Button-Bright
From Oz Wiki
| Species | Human |
| Place of origin | Philadelphia |
| Current residence | Emerald City |
| Title | |
| First appearance | The Road to Oz |
Button-Bright is a young boy who visited the Land of Oz and had many Fairyland adventures before eventually moving to Oz permanently.
Contents |
Description
When he first met Dorothy Gale, Button-Bright was a very young boy. He wore a sailor suit and had curly hair, a round, chubby face and big, blue eyes. He answered most questions with "Don't know." His father said he was "bright as a button", so his mother called him Button-Bright. (The Scarecrow later hypothesized that the button they had in mind might have been covered with dull cloth.)
History
While he was lost, Button-Bright was discovered by Dorothy and the Shaggy Man sitting along the side of a road digging a hole. He accompanied them to Foxville where King Dox was so impressed with his curious nature that the king transformed the boy's head to that of a fox. When they arrived in the Land of Oz, Button-Bright bathed in the Truth Pond and regained his own head. The party traveled to the Emerald City where they attended Princess Ozma's birthday celebration. Afterward, Button-Bright traveled home in a soap bubble created by the Wizard. (The Road to Oz)
Book Appearances
- The Road to Oz (first appearance)
- Sky Island
- The Scarecrow of Oz
- The Lost Princess of Oz
- Glinda of Oz
Background
Baum brought the character of Button-Bright back in his 1912 novel Sky Island. The boy has become older and more verbal, and greatly attached to his family's Magic Umbrella. He also reveals that he is from Philadelphia, and his real name (or as much as he can remember) is "Saladin Paracelsus de Lambertine Evagne von Smith".
In The Scarecrow of Oz (1915), Button-Bright becomes the first American boy on record to emigrate to Oz. Thereafter he participates in two Oz adventures, The Lost Princess of Oz (1917) and Glinda of Oz (1920), in which he reveals two more boyish traits: capacious pockets and a talent for getting lost. However, Baum's designated successors largely left this character alone in their novels.
Button-Bright is often depicted wearing a sailor suit or other fashionable boys' clothing from the early 20th century. In Philadelphia he has a large house and a governess, indicating that (unlike Dorothy Gale) he comes from a wealthy American family.
Mildred Harris played Button-Bright in the 1914 film His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz.
Button-Bright is the protagonist of Harry Mongold's Button-Bright of Oz. He is one of the heroes of Paul Dana's Time Travelers of Oz, along with his friend Ojo. That novel's sequel, The Lost Boy of Oz, is devoted to Dana's version of Button-Bright's origin story.
Button-Bright and Ojo switch bodies in Atticus Gannaway and Peter Schulenburg's The Magic Bowls of Oz. Gannaway also employs Button-Bright in his A Wonderful Journey in Oz. The boy appears again in Jeremy Steadman's The Emerald Ring of Oz.
