The Shaggy Man of Oz

1949, 1990 International Wizard of Oz edition
Jack Snow
Illustrated by Frank Kramer
The Shaggy Man of Oz
Original and/or purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B-


This is an improvement over Magical Mimics in every regard.  First of all, yes, the illustrations are much better, never reaching Neill's heights, seldom reaching his depths, but thoroughly competent.  The writing is better, too, with more interesting places to visit, including the Valley of Romance, where denizens of a castle are forced to put on plays every night.  Conjo, the villain, is a bit like old-school Roquat, before he became embittered Ruggedo.  The Nomes (yes, we're back to Baum's spelling) have an impact on the story, since Snow forgets that the tunnel in Emerald City was all filled in.


The title character and the other protagonists aren't too memorable though, other than the goshawful names Snow comes up with:  Twink and Tom, being the scarcely better nicknames for twins Abbadiah and Zebbidiah; and third-cousin wooden clowns (don't ask) Twiffle and Twoffle.  The twins and one of the clowns travel via a television to the Island of Conjo.  So, yes, 1949 is the Year of Books Where Televisions Do Amazing Things.  (Too bad Colette didn't compare an orchid to a TV.)


Although Snow tried to emulate Baum, I was reminded of Thompson in four ways, three of them to do with Cowardly Lion of Oz.  There's an unfunny clown, a car that flies, and a trip to a land in the sky.  Also, Snow has a previously untapped potential for unintentional innuendo, with his fairy beavers (that Tom wants to fondle) and the frequent use of "arouse" for "rouse."  Nothing like classic Thompson, but more than she managed in Ozoplaning.

Snow wrote Who's Who in Oz (1954), which I've always heard good things about, but this was his last full-length Oz story.  He died in 1956, while Thompson lived on for another two decades.  As for Oz, well, the next of the Famous Forty isn't too far off.  But this is it for my 1940s books.  See, I told you we wouldn't be here long.