Day 1 - Queen Cross Patch goes to pieces in AM - Quilties go in search of new ruler,
  arrive in Emerald City in late afternoon - Scraps becomes Queen of the Quilties -
  Peter kidnaped by Balloon Bird - drops in on Ruggedo at evening ("the sun was
  sinking in the west") - escape after seaquake - night on Blunderoo's ship
Day 2 - Ozma leaves EC to spend night with Glinda - Scraps forced to work all day,
  meets Grumpy at dinner time - Peter, Ruggedo discover Polacky's treasure, magic
  implements of Soob the Sorcerer - Ruggedo deposes Kaliko at noon - Peter & Ruggedo
  march to desert & cross it at lunchtime - they meet Kuma Party in evening ("it's
  growing dark") - walk at night - Ruggedo & Peter arrive in Patch - cloak takes
  Ruggedo to Zamagoochie - Ruggedo imprisoned by Wumbo - Scraps, Grumpy & Peter plot
  to escape - night in Patch palace
Day 3 - Scraps & party escape with help from Kuma - visit Suds, Bewilderness -
  meet Ozwold - Tune Town - Ruggedo escapes from Wumbo in early morning - makes mischief
  in EC - Wumbo receives message from Kuma around noon, instructs him to send his arm to
  EC to warn Ozma & hold Ruggedo - Ozma returns with Magic Belt at 3 PM - Scraps' party
  returns to EC at same time - Ruggedo foiled at Emerald City by Silence Stone
Day 4 - Peter is made a Prince of Oz - returns home - Wizard discovers the true
  Queen of Patch

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <xornom at hotmail.com>
Subject: Reality, ImagiNation, and Oz
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 17:36:09 GMT
 
Dan:
 >Thompson runs hot and cold for me. She was just as ingenious in creating
 >characters as Baum, and her dialogue is very fun...but her Oz is a little
 >bit cartoony. Baum's Oz seemed more real, as vague as that sounds.
 
While I like and accept Thompson's books, I would agree that this is one of
Thompson's main weaknesses.  This was actually something that I wanted to
mention in the _Gnome King_ discussion, but I suppose I'll bring it up now
instead.
 
I think the idea of Thompson not regarding Oz as "real" (at least not so
much as Baum did in his books) is best exemplified by the attitudes of some
of her outside-Oz characters.  Look at Peter, for instance, who seems to
prefer baseball games to Oz.  Of course, I would say that Peter's REAL
reason in not moving to Oz is the fact that he has friends and family in
Philadelphia.  This isn't as much of a concern for most of Baum's Outside
World characters; Dorothy, for instance, has her only remaining family
members transported to Oz, and she doesn't seem to have had any friends in
Kansas.  I think Peter does have a tendency not to take Oz completely
seriously, and this is demonstrated more clearly at the beginning of _Jack
Pumpkinhead_, which has him wondering "if Ruggedo has caused any more
trouble" (or something of the sort).  This line bothered me somewhat, as
Ruggedo, despite his comic aspects, has proved to be a very real threat to
Ozian national security several times, yet Peter seems to regard foiling his
plans as some sort of game.  I think Peter is a good character, but it
sometimes seems like he regards Oz as a fun thing to do when he's bored,
rather than an actual place.
 
Also, within the context of Thompson not taking Oz quite as seriously as
Baum, note that she sometimes refers to the countries outside the Ozian
world as the "real world," rather than using Baum's "Great Outside World."
Similarly, the "continent" on which Oz is located is referred to as "the
Continent of Imagination" by Professor Wogglebug in _Royal Book_, Waddy
speaks of the "realms of Reality" in _Speedy_, and Captain Salt calls Peter
a "real person" in _Captain Salt_.  Doesn't it seem like the inhabitants of
Oz and its surrounded nations would regard their world as MORE real than the
United States and such, rather than as simply imaginary?  As much as I like
Thompson's writing, this is one thing that always bothered me about them.
 
Nathan

Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2000 17:06:40 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: keeping it real
 
Nathan DeHoff, you make some interesting points about how Thompson came to
speak of Oz as less than "real" in her latter books. As I wrote earlier
this summer to David Godwin, one of the most appealing aspects of Baum's
portrayal of Oz is that it's just as real--no more, no less--than the
country his readers live in.
 
Nathan wrote:
<<Peter...seems to prefer baseball games to Oz.  Of course, I would say
that Peter's REAL reason in not moving to Oz is the fact that he has
friends and family in Philadelphia.  This isn't as much of a concern for
most of Baum's Outside World characters; Dorothy, for instance, has her
only remaining family members transported to Oz, and she doesn't seem to
have had any friends in Kansas.>>
 
WIZARD states that from Uncle Henry's stoop there's not another house in
sight. Dorothy's landmarks to the Butterfield road in ROAD include no
houses or manmade landmarks. Her only playmate in Kansas seems to be Toto.
And I don't recall any mention of her going to school. So Baum presents
Dorothy as socially isolated. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em do seem to be the
only things pulling her back to America over and over.

         In contrast, Peter introduces himself by his social networks: his
school and his baseball team. He not only has friends, but they're
unavoidable; they come around the corner as he holds the balloon, and he
immediately fears what they'll think of him. At least in this first book,
Peter doesn't express any need to return for his grandfather's sake--simply
for his baseball team's. That reflects his life in a big city instead of on
sparsely populated farmland. It also reflects the way many school-age boys
bond in large groups. From his first appearance in GNOME KING, thus, Peter
appears and sees himself as more connected to his friends and community
than Dorothy ever was.
 
Nathan wrote:
<<I think Peter does have a tendency not to take Oz completely seriously,
and this is demonstrated more clearly at the beginning of _Jack
Pumpkinhead_, which has him wondering "if Ruggedo has caused any more
trouble" (or something of the sort).  This line bothered me somewhat, as
Ruggedo, despite his comic aspects, has proved to be a very real threat to
Ozian national security several times, yet Peter seems to regard foiling
his plans as some sort of game.  I think Peter is a good character, but it
sometimes seems like he regards Oz as a fun thing to do when he's bored,
rather than an actual place.>>
 
Peter's phrase is "more mischief," which is even more minimizing than
"trouble." But I read a lot of Peter's remarks and behavior as
hypermasculine. He insists he's too old to play with balloons, and, as I
mentioned above, he's even more concerned about not letting his friends see
him doing so.

         At the start of JACK PUMPKINHEAD, Peter might be genuinely worried
about his friends in Oz--even more likely, he genuinely misses them. But
darned if a macho boy would admit to those emotions! So Peter masks his
feelings with nonchalance and (perhaps) superiority about Oz. He doesn't
want to feel vulnerable. He doesn't want to feel small. So he minimizes the
danger instead.

         The "more mischief" phrase also fits into Thompson's consistent
portrayal of Ruggedo as a naughty kid, which I'll discuss more when we all
address GNOME KING.
 
J. L. Bell                  JnoLBell at compuserve.com

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <xornom at hotmail.com>
Subject: Today, AOL merged with Oz, Ev, Ix, Burzee, and Microsoft
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 13:10:52 GMT
 
J. L. Bell:
 >WIZARD states that from Uncle Henry's stoop there's not another house in
 >sight. Dorothy's landmarks to the Butterfield road in ROAD include no
 >houses or manmade landmarks. Her only playmate in Kansas seems to be Toto.
 >And I don't recall any mention of her going to school.
 
Actually, in _Dorothy and the Wizard_, she mentions that her schoolmistress
considers "climb down" to be grammatically incorrect.
 
Nathan

From: "ruth berman" <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Peter in oz
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 12:33:32 -0500
 
Enjoyed re-reading "Gnome King" over the weekend for discussion now. This is
first Oz book that used an American boy as a protagonist (Zeb and Button
Bright being seconds to Dorothy or Trot, and even RPT's Bob-Up mostly
subordinate to Notta; and Baum's Ojo and Inga and RPT's Snip being from the
Oz-world). It's been pointed out as an interesting oddity before, but maybe
worth saying again now that we're up to Peter's appearance, that Baum was
most successful creating girls as protagonists and  RPT most successful
creating boys as protagonists. (Of course, RPT didn't need to create girls
as protagonists at all, since she could use Dorothy, Trot, and Betsy
Bobbin -- Handy Mandy was about none of those three would have worked for
the needs of the story.)
 
Nathan DeHoff and J.L. Bell on Peter's real reasons for not wanting to stay
in Oz: Your suggestions that he cares more about his friends at home than
about the game as such sound likely -- and the more likely because the way
Thompson sets it up, it's not just that he wants to play baseball with his
friends, but feels he would be letting his friends down if he didn't show up
for a game he'd agreed to play.
 
Ruth Berman

From:  "David Godwin" <d.godwin at m...>
Date:  Tue Aug 15, 2000  1:08 am
Subject:  GNOME KING OF OZ

The
following are my comments on _The Gnome King of Oz_. There is no
detailed plot analysis here. These are just thoughts that occurred to me as
I was re-reading it. I've said before that this was the first Oz book by
Ruth Plumly Thompson that I actually enjoyed. Part of the reason for that is
because each of her previous books contained something that spoiled it for
me - the idea that our beloved Scarecrow is the reincarnation of some
authoritarian Oriental potentate, in contradiction of the tale told in WWiz;
the obnoxious character of Notta Bit More; the prevalence of fairy tale
kingdoms; the innumerable ridiculous IEs that do nothing but slow down the
simplistic plot...and here's a grand heresy for you: I don't like Kabumpo
_or_ the Red Jinn! Yes, Baum had his share of IEs too, but he always managed
to make them interesting and amusing, whereas I feel that RPT's were usually
just contrived, dull, and silly. Wit vs. buffoonery, whimsy vs. absurdity -
dare I say it? - A skillfully rendered vision vs. occasionally charming hack
work. Well, that's just my opinion, which I know is not shared by all, or
even by most. _Gnome King_ is distinguished by contaning (a) Ruggedo, the
one character who RPT tended to depict well (IMHO) and an old favorite of
mine from Baum's books, and (b) Peter, RPT's first boy hero from America.
(I can't count little Bobby Downer as a hero.)

*****Comments (and plenty of SPOILERS) on The Gnome King of Oz*****

Chapter 1

The story opens in the kingdom of Patch. Even though Patch is in the Winkie
country, where we have frequently been told that the favorite color is
yellow (even down to the grass, water, and sky according to some
descriptions in other books), Patch is a collection of all different colors,
and each Quilty wears clothes and paints his house to match the color of his
cotton patch. Once out of Patch, however, the author describes the usual
yellow fences, houses, and flowers. So it seems that Patch defies the
pattern of each of the four countries of Oz being predominantly one color.

It seems that Queen Cross Patch wears a patch over one eye due to eyestrain.
We know that there is no sickness in Oz, but does eyestrain count as a
sickness? How about a pulled muscle or a sprained ankle?

At first we are inclined to suppose that there is not only injury, but also
death in Oz, because the Queen flies to pieces. However, we are quickly
assured that all Quilties do this, but the pieces are stuffed into a bag
where they magically regenerate.

The next anomaly we are confronted with has no easy explanation, because the
author firmly plants the Winkie country in the East, and she sticks with
this orientation throughout the book, except in cases where she seems to
forget and get it back in the West again (see chapter 10).

The foot-path traverses 35 miles in less than a minute. The Wizard must have
equipped it with a virtual pressure cabin to prevent riders from being blown
to pieces by traveling better than 2,100 mph. Does the Sawhorse know about this?

Another contradiction: the Quilty ministers are described as "fat," but
Neill certainly didn't draw them that way.

Chapter 2

Several people on the Digest have discussed off and on whether it was ever
definitely stated that Oz is a rectangle rather than a square or some curved
or irregular shape. Well, here's one place where is it described as "oblong."

We also learn once again that the Winkie country is in the East (!), and
that there are hundreds of small countries within the four main countries of
Oz, and that Patch is the 705th of these. This is a data point that argues
against Oz being of a rather small size.

It is stated that the rulers of Oz have always lived in the capital, and the
capital is described as the Emerald City. But if the Wizard built it, how
did the rulers before him live there?

Here is one of many places where Ozma is described as "a little girl fairy"
- not at all of marriageable age despite her being considered so in other
books, including the previous _Kabumpo_.

We learn (again?) that the population of the Emerald City is 57,318, plus
"nearly a hundred celebrities." I suppose that would bring to total to
something like 57,417. If the population density were the same as Chicago
(not likely, I grant you), then the Emerald City would cover approximately
five square miles (about 2.25 miles on each side, if it were square). If the
population density were more like Dallas, Texas, then the total area would
be more like 19 square miles. Not huge, in any event.

It is said that "Ozma has invited to her court the most interesting
characters from her four fairy kingdoms." Then several of them are
described, including the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman (who don't live in the EC
all the time) but not including Dorothy (or Trot or Betsy). Well, you might
say, they aren't from any of the four kingdoms of Oz. Okay, but neither is
the Wizard, and he _is_ included!

Heretofore, we have been led to believe that the furnishings of the palace
in the EC are all green, but here are Dorothy and Ozma considering curtains
that _aren't_ necessarily green. As it happens, the girls choose green
taffeta, so chaos is avoided.

Is there snobbery and classism in Oz? Scraps' remark to the Quilties would
seem to indicate so. ("Ragmen apply at the rear!") Why do I have the feeling
that such a thing is much more likely in a Thompson book than in a Baum
book? Could it possibly be that Ms. Thompson was that most hideous of all
bugaboos - a racist _and_ an elitist? And a sexist as well, judging from the
fact that she seldom had any girl heroes, and introduced none from the Great
Outside World.

When Scraps is being pelted by the Quilties, she is not hurt because she has
"no feelings at all." This brings up some interesting
physiological/philosophical questions. If she, and the other constructed
persons of Oz such as the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, have no sense of
feeling at all (as we are repeatedly assured in most of the FF), how can
they pick things up, hold things, walk, sense the position of their own
bodies, or indeed function at all? They would have to depend entirely upon
sight and hearing to know whether they were sitting, standing, or lying.

Chapter 3

The ministers are hungry and demand breakfast, but they end up simply
forcing Scraps to do household chores. What happened to breakfast? They seem
to suddenly forget it.

The expression "Get out!" is used in what I would have considered a modern
(1990s) manner, but this is 1927.

Chapter 4

RPT introduces Peter of Philadelphia (where she lived, I think), her first
American hero who is not a nonentity and has positive character traits.

It seems odd that marbles and a double sundae on the one hand and a single
balloon on the other should both cost 25 cents. Balloons must have been
comparatively expensive - several dollars, by modern standards.

RPT introduces the first of her mysterious characters from a magical country
walking around in the Outside World for some purpose. Magic is where you
find it, and that could be anywhere.

Seems to me that even a fit lad such as Peter would find it difficult to
hang onto a bird's leg that long, supporting his own weight as it flies
through the air for mile after mile.

In one of a series all too typical in RPT, we are asked to suspend belief in
Newton. Peter falls a great distance into the ocean without getting hurt.  As
high divers know very well, water is _hard_! Peter should have been stunned
if not killed. Are physial laws now overcome by magic simply because we are
in the Nonestic? (I also take issue with a Horatio Hornblower story I just
read where a character dives 60 feet into only 8 feet of water and is
unharmed. Seems to me I remember diving _10_ feet into 8 feet of water and
striking the bottom with some force. And although skilled divers can jump
off the cliff at Acapulco, they don't fall thousands of feet.)

There has been some discussion about the size of (g)nomes. Here we discover
that Ruggedo is about Peter's height. Peter, we are told, is nine years old.
He seems very capable and self-sufficient for a nine-year-old boy. Have we
come so far in a mere 73 years?

We learn that Ruggedo has been on the island five years.

Chapter 5

Newton suspension No. 2: The ship takes a lot of abuse. Why doesn't it fly
apart from this violent treatment? It's been rotting on the bottom of the
ocean, after all, and the author is at some pains to describe its
delapidated condition. Why did it sink in the first place? It seems
seaworthy now.

Peter again displays unusual abilities for a nine-year-old city boy by
killing, cleaning, and cooking fish - more than I can do now, at many times
his age.

The powers of the Magic Belt are defined: transformation and
transportation.

Chapter 6

Why are weapons, clothing, treasure, and the captain's diary all jumbled
together in the hold? Why would the captain leave his magical treasures
behind when he abandoned ship?

Chapter 7

Ruggedo's admiration of Peter seems out of character. He might see that the
boy could prove useful to him, but admiration is going too far, I think.

"Gundersnutch" sounds like it's inspired by "bandersnatch," though I don't
recall that the latter are habitually pleased.

Chapter 8

So now we're teaching the kids prejudice: "Never trust a gnome." How many
times had kids in 1927 heard their parents say this about
gypsies/blacks/Jews/whatever? (RPT's attitude toward the Romany is made all
too clear in _Ojo_.) Is Ruggedo some sort of racial stereotype? Of course,
in this case, Kuma's pre-judgment is accurate. In the world of Nonestica,
gnomes are all universally, sure enough, not to be trusted. But that is not
the real world that most of us have to live in.

It is to be noted that the separated interfaces of Kuma's limbs are never
described. Presumably there is no blood and very little gore, through some
magical means. We must also assume without being told that his limbs can
levitate by magic and that they are likewise apparently capable of
independent action, as if each separated part had its own brain and set of
five senses (but without any of the organs of sense except touch). This sort
of thing occurs in LFB's stories as well, but there it somehow seems more
whimsical; can't say why. At least we are given some background about Kuma,
where he came from, who his father is, and why he is as he is, which is far
from true for all of RPT's (or Baum's) bizarre characters.

I wonder why (aside from plot considerations) Peter does not desert Ruggedo
at this point and seek refuge from him with Kuma. Surely he doesn't have any
misplaced feelings of loyalty toward the old villain.

In this chapter occurs one of the few mentions of rain in Oz.

Earlier, Kaliko prepared lunch for the travelers. Now suddenly it becomes
supper.

Peter's musings about Kuma's hand coming in handy in a scrap sounds as if
Peter enjoys fist-fighting with his friends. A violent sort of recreation!
Is this RPT's idea of young boys?

Chapter 9

Why does the magical cloak respond to a command from Peter even though
Ruggedo is wearing it? If it provides instantaneous transportation, why
can't Ruggedo proceed immediately from Zamagoochie to the Emerald City? Why
would sending him there delay him significantly? How can they hope to reach
the EC before he does? Well, some of these questions are answered in Chapter
15, but that still doesn't explain why Peter thought it might delay the
gnome enough to matter.

Chapter 10

The expression "Don't you care" is used. RPT uses this several times in
several books. It does not seem to be in use nowadays, however.

RPT introduces yet another magical item: the nap sack. People in this part
of the world seem to be awfully careless with powerful magical
paraphernalia. You can find them lying about everywhere.

Scraps says they must go southeast to reach the EC. If the Winkie country is
in the east, as the author stated in chapter 1, going southeast will not
take them anywhere except to the Deadly Desert. But if the Winkie country is
properly in the west, the direction (reflected on the Haff-Martin map) is
correct.

Chapter 11

LFB didn't know what he was starting with his China Country, Utensia,
Bunbury, etc. In this chapter we have one of the most irrelevant of RPT's
many irrelevant episodes, and it isn't even interesting or attractive like
Baum's weird countries. In fact, it's a bit distasteful. A whole country
made out of soap. Ick! Also, the natives behave according to RPT's usual and
often repeated sterotyped pattern: "Become like us and stay here forever,
even though it means disassembling or restructuring you in a manner that
would result in your destruction." We see here once again RPT's fascination
- or is it obsession? - with Arabian Nights settings: the head man is the
Sultan of Suds. We also see some of the racism that was taken for granted as
standard fare at the time in that the slaves at the palace are made of black
soap.

Near the end of this chapter, we are presented with Newton Suspension No. 3
- jumping down vertically 30 feet and landing on a cotton-stuffed human
figure and thus being completely unharmed. Cotton stuffing notwithstanding,
a fall of 30 feet is normally enough to be fatal or to cause fatal injuries.
RPT seems to have had the idea that a fall from the Sears Tower would leave
one unharmed if there were a few wisps of nice, soft straw at the bottom.  Or
is that only in Oz?

Chapter 12

Ostriches do not really put their head in the sand except in comic books.
However, perhaps _oztriches_, being of a different species, behave
differently.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, ostriches will sit down and lay
their necks along the ground when danger threatens in the vicinity, thus
giving rise to the notion that they bury their heads. I am gratified to
report that the 1976 edition of the Britannica repeats this explanation,
which I first read in the 1968 edition, and does not find it necessary to
apologize for it - unlike the article on witchcraft, which _does_ apologize
for the old article on the subject written by the discredited Margaret
Murray.

On that subject, off topic though it certainly is, I confess that I found
the later article on witchcraft somewhat amusing. Perhaps it has now been
replaced with yet a newer article apologizing for _it_. Seriously, the
author of the article appears to have narrowed his focus to one or two pet
theories, which may or may not have any special validity, while neglecting
other plausible explanations. What I find amusing, however, is that he gives
Murray's Britannica article full credit for having inspired and supported
the late-20th-century Wiccan movement (which he regards with disdain and
horror), as if Murray had not written several books apart from the
article and as if such persons as Gerald Gardner had never existed. And even
more amusing is his conclusion, wherein he states that he quivers in his
boots to think what future daffy New Age pseudo-religions may be founded on
statements in his own article!

Chapter 13

Another tedious IR which serves the plot in no way whatsoever except to
impede its progress and provide an opportunity for puns, including the
master stroke of "singing out of Tune." In the Del Rey edition - I don't
know about earlier R&L editions - there is an illustration toward the end of
the chapter (p. 171) that obviously does not go with the text. This is _not_
a picture of the Queen of Tune, who is described as a majorette. Rather,
this illo is of a portly woman with a sewing basket and spool earrings.
Surely this is Mrs. Sew-and-Sew from _Grampa_!

Chapter 14

Ostriches don't eat stones, either, except to grind their food - certainly
not for nourishment. Oztriches on the other hand...

The oztrich's clipped speech when excited is yet another one of RPT's cheap
characterization devices (certainly easier than having the oztrich behave in
any convincingly distinctive and non-stereotyped manner) that may also
succeed in being amusing to the minds of young children.

Is the Bookman from Bookville (which is described in _Hidden Valley_)? He
seems too nice. Maybe that's why he's wandering the countryside: he got
thrown out. From the Oz-as-Literature viewpoint, perhaps the Bookman gave
Cosgrove the idea for Bookville.

Chapter 15

The questions of a previous chapter (i.e., why doesn't Ruggedo proceed
immediately to the EC) are given an explanation.

Chapter 17

It now appears that a good night's sleep, the events of chapter 10-14, and
the rest of the journey from Patch to the EC have taken place before 3 p.m.

How does the Scarecrow know that he is being pinched? (See comments on
chapter 2)

It seems rather out of character for Tik-Tok to chuckle. As he continually
has to remind people, he-is-on-ly-a-ma-chine.

The illustration of the oztrich egg hatching is out of place in this
chapter.

Chapter 18

Ozma seems ineffectual in this chapter.

Chapter 19

That a wizard invented a magical stone to keep his wives quiet is a rather
sexist concept, more acceptable in 1927 than now. That women talk too much
and too unwisely is a stereotype that can be found in St. Paul, Mozart, Rip
Van Winkle, and now the Oz books, not to mention certain TV sitcoms even
today.

It now appears that the Magic Belt will not work unless spoken to audibly.
Is this borne out in all the other Oz books in the FF?

Chapter 20

Ruggedo ends up silenced and dipped, but the Gnome shall rise again.

Peter considers loyalty to his friends and uncle of greater importance than
being an immortal prince in a fairy kingdom. More of that old-fashioned
morality that we have discarded in "our more enlightened age." But who am I
to talk? I'm sure the choice would be much more difficult for me than it was
for him.

Here is a very interesting concept. Since some of the pirate's gold was
captured in the Great Outside World beyond Nonestica, it is "real gold" that
Peter can take back with him. The implication seems to be that gold (and
gems) from the magical continent (including, of course, Oz) is "fairy gold"
that is somehow imaginary and can have no existence in the "real"
world.

And finally, here is the newspaper headline that led Gehan (I think it was)
to discredit the entire story as fictional. This was the one item that more
than any other destroyed his suspension of disbelief. But note this: it
merely says here that Peter _saw_ the headline in the paper that his
grandfather was reading. Could not his kindly old granddad have rushed out
and had a phony newspaper sheet printed and inserted it in his copy of the
real newspaper? It seems to me I've seen ads for custom-made newspapers with
fake headlines in the Johnson Smith catalog or someplace, and novelty shops
doubtless had the capability to produce such a thing in 1927. Sure, why not?
Give the kid a thrill.

***end spoiler, end analysis***

- David G.

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 10:09:48 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at mail.ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 08-13-2000
 
J.L.:
 >         At the start of JACK PUMPKINHEAD, Peter might be genuinely worried
 >about his friends in Oz--even more likely, he genuinely misses them.
 
But the only Ozites that Peter had spent any significant time with,
as far as we know, were Scraps, Grumpy, and Ozwald, and the last
didn't apparently settle in the EC (or at least we never hear of him
again, as far as I recall - nor does Grumpy actually have any lines
after GK, though IIRC he's mentioned somewhere, probably in _Wishing
Horse_).
 
David Hulan

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 21:40:04 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: GNOME KING memories
 
Thanks, Nathan DeHoff, for reminding me of Dorothy's mention of her
schoolteacher in DOROTHY & WIZARD. I couldn't identify that dim memory.
 
Turning to GNOME KING, Ruth Berman made an interesting point that it's the
first Oz book to have an American boy as a protagonist, as opposed to the
protagonist's companion.

         Peter is also more of a boyish paragon than his predecessors. Zeb
is lazy at the start and overawed by Oz at the end. Button-Bright looks
like a dainty rich kid, at least as his governess dressed him (he probably
doesn't care); Peter is a leader and a striver, but his fellow
Philadelphian rarely expends more effort (mental or physical) than he has
to. Bob Up seems younger and rather cowed. But Peter's the type that other
American boys are told they should be.
 
David Hulan wrote:
<<the only Ozites that Peter had spent any significant time with, as far as
we know, were Scraps, Grumpy, and Ozwald, and the last didn't apparently
settle in the EC>>
 
Peter banquets with everyone in Ozma's circle, sitting between with Dorothy
and Sir Hokus and chatting with them [266-7]. He even starts to feel
"blissful," though that might be the effect of ozcream [268]. The next
morning he's the honoree in a parade through the capital [277]. So I don't
think the fact that he knew Ozwold half a day longer, and Scraps and Grumpy
two days longer, means those were the only Ozians he grew fond of.

         Even near the start of GNOME KING, in fact, Peter knows of Ozma and
Dorothy and seems to hope they're secure in the capital: "I read a book
about Oz once,...but I didn't know it was really true. Is Ozma still Queen
and does Dorothy still live in the Emerald City?" [79--Nathan DeHoff, note
this conversation about Oz as "real"].

         That last quotation also brings up the question of which Oz book
Peter read. Dorothy was probably a major figure since he remembers her
instead of Trot or Betsy, but it had to come after EMERALD CITY because she
was living in Oz. It can't include Ruggedo: "You weren't in the book I
read" [80]. It might show other Nomes, but doesn't have to: "Peter...had
read about these underground elves" [78]. And Scraps can't play a memorable
role in it because Peter doesn't recognize her when they meet [143]. So
that leaves...RINKITINK, TIN WOODMAN, ROYAL BOOK, and GRAMPA, right?
 
J. L. Bell                  JnoLBell at compuserve.com

From:  Ozmama at a...
Date:  Tue Aug 15, 2000  11:09 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] GNOME KING OF OZ

David
Godwin: I really like the comments about the colors of Patch in a
Winkie setting and the concept of muscle/eye strain. The East/West
transposition is normal for Thompson. She seems to believe in the
Wogglebug's map. As for the footbridge, the same kind of anomaly occurs in
_Grampa_ and in _Kabumpo_ and probably in several other books. Thompson
apparently never considered the time-distance ratio in any of the magical
transportations she uses, whether it be footbridge, skipping stones, a
runaway island or road. Since I usually view Oz as fun literature, I have no
problem with that and am able to forgive her those discrepancies. Jim Haff,
OTOH, although he was great friends with R.P.T. was driven almost to
distraction by some of these anomalies, so those of you who are bugged by
them are in excellent company. He liked Ruth immensely, but hated her lack
of geOzgraphy skills.

Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 15:45:13 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at mail.ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 08-15-2000
 
Nathan:
 >Actually, in _Dorothy and the Wizard_, she mentions that her schoolmistress
 >considers "climb down" to be grammatically incorrect.
 
There's a good bit of inconsistency in Baum's discussion of Dorothy's
Kansas home. For instance, in _Wizard_ he states that there's not a
tree in sight from the farmhouse, yet in _Road_ there's an apple tree
growing in the yard. Is this a different farm, as well as farmhouse?
That the original house that was blown to Oz was a one-room cabin,
whereas the house she returned to in _Road_ and left in EC had a
garret where her bedroom was located, might just mean that Uncle
Henry built a better house the second time round, but it seems
inconsistent with the level of poverty indicated in both _Wizard_ and
EC - though in _Ozma_ the reference to hired hands working for Aunt
Em doesn't seem consistent with that either. (Neither, for that
matter, does the reference to their having "horses and cows" in
_Wizard_; a really poor farmer would probably have at most a single
mule.)
 
David Hulan

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Aug 16, 2000  8:36 pm
Subject:  GNOME KING: miscellany

Interesting comments about GNOME KING, David Godwin. I have a late-model
Reilly & Lee edition, so I'm going to cite those page numbers when replying
to your points but try to give you enough clues to find the same passages
in your paperback.

David Godwin wrote:
<<Queen Cross Patch wears a patch over one eye due to eyestrain. We know
that there is no sickness in Oz, but does eyestrain count as a sickness?
How about a pulled muscle or a sprained ankle?>>

The eyestrain may be a Quilty's first sign of going to pieces: a detached retina, for instance.
Neill seems not to draw Cross Patch with an eye patch at the start
of chapter 1 [15]. As you say, he doesn't follow Thompson's description of
the queen's fat ministers, either. I do like the distinctive garments he came up with for them.
Thompson describes the Quilties' garments as "quilted," which is
only appropriate but perhaps hard to draw. Quilting, of course, isn't the
same thing as patchwork, though they're often practiced together and
Thompson certainly seems to conflate them in this book.
Thompson also characterizes the Quilty ministers consistently, if
not very deeply: the Piecer is always more timid than his companion.

<<It is stated that the rulers of Oz have always lived in the capital, and
the capital is described as the Emerald City. But if the Wizard built it,
how did the rulers before him live there?>>

Perhaps Thompson meant that for as long as there's been an Emerald City,
the ruler of Oz (or at least of its central region) has lived there. In any
event, "The rulers of Oz always lived in the capital" is a rather circular
statement since wherever rulers live becomes the seat of government.

<<We learn (again?) that the population of the Emerald City is 57,318, plus
"nearly a hundred celebrities." I suppose that would bring to total to
something like 57,417. . . . Not huge, in any event.>>

Indeed, the population's smaller than the suburb I live in.
EMERALD CITY, chapter 3, seems to have been Thompson's inspiration
for the population figure: "It has nine thousand, six hundred and
fifty-four buildings, in which lived fifty-seven thousand three hundred and
eighteen people, up to the time my story opens."
Baum's figure seems to combine ordinary people and celebrities. In
the years since, according to Thompson, there's been zero net growth in
ordinary people--a surprising coincidence, but then her books are full of
them. But there are nearly a hundred celebrated new inhabitants: Dorothy,
Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, Scraps, etc. For every new ordinary citizen (e.g.,
the former Kiki Aru) since the start of EMERALD CITY, someone must have
departed or joined the ranks of the celebrities.

<<Is there snobbery and classism in Oz? Scraps' remark to the Quilties
would seem to indicate so. ("Ragmen apply at the rear!") Why do I have the
feeling that such a thing is much more likely in a Thompson book than in a
Baum book? Could it possibly be that Ms. Thompson was that most hideous of
all bugaboos - a racist _and_ an elitist?>>

She presents it as a great shame when Peter is made a slave in chapter 9
[147], but no big deal when, as you noted, black "tar soap" people are
slaves in chapter 11 [176].

As another sign of Thompson's deep conservatism, she has the
villainous Ruggedo say, "Take anything you need. That's my motto," in
chapter 8 [137]. In EMERALD CITY, Baum had implied that was Ozma's motto
too: "If by chance the supply ever ran short, more was taken from the great
storehouses of the Ruler, which were afterward filled up again when there
was more of any article than the people needed."

<<The ministers are hungry and demand breakfast, but they end up simply
forcing Scraps to do household chores. What happened to breakfast? They
seem to suddenly forget it.>>

And probably for the best, given that Scraps later cooks them a lousy
dinner [57]. We see how little Scraps got to know that kitchen when she
spots Ruggedo and wishes, "Oh, for an egg! For a dozen eggs!" [145] The
kitchen had eggs; Peter later cooked them for himself [159].

<<The expression "Get out!" is used in what I would have considered a
modern (1990s) manner, but this is 1927.>>

It lends an odd Elaine Benes quality to Scraps [64]. But then the Patchwork
Girl was always a rather modern gal.

<<It seems odd that marbles and a double sundae on the one hand and a
single balloon on the other should both cost 25 cents. Balloons must have
been comparatively expensive - several dollars, by modern
standards.>>

Balloons are always subject to deflation, you know. But the price of this
one seems to have been as flexible as its exterior: "The balloon man had
already seen the quarter in Peter's hand and quickly stating that
twenty-five cents was the price, he thrust the balloon upon Peter"
[68].

<<Peter falls a great distance into the ocean without getting hurt.  As high
divers know very well, water is _hard_! Peter should have been stunned if
not killed.>>

The only person to survive going over Niagara Falls NOT in a barrel or
other vessel was a seven-year-old boy named Roger Woodward, in 1960. Though
not badly hurt, he described landing on rocks--his impression of hitting
the surface of the lower river. Perhaps Peter's memory of having "bumped
his head severely on a clam shell" [74] was actually his collision with the
top of the water.

<<We learn that Ruggedo has been on the island five years.>>

This is exactly the span between KABUMPO and GNOME KING, in case anyone's
counting. (I'm not a HACCer, and probably never will be.)

<<The ship takes a lot of abuse. . . . Why did it sink in the first place?
It seems seaworthy now.>>

A question that occurred to me, too. If the BLUNDEROO's hull were
watertight, it should have been full of water from the bottom of the
ocean--in which case it would sink again. If it were leaky, it would sink
again. Perhaps there was more magic at work than we saw.

<<The powers of the Magic Belt are defined: transformation and
transportation.>>

To these I add the power stated in LOST PRINCESS to grant one wish a day,
overcoming other powerful spells in the process.
Also, I analyze the Nome King's inability to freeze the Sawhorse in
OZMA but Dorothy's ability to transform him in LOST PRINCESS to mean that
only the transportation power doesn't work on wood.

<<In the Del Rey edition - I don't know about earlier R&L editions - there
is an illustration toward the end of the chapter (p. 171) that obviously
does not go with the text. This is _not_ a picture of the Queen of Tune,
who is described as a majorette. Rather, this illo is of a portly woman
with a sewing basket and spool earrings. Surely this is Mrs. Sew-and-Sew
from _Grampa_!>>

I think this is Susan Smiggs, the palace seamstress who becomes Queen of Patch [281].
You're right about there being many illustrations out of place in
Reilly & Lee's GNOME KING (replicated in Del Rey's, I guess). I'll discuss
the reason in a message on Neill's art.

<<The oztrich's clipped speech when excited is yet another one of RPT's
cheap characterization devices (certainly easier than having the oztrich
behave in any convincingly distinctive and non-stereotyped manner) that may
also succeed in being amusing to the minds of young children.>>

I noticed Thompson didn't seem to think of this quirk immediately. She
introduces Ozwold on page 190, but the speech trait on page 200.
Another touch of Thompson traditionalism about gender roles: Ozwold
is "embarrassed" to reveal his wife is away at her mother's, leaving him to
tend the egg [192].

<<It seems rather out of character for Tik-Tok to chuckle. As he
continually has to remind people, he-is-on-ly-a-ma-chine.>>

The description of Tik-Tok's "mechanical mirth" [253] ground my
gears, too.

<<That a wizard invented a magical stone to keep his wives quiet is a
rather sexist concept, more acceptable in 1927 than now.>>

And throwing a stone at one's wife would be spousal abuse, then or now.
Another interesting facet of this Silence Stone is that it's a
magical device used by the "ancient Emperors of Oz" [273]--an indication
that magic worked in the country before Lurline arrived and established the
present dynasty.

<<Since some of the pirate's gold was captured in the Great Outside World
beyond Nonestica, it is "real gold" that Peter can take back with him. The
implication seems to be that gold (and gems) from the magical continent
(including, of course, Oz) is "fairy gold" that is somehow imaginary and
can have no existence in the "real" world.>>

Either that or, like the Silver Shoes, they simply wouldn't survive the
journey in Peter's hands. At the end of OZMA, Glinda tells Dorothy that if
she wished herself home in the Magic Belt "It would be lost, as were your
silver shoes when you visited Oz before, and no one would ever see it again."
To add to the mystery, in JACK PUMPKINHEAD it's revealed that some
of Peter's "real" gold actually has magical power.

<<here is the newspaper headline that led Gehan (I think it was) to
discredit the entire story as fictional. . . . But note this: it merely
says here that Peter _saw_ the headline in the paper that his grandfather
was reading. Could not his kindly old granddad have rushed out and had a
phony newspaper sheet printed and inserted it in his copy of the real
newspaper?>>

In the Reilly & Lee edition, this newspaper headline actually contains a
misprint: "TREASURER" for "TREASURE" [281]. That might support either of
the two explanations people have now advanced for this detail: that it's
not a reputable paper, and that it's not a real newspaper at all. A
respectable "evening paper" would have fixed the typo in its headline. Of
course, so would a respectable publisher.
Thompson also says that Peter "had thought [the headline] up
himself" [280]. How does that fit into any of these theories?
And was the Philadelphia newspaper that Thompson worked for an
"evening paper" like this?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Aug 16, 2000  10:51 pm
Subject:  GNOME KING art

The Oz Club calendar for this year says that GNOME KING was on 30 April
1927. That's interesting for two reasons. First, Thompson's foreword is
dated "May, 1927" [9]. That should give pause to anyone who wants to view
her author's notes as nonfiction. Second, this book was published earlier
in the year than any Thompson Oz book so far except KABUMPO. That may have
meant she got the manuscript in very early, too, early enough for Neill and
the Reilly & Lee designers to take extra time.

In our discussions of LOST KING and HUNGRY TIGER, I noted how
almost every piece of textual art was either a chapter opener or fit into a
set dimension. That would have made laying out the book relatively easy.
In GNOME KING, however, Neill and his designer set themselves a
much harder task. For the first time since ROYAL BOOK, they start every
chapter with a two-page spread. That means every chapter has to end on a
right-hand page, or that art has to fill up that page.

One result is that a lot of drawings can't fit where they belong in
the text. Trot [83?, 282] and Glinda [93] appear on pages where they're not
mentioned. The last paragraph on page 127 may have been added to fit the
picture of the Wizard there--the earlier paragraph would end chapter 7 just
as well. The drawing on page 153 may belong on page 65.

This trend gets worse as the book nears its end. Susan Smiggs, not
mentioned in the text till page 281, gets a page to herself on page 211.
Ozwold's child hatches in the art on page 258, reappears on 267, but
doesn't hatch in the text until 268. The picture of Kuma Party gripping
Ruggedo also comes ten pages early, on 262. And the pile of magic tools
they're all fighting over belongs on page 265, not 259. I don't think all
those shifts were necessary just to make the chapters come out even; some
seem to be the result of carelessness.

The chapter openers also gave Neill the occasion to draw full-page
line art again, filling the odd page in certain chapters. Those big
drawings stylistically mirror the chapter-opening spreads by having
hand-drawn frames around them. The one exception to that pattern is the
picture of the Wizard running on page 255. (This actually depicts action
described on 264. And note that, like Wumbo, Oz has taken to wearing
multiple pairs of eyeglasses.)

Line drawings that cover a full page seem more common in the first
half of GNOME KING, but the best--indeed, one of the best drawings of
Neill's middle career--is the picture of Ruggedo zipping over the
countryside on page 236. It's exquisite. Has anyone seen the original?
Another innovation Neill brought out for GNOME KING that we haven't
seen in a while is a gray tone. Or perhaps it's two or three grays. In some
illustrations this looks like a Benday pattern [14, 50], but others make me
think it's an ink wash [8, 84, 92]. The effect works much better in some
drawings than in others, at least in my edition (a late printing, if that
affected the plates). Jack Pumpkinhead on the "This Book Belongs
to" page

and Kabumpo above the author's note look like they have fungal conditions
[3, 9]. Ruggedo seems to be doing something interesting with the cloak of
invisibility on page 229, but I can't figure out what. For the most part,
however, the grays are used nicely to set the figures off from the
backgrounds. Again, I suspect Neill was able to add that extra touch to his
drawings because Thompson delivered this manuscript early.
My GNOME KING doesn't have color plates, so I got nothing to say on
those.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  Tigerbooks at a...
Date:  Thu Aug 17, 2000  2:40 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] GNOME KING art

John Bell made some interesting coments on the GNOME KING art. It seems to me
Reilly andLee paid little attention to layout (in the RPT years anyway). I
was actually lookignat SPEEDY last night, too, and there almost every picture
is radically off from the text--ost coming too early in the text.

Regarding the possibility that Neill had more time than usual--he may well
have. But I don't think lack of time phased him much. He did his yearly "Oz
chore" VERY quickly. I have read some of his correspondence while visiting
the Neill daughters and in a letter regarding LOST KING? as I recall he says
something like this:

"I started the new Oz book this morning--finished 35 pictures. More this
afternoon."

Excuse my having to paraphrase but --its pretty close to a quote.

I suspect that the GNOME KING "gray washes" were done in much the same style
that Neill did them for GIANT HORSE. I have one of the GIANT HORSE
chapterheading illustrations and the "gray tone" is indicated with a
"non-repro blue wash" where the gray is meant to go. They could remove it
easily when they shot the initial black plate and then R&L could add a gray
dot pattern where Neill indicated wirth the blue. From correspondence I've
seen and Neill's d\oodled in manuscripts I dont think he had much--if
anything-- to do with the layouts. I suspect he prepared enough pictures to
be evenly placed in the story and then shipped them off to Reilly and Lee and
waited for finished books to arrive.

Just thought I'dshare this tid bit of Neill info--
David Maxine

Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 21:24:39 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: GNOME KING author's note posted
 
I was going to post some remarks about Thompson's author note for GNOME
KING when I happened to look inside the Del Rey edition and notice it
wasn't there! That page was deleted to make room for the Oz Club maps, it
looks like.

         To let everyone see this text, I took advantage of the Nonestica
"Files" feature and posted it there. GNOME KING is still under copyright,
so I'm trying to stick to "fair use" guidelines. This file is reproduced
only in connection with our critical discussion of GNOME KING and should
stay in limited circulation; I'll remove the file at the end of our chat.
Posting it in a way that will place it permanently in an online archive is
more likely to be a violation of the copyright.

         People who are signed up on Nonestica may be able to go straight to
the folder in which I put the text file:

[Note:  Link removed because it is long dead. --Ed.]

         Others will have to register with eGroups and then join Nonestica.
Or the text is available in any Reilly & Lee edition of GNOME KING.
 
J. L. Bell                  JnoLBell at compuserve.com
 

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Aug 17, 2000  9:48 pm
Subject:  Re: GNOME KING art

Thanks, David Maxine, for your comments on how quickly Neill drew his
later Oz art. That makes his talent even more enviable. I'm not
surprised to hear he seems to have little to do with the actual
layout of his art in the books--there are enough upside-down drawings
to indicate that their creator was far away during that process.
I'm curious about how the Oz books' initial designs came
together, especially when they have a clear visual theme running
throughout (as in the frames of GNOME KING, or the arches over both
the chapter openers and full-page spreads in JACK PUMPKINHEAD). Did
Neill come up with those ideas on his own and suggest them to Reilly
& Lee? Did he just ship his drawings off to the firm (unlikely)? Or
did (as often happens today) the book designer make some creative
decisions before calling Neill? You've done a lot of book and magazine
layout, especially for a theatuh person, so you know the issues
involved. But probably only the Neill/Reilly & Lee correspondence
would say for sure.

David also wrote:
<<I suspect that the GNOME KING "gray washes" were done in much the
same style that Neill did them for GIANT HORSE. I have one of the
GIANT HORSE chapterheading illustrations and the "gray tone" is
indicated with a "non-repro blue wash" where the gray is meant to go.
They could remove it easily when they shot the initial black plate and
then R&L could add a gray dot pattern where Neill indicated wirth the
blue.>>

It makes sense that the art process in GNOME KING and GIANT HORSE
would be similar since they came one after another. I just pulled out
one of my copies of GIANT HORSE, and see four different gray patterns:
* a light wash made a tiny dots and specks, as in GNOME KING [18, 155, etc.]
* a darker gray made with slanting lines [89, perhaps only in this art]
* two levels of grainy speckles [200-1, most other chapter openers]
The grainy pattern especially is reminiscent of a gray that appears
in Neill's drawings for SCARECROW and other books around that
date. It's a wider "spectrum" than in GNOME KING
Is the blue wash actually color on the ink drawings, or is it on a
separate layer of thin paper, the way artists used to make
separations? And which chapter header do you have?
Whoever added the gray missed Grumpy's hindquarters on page 218
of GNOME KING. The problem appears much more often in GIANT HORSE
because of Benny. He should be a uniform stone gray, but he's
colored like a living gentleman would be [e.g., 95] and sometimes even
more mottled than that [on 89, his face is gray, but his sideburns
lighter].

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  Tigerbooks at a...
Date:  Fri Aug 18, 2000  2:25 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] Re: GNOME KING art

In a message dated 8/17/00 11:10:37 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
JnoLBell at c... writes:
<< Is the blue wash actually color on the ink drawings, or is it on a
separate layer of thin paper, the way artists used to make
separations? >>

No, the blue ink wash is on the final illustration--right over the ink.
regarding your comment on book design--I suspect Neill did some basic
layouts--I recall seeing doodles showing chapter heading layouts. I THINK
there is a letter from Neill in THE OZ SCRAPBOOK (if not in the BUGLE showing
how he was designing LOST KING with a cover rouht, a doodled chapter heading
and roughed endsheets. But I suspect that beyond that some grutn at Reilly
and Lee just sat down at the lino-type (or whatever they technology was) and
started making up plates and added pictures as they saw fit in an even
distribution.

An example of how little Neill was involved in the book-making process is in
evidence with WONDER CITY which, as most of you know, was heavily rewritten
by Reilly and Lee. Neill illustrated HIS manuscript and R&L never even told
him they were going to mess with it. He found out they had written a new
story to "explain his pictures" when the finished books arrived on his
doortstep! He exploded with a bang louder than J. Glegg! In the end, Reilly
and Lee really was just a hack mid-western publishing company who just
happened to have Oz to legitimize itself. Ah, well.

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <xornom at hotmail.com>
Subject: Wogglebugs and Witches of Oz
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 14:59:49 GMT
 
J. L. Bell:
 >So I don't
 >think the fact that he knew Ozwold half a day longer, and Scraps and Grumpy
 >two days longer, means those were the only Ozians he grew fond of.
 
Peter's time in Oz during the book WAS rather short, wasn't it?
 
 >         That last quotation also brings up the question of which Oz book
 >Peter read. Dorothy was probably a major figure since he remembers her
 >instead of Trot or Betsy, but it had to come after EMERALD CITY because she
 >was living in Oz. It can't include Ruggedo: "You weren't in the book I
 >read" [80]. It might show other Nomes, but doesn't have to: "Peter...had
 >read about these underground elves" [78]. And Scraps can't play a memorable
 >role in it because Peter doesn't recognize her when they meet [143]. So
 >that leaves...RINKITINK, TIN WOODMAN, ROYAL BOOK, and GRAMPA, right?
 
Also _Cowardly Lion_, I should think.  This also leads to the question as to
how much time passed in between the events of _Gnome King_ and the actual
publication of the book.  It's quite possible that books such as _Hungry
Tiger_ and _Lost King_ had not yet been released in the States before
Peter's journey to Oz.
 
Nathan

From: "ruth berman" <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Philadelphians in oz
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 10:50:38 -0500
 
J.L. Bell: Interesting comparison of Philadelphian boys. You may be
underestimating Button Bright a bit. He expends effort if he's interested in
something (or maybe you were including that in "if he has to"), but he's not
particularly interested in group activities. He doesn't mind if Trot and
Cap'n Bill choose a destination and come along, and he pals around with Ojo,
but in a large group he wanders off and gets lost. If Peter tried to start
up a youngsters' baseball team while on a visit to Oz, Button Bright might
be willing to take part, but would be likely to wander off the outfield (and
surely he would have himself in the outfield and not minding a base) in
search of a more interesting activity? // You narrowed Peter's "Oz book"
down to one of four. Maybe it could be narrowed further. Scraps plays a
small role in "Royal Book," is mentioned in "Grampa," and is included in the
"Tin Woodman" endpaper illo. Peter might not have remembered her from those
(especially not from just the TW group illo), but she isn't in "Rinkitink"
at all, so maybe that's the best candidate of the four, the more so as it
includes Nomes (as you point out, Peter "had read about these underground
elves"), yet doesn't have Ruggedo putting in an appearance. He does get a
mention, though, so maybe "Tin Woodman" is the more likely after all. (Maybe
Peter read about gnomes in "Zauberlinda" or "The Jewelled Toad" or Baum's
"Santa Claus"? RPT had a couple of stories about gnomes in her "Public
Ledger" writing, but Peter is too young to have been one of her
pre-Oz-writing readers.)
 
David Hulan: As a somewhat far-fetched way of reconciling the treeless
"Wizard" from "Road" apple-tree -- how about supposing there was an
out-building (privy, tool-shed, silo?) hiding sight of the (small)
apple-tree from the house, and that when the out-building blew over in the
cyclone, it was not rebuilt or not rebuilt in the same location? The other
differences you mention on extreme poverty vs. a more costly set-up might
perhaps be explained as the results of temporary access to more cash (an
unusually good harvest or a loan or gift from those relatives in California
or Australia)?
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 22:37:21 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: GNOME KING theme
 
David Hulan wrote:
<<That the original house that was blown to Oz was a one-room cabin,
whereas the house she returned to in _Road_ and left in EC had a garret
where her bedroom was located, might just mean that Uncle Henry built a
better house the second time round, but it seems inconsistent with the
level of poverty indicated in both _Wizard_ and EC - though in _Ozma_ the
reference to hired hands working for Aunt Em doesn't seem consistent with
that either. (Neither, for that matter, does the reference to their having
"horses and cows" in _Wizard_; a really poor farmer would probably have at
most a single mule.)>>
 
Uncle Henry's problem in EMERALD CITY is a mortgage, so it's possible that
he borrowed too much and spent it to raise the family's standard of living.
The lifestyle we see in OZMA through ROAD (larger house, travel to
Australia, employees) could have been unsustainable for a family with the
farm described in WIZARD.
 
I posted remarks on the GNOME KING art over on Nonestica. Here I'll share
some thoughts on what I see as the book's main theme. As a rule Thompson's
books don't exhibit a lot of unity, especially when it comes to the little
kingdom visits that interrupt her heroes' journeys. But the Nome King
provides a thematic center for GNOME KING, and comparing the other
characters to him can be revealing.

         Baum's Ruggedo was hot-tempered, vengeful, duplicitous, and
possessive, but he was undoubtedly a grown-up. In EMERALD CITY and TIK-TOK,
his tyranny was that of an ambitious dictator, not a selfish child. In
MAGIC Ruggedo was a con man, which meant he was a man. Baum's Nome King was
comic at times, but never for very long--he was always too dangerous for
that.

         When we next saw Ruggedo in KABUMPO, however, he was taking out his
temper on a wooden doll. Thompson rendered him as an angry kid, and that
characterization remains in GNOME KING. Even though he tells Peter three
times, "I hate children" [77-8], the Nome King acts like one himself.
That's never more clear than when he's fingering Polacky's jewels: "I found
it first! I found it first! . . . They're mine, Peter, all mine!" [98]
Peter snaps to him like an exasperating cheater on another baseball team:
"Why can't you play fair?" [104]

         What makes GNOME KING so suspenseful is that his antagonists have
some of the same qualities. That lets Ruggedo get away with his villainies,
at least until they can discard those weaknesses. The clearest example is
Peter. Thompson draws several parallels between them:

         * The first thing we hear Peter say is, "Nothing at all ever
happens here" [67]. That's precisely Ruggedo's plight on the island:
"you've been here five years...and nothing has happened in all that time"
[81].

         * What's the first thing we see Peter doing? Taking his
grandfather's balloon money while "fully intending to buy some marbles and
a double nut sundae" [67]. Ruggedo would be proud.

         * Peter "liked being called a young gentleman" [68] and insists,
"I'm not a child. I'm nine years old" [77]. With equal ambition and
bluster, Ruggedo yells, "Don't you know I'm a King? . . . the one and only
Metal Monarch and ruler over five hundred thousand gnomes besides" [78].

         * As noted above, Peter criticizes Ruggedo's cheating. But the Nome
quickly replies, "You're no better than I am," and "Peter blushed a little
at the Gnome King's shrewd guess" [104].

         Like Snip in LOST KING, Peter secretly enjoys setting out on his
adventure with a villain. But while Snip foresaw excitement or affection,
Peter actually shares some of Ruggedo's ambitions. He's just as happy as
the Nome to have found the pirate treasure, and strives to keep all he can
for his own purposes [98, 105]. Ruggedo is thrilled to return to his
kingdom; "Peter's heart began to pound with excitement," too [113]. After
the newly restored king promises him a command of the Nome army, "Peter
couldn't help smiling at his new title and, surveying himself in the long
mirror, wondered how he would look in a gnome uniform" [117].

         Kuma Party gives Peter every chance to leave Ruggedo, "a bad little
creature," before he gets into "a heap of trouble" [130-1]. But the boy
can't bring himself to make the break. Instead, he continues "to fall in
with the gnome's plans" and trudges on [133]. Only Ruggedo's betrayal of
Peter into slavery separates them.

         The book's other protagonist, Scraps, also shares some traits with
the Nome King. When she learns she's going to be a queen, her head turns.
Once the Patchwork Girl declared, "I hate dignity." But the new Queen of
Patch "strutted proudly up and down the shabby hall of the palace,
rehearsing grand speeches and queenly gestures" [49]. Ruggedo acts spoiled,
but Scraps has been: "she had never in her whole life done anything she did
not wish to do" [57]. When she sees Ruggedo, Scraps cries, "Oh, for an egg!
For a dozen eggs!" [145] If she'd done a better job in the Patch kitchen,
she'd have known there were eggs there [159].

         The rest of this book's heroic band also resemble the Nome King,
though more distantly. Grumpy is, of course, grumpy; that (with hunger) is
about the only character trait he has, but it's one that Ruggedo shares.
Even Ozwold, the daddy of this group (he has a child to look after, handles
the driving, and alone refuses to be distracted by the Bookman [223]), has
the same appetite as Ruggedo--for rocks [91, 214].

         In chapter 15, Wumbo manages to capture Ruggedo. But we should know
that won't last as soon as it's clear that Wumbo's chosen to break Ozma's
law against working magic: he too has a lot in common with the Nome King.
"In his youth, Wumbo [was] a lovable and loyal citizen of Oz," but now he's
retired to "his favorite cave,...almost as magnificent and luxurious as
Ozma's castle," working spells purely for his own pleasure [227-8]. Ruggedo
would like to do much the same. The Nome threatens to report Wumbo to Ozma
[233]. The Wonder Worker, in turn, wants to report Ruggedo to Ozma, but
needs to "find some way to warn Ozma" that would not also tip her off to
his own illegal activities [234]. If Wumbo weren't so eager to continue
breaking the law for his own comfort, he could have stopped the Nome King
right there. Instead, he falls asleep, and Ruggedo flies on.

         GNOME KING is thus about the Nome King, and about the Nome King
inside all these characters. Peter, Scraps, and Wumbo must discard their
own traces of ambition, selfishness, and greed before they can successfully
combat Ruggedo. It's no surprise that the person who's most effective
against the Nome is Kuma Party, a man who can literally toss parts of
himself away.

         Symbolically and physically, Peter finally succeeds at that mission
when he beans Ruggedo with the Silence Stone. Earlier he considers throwing
Ozwold's egg at the Nome, wondering if Ruggedo's defeat would be worth
sacrificing the chick; that would have been tossing away something precious
to another [194]. What Peter finally does throw, however, is the magic
emerald he's kept for himself [104]. He has to give up his own treasure,
his own ambitions, to silence the Nome King inside as well as the one
outside.

         And in doing that, of course, Peter achieves more than he imagined:
he becomes not merely a Nome general but a prince of Oz.
 
J. L. Bell                  JnoLBell at compuserve.com

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sat Aug 19, 2000  8:00 pm
Subject:  Neill art and design

David Maxine wrote:
<<I suspect Neill did some basic layouts--I recall seeing doodles showing
chapter heading layouts. I THINK there is a letter from Neill in THE OZ
SCRAPBOOK (if not in the BUGLE showing how he was designing LOST KING with
a cover rouht, a doodled chapter heading and roughed endsheets.>>

It seems quite likely something like that exists, but I couldn't find it
the SCRAPBOOK or the most recent BUGLE issue on Neill. I'd like to see such
book-planning sketches. Does anyone else remember them?

<<An example of how little Neill was involved in the book-making process is
in evidence with WONDER CITY which, as most of you know, was heavily
rewritten by Reilly and Lee. Neill illustrated HIS manuscript and R&L never
even told him they were going to mess with it. He found out they had
written a new story to "explain his pictures" when the finished books
arrived on his doortstep! He exploded with a bang louder than J.
Glegg!>>

That's interesting. When I'd heard about this earlier, it wasn't clear
whether Neill had known about or cooperated with the process. On the Ozzy
Digest Steve Teller once led an interesting analysis (largely based on
Jenny's hair styles) to connect Neill's art with his original manuscript.

<<In the end, Reilly and Lee really was just a hack mid-western publishing
company who just happened to have Oz to legitimize itself. >>

In GNOME KING, I was noticing how inconsistently the firm handled two
aspects of the chapter-opening design: the drop capitals and the title
capitalization. I believe the technical term for its approach is
"half-assed."

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Mon Aug 21, 2000  10:47 pm
Subject:  GNOME KING author note

A coupla days ago I uploaded to the Files section the text of the author's
note that Thompson wrote to introduce GNOME KING, printed on page 9 of the
Reilly & Lee edition but not in the Del Rey edition. Here are my thoughts
on it. [These are identical to remarks I'm sending at the same time to the
Ozzy Digest, so people can compare the swiftness of transmission.]
If the author's note is as truthful as the novel that follows, it
provides some insight into how Thompson received news from Oz. She reports
that "Dorothy had written me" about Cap'n Bill's birthday, but then "a
special radiogram arrived from the Emerald City" with news about the events
at the start of GNOME KING: Scraps missing, Ruggedo loose. Thompson then
"waited for further news."

How does that sequence compare to the events in the book? The
Emerald City discovered Scraps's absence and Ruggedo's presence in one busy
evening, the same evening in which those crises ended happily. But Thompson
experienced an anxious delay between when she learned the start of the
story and when she learned the end.

Conceivably someone in Ozma's palace could have radioed the Great
Outside World in the hour or so between Ozwold arriving and Peter finally
beaning Ruggedo. But it seems more likely that someone sent Thompson that
radiogram AFTER the adventure was over, alerting her to events she'd want
to write about. In this case, the "special radiogram" had to contain only
the basic news, not how things ended--something like: "SCRAPS KIDNAPPED
NOME KING BACK PHILADELPHIA BOY VISITS DETAILS FOLLOW." That would
certainly make me anxious!

So how did Thompson get the rest of the story? Probably from
Dorothy, who had "written...all about" earlier events. This author's note
implies a distinction between that sort of ordinary communication and the
"special radiogram" for extraordinary news. Perhaps Dorothy sent Thompson
letters in some way; for Americans of this time, letters brought ordinary
gossip [and fan mail], but telegrams had the air of urgency. Or perhaps
Thompson received two types of radiograms from Oz, a regular recounting of
stories and "special radiograms" for breaking news.

Thompson's correspondent in the Emerald City may also have referred
her to Peter for information. But he couldn't have been her only source on
all the episodes in GNOME KING. Though he may have heard Scraps's story,
Peter seems to have had no way of learning about Ruggedo's forced stay with
Wumbo. (The Emerald City authorities, on the other hand, could have had
Glinda check her Book of Records.)

Toward the end of this same author's note, Thompson seems to claim
that she's visited Oz herself; she refers to "the folks I've met in
Oz."

However, I'm going to call that exaggeration allowed by poetic license.
Thompson's last few lines seem to be struggling to become verse. The word
"met" seems intended to rhyme with "get," just as "to-day" pairs with
"way." Reilly & Lee laid out those lines awkwardly, perhaps closely
following Thompson's manuscript. The last two lines are a conventional
couplet, with her usual command of metre. Perhaps she meant to go back and
smooth the rest, and never got to it.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 22:47:24 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: GNOME KING author note &c.
 
Ruth Berman wrote:
<<Interesting comparison of Philadelphian boys. You may be underestimating
Button Bright a bit. He expends effort if he's interested in something (or
maybe you were including that in "if he has to"), but he's not particularly
interested in group activities. He doesn't mind if Trot and Cap'n Bill
choose a destination and come along, and he pals around with Ojo, but in a
large group he wanders off and gets lost. If Peter tried to start up a
youngsters' baseball team while on a visit to Oz, Button Bright might be
willing to take part, but would be likely to wander off the outfield (and
surely he would have himself in the outfield and not minding a base) in
search of a more interesting activity?>>
 
Yes, when I said Button-Bright "rarely expends more effort (mental or
physical) than he has to," I was thinking of his determination to retrieve
his Magic Umbrella in SKY ISLAND, and to reach the peach in LOST PRINCESS.
His willingness to put effort and thought toward those goals makes his
usual habits all the more comic and exasperating. I think you're right that
Button-Bright's especially impervious to peer pressure in the form of a
crowd--even when the peer pressure is the sort that says, "Stay on the path
when you're in a dangerous jungle."

         It's funny to think of Peter, so gung-ho about teams and sports and
playing by the rules, trying to manage Button-Bright in the outfield: an
irresistible force and an implacable object!
 
Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<This also leads to the question as to how much time passed in between the
events of _Gnome King_ and the actual publication of the book.  It's quite
possible that books such as _Hungry Tiger_ and _Lost King_ had not yet been
released in the States before Peter's journey to Oz.>>
 
Ruggedo indicates that he's spent five years on the island [81], which is
also the number of years between KABUMPO and GNOME KING.

         The events of GNOME KING mustn't be too early, however, because
Peter has two more trips to Oz to make before leaving boyhood. In one of
those journeys, I seem to recall, he thinks of Lindbergh, which means it
had to occur after 1927. [Or was this Speedy?] Also, the evidence (should
we consider it as such) of Thompson's author note indicates GNOME KING's
events occurred well within 1926, possibly even in early 1927.

         Peter refers to himself as "nine years old and in the Fifth-B"
[77]. Does anyone recognize that term--seemingly a school grade of some
kind? Also, he says he's "Captain of the A. P. Baseball Team" [107]. Was
this a pre-Little League organization, or some kind of hometown reference
from Thompson?
 
Which brings me finally to that note Thompson wrote to introduce GNOME KING
[visible on page 9 of the Reilly & Lee edition, or in the Files section of
Nonestica].

         If the author's note is as truthful as the novel that follows, it
provides some insight into how Thompson received news from Oz. She reports
that "Dorothy had written me" about Cap'n Bill's birthday, but then "a
special radiogram arrived from the Emerald City" with news about the events
at the start of GNOME KING: Scraps missing, Ruggedo loose. Thompson then
"waited for further news."

         How does that sequence compare to the events in the book? The
Emerald City discovered Scraps's absence and Ruggedo's presence in one busy
evening, the same evening in which those crises ended happily. But Thompson
experienced an anxious delay between when she learned the start of the
story and when she learned the end.

         Conceivably someone in Ozma's palace could have radioed the Great
Outside World in the hour or so between Ozwold arriving and Peter finally
beaning Ruggedo. But it seems more likely that someone sent Thompson that
radiogram AFTER the adventure was over, alerting her to events she'd want
to write about. In this case, the "special radiogram" had to contain only
the basic news, not how things ended--something like: "SCRAPS KIDNAPPED
NOME KING BACK PHILADELPHIA BOY VISITS DETAILS FOLLOW." That would
certainly make me anxious!

         So how did Thompson get the rest of the story? Probably from
Dorothy, who had "written...all about" earlier events. This author's note
implies a distinction between that sort of ordinary communication and the
"special radiogram" for extraordinary news. Perhaps Dorothy sent Thompson
letters in some way; for Americans of this time, letters brought ordinary
gossip [and fan mail], but telegrams had the air of urgency. Or perhaps
Thompson received two types of radiograms from Oz, a regular recounting of
stories and "special radiograms" for breaking news.

         Thompson's correspondent in the Emerald City may also have referred
her to Peter for information. But he couldn't have been her only source on
all the episodes in GNOME KING. Though he may have heard Scraps's story,
Peter seems to have had no way of learning about Ruggedo's forced stay with
Wumbo. (The Emerald City authorities, on the other hand, could have had
Glinda check her Book of Records.)

         Toward the end of this same author's note, Thompson seems to claim
that she's visited Oz herself; she refers to "the folks I've met in Oz."
However, I'm going to call that exaggeration allowed by poetic license.
Thompson's last few lines seem to be struggling to become verse. The word
"met" seems intended to rhyme with "get," just as "to-day" pairs with
"way." Reilly & Lee laid out those lines awkwardly, perhaps closely
following Thompson's manuscript. The last two lines are a conventional
couplet, with her usual command of metre. Perhaps she meant to go back and
smooth the rest, and never got to it.
 
J. L. Bell                  JnoLBell at compuserve.com

From: "ruth berman" <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Ruggedo in oz
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:49:00 -0500
 
J.L. Bell: Interesting comments on Ruggeo as childish himself and as inner
child to the other characters, and on contrast of Baum's Ruggedo as mostly
more threatening than RPT's. You comment that even the "con man" Ruggedo in
Baum's "Magic" is still a non-childish sort of menace -- but I think at that
point Baum's idea of Ruggedo is probably pretty close to RPT's (maybe still
slightly more effective at being  dangerous, but only slightly more, and
similar in comicality). Also interesting Nonestica-message on RPT's author's
note to "Gnome King" and implied communications with Oz. Your suggestion of
some kind of difference between communications equivalent to telegrams and
to letters sounds plausible.
 
Ruth Berman

From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <xornom at hotmail.com>
Cc: nonestica at egroups.com
Subject: Happy belated birthday to Ozma!
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 14:35:00 GMT
 
Ruth:
 >You narrowed Peter's "Oz book"
 >down to one of four. Maybe it could be narrowed further. Scraps plays a
 >small role in "Royal Book," is mentioned in "Grampa," and is included in
 >the
 >"Tin Woodman" endpaper illo. Peter might not have remembered her from those
 >(especially not from just the TW group illo), but she isn't in "Rinkitink"
 >at all, so maybe that's the best candidate of the four, the more so as it
 >includes Nomes (as you point out, Peter "had read about these underground
 >elves"), yet doesn't have Ruggedo putting in an appearance. He does get a
 >mention, though, so maybe "Tin Woodman" is the more likely after all.
 
Is Ruggedo mentioned as anything other than "the former Nome King"?  Peter
might not have remembered such a brief reference, after all.  I think
_Rinkitink_ is rather unlikely, however, as Peter does not seem to recognize
the Nonestic Ocean (mentioned by name by Ruggedo, if I recall correctly,
although I don't have the book handy just now) as the setting of Inga's
adventure.  Indeed, the fact that he thinks of Ozma, Dorothy, and the
Wizard, rather than Inga and Rinkitink, seems to suggest that Peter read a
more "traditional" Oz book, in which category _Tin Woodman_ would probably
qualify.
 
J. L. Bell:
 >I posted remarks on the GNOME KING art over on Nonestica. Here I'll share
 >some thoughts on what I see as the book's main theme. As a rule Thompson's
 >books don't exhibit a lot of unity, especially when it comes to the little
 >kingdom visits that interrupt her heroes' journeys.
 
While I generally don't mind irrelevant episodes, I think they were rather
poorly placed in _Gnome King_.  Peter and Ruggedo make it to Patch without
encountering anything really irrelevant, but, as soon as Peter and Scraps
escape from Patch, Thompson suddenly finds it necessary to throw in a lot of
adventures that don't really enhance the plot.
 
Nathan

From: Dave Hardenbrook <DaveH47 at ...>
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 12:40:34 -0700
Subject: FWD: [BCF] Gnome King chronology

[Ken Shepherd has been having trouble submitting posts to Nonestica, so
here is the _Gnome King_ chronology he forwarded to me. -- Dave]

----- Forwarded message -----

********WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR "GNOME KING" AHEAD********

Day 1 - Queen Cross Patch goes to pieces in AM - Quilties go in search of
new ruler, arrive in Emerald City in late afternoon - Scraps becomes Queen
of the Quilties - Peter kidnaped by Balloon Bird - drops in on Ruggedo at
evening ("the sun was sinking in the west") - escape after seaquake -
night on Blunderoo's ship

Day 2 - Ozma leaves EC to spend night with Glinda - Scraps forced to work
all day, meets Grumpy at dinner time - Peter, Ruggedo discover Polacky's
treasure, magic implements of Soob the Sorcerer - Ruggedo deposes Kaliko
at noon - Peter & Ruggedo march to desert & cross it at lunchtime - they meet
Kuma Party in evening ("it's growing dark") - walk at night - Ruggedo &
Peter arrive in Patch - cloak takes Ruggedo to
Zamagoochie - Ruggedo imprisoned by Wumbo - Scraps, Grumpy & Peter plot to
escape - night in Patch palace

Day 3 - Scraps & party escape with help from Kuma - visit Suds,
Bewilderness - meet Ozwold - Tune Town - Ruggedo escapes from Wumbo in
early morning - makes mischief in EC - Wumbo receives message from Kuma 
around
noon, instructs him to send his arm to EC to warn Ozma & hold Ruggedo -
Ozma returns with Magic Belt at 3 PM - Scraps' party returns to EC at same
time - Ruggedo foiled at Emerald City by Silence Stone

Day 4 - Peter is made a Prince of Oz - returns home - Wizard discovers the
true Queen of Patch

****************END SPOILERS*****************

Personal opinion:
I have considered (since I first encountered _Gnome King_, in the past
decade or so) this volume to be one of the weakest of the series. Having
already encountered Peter as a dynamic character in _Jack Pumpkinhead_ and
_Pirates_, I was quite disappointed with Thompson's effort. Normally I
enjoy her works--even more so than Baum's, in many cases--but for me
_Gnome King_ comes off as slapdash, a book that has imagination but little
character development and very little of the whimsical attitude that
Thompson brings to most of her writings. It also contains one of Thompson's
most egregious examples of an IE--the encounter with the Bookman (? I think
this is right, but I don't have the opportunity to check it right now),
which seems to be introduced only to introduce dramatic tension. But the
actions of Peter's party seem to be so poorly coordinated with those of
Ruggedo that the episode is mere annoying. _Gnome King_ is for me a blip
in Thompson's otherwise very enjoyable contributions to the series.

Best,
Ken Shepherd

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Aug 24, 2000  7:45 pm
Subject:  GNOME KING plot

Ken Shepherd wrote:
<<_Gnome King_ ...contains one of Thompson's most egregious examples of an
IE--the encounter with the Bookman (? I think this is right, but I don't
have the opportunity to check it right now), which seems to be introduced
only to introduce dramatic tension. But the actions of Peter's party seem
to be so poorly coordinated with those of Ruggedo that the episode is mere
annoying.>>

And Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<While I generally don't mind irrelevant episodes, I think they were
rather poorly placed in _Gnome King_. Peter and Ruggedo make it to Patch
without encountering anything really irrelevant, but, as soon as Peter and
Scraps escape from Patch, Thompson suddenly finds it necessary to throw in
a lot of adventures that don't really enhance the plot.>>

The delays in Suds, in Tune Town, and especially with the Bookman are
indeed irksome. The last is especially illogical because it shows Scraps,
Peter, and Grumpy setting aside their life-and-death mission in favor of
hearing stories. Only Ozwold insists on continuing, and Thompson chides him
as "determined to snub this new acquaintence" [223].
The Bookman seems to hold special attraction for Thompson, a
storyteller herself. Is she saying that hearing a verse, or a bear story,
or a baseball story, may be worth risking the freedom of Oz? Actually, I
think she's more fond of the message she's sending to publishers on behalf
of authors everywhere: "I don't wait to be advertised," the Bookman
proclaims [220].

In other respects, the plotting of GNOME KING is pretty good.
Thompson manages some of her usual cliff-hanger chapter endings [e.g., 65].
The way the two parties come together and separate in chapter 9 is
graceful. The justification for Ozma not intervening early on--that she's
on a journey to Glinda's castle [243-4]--is more plausible than some of
these necessary excuses, and also lets Thompson frustrate Ruggedo's plans a
while longer.

Most interesting is the false ending in chapter 18, a technique
Hollywood action films seem to require these days (see, for example,
SPEED). Peter and his friends and Kuma Party's hand both arrive in time.
Ruggedo is chased away. Not just any egg but a huge egg guards the magical
treasures from him. Everyone sits down for that traditional Thompsonian
ending, the celebratory feast in Ozma's palace. But in the midst of that
joy an even more joyous event occurs--Ozwold's baby hatches. And suddenly
we're even closer to the brink of destruction.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:   "ruth berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Fri Aug 25, 2000  12:31 pm
Subject:  Ruggedo in Oz

J.L.
Bell: Interesting comments on Ruggeo as childish himself and as inner
child to the other characters, and on contrast of Baum's Ruggedo as mostly
more threatening than RPT's. You comment that even the "con man" Ruggedo in
Baum's "Magic" is still a non-childish sort of menace -- but I think at that
point Baum's idea of Ruggedo is probably pretty close to RPT's (maybe still
slightly more effective at being dangerous, but only slightly more, and
similar in comicality). Also interesting Nonestica-message on RPT's author's
note to "Gnome King" and implied communications with Oz. Your suggestion of
some kind of difference between communications equivalent to telegrams and
to letters sounds plausible.

[Above is comments on last Ozzy Digest, and will be a repeat, if Dave brings
out another Ozzy Digest. But in case he doesn't, I'm sending those comments
to Nonestica address, too.]

Ken Shepherd: Thanks for the "Gnome King" chronology. You're right about the
plot weaknesses in the book, but I enjoy it anyway, probably because of the
characterization of Ruggedo (J.L. Bell had an interesting discussion of this
side of it).
 
Nathan DeHoff: Yes, on second thought, I think you're right that "Tin
Woodman" makes the best candidate for Peter's Oz reading. Incidentally -- I
asked if anyone on the Digest could send me a list of the stories in Mark
West's "Before Oz." As it turned out, I didn't get the information that way,
but interlibrary loan turned me up a copy, so I'm settling down to read it.
And I was interested to note a Gnome short-story, Elizabeth Foster
Wesselhoft's "The Mischievous Prank of the Gnomes" (another possibility for
Peter's gnome-reading, although as it came out in 1895, perhaps less likely
to be available to him than Baum's "Santa Claus" or Gibson's "Zauberlinda").
In Wesselhoft's version, the king's name is Rondo, and although mischievous,
he is presented as a good-buy type.

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Aug 25, 2000  8:56 pm
Subject:  GNOME KING's Nome King

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<Interesting comments on Ruggeo as childish himself and as inner child to
the other characters, and on contrast of Baum's Ruggedo as mostly more
threatening than RPT's. You comment that even the "con man" Ruggedo in
Baum's "Magic" is still a non-childish sort of menace -- but I think at that
point Baum's idea of Ruggedo is probably pretty close to RPT's (maybe still
slightly more effective at being dangerous, but only slightly more, and
similar in comicality).>>

One moment which I think shows off the juvenility of Thompson's Ruggedo is
when he invisibly pinches the Scarecrow and Dorothy, and then can barely
control himself laughing [244-7]. That's the sort of thing a mischievous
child would do, or at least a sitcom writer's version of one. I suspect the
Nome King of MAGIC would have been able to take the longer view, realizing
that he'd be risking discovery for a very little pleasure. He had a temper,
but he was also devious and hard-headed.

But perhaps the change is the effect of the Fountain of Oblivion
taking years off his life. Ruggedo doesn't show any reaction to the name
"Ann of Oogaboo," the woman who captured him in TIK-TOK [119]. At the end
of GNOME KING he gets another dip in the fountain, but Thompson offers no
promise, just a "hope," that this time he'd forget his wickedness [282]. Of
course, he doesn't.

In THE OZ GAME BOOK, Robin Olderman pointed out that Ozwold
shouldn't appear in the picture on page 179 (chapter 17) because Peter and
Scraps meet him after their visit to Suds. There's also a picture in GNOME
KING in which Ruggedo appears when he shouldn't. Anyone care to point it
out?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Aug 27, 2000  11:39 am
Subject:  GNOME KING oddities

Some random oddities I noted while reading GNOME KING, keyed to their page
numbers in the Reilly & Lee edition--

18: The Prime Piecer carries beeswax. I recall that tailors and
seamstresses used beeswax, but can't remember why. To make their needles
smooth? To wax ends of threads?

32: The foot-path is "Private Property of the Wizard of Oz," and usually
tied up [43]. But according to EMERALD CITY, "all property of every sort
belonged to the Ruler." Perhaps private ownership of this path is necessary
because it's magical, and therefore shouldn't be operated by unauthorized
Ozians.

58: Despite her flammability, Scraps carries about a dripping candle.

91: "The tides of the Nonestic Ocean were very strong." Good for us to
know, even if these particular currents may be due to the pair of huge
seaquakes.

157: Scraps swears in a particularly Pennsylvanian way: "Oh, scrapple!" On
the next page, the Prime Piecer recognizes scrapple as a breakfast food
[though I find that claim arguable].

163: "A zazagooch...is the loudest snoring animal in Oz." Does Nickadoodle
from COWARDLY LION know this? Or is Nickadoodle a zazagooch (zazagoose)?

171: Peter is so into sports that he "had tried skiing," and downhill
skiing at that; he was ahead of his time, especially for an urban
nine-year-old.

172: Scraps was "in a state of breathless surprise"--but when does she ever
take breaths?

197: We learn Dorothy has a piano in the royal palace, and Scraps has been
"practicing faithfully." I have trouble imagining her sitting in one place
for a whole rehearsal (though in RUNAWAY she does plop down and apply
herself to composing her best verse).

202: Queen Jazzma of Tune Town is described in an appropriately flapperish
way: "bob-haired," with "a very short skirt."

243: Ozma's palace turns out to have a "front porch" and, on 245, "a book
of party games."

Also on 243: The Scarecrow has a "few wisps of straw that served him for
hair."

Finally, a coupla nice metaphors about Ruggedo--

112: In the water, he's "sputtering and sizzling like a hot coal in a dish
pan."

120: Back home, he declares himself "hungry enough to eat a billy goat
stuffed with soldier buttons!"

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  RMorris306 at a...
Date:  Sun Aug 27, 2000  9:03 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] GNOME KING oddities

In a message dated 8/27/00 2:02:25 PM, JnoLBell at c...  writes:

<<
91: "The tides of the Nonestic Ocean were very strong." Good for us to
know, even if these particular currents may be due to the pair of huge
seaquakes. >>

Well, given that the moon is so close to Nonestica that Mr. Tinker could
(as related in OZMA) get there via a ladder, I'm not surprised...

Rich

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 08:25:17 -0400
From: "John W. Kennedy" <rri0189 at attglobal.net>
Subject: Re: Ozzy DIgest, 08-26-2000

Ozzy Digest wrote:
J. L. Bell wrote:
 >          Peter refers to himself as "nine years old and in the Fifth-B"
 > [77]. Does anyone recognize that term--seemingly a school grade of some
 > kind?
 
Probably an allusion to the practice (more common then than now) of
having kids start school in half-years, depending on birthday, rather
than all in September.
 
--
John W. Kennedy

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Mon Aug 28, 2000  5:54 am
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] GNOME KING oddities

J.  L. Bell:
>157: Scraps swears in a particularly Pennsylvanian way: "Oh,
scrapple!"

Is scrapple a particularly Pennsylvanian food (if you can call it "food,"
that is)? I seem to recall my Virginian grandmother serving it
occasionally.

>163: "A zazagooch...is the loudest snoring animal in Oz." Does Nickadoodle
>from COWARDLY LION know this? Or is Nickadoodle a zazagooch
(zazagoose)?

I had thought of that, although being a member of a race of loudly-snoring
animals might make Nick less unusual. Then again, it might be his telephone
attachment and large size that make him unusual.

I also wonder if a zazagooch is a specific kind of gooch (Kabumpo's favorite
insult, and possibly an animal as well, most likely one related to a
goose).

Nathan

From:  "John W. Kennedy" <rri0189 at a...>
Date:  Mon Aug 28, 2000  9:21 am
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] GNOME KING oddities

"J.  L. Bell" wrote:
> 157: Scraps swears in a particularly Pennsylvanian way: "Oh, scrapple!" On
> the next page, the Prime Piecer recognizes scrapple as a breakfast food
> [though I find that claim arguable].

If the "arguable" is meant as a serious question about social practice,
rather than a criticism of scrapple as food, per se, I'm quite certain I
remember it being advertised as such in the 60's. I've only encountered
it in the flesh (so to speak) when visiting the PA Renaissance Faire,
which is just between Lebanon and Lancaster. (We were there just
yesterday, in fact.)

--
John W. Kennedy
(Working from my laptop)

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Mon Aug 28, 2000  10:46 am
Subject:  GNOME KING: Peter's reading

Nathan DeHoff wrote of the one Oz book Peter has read:
<<Is Ruggedo mentioned as anything other than "the former Nome King" [in
RINKITINK]? Peter might not have remembered such a brief reference, after
all. I think _Rinkitink_ is rather unlikely, however, as Peter does not
seem to recognize the Nonestic Ocean (mentioned by name by Ruggedo, if I
recall correctly, although I don't have the book handy just now) as the
setting of Inga's adventure. Indeed, the fact that he thinks of Ozma,
Dorothy, and the Wizard, rather than Inga and Rinkitink, seems to suggest
that Peter read a more "traditional" Oz book, in which category _Tin
Woodman_ would probably qualify.>>

In a quick search of the RINKITINK text, I didn't find any mention of
Ruggedo/Roquat by name or function, or of the Magic Belt. The most
prominent Ozians in the book are Dorothy, the Wizard, and Ozma, the very
ones Peter recalled.

On the other hand, the book does name the Nonestic Ocean, ten
times. And even if Peter didn't recall that geographic fact, he'd probably
have thought of Inga when he found himself stranded on islands and boats
and dealing with Nomes. But he doesn't.

Another possible clue about what Oz book Peter had read before
meeting Ruggedo is that, although he's interested in Scraps's song about
Sir Hokus [207], he doesn't seem to recognize the knight by name or in
person [207, 266]. That implies he hasn't read ROYAL BOOK.
I think Peter could have read an Oz book in which Scraps was a
minor character or appeared in the art, and just not remember her. But we
can still rule out those books in which she plays a crucial role: PATCHWORK
GIRL, LOST PRINCESS, GLINDA, etc.

So TIN WOODMAN does seem to be a likely candidate, even though
Peter isn't particularly interested in meeting the Scarecrow or Tin
Woodman.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Mon Aug 28, 2000  10:46 am
Subject:  GNOME KING art roundup

Some remarks on individual pieces of art in GNOME KING, again keyed to
pages in the Reilly & Lee edition:

3/"This Book Belongs To": Neill doesn't seem to have been trained to read
music, judging by the early measures of this staff. [Incidentally, my copy
of GNOME KING belonged to Lee Edwards.]

9/author's note: The cat on Kabumpo's head smiles as he catches a fish,
which makes that feline more likely to be Eureka than any other we've met.

14: Nice, somewhat grown-up picture of (I assume) Trot.

20: The Scissors Bird seems to have presented a problem for Neill. He put
claws on both of the scissor handles, so the creature usually has one foot stuck up in the air.
Also, I like the patchwork-patterned window in the Quilty palace,
also visible on page 14.

34: An interesting variation on the traditional Ozian house. This looks big
enough to be an Emerald City apartment building.

66: From our first glimpse of him, Peter is linked to baseball equipment.

73: The odd creatures flying above Peter seem to be forerunners of the
Barrel Bird in LUCKY BUCKY. But the best name for these is probably
toucans.

226: Neill locates a clock prominently in the background of Wumbo's cave,
foreshadowing the importance of the timed spells the Wonder Worker casts.
The numbers on this clock count down instead of around, however, and its
hands are sticking up at the top.

Thompson speaks of Wumbo wearing a wig [230, 240] and "specs"
[231]. Neill has chosen to show the magician's receding hairline instead,
but he makes up for the change by adding two or three more pairs of
eyeglasses.

254: In OZOPLANING and his own books, Neill made what would be the last of
his many shifts in drawing the Tin Woodman: he drew the top of the
emperor's head flat like a can instead of rounded like a dome. This picture
of Nick isn't conclusively in that style, but it seems to presage it.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "ruth berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Mon Aug 28, 2000  5:06 pm
Subject:  school levels in oz

J.L.
Bell: "in the Fifth-B" -- I think at the time that would have meant
Peter was in the second half of fifth grade. But that would make him 11
years old rather than nine, unless he'd skipped two grades along the way
(possible, but unlikely unless serving a purpose for the story, which it
doesn't), so -- I dunno.

Ruth Berman

From:  "ruth berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Tue Aug 29, 2000  10:51 am
Subject:  color plates in oz

J.L.
Bell: You asked people to spot the picture in "Gnome King" with Ruggedo
seen in it when he shouldn't be. I tried looking through, and see a couple
of possible candidates. In chapter 15 (p. 229) there's a picture of him
turning pugnaciously, beard swirling with motion (or is that the cloak
swirling out in front of him?), and at the end of the chapter there's a
full-pager of him flying through the air. In both, he's presumably
invisible, so in a sense shouldn't "appear" (except that Neill makes him
magicially visible to us, I suppose). Then in chapter 18 (p. 262) there's a
picture of him seized by Kuma's hand, something that doesn't happen in the
text until the following chapter. A couple of identification oddities in the
book's illos are the plump, happy-looking Quilty woman wearing dangly spool
ear-rings portrayed at the end of Chapter 13, and the dark-haired little
girl watering flowers at the end of the book. Neither one corresponds to an
activity at its spot. The Quilty woman might be intended as a version of the
Quilty grandame who mends the magic cloak, but she (as she appears in a
color plate) is thinner faced and doesn't have the dangly spool ear-rings.
With the happy expression, she probably isn't the worn-out previous Quilty
queen. Maybe she's meant to be an advance look at Susan Smiggs, who is
abducted at the end of the book to be the new queen (with indication that
she'll find the job pleasanter than Scraps or her predecessor did). And
maybe the girl at the end is Betsy Bobbin (or maybe Trot?), doing a little
gardening-not-in-the-text. Betsy and Trot together go to pick some flowers
in chapter 17, but presumably wouldn't have needed to water them.
Incidentally, Neill's drawing of the malicious flowered bushes dancing about
in the Bewilderness is eerily effective. Many of the full-page b&w drawings
in the story are effective. The color-plates, though, are rather poor. I
wonder if R&L had had a c