Collecting in the Land of Oz

by D.E.Bentley –

Barb Kennerson’s lifelong love of reading and all things OZ has ballooned into an eclectic collection of L. Frank Baum memorabilia

Eighty years ago this month, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released The Wizard of Oz, a 1939 American musical fantasy film that starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, with Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr.

This movie was my introduction to the Land of Oz.  For many young people, especially those born before movie theatres and TV became mainstream, their introduction was through the stories written by L. Frank Baum.  The first of these was the 1900 children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  

Many young people read the first story, and the thirteen sequels that followed, and became lost in the Land of Oz.  For most, the stories faded from memory as childhood was left behind.  

For some, including Barb Kennerson of Honeoye, NY, the mythical and marvelous stories and characters cast a lasting lifelong spell.  I did not know how deep of a spell that might be until I visited Kennerson at her home. 

I knew I had landed in the right place when I glimpsed a Dorothy figurine through the picture window.  Stepping inside, I was blown away by the eclectic and wonderful collection of Oz-related memorabilia that Kennerson has accumulated over the years.  A collection that includes the books she read as a child and many other books by Baum (including a collection of books written under his various pen names).  She has a collection of translated versions and a lovely pop-up picture book she uses for presentations, as well as many related fiction and non-fiction 

titles by other authors.  Describing the extent of the collection, which occupies every room of her home, seems an impossible task. It includes many different artists’ interpretations of the various characters from the Land of Oz, figurines, movie and book promotional material, maps, puzzles, historical newspapers, comic strips, patches, pins, postcards, cookie cutters, cookie jars (to put the character cookies into), tea sets, stuffed characters, puppets, political cartoons, posters, garments and ornaments (an entire tree full that stays up all year).  It also includes an abundance of contemporary takeoffs – Barbie dolls, Muppets, NASCAR – which further highlight just how much these stories resonate with popular culture, more than a century after they were published.  

Each piece of memorabilia in the collection has special meaning.  Friends and family members  gifted many of the pieces to her.  Her husband, Charles – who passed in 2017 – generously supported her collecting, by allowing the many characters to share their home during their 52 years together.  As Barb and I moved together through the collection, I heard story after story about the different pieces.  The pace was dizzying. Many of her favorite pieces are handmade originals.  These include caricatures of her and her daughter in costume – drawn at a convention, a hand-stitched jacket and a double-sided character puppet of Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion.   The memories around how the pieces were acquired add to their sentimental value. Such as two colorful hand made figurines she showed me.  She had seen a collection of these at a convention.  When she complimented the artist, he generously gifted two of them to her.   

 There are also more personal stories, like the Patchwork Girl costume lovingly pieced together for her by her mother.   She shared with me a photograph of her in character wearing this costume.  Scraps has always been one of her favorite characters, and one that she enjoys playing. Making and donning costumes is an enduring interest, and she attends conventions and gives presentations in costume, sometimes joined by family members. There was another photograph that showed her dressed as Glinda and her mother dressed as a munchkin. One thing Kennerson learned early on about characterizations – when she mistakenly took off her mask to grab a bite to eat in front of a little girl – is to remain in costume once in costume.  During her many years traveling to conventions, she’s enjoyed playing these different characters, to help keep the magic alive.  She’s also met some of the actors and actresses from the original Wizard of Oz movie, only a handful of whom are still living.  She has collected friends as well as memories.

The magic of Oz came alive for so many of us via Technicolor with The Wizard of Oz.  It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture (which it lost to Gone with the Wind).   It did win for Best Original Song, “Over the Rainbow,” and Best Original Score, by Herbert Stothart. For most of us, our first viewing was with the later TV runs, it premiered in 1956.  Being exposed to the Land of Oz via film is very different from the experience of those who read the books first, and had the freedom to imagine the place and its many characters in their mind’s eye.  Reading allows us to believe in and travel to magical places, and this was the illusion L. Frank Baum wanted to create through his storytelling.  He was styled as “the Royal Historian of Oz.” The stories were a retelling by Baum, shared with him by the character narrators by means of wireless telegraph, an emerging and seemingly magical technology at the time of the writings. That there were still many places on earth undiscovered in 1900 also allowed readers to more readily imagine the Land of Oz as a real place.   

“Baum was a lover of language,” offered Kennerson.  His stories are filled with interesting idioms. The stories also offer life lessons in vivid and entertaining ways.  She offered the example of when Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion fall asleep in a field of poppies.  The Woodman and Scarecrow are able to carry Dorothy and Toto out, but the Cowardly Lion is too heavy.  Once they have Dorothy and Toto safely out of the field, the Tin Woodman builds a truck of wood after saving and befriending the Queen of all the Field Mice.  At the Woodman’s directions, she summons her people to come, and to each bring a long piece of string. The Scarecrow and Woodman attached each of the field mice to the truck with their pieces of string and they were all together able to get the lion onto the truck and pull him out of the Poppy field.  The moral is, “Many hands make light work.” 

Given Kennerson’s fascination with all things Oz, it is not surprising that she is a bit of an Oz expert, and her knowledge extends well beyond the books.  She shared with me some about the making of the movie, which was a challenging feat at the time that rivaled other period movies in its use of creative special effects.  A. Arnold “Buddy” Gillespie, a wizard with special effects, wrapped a muslin stocking around chicken wire for the tornado.  The motorized rotating tornado was pulled along the sound stage on a track from below the stage.  Wind machines provided the needed dust.   Make up needed to be reworked to accommodate the new Technicolor formatting.  Then there was also the challenge of the blue ducks, after dye in the water had some unintended consequences.   

It was Barb Kennerson’s love of reading and language that led to her astonishing collection. She continues to be an avid reader.  She will lead a discussion session August 28th at Honeoye Public on Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts.  The fiction tale is based closely on the true story of Frank and Maud Baum.  The library will also be hosting some of Kennerson’s collection during the months of August and September, for all to enjoy. Kennerson also loves to share her knowledge and love of the stories, and is available to speak with groups (young and young at heart) and will tailor her presentation around particular interests.

A selection of Barb Kennerson’s extensive collection will be on display at the Honeoye Public Library August and September 2019. On August 28, 2019 at 5:30 pm she will be leading a talk at the library on Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts.