Toto the dog is a character in L. Frank Baum's 1900 fantasy story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Toto is the pet of Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl who is blown "over the rainbow" into the magical land of Oz. Toto appeared in various "Oz" books written by Baum and others, but the dog became really famous after the release of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. The film became a popular classic with baby boomers, thanks in part to annual showings on network television. Toto was immortalized in Dorothy's famous line, "Toto... I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" and in the Wicked Witch of the West's threat to Dorothy: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"
Toto's breed is not specified in the Baum books, but in the movie he was played by a female Cairn terrier named Terry... Toto is also the name of an American rock band and the nickname of Italian comic actor Antonio Clemente (1898-1967).
Representative Albums: "Toto IV", "Past to Present 1977-1990", "Playlist: The Very Best of Toto
Representative Songs: "Africa", "Hold the Line", "Rosanna
Biography
Toto was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by David Paich (b. June 21, 1954, Los Angeles; keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (b. October 21, 1957, Los Angeles; guitar, vocals), Bobby Kimball (b. Robert Toteaux, March 29, 1947, Vinton, LA; vocals), Steve Porcaro (b. September 2, 1957, Connecticut; keyboards), David Hungate (b. Texas; bass), and Jeff Porcaro (b. April 1, 1954, Hartford, CT; d. August 5, 1992, Hidden Hills, CA; drums). Paich was the son of arranger Marty Paich; the Porcaros were the sons of percussionist Joe Porcaro. The bandmembers had met in high school and at studio sessions in the 1970s, when they became some of the busiest session musicians in the music business. Paich, Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro wrote songs for and performed on Silk Degrees, the multi-million-selling 1976 album that combined pop, rock, and disco elements into a slick combination which heavily influenced mainstream pop music.
Toto released its self-titled debut album in October 1978, and it hit the Top Ten, sold two-million copies, and spawned the gold Top Ten single "Hold the Line." The gold-selling Hydra (October 1979) and Turn Back (January 1981) were less successful, but Toto IV (April 1982) was a multi-platinum Top Ten hit, featuring the number-one hit "Africa" and the Top Tens "Rosanna" (about Lukather's girlfriend, movie star Rosanna Arquette) and "I Won't Hold You Back." At the 1982 Grammys, "Rosanna" won awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement With Vocal; and Toto IV won awards for Album of the Year, Best Engineered Recording, and Best Producer (the group). In 1984, a third Porcaro brother, Mike (b. May 29, 1955), joined the group on bass, replacing Hungate. Then lead singer Kimball quit and was replaced by Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen (b. May 15, 1951, Wyoming, MI).
Toto's fifth album, Isolation (November 1984), went gold, but was a commercial disappointment. Frederiksen was replaced by Joseph Williams (b. Santa Monica), the son of the conductor/composer John Williams, for Fahrenheit (August 1986). Steve Porcaro quit in 1988, prior to the release of The Seventh One. In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron replaced Williams for the new recordings on Past to Present 1977-1990, then left, as Lukather became the group's lead singer. Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992, but was featured on the group's next album, Kingdom of Desire. By this time, Toto was far more popular in Japan and Europe than at home. The group added British drummer Simon Phillips. Tambu, released in Europe in the late fall of 1995, appeared in the U.S. in June 1996. For 1999's Mindfields, Bobby Kimball returned to the lineup after a 15-year absence. The group members continued to do session work during the band's tenure, contributing significantly to the sound of mainstream pop/rock in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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".
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.
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 ivoryscepter 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.Wizard of Oz
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.
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).
