Yes, I'm still reading the 1994 issue of Oziana out of order, but at least this week I got to the first story! "Billy Bumble of Oz" by Jane Albright, with illustrations by Eric Shanower, is a tribute to long-time Oz Club member and artist Bill Eubank. Bill also put on puppet shows at Oz conventions, often in the guise of the clown Billy Bumble. In this story, Billy Harris is a regular kid whose best friend happens to be an old lady, Mary Jane, with a terrific and busy garden and a story room full of Oz books which she has read to him. Billy is trying to think of an act for the school talent show, and Mary Jane suggests a puppet show about Oz. One of the inspirations is Mary Jane's old clown puppet, Billy Bumble, whom she discovers in an old trunk. After weeks of work creating puppets and rehearsing, all is ready, but Ozma's dress keeps getting tangled up in the strings. So Mary Jane finds her old Ozmite Club pin (yes, an actual club from the 1920s) to pin it up. That night, after Billy has gone home, Mary Jane gets a visit from an old childhood friend, the Scarecrow! It's time for her to go back to Oz. The next night, Billy's parents hide the news of the disappearance of Mary Jane and her house from Billy, so as to not upset him before the talent show. He puts the pin on Ozma, and all the puppets come to life! They're all a bit confused at first, but it turns out that Mary Jane's Ozmite pin was enchanted, allowing the wearer to return to Oz. Well, it didn't quite work out that way this time. The Oz characters decide to help out Billy and the puppet show is a success, even though the Oz characters reveal that Mary Jane is back in Oz and won't see it. Before Billy removes the pin, Ozma decides to alter its enchantment so that it will bring Billy Bumble to life. Billy Bumbles' new job is to train Billy Harris to be a clown!
This is a terrific little love letter to Oz and its fans, and the power of imagination and belief. The timeline doesn't quite work as an origin story for Bill Eubank, but it's still a loving tribute to the man. I never met him myself, but I know many who did, and I suspect Bill would approve strongly of this story.
1 comment:
I had this story in mind for years and regretted not writing it while Bill Eubank was alive. Eric's illustrations were a total joy in every way (wish I knew what became of the originals....) but it would have been fitting to ask Bill to illustrated it.
Billy Bumble was Bill's professional clown name and he signed everything with a bumble bee. Mary Jane was named after Mary Scott, an early Ozmopolitan convention attendee who always wore her Ozmite pin proudly, and Laura Jane Mueller. Both were elderly women those of us who attended that convention particularly enjoyed. (Laura Jane was an heiress whose chauffeur waited in the lobby all weekend; in her youth Mary had been an exotic dancer who used a snake in her act. I've yet to meet anyone like either of them!)
With this story and another a recently wrote, I made ample illusions to a story-within-the-story that's yet to be written by me or anyone else. Here it was the forgotten story Mary Jane had lived herself when she'd visited Oz as a child. It involved a dragon in a garden. Having it return to her memory for Billy to use in his puppet show was what alerted the people of Oz that her memory was returning. I've also always wished I had the skill to create bird houses shaped like various Oz homes/castles. So I gave a garden full of them to Mary Jane.
This story won the Oz Club fiction contest the year I entered it. Anyone interested in submitting fiction, non-fiction or art to the Club's 2018 contests still can! Info's available at OzClub.org.
Jane
Post a Comment