The Dreamer Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story is a biographical drama film that premiered on December 10, 1990 on NBC. It the story of how the Oz books were developed.
The screenplay is framed as being an interview of Maud Gage Baum, with the scenes of her and reporter and the start and end of the film appearing in black and white. The life of L. Frank Baum that she describes is shown in color, as are the parts of the Oz story that he tells to his children.
Cast[]
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- John Ritter as L. Frank Baum
- Annette O'Toole as Maud Gage Baum
- Rue McClanahan as Matilda Joslyn Gage
- David Schramm as W.W. Denslow
- Courtney Barilla as Dorothy Gage/Dorothy Gale
- Pat Skipper as Charlie H. Gage
- Nancy Morgan as Helen Leslie Gage
- Joshua Boyd and Trevor Eyster as Frank Joslyn Baum
Cameos: Robert A. Baum Jr., Christine Baum, and Clare Baum as townspeople
Historical Conflicts[]
The film tries to tell the story of a man that created fantastical tales by pulling inspiration from the real world around him. The events written for the film do not always match the accounts reported by the people who experienced them.
- The film shows the inspiration for the name 'Oz' coming from a library card catalog which splits cards into 'A-N' and 'O-Z'. Maud Baum has denied this theory.
- Dorothy - Baum's real life niece Dorothy Gage died at the age of 5 months. The Dorothy in this film lived to the age of 6 years and was named 'Dorothy Leslie'.
External Links[]