System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!L. Frank Baum, Author
May 15, 1856 - May 06, 1919
Lyman Frank Baum was born to Benjamin and Cynthia Ann Stanton Baum on May 15, 1856 in Chittenango, New York (a suburb of Syracuse). Frank, as he preferred to be known, was the seventh of nine children born in his family, and one of only five who lived to adulthood. At the time of Frank's birth, Benjamin Baum worked as a cooper, a manufacturer of barrels. Later, Benjamin went into the oil business and became wealthy. Cynthia, a devout Episcopalian of Scotch-Irish descent, passed on to her children a strong devotion to God. The family enjoyed a happy existence, which revolved around friends, family and church.
Frank suffered from a congenital heart condition and was educated at home. Once he learned to read, he could often be found in his father's study, devouring volumes by Dickens and Thackeray. He began to dream of becoming an author.
For his fourteenth birthday, Frank received a small printing press. Inspired, he and his younger brother began publishing a neighborhood newspaper which contained poetry, articles, editorials and word puzzles. He also earned money by printing signs, stationery and programs. When he was 17, Frank started another paper, The Empire, and a magazine for stamp collectors. As he grew into an adult, he worked at a variety of positions, including salesman, reporter, owner of a print shop, director of a chain of opera houses, and actor.
While acting, he met Maud Gage, of Fayetteville, New York and daughter of activist Matilda Joslyn Gage, whom he married on 9 November 1882. In the year before his marriage, Frank wrote a melodrama entitled The Maid of Arran. The production became a local hit. After the wedding, Frank and Maud toured with the company. When Maud became pregnant, Frank resigned, and the couple settled in Syracuse, where Frank worked as a salesman.
Although Benjamin Baum had left his business to his son, Frank soon discovered that a clerk had squandered the money. Frank continued to write in order to earn a living. The Baums moved to the Dakota Territory to pursue a business opportunity, but it soon ended in bankruptcy. In May of 1891, Frank moved his family to Chicago, to be near the site of the World's Fair, and he continued work as a buyer and a salesman. Although he traveled a great deal, he continued to write.
When Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was an instant hit and became the best-selling book of 1900. Since the book had been so successful, Frank adapted it for the stage. Oz, his musical extravaganza became immensely popular, and toured for 9 years. Baum wrote 13 additional novels based on the places and people of Oz. Several times through the development of the series, he declared that he had written his last Oz book, and devoted himself to several other works of fantasy fiction. However, due to popular demand, he kept returning to the series.
As he grew older and more successful, he moved to Hollywood, which became a hub of filmmaking several years later, and he would go on to write a number of films and direct two. He had become something of a celebrity as a writer, and was able to act again with an amateur group called The Uplifters. In his last years Baum was addicted to morphine and wrote most of his books in a large birdcage in his backyard, until he stopped writing altogether. He died of a stroke May 6, 1919. Two of his books were published after his death, but the Oz series was continued long after his death by many other authors.
