“They tell me meat is going up, but if I can manage to catch you I'm sure it will soon be going down.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
Figure timeline
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · American author (1856–1919) · journalist · film producer · writer · novelist · actor · children's writer · screenwriter · poet · stage actor · science fiction writer · also L. Frank Baum, Captain Hugh Fitzgerald, Suzanne Metcalf, Schuyler Staunton, Edith Van Dyne, George Brooks
Born 15 May 1856 · Died 6 May 1919 · Q207544
43 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
9 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 9 entries
“I have heard that Glinda is a beautiful woman, who knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“If I'm going to starve, I'll do it all at once—not by degrees.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“There were only four witches in all the Land of Oz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the South, are good witches. I know this is true, for I am one of them myself, and cannot be mistaken. Those who dwelt in the East and the West were, indeed, wicked witches; but now that you have killed one of them, there is but one Wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz — the one who lives in the West.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“Oh, no, my dear; I'm really a very good man, but I'm a very bad Wizard, I must admit.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“My people have been wearing green glasses on their eyes for so long that most of them think this really is an Emerald City.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins. We are so grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from bondage.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“do justice to the manly characteristics”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
2025· 2 entries
Forbes: Le Boeuf’s L. Frank Baum Limited Edition Pen Is Wicked Good
- #news
- #headline
Yahoo: L. Frank Baum Figured Out How To Create A Lasting Classic
- #news
- #headline
2024· 1 entry
PBS: L Frank Baum
- #news
- #headline
2021· 1 entry
Chicago Sun-Times: ‘American Oz’: A superb PBS portrait of L. Frank Baum and the dreams that he dared to dream
- #news
- #headline
2013· 1 entry
Baum was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2006· 1 entry
Two descendants of Baum apologized to the Sioux nation for any hurt that their ancestor had caused
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2005· 1 entry
Moviefone: L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain - Where to Watch
- #news
- #headline
1997· 1 entry
Snopes rated the claim “A second-hand coat selected as part of the costume for Professor Marvel in the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz was discovered to have been owned by Oz author L. Frank Baum.” Legend.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
1990· 1 entry
By sociologist Robert Venables of Cornell University, who argues that Baum was not using sarcasm
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 1 entry
The first full-fledged interpretation of the novel as an extended metaphor of the politics and characters of the 1890s
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1920· 1 entry
“Everybody here is a dictator of something or other. They're all office holders. That's what keeps them contented. But I'm the Supreme Dictator of all, and I'm elected once a year. This is a democracy, you know, where the people are allowed to vote for their rulers. A good many others would like to be Supreme Dictator, but as I made a law that I am always to count the votes myself, I am always elected.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
1919· 2 entries
Died 1919-05-06.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Baum suffered a stroke, slipped into a coma and died the following day, nine days before his 63rd birthday
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1917· 1 entry
“To be sure. Our throats and stomachs are lined with solid gold, and we find the thistles nourishing and good to eat. As a matter of fact, there is nothing else in our country that is fit for food. All around the City of Thi grow countless thistles, and all we need do is to go and gather them. If we wanted anything else to eat, we would have to plant it, and grow it, and harvest it, and that would be a lot of trouble and make us work, which is an occupation we detest.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
1914· 1 entry
Baum started his own film production company The Oz Film Manufacturing Company, which came as an outgrowth of the Uplifters
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1906· 1 entry
When the Palace of Oz was expected to be completed
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1905· 1 entry
Baum declared plans for an Oz amusement park
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1904· 2 entries
Where it played from March to May and again from November to December
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
But Baum met Neill few times (all before he moved to California) and often found Neill's art not humorous enough for his liking
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1902· 1 entry
(the first to use the shortened title "The Wizard of Oz"), then ran on Broadway for 293 stage nights from January to October 1903
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1901· 1 entry
And based closely upon the book, but it was rejected
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1900· 2 entries
Baum published a book about window displays in which he stressed the importance of mannequins in drawing customers
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to much critical acclaim and financial success
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1899· 1 entry
Baum partnered with illustrator W
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1897· 2 entries
Wrote and published Mother Goose in Prose, a collection of Mother Goose rhymes written as prose stories and illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Founded and edited a magazine called The Show Window, later known as the Merchants Record and Show Window, which focused on store window displays, retail strategies and visual merchandising
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1891· 2 entries
Returned to the subject in an editorial response to the Wounded Knee Massacre:
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And he, Maud, and their four sons moved to the Humboldt Park section of Chicago, where Baum took a job reporting for the Evening Post
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1890· 1 entry
Five days after the killing of the Lakota Sioux holy man Sitting Bull
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1886· 1 entry
When Baum was 30 years old, his first book was published: The Book of the Hamburgs: A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1882· 1 entry
Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage and feminist activist
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1880· 1 entry
His father built him a theater in Richburg, New York, and Baum set about writing plays and gathering a company to act in them
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1856· 2 entries
Born 1856-05-15.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
“If any of us takes a rest, We'll be arrested sure, And get no restitution 'Cause the rest we must endure.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote