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Entertainment December 3, 2016
“The Wizard of Oz” seems to have more lives than Dorothy during her dangerous adventures in the Land of Oz. The classic 1939 film, which featured stunning Technicolor, has since been the most successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
Years later, the film is getting another reboot in the form of NBC’s new series, “Emerald City.” While the show was announced around a year ago, it is just hitting TV screens this coming January 6.
Can’t wait until 2017 for your hit of The Wizard of Oz? Then see how much of an Oz expert you really are with some help from ENTITY! Keep reading to discover seven surprising facts about “The Wizard of Oz” – and see how many you already knew.
The idea for the sepia-toned introduction came from the novel itself. Baum continually describes Kansas, the Gale’s home and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry themselves as shades of gray burnt by the sun and with age. The production team decided on sepia to highlight the dull countryside that Baum describes. However, the team had a much more difficult time decided which colors to use. In fact, it took a week to determine the right shade of yellow for the yellow brick road.
While 16-year-old Judy Garland may have won the bid for Dorothy, MGM reportedly considered borrowing Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox so that she could play the part. It’s still uncertain as to why Temple didn’t get to walk down her own yellow brick road. Some report that that the “loan” fell through while others point out that Temple’s vocals didn’t stand a chance against Garland’s.
READ MORE: Judy Garland: From Vaudeville to Movie Star
Dorothy wasn’t the only surprise casting. Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West, only received the part after Gale Sondergaard dropped out. Also, your favorite scarecrow Ray Bolger was first cast as the Tin Man. Since he felt his signature dance moves would be lost in such a “stiff” role, he convinced Buddy Ebsen – who was originally cast as the scarecrow – to switch roles. To make matters even more complicated, Buddy Ebsen then had an allergic reaction to the aluminum-powdered makeup and was replaced by Jack Haley.
So what’s the story of the man who wrote the famous story that started it all? Before landing a hit with “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Baum worked as a breeder of fancy chickens. Many also believe that his inspiration for the name “Oz” spun from looking at an alphabetical filing cabinet label: “O-Z.”
For the actual plot, Baum drew from his own experiences as a child raised during a drought in South Dakota. He even named Dorothy after an important female in his life – Dorothy Louise Gage, a niece who died as a baby. He didn’t stop writing at “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” either. In fact, he published 17 sequels, three of which were published after his death.
The song “Over the Rainbow” is now synonymous with the movie, but was almost cut during post-production. The reason? The film was becoming too long. Producers were hoping to shorten the film from two hours to 100 minutes, so they initially took out Judy Garland’s solo, which she considered her theme song.
READ MORE: 5 Powerful Songs About Peace
Luckily for all “Over the Rainbow” lovers, Associate Producer Victor Fleming fought to keep the classic song in the film. Considering it went on the win the Academy Award for Best Song of the Year, he made the right call.
If you ever dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween – or wished you could go on an epic adventure just like her – you probably imagined sliding your feet into those iconic red slippers. In Baum’s novel, however, Dorothy’s shoes were actually silver (possibly to match the gray color scheme he seemed to love so much). When the movie was rendered in Technicolor, however, producers reportedly decided to change the shoes to ruby to give viewers a pop of color.
Several different sets of the slippers were created for the film – and it’s a good thing they had backups. In 2005, one pair of the red slippers was actually stolen. But don’t worry … several other pairs are still safely locked away as pieces of cinematic history.
READ MORE: The ‘Big Little Lies’ of Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley (VIDEO)
Playing one of the starring roles in “The Wizard of Oz” might sound glamorous, but the filming conditions were anything but. Judy Garland wore a tight corset to make her figure seem slimmer and the cowardly lion’s costume weighed around 100 pounds. The scarecrow’s prosthetic face also left Ray Bolger’s face covered in deep grooves that, if legend is right, took more than a year to disappear.
Because of the lighting needed to shoot in Technicolor, the set often boasted temperatures of over 100 degrees. Even more frightening, Margaret Hamilton received severe burns when her skin makeup ignited when she disappears in a cloud of smoke. Several of the actors playing Winged Monkeys were also injured when the wires holding them above the air snapped, causing them to fall several feet.
The filming of “The Wizard of Oz” is cinematic proof of the old saying, “No pain, no gain.”
Both the original novel and the movie have given the United States a totally unique and wholly American fairy tale. Since its release 77 years ago, the film has had a culturally significant presence in the United States and is one of the few films listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. Not to mention that the film is one of the most quotable in movie history.
READ MORE: 10 Movies That Inspire You to Be a Better Human Being: “The Help, “Forrest Gump”
So whether you sit down in front of the television and pop in the VHS tape – one of the first ever released – of “The Wizard of Oz” or are eagerly waiting to watch “Emerald City,” all viewers have the opportunity to watch one of their favorite stories come to life again.
