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Betsy Bobbin is a little country girl who made several magical adventures in Oz and Baum's Oz chronicles. She is said to be much like Dorothy Gale of Kansas, yet instead of a pet dog, she had a pet mule named Hank. She and Hank are both from Oklahoma.

Baum's Description[]

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Betsy Bobbin.

In the Oz stories, Betsy is usually described as having very curly blonde or light-brown hair that is in a mop. Besty Bobbin is said to be wearing polka-dotted dresses and big oversized hair ribbons-bows or bonnets. She also is said to be around one year older than Dorothy Gale which would make her roughly around thirteen years of age as Dorothy herself is hinted to be no older than twelve. Betsy also has a close relationship with her pet mule Hank, whom she met on a ship before it was shipwrecked and the two washed up on the lands of a fairy-country.

Personality[]

She is a very timid, shy thing, and never used to the magical marvels that surround her like Ozma or Dorothy. (The Scarecrow of Oz) She, along with Dorothy and Trot, are constant companions and loyal allies of Princess Ozma.

497544 Betsy-Bobbin-and-Hank

Betsy Bobbin and Hank the Mule.

History[]

During an ocean voyage Betsy befriended Hank the Mule. Then, one night during a storm, the ship struck a rock and Betsy and Hank were thrown off the deck into the sea. Shortly after that it caught fire, blew up, and sank beneath the waves.

They washed ashore in the Rose Kingdom. She teamed up with the Shaggy Man and several others, and together they went to the Nome Kingdom to rescue the Shaggy Man's Brother. At the end of their adventure, Princess Ozma, at the urging of Dorothy Gale, brought Betsy to the Land of Oz to live in the Emerald City. (Tik-Tok of Oz)

Betsy joined Dorothy and others in searching for Ozma. (The Lost Princess of Oz)

Betsy was among the guests who attended Ozma's birthday party in the Emerald City. (The Magic of Oz)

Background[]

Betsy has a great deal in common with Dorothy. Dorothy is from Kansas, and washed up onto the west coast of Nonestica with a chicken named Billina; Betsy is from Oklahoma, and arrived in a similar manner with a mule named Hank. Both girls are headstrong and courageous. This is due to the fact that L. Frank Baum had to create her as a substitute of Dorothy in The Tik-Tok Man of Oz; because Dorothy was being used in the theatre production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, so he actually didn't have the rights to use her in his new play. When he turned the play into a novelization, he kept Betsy instead of just using Dorothy. Many critics have considered Betsy an unnecessary, redundant character for this reason.

In an early draft of the play, the heroine was called Betsy Baker. Leonora Novasio played Betsy in the play's 1913 premiere.

Baum leaves Betsy's personal history completely blank. Greg Hunter provides his own version of Betsy's origin in his story "Betsy Bobbin of Oz."

Book appearances[]

In Film[]

The Bricklayer Music Video[]

Mylo Bybee, "The Bricklayer" music video, Betsy Bobbin

Betsy as she appears in The Bricklayer music video.

Betsy is a main character in Mylo Bybee's Oz-based music video The Bricklayer.

External links[]

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