The cast of the all-women Wizard of Oz musical at Cornell in 1921

An all-female production of a Wizard of Oz musical, performed by first-years in 1921. (Rare and Manuscript Collections)

Off to See the Wizard: Cornell’s Links to an Iconic Book and Film

From its feminist influences to an alum in a key role, there’s a bit of the Big Red behind the Emerald City

By Corey Ryan Earle ’07

With the movie musical Wicked lighting up the box office, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is once again in the zeitgeist. Published in 1900, L. Frank Baum’s children’s book has had numerous stage and film adaptations, most famously the 1939 classic starring Judy Garland.

And, as with most things, it might not have happened without a few Cornellians.

The Ithaca campus opened in October 1868 with a commitment to educating “any person,” making it the first major coed university in the eastern U.S.

An illustration of Corey Earle with the title Storytime with Corey

And leaders in the women’s rights movement paid close attention.

Susan B. Anthony spoke on women’s education in Ithaca in March 1869. Elizabeth Cady Stanton sent two sons to study on the Hill.

And Matilda Joslyn Gage, another co-founder of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association, enrolled her son in the University’s first entering class.

Matilda Joslyn Gage
Wikimedia Commons
Matilda Joslyn Gage.

Gage is perhaps less known today than Anthony or Stanton, due in part to her more radical activism, expanding beyond women’s suffrage to issues like Indigenous rights and the dangers of conservative religious dogma.

In a book, Gage criticized witch hunts and trials as methods of oppressing women—and, being the mother-in-law of the book’s author, she likely influenced how he portrayed its witches.

In fact, some historians believe that Glinda and Elphaba (as the future Witch of the West is known in Wicked) represent parts of her personality.

The connection traces its roots to when one of Gage’s daughters, Maud Gage 1884, enrolled at Cornell—and shared a room in Sage Hall with another Upstate New Yorker, Josephine Baum 1883.

In December 1881, Maud attended a Christmas party in Syracuse where she was introduced to L. Frank Baum, Josie’s cousin.

Maud and Frank were married the following November, and the new bride dropped out of Cornell.

Long struggling to find a professional footing, Frank eventually brought his family to the western frontier of Aberdeen in present-day South Dakota, where Maud’s brother, Thomas Clarkson Gage 1872, lived.

Thomas and his wife welcomed a daughter, Dorothy, in 1898, but she died just five months later.

The Baums and Gages had by then relocated to Illinois, and Maud—the baby’s aunt—was distraught at the loss.

Frank likely immortalized the infant in the novel he was writing, with little Dorothy Gage, daughter of a Cornellian, becoming Dorothy Gale.

Maud Gage Baum 1883.
Wikimedia Commons
Maud Gage Baum 1884.

(Others argue that Dorothy was simply a popular name in that era.)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would become the best-selling children’s book for two years and inspire dozens of sequels and adaptations.

Of Frank and Maud’s four children, two would follow their mother in matriculating at Cornell.

The cover of the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of OzProvided
The first edition of Baum’s classic tale.

Their second son, Robert Stanton Baum 1910, earned a degree in mechanical engineering on the Hill, while their eldest, Frank Joslyn Baum, briefly attended the Law School.

More saliently, Frank Joslyn continued his father’s legacy by writing several stories set in Oz and serving as the first president of the International Wizard of Oz Club.

Of Frank and Maud’s four children, two would follow their mother in matriculating at Cornell.

He also sold the books’ movie rights, leading to the acclaimed 1939 film.

A stage musical of The Wizard of Oz premiered in 1902; the touring production made its way to Ithaca in October of that year, with the Sun calling it “magnificent.”

Cornell’s Women’s Dramatic Club staged its own version in Barnes Hall in 1921.

Frank MorganWikimedia Commons
The wizard himself: Actor Frank Morgan 1912.

The 1939 movie musical—which is ranked sixth on the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 films of all time—features a performance by Frank Morgan 1912 in the title role.

Morgan had completed one year at Cornell under the name Frank Wuppermann, including singing in the Glee Club, before pursuing a Hollywood career.

The cover of "Finding Dorothy"
Provided
The novel puts Maud at center stage.

Although Frank Baum had passed away decades earlier, his widow played a key role in helping promote the movie and continue her late husband’s legacy.

Maud herself would even become the heroine of a novel: 2019’s Finding Dorothy, which imagines her experiences on the set of the classic film in her 70s.

Some have suggested that Oz’s yellow brick road was inspired by streets in Ithaca, although Baum’s descendants believe that it was influenced by roads where the family vacationed in Michigan.

(Regardless, yellow bricks were not particularly uncommon, so Ithaca’s claim is tenuous.)

But there’s no denying that the Hill has hosted the actual crystal ball used in the film: the famed prop is owned by two alums, who lent it for display in Kroch Library in 2018.

Cornell astronomer Frank Drake ’51, BEP ’52, took inspiration from Oz when he founded Project Ozma in 1960 to search for extraterrestrial intelligence through radio waves, naming the program after the princess in Baum’s books.

Scenes from the Wizard of Oz and the crystal ball on display at CornellLindsay France / Cornell University
The crystal ball on display on campus, with images from the film—including Morgan (at left) as one of the several characters he portrayed.

Drake’s justification was that Oz was “a land far away, difficult to reach, and populated by strange and exotic beings”—much like the distant worlds he hoped to discover.

Top: An all-female production of a Wizard of Oz musical, performed by first-years in 1921. (Rare and Manuscript Collections)

Published December 5, 2024

Comments

  1. Terry McKeegan Davis, Class of 1968
    6 Dec, 2024

    Our wonderful neighbor Corey Earle does it again. This is a fascinating article and we Cornellian appreciate Corey’s expertise in these Story Time articles.
    Thank you Corey!!

    Reply
  2. Randye Ringler, Class of 1976
    7 Dec, 2024

    And my grandmother’s cousin was Bert Lahr. I have an autographed Playbill of his from 1945 and his wedding wishes to my mom. Am still close with the family.

    Reply
  3. Pamela Meyers, Class of 1973
    15 Dec, 2024

    “And, as with most things, it might not have happened without a few Cornellians.”

    Storytime with Corey is the best way to start off a rainy chilly December day.

    Reply
  4. The Rev. Nathaniel W. Pierce, Class of 1966
    15 Dec, 2024

    From the Rev. Nathaniel W. Pierce 1966:
    The Wizard of Oz, 1939, aka Frank Morgan, aka Francis Phillip
    Wuppermann (1890 – 1949) — Grand Uncle of Audrey Byam Pierce (1938 – 2009). He is buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.

    Reply
  5. Richard D Schuler, Class of 1968
    16 Dec, 2024

    I saw the Wizard of Oz at the Valencia Theatre in Jamaica, New York back when I was in the single digits of age. Little did I know that my classmate for 6 years at Mineola Jr High and Mineola High School, Stephen Schwartz, who was a musical prodigy, would ultimately, write the music and lyrics for Wicked, among other shows that made it to Broadway (Godspell, Pippin). WE are still friends and I saw him at my 50th high school reunion and had lunch with him here in Florida a few years later. Small world department : a lawyer who worked as an associate in my law office had a daughter that played the role of Elphaba on Broadway and a current employee in my law office has a daughter that is a dancer in a touring company of Wicked.

    Reply
  6. Beverley Mac Keen, Class of 1990
    17 Dec, 2024

    Wicked- the Musical is co-produced on Broadway (and mostly around the world) by The Araca Group (Tony Award winning producers of The Outsiders amongst others). Araca’s leadership consist of two brothers and a friend, one of whom is my life partner and father of our two children. Bank shot Cornell shout out I know, but does it count if I was one of the first Advanced Undergraduate Actors in Cornell Theatre program whose been involved in the theatre her whole life?

    Great story. Long live the Ruby slippers.

    Reply
  7. Brian O'Hara Earle, Class of 1967
    19 Dec, 2024

    One of my prized possessions is a Ken, I think, Scare Crow doll given to me by a student at graduation. She gave it to me with the quote: “I think I’ll miss you most of all”, the line from the movie spoken by Dorothy to the Scarecrow as she is leaving.
    It is still proudly looking down from my bookcase (and Jackie you know who you are). 🙂

    Reply

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