John Dough was a common name for a

gingerbread man A gingerbread man or a Gingerbread man cookie is a biscuit or cookie made from gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized form / caricature of a human being, although other shapes, especially seasonal themes (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, et ...

at the turn of the 20th century, though the best-remembered John Dough is the character created by L. Frank Baum in his 1906 novel, ''

John Dough and the Cherub ''John Dough and the Cherub'' is a children's fantasy novel, written by American author L. Frank Baum, about a living gingerbread man and his adventures. It was illustrated by John R. Neill and published in 1906 by the Reilly & Britton Company. ...

''; the character also makes a cameo appearance in Baum's ''

The Road to Oz ''The Road to Oz: In Which Is Related How Dorothy Gale of Kansas, The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome the Rainbow's Daughter Met on an Enchanted Road and Followed it All the Way to the Marvelous Land of Oz.'' is the fifth of L. Frank B ...

''. Jack Snow, ''Who's Who in Oz'', Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; pp. 111-12. If the fragment known as "An Oz Book" is genuine, Baum may have intended to include John Dough in his fifteenth

Oz book The Oz books form a book series that begins with '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) and relates the fictional history of the Land of Oz. Oz was created by author L. Frank Baum, who went on to write fourteen full-length Oz books. All of Baum's ...

had he lived to write it.

Baum's character

John Dough was a life sized gingerbread man baked for a celebration of

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

, and brought to life by a mad

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

's elixir. Much of the book deals with the Arab's attempts to eat John Dough, for the elixir, which he had intended to drink to become immortal, was accidentally mixed into the batter that made him. John is carried off in a rocket and lands at the Isle of Phreex, a

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Du ...

-like asylum for human oddities. There, he befriends Chick the Cherub, the world's first incubator baby, whose gender is never specified. Eventually the two are forced to escape along with Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear, and they visit the constant theatre of the Palace of Romance, the Fairy Beavers of Mifket Island, and others, all while John tries to avoid being eaten. John Dough loses his coat-tails to birds but manages to keep his body intact. He ultimately sacrifices his hand to save a dying princess. At the end of the novel, he is made the King of Hiland and Loland, an island dual country, and Chick becomes his Grand Booleywag, who rules the ruler. John fulfills a prophecy that will end the warring between the kingdoms and establishes the capital city of HiLo. One of the Los bakes him a new hand, and he passes a law against the eating of

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as cr ...

more than two days old. In ''

'', John Dough, Chick the Cherub, and Para Bruin are seen at

Princess Ozma Princess Ozma is a fictional character from the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the Oz series except the first, '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and Baum ...

's birthday party. In the fragmentary "An Oz Book" (''Baum Bugle'', Christmas 1965), a man named Gipper-Gupper-Gopp claims to have come from Hiland to the outskirts of the Emerald City.

Adaptations

Joseph Schrode Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

played John Dough in ''

The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays ''The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays'' was an early attempt to bring L. Frank Baum's Oz books to the motion picture screen. It was a mixture of live actors, hand-tinted magic lantern slides, and film. Baum himself would appear as if he were giving a ...

''. It is unknown who played the role in the lost 1910 film, ''

''. A. Baldwin Sloane, who had contributed to '' The Wizard of Oz'', wrote a musical called ''The Gingerbread Man'' around 1906. The main character was named John Dough and sings a song of that title, but had nothing to do with Baum's character, and had no particular qualms about being eaten.

References

{{Oz Oz (franchise) characters Fictional food characters Literary characters introduced in 1906 Male characters in literature