Based on the novel of the same name by L. Frank Baum, this film tells the story of a young girl named Dorothy Gale who gets swept up by a tornado and dropped into the wonderful world of Oz.
Summary
-Dorothy Gale is a young girl who gets swept away by a tornado and lands in the world of Oz. There, along with her dog Toto, she meets a scarecrow, a tin man and a cowardly lion. They embark on a quest to The Emerald City, to meet the Wizard, who can fulfill their wishes
-Judy Garland: Dorothy Gale
-Frank Morgan: Professor Marvel / The Gatekeeper / The Wizard of Oz / The Guard
-Ray Bolger: Hunk / The Scarecrow
-Bert Lahr: Zeke / The Cowardly Lion
-Jack Haley: Hickory / The Tin Man
-Billie Burke: Glinda the Good Witch
-Margaret Hamilton: Almira Gulch / The Wicked Witch of the West
-Charley Grapewin: Uncle Henry
-Pat Walshe: Nikko
-Clara Blandick: Auntie Em
-Many scenes were either shortened or completely deleted out of the film because they were thought to be too intense. One example is a scene showing the tornado completely engulfing the house
-While searching for clothing for Frank Morgan (The Wizard/Professor Marvel), the wardrobe department went to a second hand store and found one that gave off a vibe of "shabby gentility". One day, director Victor Fleming turned out one of the pockets and a label bearing the name "L. Frank Baum" came out. Mary Mayer, a publicist for the film, reached out to both the tailor and Baum's widow. It turned out that the coat did, at one time, belong to the famed author of The Wizard of Oz. When filming concluded, the coat was given to Mrs. Baum
-Judy Garland found it hard to be fearful of Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch, because she was such a kindly woman off-screen
-The iconic ruby slippers Dorothy wore are now in the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History. The carpet in front of the case has to be replaced frequently due to wear and tear
-The horses in Emerald City were coated with gelatin powder, to give them their bright hues. Scenes had to be shot quickly before the horses licked off the powder
-Dorothy Louise Gage was born in 1898 to the brother and sister in law of Maud Gage Baum, the sister of L. Frank Baum, the famed author of The Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy died five months later, Maud was devastated. Ironically, Baum was finishing "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and decided to name the heroine Dorothy to comfort his wife. He changed the last name to Gale in the third book. Dorothy Gage was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington, IL. Her grave was mostly forgotten until 1996 when it was rediscovered. Mickey Carroll, one of the last surviving actors to play the Munchkins, learned of the discovery and made it his mission to give her a new marker to replace the old, heavily weathered one from the monument company he owned. A dedication ceremony in 1997 was held to celebrate this and the children's section of the cemetery was renamed the Dorothy L. Gage Memorial Garden with the hope that parents who lost children would be comforted by the thought of their deceased children being with Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz
-Judy Garland had to wear a corset to appear younger and flat chested because, at the time of filming, she was only 16 and had to appear as a pre-pubescent girl
-The Munchkins are played by The Singer Midgets, not named after their ability to sing, but their manager Leo Singer. The group came from Europe, and many of them were Jewish. They took advantage of being in the US to escape the Nazis. Professional singers dubbed their singing voices, as many of them couldn't speak English or sing all that well. The only two heard speaking with their real voices were the Munchkins who give Dorothy flowers after she climbs into the carriage
-Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Man, but instead he wanted to play the Scarecrow. His good friend Buddy Ebsen ended up playing the Tin Man. Unbeknownst to Ebsen, the silver makeup contained aluminum dust, which he had a severe allergic reaction to, resulting in him being rushed to the hospital. The role of the Tin Man was immediately recast and Jack Haley took over as The Tin Man, wearing makeup that contained not aluminum dust but aluminum paste, so as to avoid any allergic reactions
-Despite playing an enemy to Dorothy, Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch, got along very well on set. Garland had shown Hamilton a dress she was planning on wearing to her high school graduation. But Louis B. Mayer had her going out on a tour with Mickey Rooney and she never got a chance to wear it onstage with her graduating class. Hamilton became angry and called up Mayer to yell at him
-During the "poppy field" scene, where Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion fell asleep, the "snow" raining down was 100% industrial grade asbestos. Unfortunately, it had been known for years the dangerous health hazards of asbestos
-Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion, wore a lion costume that weighed 90 pounds. At the end of each day, due to the bright lights on set, the costume was soaked from Lahr sweating badly
-Margaret Hamilton was very fond of animals. Like Judy Garland, Hamilton had a bond with Terry, the dog who played Toto. Which is why Hamilton found it difficult to do the scene where Miss Gulch has to take Toto away and as the Wicked Witch, where she ordered Toto to be drowned
-Margaret Hamilton got teary eyed during the scene where Frank Morgan, who plays The Wizard, was giving Dorothy and her 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 said "Frank was just like that in real life-very generous."
-Judy Garland's feet hurt so bad from wearing the ruby slippers that she could only wear them for brief times. A quick shot of her wearing soft rehearsal shoes can be seen in the scene where the Tin Man is dancing and falls backwards
-Since Judy Garland was only 16 and in school at the time, she could only do four hours on set and spent three hours getting her education when not filming
-Nikko is the name of the lead winged monkey. This name comes from the Japanese town where the famous See No Evil/Hear No Evil/Speak No Evil monkey shrine is located
-There is a small sign outside of Professor Marvel's wagon that says "Balloon exhibitionist" as one of the services he offers
-Eerily enough, on the day that Judy Garland died, there was a tornado in Kansas
-Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion) and Jack Haley (Tin Man) had to eat their lunch in their dressing rooms because their makeup frightened other people in the MGM cafeteria
-Frank Morgan, who played Professor Marvel / The Wizard, suffered from alcoholism and would discreetly hide his liquor in his dressing room. He remained friendly and professional throughout his life. One of the times he was noticeably drunk was during the Oz guardhouse scene, where, it's been noted, he would have fallen over if not for the guardhouse. He even began attracting attention when he began singing a dirty song. This type of behavior was not considered normal for the usually friendly actor
-Multiple styles of shoes were tested for the ruby slippers. There was one known as "Arabian" slippers because of their curled up toes. There was another one known as "Bugle Bead" slippers without bows. The ones that won out were a pair of low schoolgirl-style pumps with bows
-The paint used to make bricks yellow for the Yellow Brick Road was nothing more than basic yellow industrial paint purchased from a hardware store several blocks away from the studio
-During the scene where the Wizard's guard had told Dorothy and her friends to go away, the crying Dorothy did was not acting, but real. Judy Garland found out her pet dog died and it broke her heart so much she broke down in tears, which worked for the scene and made it more realistic
-The set was said to be a major health hazard. Buddy Ebsen, who was supposed to play the Tin Man, was allergic to the aluminum-based makeup and had to spend time in an iron lung to cure him. Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch, suffered burns from a faulty trap door during her exit scene from Oz. She missed six weeks of filming while her understudy was in the hospital for eleven days after suffering permanent burns from the broom exploding. Hamilton's green makeup was also toxic because it was copper-based and allowed her only to drink liquids through a straw. Her skin was also green for months, even after filming wrapped
-Normally, poppies are not known for an appealing scent. Anyone who is familiar with narcotics, specifically opium and heroin, know that the opium poppy is where these two narcotics are derived from. The red flowers are representative of the opium poppy, which does induce sleep
-In the original book, the slippers were silver, not red. They were changed to a ruby red color to make them appear better in Technicolor
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