Uncle Henry (Oz)
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Uncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.
[edit] Oz Books
After their house was famously carried off to the land of Oz by a cyclone in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Henry mortgaged his farm in order to rebuild. This crisis, combined with the stress of Dorothy's prolonged disappearance and sudden reappearance, took a toll on his health, and his doctor ordered him to take a vacation. He took Dorothy with him on an ocean voyage to Australia, where he had relatives, but during this trip (in Ozma of Oz) Dorothy was lost again during a storm, and for several weeks Henry believed she had drowned, until she suddenly returned again, courtesy of the Nome King's Magic Belt.
In The Emerald City of Oz, Henry and Em finally confessed to Dorothy the extent of their financial problems, and revealed to her that their farm was on the verge of forclosure. Dorothy solved this problem for them by bringing them to live with her in the Emerald City, as permanent guests of Princess Ozma. Henry was given the job of being Keeper of the Jewels in Ozma's treasure hoard for the purpose of keeping him occupied.
Uncle Henry has been featured slightly more than Aunt Em in the Oz books, despite being features less than Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz.
[edit] Other media
Frank Alexander portrayed him as a villain in Larry Semon's Wizard of Oz.
In MGM's musical adaptation The Wizard of Oz, Uncle Henry is played by Charley Grapewin.
In The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles#1 comic, Henry Gale was born in 1852, but died in old age of a heart attack. He was buried in St. Ann's Cemetery in Kansas. Due to Oz residents never really dying in entirety, the 'new' Witch in Oz had Henry in unconscious stasis, after his Earthly soul had died.
In the American television program Lost, there is a character named Benjamin Linus who told survivors his name was Henry Gale who claims to have arrived on the island via hot air balloon.
This article relating to the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" or one of their derivative works is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
