Dorothy's Christmas Wish

Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale with a Dorothy Doll

Happy New Year from VintageBroadway.com!

In December 1902, actress Anna Laughlin was back in Chicago, playing Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. She had created the part six months earlier in the world premiere, played to sold-out houses all summer, toured the eastern United States and Canada during the fall, and the show was now back in Chicago, playing to sold-out houses for the holidays. She had just turned 19 in October.

Anticipating the show's big move to Broadway a few weeks hence, Anna Laughlin wrote a short note for the holidays, expressing her Christmas wish. You can read her handwritten letter below, or scroll down a bit further and read a transcript:

A Christmas wish written by Anna Laughlin, the original Dorothy Gale.

I don't know of anything that would please me better than to wake up on Christmas morning and find that for a gift — dear old Santa had been kind enough to give me a small place in the hearts of the American public, their admiration and appreciation. I want that which is nearer and dearer to the heart of every American actress than diamonds, seal skins etc. and that is success.

If for my Christmas presents I might have success, my health and strength, and the power to make my dear mother happy, [I] would be satisfied.

The other girls may have their diamonds and beautiful gifts. But if my wish were granted I think I would be the happier.

Anna Laughlin

Anna Laughlin's Christmas wish was printed in the January 1903 issue of Vanity Fair. She would indeed find her success. The Wizard of Oz triumphed on Broadway, and after the initial run, Anna Laughlin toured the country as Dorothy well into 1905.

She went on to star in The Land of Nod and The Top o' th' World, had a solid career in vaudeville, and eventually starred in several early motion pictures. But nothing did more to make her dream a reality than creating the part of Dorothy Gale. America fell in love with little Dorothy, and many a Dorothy got her name from the little heroine that flew from Kansas to Oz, including Fred Stone's daughter, actress and dancer Dorothy Stone, and lyricist/librettist Dorothy Fields.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Miss Laughlin!

Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale in 1902 Chicago Production.

Copyright © 2023 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

Bang on My Chest If You Think I'm Perfect!

There is a lot of mistaken information online and in books about the original Broadway musical The Wizard of Oz. Some of it is simply from passing on other people's faulty research—and some of it is just made up crap such as pollutes the Wikipedia entry on the show.

Researchers and writers on vintage musical theatre, on The Wizard of Oz, and on L. Frank Baum have often relied solely on secondary sources—and then the research begins to take on a life of its own. It's like that old party game of whispering a secret phrase in someone's ear such as "Mary has a crush on Bart." And by the time the secret makes it around the room, evolving as it passes from person to person, it has morphed into "Harry wrecked mom's car!"

One of the most common mistakes people have made (and continue to make) is mislabeling photographs, misidentifying actors and actresses. Such erroneous photo identifications appear in books, at major institutions, and they litter the internet. Every picture of the Cowardly Lion is not Arthur Hill, every Scarecrow is not Fred Stone.

Before I start trying to fix everyone else's errors I think it best to clear up a couple of my own, all from my Grammy Award-nominated 2 CD set Vintage Recordings from the 1903 Wizard of Oz.

On page 4 of the booklet called "The Records" appears a photograph of the Wizard and a man drawing a sword, whom I mistakenly identified as Pastoria. The man drawing the sword is actually Harold T. Morey as Brigadier-General Riskitt (in disguise) at the beginning of Act II.

Caption should read "The Wizard of Oz and Brigadier-General Riskitt (in disguise)."

In the same booklet, on page 19, I feature a photo of the Wizard's all-girl Phantom Patrol. I should have made clear that my description of the "Phantom Patrol" scene only refers to the pre-Broadway version of the show. 

The Wizard's Phantom Guard - second from left, Georgia Baron is the Captain of the Guard.

For the Broadway version of the show (seen in the photograph above), a much more plot-oriented pantomime was developed by Julian Mitchell.

One of my most embarrassing mistakes occurs in the centerfold of the other booklet, "The Lyrics."

In 2003 I wrongly believed this to be a photograph of Isabel D'Armond, who played Dorothy in Company No. 2. The costume is from the "Ball of All Nations" scene in Act II.

But the young woman in the photograph is in fact Anna Laughlin, the original Dorothy.

When I first acquired the photo I don't think I'd ever seen Anna Laughlin in that costume before, and the teeth and the smile looked to me much like Isabel D'Armond.

I really like the photo. You can see the uncropped original image below.

Anna Laughlin in her "Ball of All Nation's" costume in The Wizard of Oz (1903).

In the synopsis of the show on page 3 of the "Records" booklet I wrote that the Good Witch of the North sends Dorothy home to Kansas. This was based on a synopsis in the original Broadway program. But that January 1903 synopsis was written before the Broadway script was finalized, and from the premiere on, Dorothy does not return to Kansas. She remains in Oz with her sweetheart Sir Dashemoff Daily.

As long as I'm pointing out these few errors I will mention one typographical error, too. In one place in the booklets Sir Dashemoff Daily accidentally became Sir Dasmeoff Daily. And I failed to mention that the photo of Bessie Wynn in the kilt—in the section on non-Wizard of Oz recordings by Miss Wynn—shows her as Tom-Tom in Babes in Toyland.

Mea culpa.

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

Dorothy's Wardrobe Deluxe

My fellow blogger Bill Campbell over at The Oz Enthusiast is almost as obsessed with the 1903 Wizard of Oz musical as I am. He's a fellow collector of stage-oriented Oz material and he's even built a tremendously fun toy-theatre version of the show.

In researching for the toy theatre, Bill became quite interested in Carolyn Siedle's costume sketches for the 1903 Wizard of Oz. On a recent trip to New York, Bill took photos of most of the surviving costume sketches and assembled them all in a blog post. He later did another blog comparing and contrasting the sketches with the finished costumes as seen in assorted production photos. But at least one of the sketches was rather a stumper for Bill - an unknown Act III dress for Dorothy.

Costume sketch for Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz Act III by Caroline Siedle.

The image shows Dorothy in a sort of "baby-doll" dress. It's short, like a very young girl's would be at the time, all white, with assorted ruffles and bands of applied ribbon, and most oddly, black knee-socks with little white shoes. It's not a look we've associated with Dorothy in that show and doesn't match any of actress Anna Laughlin's Dorothy dresses that we know from the Broadway stage photos.

Bill wondered if it was a preliminary design, perhaps cut from the show. But I had an idea it might be something else. I suspected that a number of the sketches were not from the Broadway version of the show but from the revised version of the show dubbed "Edition de Luxe" prepared in the Spring of 1904. The show got many new songs, many new costumes, and a general freshening. So I started digging through my photo archive trying to prove my theory. Finally I remembered a photo from Act III of the Hurtig and Seamon touring production circa late 1906. And there is Anna Wilkes as Dorothy Gale kneeling during the finale, and I think she is wearing this mystery frock.

Anna Wilkes as Dorothy in the finale of The Wizard of Oz Act III circa 1906.

The hat seems similar enough, but the banding on the hem seems spot on. The Hurtig and Seamon production is also just a bit dowdier than the original Julian Mitchell version. Hence the slightly frumpy look (though she is kneeling and pleading for help from the Witch of the North).  Below you can see Anna Laughlin in the original Act III dress at the same moment from the show.

Anna Laughlin as Dorothy in finale of The Wizard of Oz Act III circa 1903.

 I strongly suspect that Anna Laughlin made the request for a new Act III dress in the "Edition de Luxe." The original dress above looks heavy and hot, while the little white frock looks quite breezy and cool. A good thing when playing in warm theatres, under the lights, with no air-conditioning.

One reason I think the request may have come directly from Anna Laughlin is that the new Act III dress bears a striking resemblance to a dress Anna Laughlin had worn onstage back in August of 1900 in The Casino Boy. She was only sixteen.

 

Anna Laughlin in The Casino Boy, August 1900.

So the mystery of the ruffled white dress is solved. But did Dorothy wear the little white shoes and black stockings? That remains a mystery!

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

Property of Anna Laughlin

One of the more unusual collectibles related to the 1903 Wizard of Oz I have access to (technically it belongs to my husband) is a first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, containing first state text and second state color plates, published by the George M. Hill Co. Alas, it is a wreck. It's mostly unbound, it's missing the spine, it's missing three color plates - did I mention it's a wreck?

What makes it of interest in relation to the show is that this copy of the book previously belonged to Anna Laughlin who created the role of Dorothy Gale. The book is signed by Anna Laughlin twice on the front free end paper. The first signature reads: N. Y. City -  S. H. P. May 11, 1902 - Property of Anna S. Laughlin. I don't know who or what "S. H. P." is. Eric, my husband, chooses to think it is the person that gave her the book.

Anna Laughlin's two signatures in her personal copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The first announcement that Anna Laughlin had been cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz appeared in the May 3, 1902, issue of the New York Dramatic Mirror.
 

New York Dramatic Mirror - May 3, 1902 Announcing casting of Anna Laughlin.

The clipping above states that Anna Laughlin will close her engagement with The New Yorkers on May 10th.

The day after the newspaper announcement Anna Laughlin received her copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, possibly as a gift from the mysterious "S. H. P." in the inscription. That same day the following appeared in the New York Sunday Telegraph:

New York Sunday Telegraph, May 11, 1902

I'd like to think Anna Laughlin read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while on the train to Chicago. She was born October 11, 1883, in Sacramento, California. So she was only eighteen when she got this book and became the first Dorothy. The book is signed a second time with Anna's married name. She married a diamond importer named Dwight Monroe just as she was finishing up her run in The Wizard of Oz. They had one child, Lucy Monroe, who was born on October 23, 1906. Lucy went on to become a popular radio singer. Anna Laughlin died on March 6, 1937.

This book contains one other curiosity. At both front and back of the book it has "Poppy Field" endpapers, which were designed by W. W. Denslow for the 1903 Bowen-Merrill second edition.

1903 pictorial endpapers added to Anna Laughlin's George M. Hill first edition.

These handsome end-sheets, created for the second edition of the book, were clearly added to this otherwise first edition, first-state George M. Hill printing. The second edition was published July 15, 1903. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had been out of print since before the show opened in Chicago.

Illustrator W. W. Denslow was living in New York City during the original Broadway run, and I'd like to think he showed up at the theatre one night with some proof sheets or extra copies of the end-sheets and showed them to Anna Laughlin, Montgomery and Stone, and especially the Poppy Girls. In any case, Anna Laughlin was so taken with them she obtained two copies of the loose end-sheets and had them mounted into her copy of the first edition.

The book came from an eBay seller with no knowledge of how and when it left Anna Laughlin's possession. But I assure you it has a good home.

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

Color Me Dorothy

Aside from the wonderful posters advertising the show and a set of tinted postcards, very few color images from The Wizard of Oz exist—thus the picture of Dorothy Gale below has always been one of my favorites.

Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale in her Broadway costume.

Of course, it is only a black and white photo made color by the addition of some red ink for Dorothy's dress and a rosy hue to her skin, but it is still effective. In the show Dorothy did indeed wear red for the first and second acts.

This photo is of Dorothy's costume as it was redesigned for Broadway by Caroline Siedle. In the Chicago premiere Dorothy wore a white dress with red polka-dots and a solid red apron. The switch to a white apron with tiny red dots over a solid-red dress is much stronger visually.

I suspect that the the idea of Dorothy wearing red came from W. W. Denslow's illustrations of Dorothy in the original book, where she is wearing red when she arrives in Oz.

Anna Laughlin (as Dorothy) would have been a primary focal point (as the star should be) as the only person in red, walking through the blues and greens of the Munchkin Country set and the "Road through the Forest" set (where she meets the Tin Woodman) and looking really smashing in the all green and glittery Emerald City set.

In the Emerald City many of the costumes had red in them. It must have looked like Christmas! In the "Ball of All Nations" some of the chorus costumes were all red, at which point Dorothy changed into a sporty black and white Pierrot costume.

For those curious about the piece of paper Dorothy is holding in the photo, it is the love song written for her by Sir Dashemoff Daily, Dorothy's future love-interest.

I only have a clipped-out version of the large color photo of Anna Laughlin above. It was originally published March 21, 1903, in the magazine section of the Commercial Advertiser, a newspaper in New York City at the time (see below).

This is one of the rare occasions when "red ink" is fun!

Cover of the magazine section of the Commercial Advertiser, March 21, 1903.

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.