Complete Works of L. Frank Baum
Page 880
“Waiting for the Tide to Turn” Instrumental Vocal
HUGH
When the tide comes in, in the dying sunset glow,
And the waves dash high upon the strand,
Then the sailor thinks of his sweetheart,
Who is waiting in some distant land.
And he sees her afar, in her home beside the sea,
Only waiting for the turning of the tide... of the tide.
Waiting for the tide to turn,
Waiting for the tide to turn,
Waiting,
Waiting,
Waiting for the tide to turn.
When the tide comes in, with its wealth of treasures brought
From the wreck of some gallant ship at sea;
Each a message from some dying seaman,
To the loved ones he ne’er more will see.
Then the heart grows sad, and our eyes with pity fill,
At the story of the turning of the tide... of the tide.
Waiting for the tide to turn,
Waiting for the tide to turn,
Waiting,
Waiting,
Waiting for the tide to turn.
Hugh and Phadrig emerge from the prison and confront Ingram. Ingram commands Dennie to fire upon Hugh.
DENNIE
I’ll fire, but not at him.
[Dennie fires in air. Capt. takes knife and jumps over board. Phadrig strikes him with the oar. He sinks. Phadrig pulls Hugh into boat.]
This scene has a very vague homologue in the novel. At this point, unlike Hugh in the play, Frank is not aware where Sheila has gone. His initial reaction is that she has returned to her homeland. He takes a steamer hoping to find her on it. He doesn’t. Eventually he encounters a young boatman in Tyrol named Johnny Eyre, whom Frank saves from drowning, and he and a young Jewish composer named Mosenberg, who fell in love with Sheila while in London, bring Frank on a leisurely trip back to Borvapost. The character Dennie seems to be a composite of Johnny Eyre and Duncan Macdonald. Duncan and his wife Scarlett are a traditional old Irish couple, and though Mackenzie gets so exasperated with Duncan he frequently takes the name of the Lord in vain when dealing with him, Duncan is perhaps Mackenzie’s closest friend. He is a foil for Mackenzie’s distancing himself from Scottish ways for ways of the English.
This act trivializes the novel and sounds like a teenager writing, inspired by cheap adventure novels, while the first three acts were a sincere effort at adapting the novel to the stage, albeit highly diluted (the play, not including lyrics, contains only 38 pages of text). The special effects in this scene were highly appreciated by critics, however. The next act is a talky and somewhat redundant one that brings the play to a conclusion, even if it severely lacks the depth of the novel. Even so, it is not hard to see Ingram influencing the kindness and generosity displayed by the Nome King when he first appears taking shape in this perverse alteration of Black’s character.
ACT V
Once more at Arran, we find Oona now home. The ship arrives, and she is delighted once more to see Dennie, and hem her. He asks her to sing a favorite song for him.
“A Pair of Blue Eyes”
OONA
I’m a gay Irish girl from the county Killarney,
Me mother’s a Murphy, me father’s a Kearney,
I’m proud of me country and chock full of blarney,
Which is not a fact to surprise.
I never get tired of singing and dancing and any fine ev’ning you’ll find me a prancing,
I’m fond of a joke and there’s fun always glancing straight out from a pair o’ blue eyes.
Eyes of blue are always true,
Admire them you can’t fail to do,
The saints above would fall in love wid eyes of blue.
[Dance.]
Ev’ry boy says me eyes put his heart in a flurry,
And then wid his love makes a bother and worry,
Get married at liesure, repent in a hurry’s
A maxim I’ll never despise.
Be me faith then I’ll think that I’ll let them kape trying, I’m sure wid their love they will never be dying,
What matters to me if the whole world is sighing wid love for a pair o’ blue eyes.
Eyes of blue are always true,
Admire them you can’t fail to do,
The saints above would fall in love wid eyes of blue.
[Dance.]
Hugh and Shiela are reunited. Despite having wanted to leave him, Shiela wants Hugh back. Con. is opposed, having been cruel to her before. He wants to flog Hugh with a stick. Phadrig stops him, and convinces Con. that Hugh deserves another chance. Hugh and Shiela embraces, and Oona announces that Shiela will never more leave home on Arran.
In the novel, Hugh, Johnny, and Mosenberg find that Hugh has fathered a son that Mairi sneaks through windows. Ingram marries Mrs. Lorraine, who was never really married, except in name. A dying old man was so fond of her that he wanted her to have his name and fortune, so they married on his deathbed, and Cecelia became one of the idle rich, having nothing but parties. Ingram visited her more and more. She complains that artists and writers mock the rich for being decadent and make the problems of the poor their virtues. She is offended that even though rich people buy books and play tickets, they are always getting maligned, and feels that there are good people among the rich. Ingram is one. The two take a steamer to visit the Lavenders on their island home. They ascend the Butt of Lewis and watch the sunset, which they had not done since before the marriage, and Shiela promises Mackenzie that she will never more go out in boats alone. Black seems to be mocking the concessions a woman has to make in a marriage, yet in Mackenzie’s advice to Ingram about marrying Mrs. Lorraine, he makes fun of those a man has to make, too. Like in the play, Sheila and Hugh will live upon the island. The Ingrams prove faithful friends, not Baum’s false friends, and make regular visits.
The largely forgotten novel, no longer in print, is quite good. The play’s first three acts are on par with William S. Gilbert’s Engaged, which was reviled when it appeared by those who found its social commentary offensive, but still plays today. Had Baum not tried to appeal to the lowest common denominator, as he did in such later works as Daughters of Destiny, The Maid of Arran, had it been published, might well continue to be performed today, with some playing with Ingram’s lines to make them sound less juvenile. Apart from this speech, if the play were handled in a realistic tone rather than obvious melodrama (Baum’s performances as Hugh were seen as very sincere and a highlight of the show), it could very well be embraced by a new audience. At the time the play was written, Irish-Americans were the most persecuted group in the American North, and here was a non-Irish voice (Baum’s father was half German, half English; his mother half English, half Scots-Irish*) writing about Irish pride, something quite in vogue in the 1990s. Oddly, Arran is in the Scottish county of North Ayrshire. Perhaps Baum was thinking of Aran, and never bothered to check.
*Scottish living in Ireland, who generally found themselves superior to their hosts.
The work of William Black, or at least this particular novel, seems to have been highly influential on Baum’s writing style. It is much easier to get a sense of Baum from reading this than Dickens or Shakespeare, said to be Baum’s greatest influences. Perhaps this early success in Baum’s career was more of a milestone than it has heretofore been treated.
THE WIZARD OF OZ
First performed in 1902, this musical extravaganza was based on Baum’s famous novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was published two years previously. The play featured original music by Paul Tietjens, though sadly much of it has been forgotten or lost, although it was still well-remembered at MGM in the late 1930s, when the film version was made. Although Baum is the credited bookwriter, Glen MacDonough was hired on as jokewriter, after Baum had finished the script.
The show premiered in Chicago and due to its instant appeal and great success, it was moved to Broadway in 1903, where
it ran for 293 performances from January 21, 1903 to December 31, 1904, followed by travelling tours of the original cast. The Wizard of Oz starred Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale, Fred Stone as The Scarecrow, David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman and Arthur Hill as the Cowardly Lion.
One of the original promotional posters for the show
THE WIZARD OF OZ
A Musical Comedy A Dramatic
Composition
in
Three Acts
CONTENTS
CAST OF CHARACTERS
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
Arthur Hill as the Lion and Anna Laughlin as Dorothy
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Dorothy Gale
The Scarecrow
The Tin Woodman
The Cowardly Lion
The Wizard of Oz
King Pastoria II
Tryxie Tryfle
Cynthia Cynch
Lady Lunatic
Sir Dashemoff Daily
Sir Wylie Gyle
ACT I
At the rise of the curtain farm hands discovered. House servants are busy performing their various duties. One man on a wheat rack, Servants cleaning pans, etc in front of the house. Several girls enter carrying apples. They pelt the man on the wheat stack. Farm wagon with horse enters. Suddenly old man reading paper, rises and points to the approaching cyclone. Connection on part of everyone. They all excitedly and frantically rush off stage. The cyclone effect is worked upon the gauze. The scene then changes. When the lights go up Chorus discovered all dressed in blue and posed about a Maypole. A Maypole dance follows. Then the entrance of the Wicked Witch. She drives them about the stage until someone calls her attention to the approaching cyclone. All rush about wildly. Lights gradually go out. When they go up again, a house similar to the farmhouse of the Kansas Scene is discovered E. It is in a dilapidated condition.
SCENE I:- Descriptive Tableau, showing Kansas Prairie Farm, the cyclone, ascent
of the house with Dorothy, and transformation to SCENE II:- The Munchkin country – Land of Oz followed by the descent of the house crushing of the wicked witch, etc.
DISCOVERED: Chorus of Munchkins.
1st Girl
Here’s a catastrophe!
2nd Girl
What a dreadful storm.
3rd Girl
Never in the land of Oz has there been
one like it.
4th Girl
I wonder from what unknown country the
storm blew this house.
5th
Such a strange dwelling - so different
from ours.
6th Girl
The same storm that brought this shouse
has blown half of our home away.
(Noise off stage, shouts, cries, etc. Voice
off stage. Reuben’s)
Reuben
Bring her along.
8th Girl
What’s that?
9th Girl
Somebody under arrest. A strange
looking girl.
1st Girl
A witch, perhaps.
2nd Girl
The storm may have been her work.
(Enter Reuben and Simon with Cynthia.
R. #3. Cynthia suggests madness in her
costume and make-up.)
Reuben
Here’s an enchantress. Do any of you
know her?
All
No!
Girl
(To Cynthia)
Who are you, and where do you come
from?
Cynthia
My name is Cynthia, and I am a lady
lunatic.
(All recoil from her)
2nd Girl
Does the asylum know you are out?
Cynthia
Fear nothing. I am not dangerous.
Girl
Your reason?
Cynthia
I’ve lost my reason.
1st Girl
She’s a sorceress. To the river with her.
Cynthia
That’s no way to treat a perfect lady
lunatic.
2nd Girl
If you sink we’ll believe you.
Cynthia
But I will not sink. I’ve been taking
swimming lessons from a banker.
1st Girl
Swimming lessons from a banker?
Cynthia
Yes he told taught me how to float a loan.
1st Girl
To the river.
(They advance to her. Witch of the North
enters and halts them)
Witch
(Locusta)
Halt! What would you do with this girl?
1st Girl
She’s a sorceress, and her spells produced
the recent cyclone.
Witch
Then you should thank her on your
knees. The storm has made you free.
All
Free?
Witch
It dropped that house upon your cruel
tyrant, the Wicked Witch. Her cruel spells
and wicked enchantments have caused
you endless misery. She hated love and
happiness, and while she lived would not
permit you to know them.
(To Cynthia)
If you are a member of the Sorceress’
Union show your card.
Cynthia
I haven’t one. I have never sorcered. I am
only a sweet girl maniac. Listen, and I
will tell you my story.
(Crowd gather around her)
I was once a saleslady in one of our
largest department stores.
1st Girl
Ah, yes, I have seen your open face at an
opening sale of umbrellas that wouldn’t
open.
Cynthia
No, I was at the alligator counter in the
animal department. I was engaged to a
young musician named Niccolo Chopper
who played the piccolo.
1st Girl
Poor girl!
Cynthia
He was so generous. As soon as our
wedding day was fixed he gave me my
alimony in advance.
6th Girl
Where is he now?
Cynthia
The Wicked Witch enchanted him. He
never returned.
2nd Girl
How do you hope to find him?
Cynthia
By whistling his favorite tune. No matter
what the witch may have made of him, if
he hears the tune he will answer.
1st Girl
Did he play it often?
Cynthia
For hours at a time. You can’t imagine
how he objected to a change of air.
1st Girl
You doubtless learned to love it?
Cynthia
True. And on moonlight nights he would
always play it in the vegetable garden
back of my semi-Queen Anne suburban
boarding house.
Witch of the North exits.
NICCOLO’S PICCOLO
Not with the twinkling lute
Sought he to press his suit
Nor with the sighing flute
Came he zum-zumming
Nor on, the gay guitar
Under the twilight star,
Could he be heard afar
Softly a strumming.
Chorus
But, on the piercing piccolo, my highlygifted
Niccolo
Could charm with much celerity, a
melody divine.
Defying fell malaria, He’d execute his
aria
With marvelous dexterity, each night at
half past nine.
(Whistling chorus)
; II.
Not with a slide trombone, were his soft
pleadings blown
Lacking were they in tune, blatant and
blaring
Nor with the violin, sought he, my heart
to win
Playing that garden in, his love declaring.
Chorus same as 1st verse.
Cynthia and Chorus, all exeunt at end of
whistling refrain. [HANDWRITTEN:
Using Piccolos]
Enter Witch of the North and Girl, L.2.
Witch
Pointing to a house, R.2.
Where did you say this house came from?
3d Girl
From the skies, your highness.
Witch
A strange abode from some unknown
land.
Sir Dashemoff Daily, enters hurriedly,
L.3.
Dash.
News! Wonderful news!
3d Girl
Of whom?
Crowd enters R.3.
Dash.
Pastoria, the rightful king of Oz, has
returned on the wings of the wind.
3d Girl
Are you sure of that, Sir Dashemoff?
Dash.
The cyclone blew Pastoria home again.
Aided by General Riskitt he has started a
revolution already.
3d Girl
Where’s Pastoria going to find the money
for his revolution?
Dash.
He’s selling reserved seats for his own
coronation.
1st Girl
How came King Pastoria to leave the
land of Oz?
Witch
One day, years ago, a balloon brought to
the Emerald City a mysterious man from
a mysterious place they call the earth.
1st Girl
I’ve read about it in our children’s books.
Witch
The stranger lured Pastoria into the
balloon and cut the ropes. It bore Pastoria
through the clouds. The stranger
remained and, because of his mystic arts,
was crowned King of Oz.
(Exit Witch)
Dash.
If Pastoria gets his throne away from the