Toto (Oz)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Toto | |
|---|---|
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| First appearance | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) |
| Last appearance | debatable |
| Created by | L. Frank Baum |
| Information | |
| Aliases | none |
| Species | dog |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | unknown |
| Occupation | Dorothy Gale's dog |
| Family | Dorothy |
| Relatives | Dorothy |
| Address | Emerald City |
Toto is the name of a fictional dog in L. Frank Baum's Oz series of children's books, and works derived from them. The name is pronounced with a long "O", a homonym of "toe toe".
Contents |
[edit] The classic books
Toto belongs to Dorothy Gale, the heroine of the first and many subsequent books. In the first book, Toto never spoke, although other animals, native to Oz, did. In subsequent books, other animals gained the ability to speak on reaching Oz or similar lands, but Toto remained speechless. In Tik-Tok of Oz, continuity is restored: Toto reveals that he is able to talk, just like other animals in the land of Oz, and simply chooses not to. In The Lost Princess of Oz, he talks a great deal. Other major appearances include The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, Grampa in Oz and The Magical Mimics in Oz, in which he is the first to recognize the Mimics.
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum did not specifically state Toto's breed, but describes him as "a little black dog, with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose". However, from the illustrations in the first book many have concluded that Toto is a Cairn Terrier while others believe the dog is a Yorkshire Terrier as this breed was very popular at the time. In subsequent books Toto becomes a Boston Terrier for reasons that are never explained, but then resumes the earlier look in later books.
[edit] Recent books
Toto is the title character in two apocryphal Oz books, Toto in Oz (1986) by Chris Dulabone and Toto of Oz (2006) by Gina Wickwar.
In Toto in Oz, after receiving taunts from his friends when falling into a flower basket during a celebration of Midsummer Day 1986, Toto decides to see Glinda the Good about getting a title so that he can command respect. On the way, he wanders into the town of Arfrica (a human population, in spite of its name), digs up an ivory scepter he mistakes for a bone, and is proclaimed First Magistrate for a term of nine years. He requires everyone to learn the language of dogs in a series of lessons. When he is about to be forced into a marriage with a human princess, he escapes on a magic carpet, and becomes smitten with a Hawlaiian Scottish terrier named Labyz. Ultimately, he names a Second Magistrate to serve in his place and returns to the Emerald City.
[edit] Terry and the MGM film
In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, Toto was played by a female black Cairn Terrier whose real name was Terry. Terry was paid a $125.00 salary each week, which was far more than many of the human actors (the Singer Midgets who played the Munchkins only received $50.00 a week). During production Terry's foot was broken when one of the witch's guards stepped on her. A second dog had to be used while her foot healed. Because of the popularity of the movie, and because that role was the one she was most remembered for, Terry's owner changed her official name to Toto. She actually appeared in 13 different films. She died at age 10.
[edit] Later film versions
In the 1985 movie Return To Oz, Toto was played by a Border Terrier. However, he seemed to have been replaced by Dorothy's pet chicken, Ballina. In ABC's telefilm The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Toto is played by Pepe the Prawn. In the VeggieTales episode The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's, Toto is replaced by a pig named "Tutu".
In the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man, Toto is portrayed as a shape-shifting human. He was originally the tutor of DG and her sister, and his name of "Toto" came from DG's childhood inability to say "Tutor".
Toto also appears in the film Inkheart. In the film Silvertongues have the ability to bring a character from book to life by saying the words loud and clear. Meggy accidentally brings Toto out of the book "The Wizard Of Oz" and he becomes her companion (until he's sent back into the book at the end).
