Finding Dorothy Is About The Love Story Behind The Wizard of Oz
Maud Baum would not have them screw up Frank’s book. It was the least she could do for the man she loved. (A true story)
Finding Dorothy opens with an old woman determined to get into MGM Studios to meet with producers. She’d been calling every day for so long they finally got sick of her and gave her an appointment.
She was 77 year old Maud Baum, determined they were not going to make a movie of her husband’s book without her on set.
She would not have them screw up Frank’s book. It was the least she could do for the man she’d loved since she first set eyes on him.
The story came from Frank’s pencil, true enough, but it was as inseparable from the both of them as they were from each other.
The beautiful love story of Maud & L Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was tall and lanky, all arms and legs and twinkling eyes. He hated his first name so he just went by Frank.
He wasn’t made for the real world. Business and profit befuddled him every time. He was made for dreaming up stories, planning costumes and building the sets where his stories would come alive.
Put him in front of an audience or a room full of kids and he shone.
As the babies came along, he was the kind of father that filled his children’s lives with bedtime stories and every day magic. He was soft spoken and never once raised his voice to anyone.
And Maud? She wasn’t any more traditional than Frank was.
Daughter of famed suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage, she was totally unaware of what a woman’s “place” was in the world and got bullied in college for it.
Didn’t matter how many times people told her to tone it down, that’s just not who she was. Once, the rumors were so bad she locked herself in her room and cried for hours. But it didn’t change her any.
Half her troubles came from being her mother’s daughter, if not more.
Her roommate, Josie Baum, said she was strange. You should meet my cousin Frank, she said. He’s strange, too. I think you’ll like each other.
Absolutely smitten. Instantly.
Frank and Maud fell in love the first time they set eyes on each other and thank goodness, because without their strange and beautiful story, the Wizard of Oz would never have been written.
No yellow brick road for Elton John to sing about, no little man behind the curtain, no tin man or scarecrow, no ruby red slippers or dreams that really do come true. Somewhere over the rainbow.
“Maud [Gage Baum] is a fascinating character, and this is a poignant, absorbing tale of the life and love story that led to the creation of a beloved classic.” — Booklist
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue…
For years, they struggled. Loss after loss as Frank tried to chase his dreams and then finally tried to be a normal working husband. Nothing ever worked. Maud almost died after the birth of their second child.
Life just kept knocking them down. When they lost everything and found themselves in poverty, with Maud taking in sewing to make ends meet, Frank wrapped his arms around her and made her a promise.
No spoilers, I won’t tell you what he promised.
Here’s what I’ll tell you.
One day Maud walked into the room where Frank had been writing. They were getting older already. He was 43 and going gray at the temples. They’d struggled for so very long.
He was just sitting there, holding a stack of paper and scraps and a little stub of a pencil. It was all that remained of his favorite pencil.
His eyes shone wet as he patted the papers. Said it’s all in here Maudie. This is the one. The one that will change everything.
And it was.
Later, he’d frame that pencil stub with a caption that said:
“With this pencil I wrote the ms. [manuscript] of The Emerald City.” — L. Frank Baum
And the dreams that you dare to dream…
One of the most touching parts of the book is the friendship that developed between Maud and Judy Garland. Unlike Garland’s own mother, Maud helped the young star deal with being forbidden to eat, being called fat, and navigating producers with groping hands and few morals.
I dearly want to tell you about the the day the jacket showed up on set. But it’s too magical. I’ll let you read about it. It’s too good to spoil.
There, on set, Maud watched Frank’s book come to life.
The scarecrow? Straight from a childhood fear of Maud’s. The scarecrow story is in the book. And the tinman? From the time Frank spent trying to sell Castorine axle oil in a family business to make ends meet.
Every character based in some experience of his, or hers. Their lives, spun together into a magical story because that’s how Frank was made.
The tornado? It really happened, in Dakota Territory, where they’d moved to try scratch out a living when they were broke. It’s where Maud’s sister lived too, with a husband as mean as Frank was kind.
When you read about the ring Frank gave Maud, it will tug your heart more than a little. It gives significance to the Emerald city. And Dorothy? I’ll let you discover that yourself, too.
L. Frank Baum wrote 41 books before he died following gallbladder surgery at age 62, leaving four books unfinished. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was his fourth book and the one that changed everything.
“Readers looking for an inspiring true story will be delighted…” — Library Journal
Thousands of 5-star reviews…
Finding Dorothy isn’t just the story of Maud and the making of The Wizard of Oz movie in 1938. It’s the entire story that led to the bestselling book. It’s the life and love of L. Frank Baum and his beloved wife, Maud.
It’s the story of a love that was bigger than struggle and dreams that never died because of a man who simply would not let them.
Because he made his wife a promise. And then he made it come true.
Elizabeth Letts did a fantastic job. The book is an editors pick for good reason. Over 2400 reviews, mostly 5 star.
To echo what one reviewer said on Amazon — the description doesn’t do the book justice at all. She’s dead on right. It’s doesn’t.
I’m not sure mine does, either.
All I can tell you is that it’s totally worth the read.
L. Frank Baum’s widowed wife, Maud, ensures MGM does justice to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “ — Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
