The Biography of L Frank Baum

The story of L Frank Baum is very fascinating.  He had tried many different trades, including chicken breeder, actor, play producer and author, store owner, newspaper man and traveling salesman.  However he also liked to tell stories.  His heart was bad, and when he was told he couldn't travel anymore because of his heart condition, he turned to story writing.  He had previously written a couple of books, about raising Hamburg Chickens and on store displays, in which he advocated for using mannequins.  He also published a stamp collector's journal and published a pamphlet on stamps collecting.  However his love was children's stories.  He met an editor, who suggested he write Mother Goose stories in prose, and this was his first children's book.  A Father Goose story followed, and then he self published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMMjwMkpcXw
Every once in a while you find something very good and so unexpected, you want to let everyone know about it.  If you follow this blog, you know I am a fan of l. Frank Baum, and the Oz series, and his other books.  I found this made for TV movie very enjoyable.  This is the history of L. Frank Baum, and the history of his writing the stories of OZ, starting with “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”  Baum was a delightful teller of tales, however they were not well received in the publishing community at first.  John Ritter stars as Baum and Annette O'Toole as his wife, Maude.  Baum was a regular character, with business ups and downs, and a heart condition, until age 40. His first break was "Mother Goose: in Prose" followed by "Father Goose: in Prose."  However the Oz book was his first love.  No one
wanted to produce it.  He went from publisher to publisher and still know luck.  He was at his wits end.  He finally proposed self publishing the book, and that was the turning point.
This is a motivational movie about a relationship, but also about a very gifted and creative man.  This is a great family movie.