Playing with Dollies: The Shadow Toybox

Back in the day, when I was still an actual child (say the mid-Seventies), we managed to get our hands on exactly one MEGO Oz doll, the Cowardly Lion. I, of course, would have preferred the Tin Woodman. In time, the figure was nicknamed Otis, and lost most of his accoutrements, except his bodystocking. His remains remain to this day.

Later (say the late Eighties), when the Oz Multi Toys line rolled around, I had to get them (except for the girl Munchkins, and, maybe, the Winged Monkey? - hard to remember at this late date), despite my dissatisfaction with their dolly format. It was Oz! For the longest of time they were stored in the Old Toybox when I was still at Loop Drive. Sometime in the Nineties or early 2000's I gave them to Kelsey and Kaitlyn (still with their boxes), and now they are stored in Susan’s attic.

Much the same origin and fate apply to the Biken Express Seven Dwarfs, which I had to have, because, you know – Dwarfs. 

Baum is the Bomb: Some Oz in the Archive

 

L. Frank Baum and his works have always been a part of my life. One of the earliest dreams I can remember is from when I was in 2^nd Grade and involved Oz characters with the Yellow Brick Road rising up from the back playground of the school into the sky. Anyway, my latest reading prompted me to gather together my Oz and Oz-related media, and to show them all together. From editions of The Wizard of Oz:

To the Del Rey L. Frank Baum/Ruth Plumly Thompson series, with covers by Michael Herring:

To movies and specials:

To non-Oz Baum:

To non-Baum Oz:

To graphic Oz:

To visitors from Oz:

To Oz in the Shadow Library:

But nothing seems to capture the fine, free spirit of The Wizard of Oz (both book and 1939 movie).