Bert Lahr. In all, the only three books in which the Cowardly Lion does not rate at least a mention are The Tin Woodman of Oz, Grampa in Oz, and The Silver Princess in Oz. For the most part in later Oz books, though, the Cowardly Lion is a cameo appearance rather than a major character. [12] Many potential buyers have expressed interest in buying the costume, but so far he has rejected all offers. Gregory Maguire's most recent book, A Lion Among Men, is told primarily from the Lion's viewpoint, and its plot is centered around Brrr's account of his own origins, or lack thereof (he is unsure, as his narration begins, of the whereabouts of his parents, pride, etc.). The feathery, bird-headed people of Un are all thoroughly “unish“, or negative: unfriendly, unkind, ungrateful, and so on. The Lion travels with Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and Toto on the yellow brick road on their journey to see the Wizard of Oz. It was illustrated by John R. Neill. The Tin Woodman confirms this in the Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, in the song "March of the Witch Hunters": "And the lion also has a grievance to repay! The Cowardly Lion also known as Jonathan Stamper which is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. For some time he was unable to sit upright and had to work from a chaise longue. If she'd let him fight his own battles when he was young, he wouldn't be a coward today!". Some historians, such as Henry M. Littlefield in American Quarterly,[19] have suggested that Baum modeled the Cowardly Lion after politician William Jennings Bryan, or politicians in general. It was illustrated by John R. Neill . The Cowardly Lion makes his first appearance in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was made into a 2000 film titled Lion of Oz. However, when Notta Bit More, a clown from the circus in Stumptown (somewhere in the humdrum backblocks of the United States of America), and a serious-minded orphan boy called Bobbie Downs (but renamed as Bob Up, by the cheerful Notta) drop into Mudge together, this seems to Mustafa to be his chance to send a non-Mudge person out to bring the famous Cowardly Lion to be the ten thousandth lion in Mudge. The cub had been the result of cruel experiments by Dr. Dillamond's replacement teacher (in the musical, it was an agent of the Wizard) and was saved by Elphaba and some other students. The story opens with Mustafa of Mudge, a turbaned desert monarch with blue whiskers, who collects lions. Ozma takes away Mustafa's magic ring and order is restored. The Lion finds the Giant Spider asleep and decapitates it. When they come into another, wider chasm, the Cowardly Lion holds off two Kalidahs while the Tin Woodman cuts a tall tree to cross it. The accompanying text states, "While Bert Lahr appears to wear the same costume throughout the picture, others were available for dress rehearsals or for the stunt double to bound onto the Yellow Brick Road, leap through a window in the Emerald City, or scale the cliffs outside the Witch’s castle. His caretaker, Oscar Diggs, was the man who would become the Wizard of Oz; this man took the Lion on a balloon ride one night, which resulted in the two becoming stranded in Oz. Unbeknownst to the Cowardly Lion, he is being hunted by Notta Bit More and Bob Up. The Cowardly Lion of Oz ( 1923) is the seventeenth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the third written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Bert Lahr's biography, written by his son John Lahr, is entitled Notes on a Cowardly Lion. [9] He had it restored by a taxidermist and "recreated the headpiece with a lifelike sculpture of Lahr". In later books, The Cowardly Lion often accompanies Dorothy on her adventures. [13] The Cowardly Lion's original facial appliances had been glued directly to Bert Lahr's face and did not survive the production,[13] so Comisar asked Lahr's son, Herbert, to model for another face cast, as he had an uncanny resemblance to his father.