In my last post, I introduced some of the Oz characters brought to life by the penstrokes of John R. Neill, illustrator. Most of the inhabitants of Oz are strange and many of them appear downright sinister–some of them could DEFINE sinister. But Neill has drawn some beautiful characters as well. Glinda, the good witch, is the lovely mom of Oz, taking care of business and solving problems. She has an unfortunate preference for hats that resemble the old cup-and-ball toys, but other than that seems sensible. Here she is:
I have to wonder what she is thinking at this moment. She has a meaningful look on her face, and that gesture seems to imply something…
Here Glinda is intent upon calibrating a device to save the day. That’s the Wizard of Oz, leering in the background.
Then there is Dorothy Gale, honorary princess, and Ozma, young fairy Queen of Oz.
Here, Dorothy and Ozma appeal to Mist Maidens to carry them across a ravine, which they do. Perhaps I have seen too many horror movies, but I imagine them getting to middle, then being pulled down to the bottom and eaten.
Ozma, re-imagined as a 1920’s starlet.
And, finally, the three together…
Am I imagining it or is there an interesting tension in their expressions? What are they looking at? In Oz, it could be anything.
So here we have the whimsical, not the frightening. But because scary is often fun, I will return to some of the more nightmarish images in the next post.
wordtabulous 
Hmm, I hate to say it, but the hat in that top photo looks like a game controller my sons would use. Ah, how times have changed since 1920… 😉
So true, the 1920’s almost seem as different from our world as Oz.
I doubt I could have gotten away with wearing my ugly man shoes in the twenties…
No way! Sisters of the sassy but sensible boots belong in the here and now.
I have an almost insatiable desire to grab that hat like a handle and whack something with whatever is connected to it. Really, what was she thinking?
I imagine the hat selection in Oz is really minimal. Or maybe she likes playing the cup and ball game, grande style.
Hello, hi!
I must admit it’s a long shot to expect to get a reply for a blog post from such a while back, but I have to try
I ask simply because your page is the only source I can find for this image. Tumblr, Pinterest, Google images,, all lead back here. It’s not archived in any online versions of Glinda of Oz available that I’ve seen either.
I’d love to know since Ozma is my favorite character in the series and this bit of research just piqued my interest like no other.
It is wild to think that these haven’t appeared elsewhere. I have the book from a small collection that my mother-in-law had. If I could figure out how to share the cover (which you will like, I think) in comments I would. You can find me on Twitter (X) as @ldobberpuhl. I will post it there. Cheers!