You may think you know everything there is to know about the soft-hearted man of tin but there is a surprising secret history behind L. Frank Baum’s creation. For one thing, Jack Haley was not originally part of the cast. … Continued
Dah dun-dah dun-dah da dun… Can you hear the music in your head? I sure can. The dognapping Miss Gulch (who turns up in Oz as the Wicked Witch) still strikes terror in my heart! And so I have always … Continued
via GIPHY The wind began to switch – the house to pitch and suddenly the hinges started to unhitch. –We Welcome you to Munchkinland lyrics by Yip Harburg So how did the real-life wizards of special effects at M-G-M Studios get Dorothy’s house to spin … Continued
Remember that hit musical about the Wizard of Oz? Wicked, right? Or was that the 1970s version, The Wiz? Believe it or not, long before Wicked or The Wiz, before even the classic 1939 movie was filmed, The Wizard of … Continued
The role of the Scarecrow was immortalized by Ray Bolger in the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz, but he was not originally cast to play that role. First tapped to play the Tin Man, Bolger begged to be … Continued
Readers are often fascinated by the selection of images for a book’s cover. As I discussed with my previous post, Anatomy of a Book Cover, Part I, which discussed the design process for The Eighty-Dollar Champion, with a great cover, … Continued
The beloved cover image of The Eighty-Dollar Champion was created especially for the book by the amazing Random House art department team. Using a photo taken in 1961 by acclaimed Life Magazine photographer Bill Ray. The beautiful photo of Snowman jumping … Continued
One of the interesting questions I am often asked is how my new book The Perfect Horse differs from the Miracle of the White Stallions, a 1962 Disney movie that was much responsible for bringing the Lipizzaner and their story a … Continued
If you are anything like me, even if you don’t follow horse-racing closely, there is nothing as thrilling as the yearly quest for the Triple Crown. Like millions of other Americans, I was captivated by the handsome bay who won … Continued
Dear Readers, It’s so hard for me to believe that after five years of work, my new book The Perfect Horse is just eleven days from publication. The Perfect Horse will be my seventh published book, and it has taken … Continued
