The Real Dorothy From “The Wizard of Oz” Was Only Five Months Old

The inspiration for the literary character never lived long enough to even walk.

by Rich Watson 

L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has lead to an evergreen merchandise blitz based on iconic characters, one of the most celebrated motion pictures ever made, and a permanent residence in American culture.

Before all that, though, it was nothing more than a tribute to a relative’s infant child, who died way too soon.

L. Frank Baum’s early career and marriage 

Lyman Frank Baum, a native of Chittenango, NY, started in theater. He wrote and acted in plays. In 1881, he met Maud Gage, daughter of suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage. Historians believe the elder Gage to have been influential in Baum’s writing. 

Maud knew Frank through her Cornell University roommate Josie, his cousin. Josie’s mother introduced the two, saying to him, “I want you to know Maud Gage. I’m sure you will love her.” Frank took one look at her and said, “Consider yourself loved, Miss Gage.”

They married in 1882.

The couple lived in South Dakota, and later Chicago, where Baum became a journalist. They had four sons.

In 1897, he began writing children’s stories, beginning with Mother Goose in Prose, a retelling of nursery rhymes as prose stories. Two years later he partnered with Wizard illustrator W.W. Denslow for the first time, with Father Goose, His Book. 

Both were hits.

Dorothy Gage and family

Maud Gage had two sisters and a brother, Thomas. He and his wife, Sophie Jewell, had a daughter, Dorothy Louise Gage, born on June 11, 1898. They lived in Bloomington, IL, when Maud and Frank lived in Chicago.

Maud, without a daughter of her own, doted on the baby. In a letter to Sophie, Maud said of Dorothy, “I could have taken her for my very own and loved her devotedly.”

She would not last a single year.

Cerebral congestion is a condition in which brain vessels have an excess of blood. Symptoms include severe headaches, insomnia, irritability and unconsciousness. In the eighteenth century it was called “congestion of the brain.”

Dorothy suffered from cerebral congestion. She died on November 11, 1898 after only five months of life. Maud was so distraught she needed medical attention.

As an aside: Maud’s mother Matilda believed in reincarnation. She once said in a letter to one of her grandchildren, “Death is only a journey, like going to another country.”

Baum creates Wizard and names its heroine

Baum loved storytelling to children, even before turning those stories into books. In the intro to Wizard, Baum described it as “a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.” Multiple sources from his life composed its threads.

He had used the name “Dorothy” in his writing before; the name was not unusual at the time. Several people have cited different inspirations for the character, including Matilda Gage. 

When Baum named her Dorothy, though, it was out of a desire to console Maud after the premature death of her niece. When Wizard was published in 1900, Baum dedicated it to “my good friend and comrade, My Wife.”

The Dorothy character 

Baum co-wrote the book and lyrics to a 1902 stage musical based on Wizard. Anna Laughlin, an actress who worked in theater and silent film, was the first to portray Dorothy. Numerous others have followed her, in different media. (Also, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked is coming later this year.)

You know about Judy Garland’s interpretation. 

Dorothy has appeared in fourteen Oz books written by Baum. When Ruth Plumly Thompson took over the series after Baum’s death in 1919, Dorothy made smaller appearances. Forty Oz books, by seven authors total, are considered canon.

As for Dorothy Gage, she is buried in Bloomington, IL, at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. A statue of her namesake, made from the remains of an oak tree, marks her grave. 

@byrichwatson

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Did you read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a child?