![]() I played out the story with my toys, Dorothy narrowly beat out Snow White as the character I would dress up as the most for Halloween (I would wear a pair of sparkly jelly shoes for the ruby slippers, just to give you an idea of how old I am), I saw a live version with my Girl Scout troop at Madison Square Garden starring Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt and Ken Page, and like with Beauty and the Beast, I would walk around with a wicker basket and act out the movie as it played on tv. It was one of the first musicals where I had the songs almost completely memorized. I still have the 50th anniversary VHS and to this day I can’t watch the DVD without missing the cute Downy commercial of the kids putting on their own production of Oz that played before it. Like I said before, The Wizard of Oz was one of the earliest movies I remember watching. Heck, I didn’t learn until I was older that the film was even based on a book (because what kid actually reads the opening credits of a movie, even one they’ve seen a thousand times before they learned how to read?) But I’m not here to talk about the differences between the book and the movie (except for when they’re relevant), I’m looking at the movie itself. In terms of popularity it has all but eclipsed the book it was based on, wonderful as it is. Frank Baum), and there are numerous stage, television and film adaptations, but the most beloved of them all is the 1939 musical from MGM. The original book has no less than 52 sequels (13 of which were originally penned by L. France has the works of Charles Perrault, Germany has the Brothers Grimm, England has J.M. Over one hundred years later, The Wizard of Oz is still considered America’s fairy tale. Had Baum not payed any attention to the latter, we may never have gotten the land so surreal and imaginative as Oz. While going through a file cabinet Baum noticed that everything was organized from A – N and O – Z. Then one day, his wife convinced him to write a story based on the ones he told his children, where ordinary people are whisked to magical lands, where men made of tin come to life, where the world is ruled by wise and powerful women (Baum’s wife and her family were suffragettes, so that was a big influence). He was a bright and creative fellow but for one reason or another could never stay employed for long. In the late 1800’s, Lyman Frank Baum was a family man down on his luck and out of a job. “Toto…I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” I do not claim ownership of this material.) All images and footage used below are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. She later left her husband for the mayor, which we can all agree was a huge step up.(DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. One of the apparently less in-hand Munchkin actors, Charles Kelley, brought two loaded guns to set one day to either intimidate or legitimately injure the mayor of Munchkin City for flirting with his wife, who also played a Munchkin. With regards to those hangovers, the Munchkins were known for getting wild after hours, with Garland later claiming, “They got smashed every night, and the police used to scoop them up in butterfly nets,” and producer Mervyn Leroy writing that they “they had orgies in the hotel, and we had to have police on about every floor,” though he excused their behavior by explaining that “to make a picture like The Wizard of Oz, everybody had to be a little drunk with imagination.” The Munchkin actors insisted that only a handful of them were big partiers, but how big does an orgy have to be before it’s a situation? 2 When a Munchkin Brought a Gun to a No-Fight The Cowardly Lion suit was made out of real lion pelts that weighed nearly 100 lbs., and the body odor of an actor forced to move around in a heavy, unbreathable animal carcass combined with the smell of, you know, an animal carcass resulted in an unimaginable stink. They did get to use a real lion - in a fashion. Then they realized it would be way less dangerous to just put a guy in a suit. ![]() 15 The Cowardly Lion Was Almost a Real Lionĭuring pre-production, a lot of wild ideas were tossed around about how to present the Cowardly Lion, including stealing Disney’s thunder and animating him in or, somewhat less riskily, using Leo the Lion from MGM logo fame and dubbing his lines. ![]() Even eight decades later, there are almost certainly no other movies that were as chaotic behind the scenes. If The Wizard of Oz were a person, we’d be checking them into a home and politely nodding our heads while they tell us about the time they blew up Margaret Hamilton, but that’s not a dementia-induced invention. Not to alarm you, but The Wizard of Oz is 83 years old. ![]()
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