Facts > Films > The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939) Facts
| Director(s) | Victor Fleming, Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited), King Vidor (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | Mervyn LeRoy, Arthur Freed (uncredited) |
| Featured Cast | Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley |
| Total Facts | 132 |
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute CBS Radio adaptation of the movie on
December 25, 1950 with Judy Garland reprising her film role as Dorothy.
"Over the Rainbow" was nearly cut from the film; MGM felt that it made the Kansas sequence too long, as well as being too far over the heads of the children for whom it was intended. The studio also thought that it was degrading for Judy Garland to sing in a barnyard. A reprise of the song was cut: Dorothy sang it to remember Kansas while imprisoned in the Witch's castle. Judy Garland began to cry, along with the crew, because the song was so sad.
Judy Garland had to wear a painful corset-style device around her torso so that she would appear younger and flat-chested.
Judy Garland would later refer to the pint-sized Oscar Juvenile Award she won at 1939's Academy Awards as the Munchkin Award.
Judy Garland's portrayal of Dorothy was the main inspiration for the character of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island.
George Cukor not only changed Judy Garland's physical appearance in the film to the way it looks in the finished version, but also modified the Scarecrow's makeup. Later, when Victor Fleming had been assigned to direct, Jack Haley began filming his first scene as the Tin Man, the scene in which Dorothy and the Scarecrow first discover him. Buddy Ebsen, who had been playing the Tin Man, had to back out because of an allergic reaction to his makeup, and never filmed this scene; he had only filmed scenes that take place in the second half of the film, after the four travelers have been to the Wash and Brush Up Co. at the Emerald City. Haley had been filming his first scene for three days before anyone realized that he had no "rust" on his "tin" costume, even though in the story he was supposed to have been standing rusted for an entire year. The rust was immediately applied to it.
Fanny Brice was originally slated for the part of Glinda, the Good Witch.
Beatrice Lillie was considered for the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the film's pre-production stages.
Terry (Toto) was stepped on by one of the witch's guards, and had a double for two weeks. A second double was obtained, because it resembled Toto more closely. Judy Garland very much wanted to adopt Terry after the two spent so much time together shooting the film. Unfortunately, the owner of the dog wouldn't give her up, and Terry went on to a long career in films. She died in 1945 and was buried in her trainer's yard.
Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Coroner of Munchkinland, was, at one time, the shortest licensed pilot in the U.S. During WWII, he volunteered for military service and was turned down. He was accepted as a volunteer instructor in the Civil Air Patrol.
Fred Stone, who played the Scarecrow in the 1902 stage musical of "The Wizard of Oz", was briefly considered for the role in the movie. However, at age 65 in 1938 he was physically not up to the demands of the role.
Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Woodsman. However, he insisted that he would rather play the Scarecrow - his childhood idol, Fred Stone had originated that role on stage in 1902. Buddy Ebsen had been cast as the Scarecrow, and now switched roles with Bolger. Unbeknownst to him, however, the make-up for the Tin Man contained aluminum dust, which ended up coating Ebsen's lungs. He also had an allergic reaction to it. One day he was physically unable to breathe and had to be rushed to hospital. The part was immediately recast and MGM gave no public reason why Ebsen was being replaced. The actor considered this the biggest humiliation he ever endured and a personal affront. When Jack Haley took over the part of the Tin Man, he wasn't told why Ebsen had dropped out (and in the meantime, the Tin Man make-up had changed from aluminum dust to aluminum paste as one of its key components). However, his vocals remain whenever the song "We're off to see the Wizard" is played. Jack Haley's vocals were never used during the song, but were used for "If I only had a Heart" and "If I only had the Nerve." Ebsen's vocals are also heard in the extended version of "If I were King of the Forest," though the sp
Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley had to eat their meals in their dressing rooms, as the make-up they wore frightened the other diners in the MGM cafeteria. Ray Bolger commented in an interview on the reactions that other MGM actors had upon seeing these "weird-looking characters" in the cafeteria.
Jack Haley did not use his normal speaking voice when playing the Tin Man, only when playing Hickory, one of the farm hands in Kansas. His normal speaking voice contained none of the almost falsetto-like quality that the Tin Man's did. This was Haley's own idea, and he himself said that this was the tone of voice that he used when relating bedtime stories to his then-small son, Jack Haley Jr..
Walt Disney was the unwitting impetus behind getting the film started. Louis B. Mayer was determined to come up with something that would equal the success of Disney's runaway smash, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which had become the most successful film of all time in a matter of months. Walt originally wanted to make 'The Wizard Of Oz' after 'Snow White' but MGM owned the rights to the book. In the 80's the Disney studios made a semi-sequel Return to Oz.
Edna May Oliver was considered for the role of the Wicked Witch of the West.
L. Frank Baum's novel is considerably more gruesome than MGM's rendition. For example, "Kalidahs" (tiger-bear hybrids) are dashed to pieces in a crevasse, the Tin Woodman uses his axe to lop off the heads of a wildcat and 40 wolves, bumblebees sting themselves to death against the Scarecrow, and the Wizard orders the 4 to actually kill the Wicked Witch of the West, not simply to retrieve her broomstick.
Margaret Hamilton said that whenever she saw the scene where Frank Morgan as the Wizard is giving Dorothy's friends gifts from his "black bag" (a diploma for the Scarecrow, a ticking heart for the Tin Man, and a medal for the Cowardly Lion), she got teary eyed, because "Frank Morgan was just like that in real life - very generous".
Margaret Hamilton, a life-long fan of the Oz books, was ecstatic when she learned the producers were considering her for a part in the film. When she phoned her agent to find out what role she was up for, her agent simply replied, "The witch, who else?"
Curly Howard was Bert Lahr's inspiration for the role of the Lion.
Frank Morgan posed for a test for The Wizard, made up to look as the Wizard looked in the book; this makeup was discarded and the final look was only reached after at least five more tries. The Wicked Witch has two eyes in the movie and only one eye in the book. In fact, Dorothy and her friends are the only characters who look like the ones in the book, because of changes having to do with the Hays Office.
Richard Thorpe, the original director of the film, had shot around two weeks of footage before he was fired. Among the scenes he shot were Dorothy's meeting of the Scarecrow on the Yellow Brick Road along with his song and dance, as well as all the scenes involving the Wicked Witch's castle. Thorpe's footage had a remarkably different look from what was seen in the finished film. Most striking was the look of Judy Garland's Dorothy, who in Thorpe's footage had a blonde tousled hairstyle with baby doll make-up. Ray Bolger's Scarecrow also had different make-up as well as trousers. Margaret Hamilton had different make-up as the Wicked Witch of the West. In addition, Buddy Ebsen was playing the Tin Man. In Thorpe's footage the Yellow Brick Road also had a different look, as it was not curbed and made up of artificial looking oval bricks, instead of the curbed real rectangular ones in the finished film. Thorpe's footage has not been seen since it was shot in 1938 but surviving home movies, taken by composer Harold Arlen, shows a few shots of a blonde Garland and Bolger rehearsing their Scarecrow meeting scene, giving the viewer a glimpse of what Thorpe
Bert Lahr's costume weighed 90 pounds. It was made from a real lion skin and was very hot. The arc lights used to light the set often raised the temperature on the set to over 100 degrees F. Lahr used to sweat so profusely that the costume would be soaked by the end of the day. There were two people whose only job was to spend the night drying the costume for the next day. The costume was dry cleaned occasionally but usually, in the words of one of the crew members, "it reeked".
Charley Grapewin came out of retirement to play Uncle Henry.
E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen were given 14 weeks (and a Hollywood bungalow) to come up with the film's musical score.
Herbert Stothart, who scored this film, also scored Marie Antoinette. A recycled piece from that film can be heard during the scene in which Dorothy and her friends attempt an escape from the Witch's castle.
Ogden Nash wrote an unused screenplay.
A recent study claimed that this is the most watched movie in film history, largely due to the number of television screenings each year as well as video which has enabled children of every generation to see it.
A reference to something in the book not included in the script can be seen in the movie. It is the kiss Glinda gives Dorothy on the forehead that protects her from the Wicked Witch, as none dare harm someone who bears the kiss of the Good Witch.
A scene was filmed in which the Tin Woodman was turned into a "human beehive" by the Wicked Witch; after he crushes a bee, the tin woodman cries and rusts his jaw shut, then has to be oiled by Dorothy to get his jaw working again. This scene was cut and so the scene of Dorothy and her companions that comes after where the "beehive" scene had to be flipped to match their continuity in the earlier scene, causing them to appear blurred slightly.
A sequence in which Dorothy and her companions make a triumphant return to the Emerald City after melting the Wicked Witch, known as the "restoration scene," was cut.
A small sign to the left of the door of Professor Marvel's wagon lists "Exhibition Balloonist" as one of his talents.
According to lead Munchkin Jerry Maren, the "little people" on the set were paid $50 per week for a 6-day work week, while Toto received $125 per week.
Although Judy Garland was always the favorite to play Dorothy, there were many other actresses in Hollywood who were also considered to play her. Among them were Shirley Temple, who was closer to the actual age of Dorothy and extremely popular at the time. Since she was under contract to 20th Century Fox, a deal was offered to trade her to MGM in exchange for Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, which was voided by Harlow's untimely death. Temple's vocal talents were deemed by producers Mervyn LeRoy and Arthur Freed to be inadequate for the scope of the role. Deanna Durbin, the operatic rival to Garland, was also a consideration, as was Bonita Granville.
Although it has been long believed that Lorraine Bridges dubbed Billie Burke's singing voice in the film, she actually did not. Ms. Burke did her own singing as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.
Although most of screenwriter Noel Langley's ideas were used in the finished film, and he is credited as being the principal screenwriter as well as the adaptor, there were some revisions to his material. Langley was incensed that they had been done, and walked out on the project several times, although he was always persuaded to return. He was bitterly resentful of the final screenplay, and is on record as saying that he hated the finished film when he finally saw it.
At the end of the sequence in which Dorothy and the Scarecrow first meet the Tin Man, as the three march off singing "We're Off to See the Wizard", there is a disturbance in the trees off to the right. This was long rumored to be one of the crew (or, by some accounts, one of the dwarf actors) committing suicide by hanging himself, but it is in fact a large bird stretching its wings.
At the time that CBS purchased the television rights to The Wizard of Oz, MGM had sold most of its pre-1950's film library to individual stations across the U.S. The two major films they had not sold were Gone with the Wind (which MGM controlled the rights to) and "The Wizard of Oz". It would be twenty more years before "Gone With the Wind" would come to television.
At the time this film was made, film soundtracks were generally quite simple, with most of the sound recorded on the set, with post-production dubbing and looping being used only when necessary. However, due to the large number of special sound effects in this film, it was one of the rare cases in the 1930s of the use of a sound designer (another was Murray Spivack on King Kong), whose job it was just to work out and design the sound elements of the soundtrack. O.O. Ceccarini (a close friend of Albert Einstein), who occasionally did special sound work at MGM, was brought in to design the soundtrack, with the assistance of special sound effects engineer Franklin Milton (who would later head up the MGM post-production sound department, replacing Douglas Shearer and Wesley C. Miller in the 1950s). Ceccarini was a brilliant mathematician as well, and he applied mathematics to achieving some of the more complicated sound elements.
Dorothy's hair changes lengths throughout the course of the film, most noticeably in the Scarecrow cornfield sequence. This was the first sequence to be shot. As production progressed, refinements were made to Judy Garland's hair and make-up. At the end of filming, reshoots were done of the cornfield sequence and, thus, the shots do not match. The reshoots are believed to have been done by King Vidor, who also directed the Kansas sequences, including "Over the Rainbow", after director Victor Fleming left the production to direct Gone with the Wind.
Dorothy's iconic red slippers now live at the Smithsonian Institution, and are so popular that the carpet in front of the attraction has had to be replaced numerous times due to wear and tear.
During the "Wash and Brush Up Co." scene, the lyrics "We can make a dimpled smile out of a frown/Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown" are sung in counterpoint to the orchestra playing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."
During the haunted forest scene, several actors playing the Winged Monkeys were injured when the piano wires suspending them snapped, dropping them several feet to the floor of the sound stage.
For the film's 1998 theatrical re-release, Warner Brothers was considering editing the extended Scarecrow "If I Only Had A Brain" sequence into the movie (it was deleted from the film before its 1939 premiere) but ultimately decided not to.It is available as a supplemental feature on the Warner Bros Special Edition DVD of the film.
Glinda's gown was first used by Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco.
If you look closely, the door the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion rescue Dorothy through isn't the same as the one Dorothy enters the Hourglass Room through. This is due to the deletion of an entire scene in which the room the heroes enter (following the sound of someone humming, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow") holds not Dorothy, but the Wicked Witch of the West! She paralyzes the heroes, then creates a false Rainbow Bridge from that room to Dorothy's. She sends a Winkie out to test it... he falls through the center of the bridge. She then magically compels our three heroes to call out to Dorothy, who runs onto the bridge... and is carried across by the magic slippers! Our friends are reunited, and (released from the witch's spell by love/the slippers, whichever) run out of the room, with the witch screaming, "Stop them!" behind them. (The scene was cut both for technical reasons... they couldn't pull off a good Rainbow Bridge... and because seeing a Winkie falling to his presumed death was considered too risky in the days of the Hays Commission.)
In 1898, Dorothy Louise Gage was born to the brother and sister-in-law of Maud Gage Baum, wife of author L. Frank Baum. When little Dorothy died exactly five months later, Maud was heartbroken. Baum was just finishing "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and, to comfort his wife, named his heroine after Dorothy, changing her last name to Gale in his second book. Dorothy Gage was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois, where her grave was forgotten until 1996 when it was rediscovered. When Mickey Carroll, one of the last existing Munchkins from the movie, learned of the discovery, he was eager to replace her deteriorated grave marker with a new one created by his own monument company. The new stone was dedicated in 1997 and the children's section of the cemetery renamed the Dorothy L. Gage Memorial Garden, in the hope that bereaved families would be comforted in thinking of their lost children as being with Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz".
In 1939, Montreal lifted its law restricting minors under 16 from admission to theaters, presumably without an accompanying adult. This lift was done exclusively for this film and apparently sent a rush of children to theaters, according to a 1939 issue of Variety. Earlier that year, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs unsuccessfully attempted to lift the ban.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #10 Greatest Movie of All Time.
In Jim Steinmeyer's 2003 book "Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear", Steinmeyer notes of Harry Kellar: "Kellar was almost certainly the inspiration for the wizened Wizard of Oz described by author L. Frank Baum; he was America's leading magician when Baum's book was written".