It’s the birthday of L. Frank Baum (1856-1919, #theresnoplacelikehome), best known for his children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), which was the first in a series of 14 books about Oz. A stage version of the book first appeared in Chicago in 1902, and the now-classic movie was released in 1939.

Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, and entered Peekskill Military Academy at 12, where he enjoyed the harsh atmosphere so much that he collapsed of a possible heart attack when he was 14. (He was being caned at the time.) He left Peekskill and never completely finished high school or attended college. Instead, he worked at everything from raising chickens to working in the theatre.

Baum married Maud Gage in 1882 and had an apparently devoted relationship, in spite of Maud’s being somewhat capricious and shrewish. Baum and his wife had several sons, and Baum moved the family to Aberdeen, South Dakota (woot-woot! Old high school rivals of mine!), where he again worked at different odd jobs, including that oddest of all, journalism. He was 40 when he finally got around to writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and once it was published he became not only a bestselling author but the *first* successful American children’s book author. (Weird. Let that sink in.) Before that, it was all Europeans, all the time, as far as what the kids were reading.

William Wallace Denslow, the Chicago artist who illustrated the first edition of Oz, took his royalties and bought Bluck’s Island off the coast of Bermuda and crowned himself King Denslow I. So there’s that. Ultimately he and Baum stopped collaborating, as they had difficulties working and playing well with one another.

Baum ultimately wrote about 60 books, many under a pseudonym. He died after having a stroke just a few days shy of his 63rd birthday. The movie The Wizard of Oz has been declared by academic authorities at Northwestern University to be “the most culturally significant Hollywood film ever made”—so shove over, Star Wars. (See an article about this here.)

Have a steadily healing sort of Wednesday full of antibiotics and Gatorade as needed and stay scrupulously honest to the data.