Tiger Tales #154 - A Shadow Cast Before

"Captain Kidd"
By L. Frank Baum
Author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, John Dough and the Cherub, The Treasure of Karnak, and The Visitors from Oz, etc.

From the script for Ozma of Oz: A Musical Extravaganza in Two Acts, 1909. Previously unpublished.

Duet for Shaggy Man and Tiktok with Pirate Fleet Chorus.

SHAGGY:
When Captain Kidd was but a lad
He was a lively kid;
He licked the teacher
Robbed the preacher
Of two quid—
TIKTOK:
--he did! he did!
SHAGGY:
He wouldn’t mind his ma at all.
On Sunday he played tag and ball,
The other boys he’d fight and maul
Did Captain Kidd—
TIKTOK:
--he did!

BOTH:
Oh, Captain, Captain Kidd
What made you act so bad?
It’s lucky shofers wern’t [sic] invented
When you were a lad!
(Dance.)

2
TIKTOK:
When Captain Kidd was but a youth
He ran away and hid;
He swore and drank and
Robbed a bank and
Then he slid—
SHAGGY:
--he did! he did!
TIKTOK:
He headed for the Spanish Main
And many shackles did he gain
And slaughtered men till they were slain
Did Captain Kidd—
SHAGGY:
--he did!

BOTH:
Oh, Captain, Captain Kidd!
You were a reckless youth!
And much we fear a buccaneer
You had become, in truth!
(DANCE.)

(ENTER: CHORUS with papier-mache ships around waist, legs concealed by sea-cloth, as indicated. Upper part dressed as Pirates, with fierce whiskers, swords and pistols. During Chorus and Dance they discharge some of the guns and some ships are wrecked.)

3.
SHAGGY:
When Captain Kidd became a man
For piracy he bid;
Sold bonds and stocks and
Took the rocks to
Old Madrid—
TIKTOK:
--he did! he did!
SHAGGY:
He worked the life insurance graft,
TIKTOK:
And politics and arts-and-craft,
SHAGGY:
He drove his countless victims daft
Did Captain Kidd—
TIKTOK:
--he did!

BOTH:
Oh, Captain, Captain Kidd!
What dreadful deeds you’d do.
If Standard Oil was in your toil
You’d bust the trust for true!
(DANCE.)

THE FORGETFUL POET

By Ruth Plumly Thompson
Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, April 4, 1920.

Puzzle Corner

I had this short note from our old friend the Forgetful Poet this week:

Dear Miss Thompson—I am taking
A little rest—a spring vacashing!
The riddle box inside my head
Is empty. Here’s my love instead!
Faithfully and forgetfully,

_____

His poem last week needed a little doctoring. He said sacknap, but meant knapsack. He also meant to sit upon a rock and throw his line into the stream. He mixed hook up with fish in the next verse and tea with fish in the last, and left out the word bait.

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