Of Pumpkins and Oz and Anniversaries!
“Mombi: Shadows are falling, screech owls are calling, Hobgoblins and Sprites appear!
Hobgoblins: Booh-oo-oo-oo-oo!
Mombi: Booh! With pranks so bold, you shudder to behold, then creeping up behind you,
Should they find you, Then you'd better scoot, scoot, scoot!”
Mombi and Goblins in The Woggle-Bug with Words by L. Frank Baum and Music by Frederic Chapin
You have probably never heard of The Woggle-Bug, a musical based on L. Frank Baum’s The Marvelous Land of Oz. The author himself created the book and lyrics and its music was written by Frederic Chapin. It opened June 18, 1905, in Chicago, and closed less than a month later, a failure artistically and financially. If you take a peek at the script or even at a synopsis, you might see why: cast of thousands (well, hundreds), complicated action, major changes to the original book, numerous settings, confusing characters.
If they were all still alive, today would be my grandmother’s 124th birthday, and my parents’ 76th wedding anniversary. I have always loved this golden day at the end of October when the sun’s light is like pure honey; the leaves are just beginning to trade fading, yellowing greens for russets and ochres; shadows are lengthening; days are growing shorter. On this day, I always wander back to my grandmother’s childhood. On this day, I always yearn to still be celebrating a wedding milestone with my mom and dad.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum’s first of many Oz books, was published on May 17, 1900, just five-and-a-half months before my grandmother was born. Her name was Dorothy — not named for the character in the book, but she adored Baum’s imaginative tale of journey and friendship, and, as she would point out, of discovering that what you have deep down inside you is quite enough to get you through the adventures of life.
One of the most endearing characters to whom my grandmother ever introduced me (in The Marvelous Land of Oz) is Jack the Pumpkinhead, a tall, tree-limb fellow with a pumpkin for a head. He is made by a little boy Tip who wants to scare his guardian Mombi, the old Wicked Witch of the North. Jack is not the brightest lantern ever created, but he often gives Tip curious pieces of advice and guidance.
When I still carved pumpkins each year for Halloween, my daughter Elin insisted we get out the old original 1904 edition of The Marvelous Land of Oz and carefully draw Jack’s features on the front for us to take a knife to. We had to be sure to get the perfect fruity gourd: extra round, much wider than tall, nice creases, and just the perfect shade of buttery nutty-orange.
When Seth was just a little over one year old, he called Jack “Boka,” his attempt at “Pumpkin.” He fell in love with that shining face and we had to have the candle inside him lit day and night. One day, we came in from work and Jack had folded in on himself. Seth dashed into the dining room to see him, and came running back to me crying desperately, “Boka! Boka!”
I had to make up a ceremony without hesitation, so we decided that we would find a woodsy spot where we could toss the jack-o-lantern as far as we possibly could. That hurl was the first ever of our “Pitch the Pumpkin” events which we hold to this day. Even though we always have to toss old Jack the Pumpkinhead away, I am ever grateful that somehow my grandmother and her love of Baum characters was passed down through my mother and me to my children.
Even today, Seth comes over and entertains the grandchildren (including Teddy, his son) with a big Pumpkin Toss over the back fence!