# Oz and the French Revolution **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 27, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-and-the-french-revolution/818683 "2018-07-27T15:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-and-the-french-revolution/818683/1 "2018-07-27T15:49:05Z")
If [Cameron G](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/362/is-em-the-wizard-of-oz-em-a-satire-of-the-french-revolution/)’s high school buddy had “collected several of the Oz books” and referred to the initial one of the series as _The Wizard of Oz_, he was not paying attention. The book is titled [_The **Wonderful** Wizard of Oz_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz). Besides turning the slippers from silver to ruby (completely understandable for a Technicolor movie), MGM clipped the title. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-and-the-french-revolution/818683/2 "2018-07-28T02:27:50Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > If [Cameron G](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/362/is-em-the-wizard-of-oz-em-a-satire-of-the-french-revolution/)’s high school buddy had “collected several of the Oz books” and referred to the initial one of the series as _The Wizard of Oz_, he was not paying attention. The book is titled [_The **Wonderful** Wizard of Oz_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz). Besides turning the slippers from silver to ruby (completely understandable for a Technicolor movie), MGM clipped the title. The first edition, from the George M. Hill company, was _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz._ When Hill overextended and went bankrupt, the copyright ended up in the hands of Bobbs-Merrill, who issued it under the title _The New Wizard of Oz,_ because, they said, they didn’t want it to be confused with the Broadway play, which was named _The Wizard of Oz._ _The New Wizard of Oz_ remained the official title of American editions into the fifties, when the original copyright expired. From then on, the normal title has been _The Wizard of Oz_. The first sequel, _The Marvelous Land of Oz,_ saw its title similarly shortened after a few years. That book, by the way, comes much closer to satirizing the French Revolution, as does the a somewhat later sequel, _The Magic of Oz._ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-and-the-french-revolution/818683/3 "2018-07-28T10:32:32Z")
Huh. Guess I’ve see only the original editions, then, or reproductions like my Kindle edition. The wiki article I linked to does mention in passing, > [@](#): > > It has since been reprinted on numerous occasions, most often under the title _The Wizard of Oz_, which is the title of the popular 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the iconic 1939 musical film adaptation. but there’s no citation. The disambiguation pages for TWoO and TWWoO both have pointers to the Hill edition. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-and-the-french-revolution/818683/4 "2018-07-29T03:27:47Z")
All the details are available in _Bibliographia Oziana_. (Yes, the publication history of the series is insane enough to merit a whole book indexing editions and states.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-and-the-french-revolution/818683/5 "2018-08-04T19:20:00Z")
My high-school history book taught the Oz as Populist Parable bit. Now I find it is not true. Huh.