven by her will
to return home, Baum's later arrivals are eager to stay. 

    I'd join you in assuming that Betsy's parents were on that boat. 
 
    Button-Bright's lack of his own book seems especially significant
because he's an American child--the sort of character readers almost
automatically identify with. But, with the exception of a couple of
chapters in SKY ISLAND, we're encouraged to view him as an eccentric the
girls have to look after. 

    More on Button-Bright: On his inteligence, let's remember the
Scarecrow's hilarious response to meeting him in ROAD. And his choice of
how to test the magic umbrella--asking it to fly him to Chicago--doesn't
show much thinking ahead. As a traveling companion, I'd bring Button-Bright
along for one quality: sheer dumb luck. Not, of course, that I'd have him
with me for long.

    Finally, in SCARECROW Button-Bright wears a shirt-waist "that had
frills down its front." Again, Baum shows the Von Smiths' governess
dressing their little boy in precious clothing. 
 
J. L. Bell                     JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 00:44:30 -0500
From: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest, 10-27-97
Sender: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
 
Scott & Nathan:
 
Button-Bright does strike me as being more intelligent in "Sky Island" than
he is in the Oz books--but perhaps that's because he is intelligent for
people he likes best. (He really likes Trot & Cap'n Bill!)  On the brief
umbrella trip Trot and Button-Bright make to a nearby village, Baum says
the villagers question him, but he does not tell them much. One can easily
imagine him shifting into the " "Don't know" mode he displayed in "Road to
Oz."
 
Melody Grandy

Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 00:48:31 -0500
From: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest, 10-23-97
Sender: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
 
Scott:
 
>No one on _Sky Island_ is very pleasant, so
it seems a good thing that it was basically a one-shot deal, though I
think Melody added something to it in Oziana 1983 I believe.<
 
Technically, all I added were illustrations--the story was by someone else.
In it, Trot revisits Sky Island via Magic Belt and tangles with the wicked
old Boolooroo. Also drew the cover for Oziana featuring a jolly Pinkie
holding up a flower to a slightly surprised Blue. Reread "Sky Island" for
reference. Since it does not mention them, I took the springs out of the
Blues' legs & made the good witch Rosalie look more like the other Pinkies.
(Though Neill pictures her being of normal slender proportions, Baum says
she is only a little taller and more slender than the other
Pinkies--meaning she is likely still short and stout compared to the
average human.) :-) 
 
Melody Grandy

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 01:51:07 +0000 (GMT)
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-29-97
 
Ruth:
When I was in ROTC back in the days of the "brown shoe" army, the upper
outer garment of the Class A enlisted man's uniform was called a "blouse."
(It was rather like a suit coat, only with brass buttons and a belt.) I
forget if this usage extended to the coat of the green Class A uniform
(without a belt) that I wore when I was actually on active duty and wore
black shoes with it...
 
(Anybody else in here serve in the Army before about 1959?)
 
Aaron:
Your assumption of Trot's parents' deaths before the events of _Scarecrow_
could be right, but it isn't very consistent with Baum's statement in that
book that Cap'n Bill had been Trot's mother's "'star boarder' ever since."
Normally "ever since" implies that it includes all the time between the
event referred to and the present. If Trot's mother had died you'd have
expected something more like "...'star boarder' until her death."
 
David Hulan

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 10:28:01 -0600
From: Gordon Birrell <gbirrell at post.cis.smu.edu>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
I've been thinking about Button Bright's real name.  Saladin Paracelcus de
Lambertine Evagne von Smith.  Saladin and Paracelsus are easy enough
identifications, and "Smith" at the end of all those ringing, illustrious,
aristocratic foreign names is a very funny touch.   But Lambertine Evagne
is not as clear an allusion.  I believe it is a fanciful Frenchification of
the name Johann Lambert (Welsh : Evan; Russian:  Ivan; "French": Evagne;
English:  John; German:  Johann).  Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-77) was a
distinguished German physicist, mathematician, and astronomer who
discovered a method for measuring the intensity of light.  Named for him is
the lambert, a physical unit of--what else?--brightness.
 
--Gordon Birrell

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 15:00:09 -0800
From: Bob Spark <bspark at pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 10-31-97
 
David Hulan,
>  When I was in ROTC back in the days of the "brown shoe"
>  army, the upper outer garment of the Class A enlisted man's
>  uniform was called a "blouse." (It was rather like a suit
>  coat, only with brass buttons and a belt.) I forget if this
>  usage extended to the coat of the green Class A uniform
>  (without a belt) that I wore when I was actually on active
>  duty and wore black shoes with it...
> 
>  (Anybody else in here serve in the Army before about 1959?)

     I enlisted in 1959.  I guess you could say that I was in the "brown
boot (not shoe) army as I was issued brown boots which I was immediately
required to dye black.  I don't recall the green class A uniform jacket
being referred to as a blouse, but the upper garment (shirt) of the
fatigue uniform was.
 
Bob Spark

Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 16:35:24 -0500 (EST)
From: JOdel <JOdel at aol.com>
Subject: Re:  Ozzy Digest, 10-31-97
 
Sky Island is one book that I had never encountered before. I quite enjoyed
it, but find that in retrospect I have little to say regarding it. 
 
I do see that Button-Bright comes across as having at least normal
intelligence in this book, pointing up the theory that he must indeed have
been very young in Road. Also that we _might_ assume that more actual time has
passed between the events of Road and those of Sky Island than can be
explained by their copyright dates. (Did Baum's forward to Road offer a teaser
to the events to be revealed in the upcomming City? He sometimes did that, and
if so we could possibly interpret this as an indication that the events of ALL
the books may have taken place considerably earlier than their publication
would imply.) 
 
As to his wardrobe, I think it is only his notable "pure dumb luck" that saved
him from tripping off into some magical adventure or other in a velvet
Fauntleroy suit, since I'm convinced that he would undoubtedly have had one...

Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 02:33:39 +0000 (GMT)
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-01-97
To: "Dave L. Hardenbrook" <DaveH47 at delphi.com>
 
Gordon:
>I've been thinking about Button Bright's real name.  Saladin Paracelcus de
>Lambertine Evagne von Smith.  Saladin and Paracelsus are easy enough
>identifications, and "Smith" at the end of all those ringing, illustrious,
>aristocratic foreign names is a very funny touch.   But Lambertine Evagne
>is not as clear an allusion.  I believe it is a fanciful Frenchification of
>the name Johann Lambert (Welsh : Evan; Russian:  Ivan; "French": Evagne;
>English:  John; German:  Johann).  Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-77) was a
>distinguished German physicist, mathematician, and astronomer who
>discovered a method for measuring the intensity of light.  Named for him is
>the lambert, a physical unit of--what else?--brightness.
 
Interesting speculation, and given Baum's interest in things scientific it
might even be true. Of course, as I've pointed out before, "von Smith" is
an unlikely combination, since "von" is normally followed by a place-name
and "Smith" is an occupational name. (Most surnames fall into one of four
categories: occupational, like Smith; patronymic, like Johnson;
descriptive, like Brown; or place, like Washington (town) or Fields
(generic place).) My guess is that since Button-Bright admits that he has
more names that he can't remember, there's another name or three between
the "von" and the "Smith", e.g. "von Hindenburg ibn-Saud Smith."
 
Bob Spark:
>     I enlisted in 1959.  I guess you could say that I was in the "brown
>boot (not shoe) army as I was issued brown boots which I was immediately
>required to dye black.  I don't recall the green class A uniform jacket
>being referred to as a blouse, but the upper garment (shirt) of the
>fatigue uniform was.
 
I wasn't quite sure when the changeover happened; I wore an OD uniform and
brown shoes through my ROTC days, but graduated in 1958. I did a year of
grad school and then spent another several months waiting around to be
called up; by the time I went on active duty in early 1960 we had the green
uniforms and black shoes.
 
Joyce:
It's not necessary to assume that much more time passed between the events
of _Road_ and those of _Sky Island_ than between the publication of the two
books. Button-Bright seems to be about four in _Road_ and about eight in
_Sky Island_, and there were three years between their publication. But as
I've said before, I don't think _Road_ actually took place later than about
1904, 1905 at the latest, which would mean that in fact _Sky Island_ would
take place well before its publication date.
 
>As to his wardrobe, I think it is only his notable "pure dumb luck" that saved
>him from tripping off into some magical adventure or other in a velvet
>Fauntleroy suit, since I'm convinced that he would undoubtedly have had one...
 
Well, he was going out on a rainy day, and his nanny knew he was going out;
if he'd been in velvet she'd probably have made him change. I don't think
her employers would have been kind to her if he'd ruined a velvet suit.
 
David Hulan

Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 08:04:07 -0500
From: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest, 11-10-96
Sender: "Melody G. Keller" <harmonyarts at compuserve.com>
 
        On Sky Island:
 
        If, as Rosalie says, Button-Bright's umbrella is powered by live
fairies, they must be pretty dumb. It is shown (and this is what propels
our heroes into their predicament) that once the Umbrella is given an
order, it carries it out to the letter, ignoring any more orders until it
has completed its mission. Seems that Button-Bright's umbrella is probably
powered by the magical equivalent of an automatic pilot instead of
intelligent beings. 
 
Melody Grandy

Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 21:11:59 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
Melody Grandy: Your suggestion of some kind of autopilot operation for
Button Bright's umbrella sounds plausible.  But perhaps a largely
automatic operation is consistent with Rosalie's claim that it is fairy-
powered -- there might be some kind of safeguarding that would cut in to
ring an alarm to call for attention when the umbrella operator is being
thrown off from a height that wouldn't cut in for second-guessing on a
destination.  (Perhaps there is a way to change destinations in mid-
airstream if only Button Bright knew it, although maybe it would be more
likely to be itself some kind of automated control procedure rather than
needing direct attention from fairy guardians.)
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 19:35:25 +0000 (GMT)
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-04-97
 
Melody:
Button-Bright's umbrella seems to be powered by the magical equivalent of a
computer. It does what you tell it, but it does _exactly_ what you tell it,
not what you meant to tell it. And it does everything serially.
 
David Hulan

Date: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 10:18:32 -0600
From: Gordon Birrell <gbirrell at post.cis.smu.edu>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
Liz:
 
>Gordon & Ruth:  The ideas you both discuss about patching and mismatched
>halves reminds me of two things.  One, Manichean Philosophy, and two, Shel
>Silverstein's _The Missing Piece_.
 
Could you explain the connection to Shel Silverstein?
 
As far as Manichean philosophy is concerned, the divisions in _Sky Island_
don't really break down into a clear-cut opposition of good and evil.  While
the Boolooroo is certainly more wicked than Tourmaline, she seems to be
another of those cold-hearted female rulers that keep showing up in Baum's
works (Languidere, the Mangaboo princess, Coo-ee-oh, etc.).  And both the
Blueskins and the Pinkies are hostile not only toward each other but toward
outsiders of any kind.
 
It's interesting, though, that so many of Baum's works involve a bipolar
configuration in which two clearly defined spatial arenas are set off
against each other.  The resolution frequently is brought about by
interventions or complications from a third area.
 
WWoZ:
Emerald City vs. house of WWW
Third area:  Glinda's palace
 
Xixi:
Noland vs. Ix
Third area: Forest of Burzee (Lulea's intervention at the end)
 
Sea Fairies:
Aquareine's palace vs. Zog's castle
Third area:  Anko's palace
 
Sky Island:
Blueskins vs. Pinkies
Third area:  Polychrome's mobile rainbow
(I think Sky Island is a stronger book because the third area plays a less
crucial role here; the final resolution is more the result of Trot's, Button
Bright's, and Cap'n Bill's courage and resourcefulness)
 
Ozma:
Castle of Ev vs. Realm of Nome King
Third area:  Oz (intervention of Ozma's army)
 
Rinkitink:
Pingaree vs. Regos/Coregos
Third area:  Realm of Nome King, intervention of Dorothy & Wizard
 
Glinda:
Skeezers vs. Flatheads
Third area(s):  house of Red Reera; expedition from Emerald City
 
This configuration occurs so frequently that I was surprised that Michael O.
Riley doesn't discuss it in his book on the evolving geography of Baumgea.
However, his principal focus appears to be the way the conception of Oz was
elaborated and modified in response to Baum's other projects and his
changing perception of America.
 
--Gordon Birrell

Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 22:51:34 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
Gordon Birrell: The similarity you point out of two poles opposed and
resolution through intervention from a third place -- it's an interesting
idea, but I don't think it's quite as neat as it looks in your
schematization.  It leaves out other spatial areas that are important (for
instance, the Munchkin country in "Wizard," although aligned with the
Emerald City, isn't really part of it, and the Ocean in "Ozma"), and
conflates some separate groups as the resolving third force (Nome King
plus Ozites in "Rinkitink," Reera plus Emerald Citians in "Glinda").  And
the Pinkies in "Sky Island" get further divided into the Sunrise and
Sunset tribes, who are opposed to each other, but without any moral
superiority on either side.  But certainly Baum uses geography as a way
of thinking about questions.  He also liked a sort of quincunx set-up of
four countries and a center, as in Oz and Yew (and maybe the two
Pinkie tribes plus the incumbent and incoming Blueskin factions plus
the fogbank in "Sky Island"), although that division doesn't tie so clearly
to the moral themes of the stories involved.
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 22:05:22 -0500
From: Richard Bauman <RBauman at compuserve.com>
Subject: Today's Oz Growls
Sender: Richard Bauman <RBauman at compuserve.com>
 
As we are leaving Sky Island:
 
p. 86 Ghip-Ghisizzle......we Blueskins try to forget all we can--especially
whatever is unpleasant.  Those who remember are usually the unhappy ones;
only those able to forget find the most joy in life."
 
It sounds good, but I have never been able to figure out how to forget
something.  It seems the most unpleasant memories have the most emotional
load and thus stick the fastest.  
 
p. 142 Queen Tourmaline - ".....If with my great power, conferred upon me
by the people, I also possessed great wealth, I might be tempted to be
cruel and overbearing.  ........The Ruler, be it king or queen, has
absolute power to rule, but no riches--no high station--no false adulation.

 The people have the wealth and honor, for it is their due.  The Queen has
nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to
compel order."
 
Now I wonder where Baum got this idea?  
 
Baum also forsaw modern feminism on p. 147.  The Pinkies..... "In this
country the women seemed fully as important as the men, and instead of
being CODDLED AND PETTED they performed their share of the work, both in
public and private affairs, and were expected to fight in the wars exactly
as the men did."
 
Any of you ladies been coddled and petted lately?  :) :)
 
Back to earth, Bear  (:<)

Date: Sun, 09 Nov 1997 11:50:00 +0200 (IST)
From: Tzvi Harris <ltharris at internet-zahav.net>
Subject: oz digest entry from the middle east
 
Sky Island:
While reading Sky Island I thought the theme of the Queen/ruler being the
servant of the people (radically) was something I heard before in Oz lit.
Off hand the only somewhat similar instance I can recall is from RPTs'
Kingdom of Patch where the Patchwork girl was enlisted as a slave/queen.
Anybody recall this theme appearing in other Oz books? 
Tzvi Harris
Israel

Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 17:34:23 +0000 (GMT)
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-12-97
 
>Sky Island:
>While reading Sky Island I thought the theme of the Queen/ruler being the
>servant of the people (radically) was something I heard before in Oz lit.
>Off hand the only somewhat similar instance I can recall is from RPTs'
>Kingdom of Patch where the Patchwork girl was enlisted as a slave/queen.
>Anybody recall this theme appearing in other Oz books?
 
The idea of rulership as more of a burden than a privilege is pretty common
in the Oz books, though Tourmaline's situation in _Sky Island_ is extreme.
In _Land_ the Scarecrow is happy not to be ruler of Oz any more; in
_Rinkitink_ Rinkitink does everything he can to evade the duties of a
monarch; in _Silver Princess_ Randy hates all the pomp and circumstance of
being king of Regalia; and of course the queens of Patch in _Gnome King_ as
you mention. There are probably other examples, but those come to mind off
the top of my head.
 
David Hulan

Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:48:35 -0800
From: "Stephen J. Teller" <steller at pittstate.edu>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 11-12-97
 
> Sky Island:
> While reading Sky Island I thought the theme of the Queen/ruler being the
> servant of the people (radically) was something I heard before in Oz lit.
> Off hand the only somewhat similar instance I can recall is from RPTs'
> Kingdom of Patch where the Patchwork girl was enlisted as a slave/queen.
> Anybody recall this theme appearing in other Oz books?
> Tzvi Harris
> Israel
> 
 
In TIK-TOK, Tititi-Hoochoo, the Great Jinjin, was the one and only
private citizen in a realm composed of Kings and Queens.  
 
Steve T.