Wicked/L. Frank Baum Question

[JoMarch]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:34pm

Since those are L. Frank Baum's characters in Wicked, does his estate receive royalties from the book and musical? I always wondered how that worked.

Updated On: 6/21/05 at 10:34 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:37pm

I would assume so yes...

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:38pm

I am sure Frank L. Baum doesn't receive a penny.

L. Frank Baum may receive more, however.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:42pm

ha! how did I not notice that!

[JoMarch]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:52pm

Funny, I could swear my URL address bar says Broadwayworld.com, but one of the attitudes seems more like Talkinbroadway.com. Huh. Anyway, it's been changed. ;-P
Updated On: 6/21/05 at 10:52 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:55pm

It would appear that way.

My attitude, however, has more personality than talkinbroadway.com

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 10:58pm

Actually, THE WIZARD OF OZ is in the public domain.

I'm actually pretty familiar with the books, and its clear that Maguire was careful not to include characters outside of first couple of the Oz books (published 1900-1904) which probably keeps them out of any copyright infringement/royalty issues.

[JoMarch]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:00pm

Thanks, Michael. I had wondered if it was in public domain! Nice to get a definite answer on it!

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:09pm

Aren't the characters owned by MGM?

[Plum]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:12pm

They can't own them if they're in the public domain. But MGM does own the movie, so the book and musical couldn't have movie-specific references without paying, I guess.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:14pm

Well MGM doesn't own the film rights to OZ anymore -- I think it's owned by WB. That said, they only would have purchased motion picture rights, and once the copyright on the original property expired, so would any studio's exclusivity to the characters of the original book.

But Plum is right -- hence Maguire's treatement of the "magic shoes" in WICKED which aren't exactly ruby...

Updated On: 6/21/05 at 11:14 PM

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:34pm

And Dodo... and road made of yellow brick

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:36pm

ted turner owns prodominantly the visual aspects of the movie version, its why glinda's "main" dress is blue/white instead of pink etc.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:42pm

yeah, he found ways around it. I'm reading the book right now.

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:46pm

Though the green skin was actually an invention of the movie, correct?

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:50pm

No. She's green in the book. Mainly... the only thing to movie changed is the color of shoes, from silver to ruby.

(I want talk about the jabberwocky or the China dolls)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/21/05 at 11:52pm

the original books had colored plates for the pictures which had been illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Baum and Denslow both paid to have the colored plates put in wich changed with the colors of the different countries. *I believe* all the witches, including Glinda, in the original color illustartions had green skin...

this is a small picture, but it's all I could find. in it, Glinda has green skin...

Updated On: 6/21/05 at 11:52 PM

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:04am

I really need to read these someday....

The shoes were supposed to be silver though..they were changed to ruby for the movie since the silver was effecting the cameras as someone said...

so it didn't matter if Mcguire said they were ruby or not

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:04am

And that the two good witches of the original book were combined into one witch.

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:09am

Yeah, the witch of the south is totally erased in Maguire's book. But it didn't matter... she wasn't important.

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:13am

No, but it's interesting that Maguire chose to follow the movie in that respect.

And Baum's Glinda was the witch of the South, I think.

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:16am

No.. Glinda isn't introduced until the poppy scene. Dorothy first meets the witch of the South.

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:18am

<<<"Are you a Munchkin?" asked Dorothy.

"No, but I am their friend, although I live in the land of the North. When they saw the Witch of the East was dead the Munchkins sent a swift messenger to me, and I came at once. I am the Witch of the North.">>

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:20am

<<"How far is it to the Castle of Glinda?" asked the child.

"It is not a great way," answered the farmer`s wife. "Take the road to the South and you will soon reach it.>>

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:28am

That's just weird.

I haven't owned a copy of the book since I was in 5th grade.