Judy often said that Margaret Hamilton treated her better than anyone while filming on Wizard of Oz. Judy was getting a high school diploma and only Margaret was genuinely interested.
+len farmer Margaret Hamilton was a teacher before she was in "The Wizard of Oz". She was dedicated to making sure children had a fine education. That could have been a large part of it.
I read a story of Margaret Hamilton, a former school teacher, who loved children and went to many schools to encourage the children. At every school function she went to, without fail, she was asked to laugh like the wicked witch, and she said it was amazing how the parents were scared into silence, but the children laughed.
My father was a NYC bus driver who often drove his bus in Miss Hamilton's Gramercy park neighborhood. He told me one day he picked her up on his bus and looked at her strangely and she made the wicked witch cackle and said "That's right Dearie" and smiled at him. He said she was very nice and gracious and the people on the bus were given a rare treat. May God bless Miss Hamilton and Miss Garland and may they BOTH rest in peace. Show less REPLY
Ironically, Margaret was much more of a mother figure towards Judy than her own mother. As an adult, Judy would refer to her mother as “The Real Wicked Witch of the West”. 😢
And as you might know, strangely enough Margaret Hamilton ALSO actually voiced (kindhearted) Aunt Em in “Journey Back to Oz,” a cartoon sequel to the Wizard of Oz. This was originally a theatrical release in 1974 and then released as a Christmas holiday special(premiering on ABC in 1976, then syndicated and rebroadcast in December 1978.) I believe I saw it when I was a little kid.
@@MrJamieMurph4141969 I saw it when it was in theaters! Quite an amazing cast in that picture. 🙂 As I'm sure you know, Liza Minnelli was Dorothy in that, and like her mum, she was sixteen when she got the part!
@@tyup-nk1fq In the first place, the movie was released in 1972. The dialogue and songs were recorded in 1962, but Filmation ran into production costs that they couldn't afford, so the project was shelved for several years. In fact, when she heard that they were resuming work on the movie, Liza asked Lew Scheimer and company if she could re-record her songs, because she felt her singing had improved. Indeed it had, but they said that the way she'd sung as a teenager suited the character better, and upon listening to her tracks again, she agreed and was happy to leave things as they were.
Everyone she worked with on _Wizard_ cared about her. Everyone she worked with on the Andy Hardy movies cared about her. Lots of lies are told about Judy.
I don't know why but that clip made me cry. Probably the memory of the past. By the way, i don't understand why Margaret Hamilton did not win an oscar.
The instant, spontaneous roar that went up after Margaret's laugh is totally honest and touching, unlike the usual canned standing ovations and woo-hoos that occur on today's cornball talent contests. Stars and entertainment were better then. Maybe everything was.
I AGREE!!! Back in the 30's - 70's people had more talent and not all the PHONY clapping and cheering and standing ovations for TALENTLESS people nowadays. That's why I won't watch American Idol, America's Got Talent etc. Those people on those shows have NO TALENT and the audiences go crazy like they're seeing something great. That little girl who won America's Got Talent last year playing the ukalele and singing her own songs was PATHETIC!!! She can't sing and her songs she wrote suck!!!! I don't care that she was only 12 or so....NO TALENT IS NO REASON TO AWARD SOMEONE THE WINNING SPOT JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG!!!!!!
okay calm down George - no reason to be insulting. there are incredible artists today its just the way we water them down for mainstream consumption that makes its harder to find.
That laugh of Margaret's....oh my word. It takes me straight back to the wonder of her Wicked Witch character. To be quite honest, my favourite character from the movie! Margaret Hamilton - an underrated beauty.
+George Reid totally agree, one of the best voice characterizations in all of cinema. I never get tired of watching/hearing her in this movie and esp. this clip!
Judy once said it was hard for her to be afraid of Margaret as the witch since she was always so sweet. In fact, Judy also said that her own mother was more like the witch than Margaret ever was.
Carrie Fisher said much the same about Peter Cushing when making the first _Star Wars_ movie; he was such a gentleman, as well as a gentle man, that she had a hard time pretending to hate him. Of course, she didn't compare him to Debbie Reynolds.
Well, I hate to be a stick in the mud, but this isn't an instance of something being "caught" on film. The Hindenburg disaster was caught on film. JFK's assassination was caught on film. But a rehearsed line in a Hollywood movie is not caught. It is mouth fed.
How in the world did Margaret Hamilton summon up that evil laugh in exactly the same way, nearly 30 years after "The Wizard of Oz"? It was still as fresh, devilish and spontaneous as in the movie! Impressive!
Damn, wish this was longer and with a video. It was Judy's request for the laugh and Hamilton's execution of it that make this very short clip so great.
My friend met Margaret Hamilton at p.s. #10 Bailey school in Bayonne, NJ in either the late 70's - early 80's. His teacher was good friends with Hamilton and while she was in Manhattan working, she agreed to come over to meet her students one morning to discuss her career and to encourage the students about acting, film production and most importantly, to chase their dreams. He said she was the nicest person you could ever met, very genuine. Wish my teacher had known her.
She smoked about 80 cigarettes a day when they were producing The Wizard of Oz to help her cope with her insane diet. Not to mentioned she was molested my MGM's Louis B Mayer and many other creeps during that. Margaret is one of the only people who would really have a conversation with that self-conscious girl (As none of the other actors such as Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan and others would even talk to her). Makes me sick to my stomach. But Margaret really did help Judy get through that BS, I guess it's that schoolteacher instinct to tell when something is not right.
In defense of the other actors...they were grown men and probably felt there wasn't anything they could talk to Judy about. I do agree, that Margaret was a very sweet woman and yes, she was actually friendly with Judy on the set.
Margaret Hamilton is a national treasure, undying and beloved. Not just an actress, but a loving and concerned adult. Her warmth surrounds the angels in heaven.
Margaret Hamilton once offered a good and sympathetic reason as to why the Witch was so mean and angry -- the unarguable fact that the ruby slippers did, rightfully, belong to her, coming as it did from her own deceased sister. Glenda was the thief, Dorothy the receiver of stolen property. There's no other way to say it, and with the truth on her side, the Witch would have won her case in any courtroom, even in Oz. Viewed in this legal context, it's easy to understand the Witch's extreme frustration, and the resulting chaos, according to Margaret Hamilton.
That wasn't Miss Hamilton's scenario; that's the rubbish put about by "Wicked" fans. In the first place, it's questionable as to whether the shoes really had belonged to the WWE in the first place or if she had stolen them from another magic worker. Even if they had been hers, so what? The One Ring was definitely Sauron's, but would you want him to have it? It's also undeniable that the WWE was a dictator to the Munchkins as the WWW is a dictator to the Winkies. Most telling of all, once she realized that the shoes were up for grabs, she forgot all about the WWE and never mentioned her again. P.S.: The Good Witch's name is Glinda, not "Glenda."
Margaret Hamilton was BRILLIANT! So terrifying!!! Her performance in "The Wizard of Oz" gets better every time I see it. BTW, check her out in a Cary Grant movie called "People Will Talk" --she's HILARIOUS!!
Merv recalled that very few celebrities wanted to appear with Judy on this particular program. Either they couldn't be reached, or they turned him down. Fortunately, Margaret was one who agreed to appear.....
this sounds to be years later and I realize Margret must be c close in her 70s or 80s and she can still pull that laugh off is amazing. judy Garland holds a special place in my heart she played a determined strong girl in the wizard of Oz and that really inspired me to be the person I am today
Cat: If we really "do the math here", and Hamilton was born in late '02, she would have been about 37 at the film's premier and probably about 65 at this Merv show appearance. Garland was gone by '69, so one would figure this to be a couple of years earlier. We can compromise then and make her about 65.
What’s amazing is that she’s still able to do the laugh perfectly nearly 30 years after the movie came out. Also, this is probably the last time Margaret ever saw Judy as Judy would die a year later.
Thank you, for this post. And thank all the people who posted oh, a comment on this post. Today is April 22nd 2022. God bless all of you, that head nice comments, on this post.
Judy embraced her character Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz phenomenon. Judy also embraced the myth the public chose to create which gave her living legend status! I wish there was video of Garland's two appearances on Merv Griffin
Interesting bit of trivia. Did you know that both Margaret Hamilton and Ray Bolger appeared on " The Partridge Family " in the early 70's , although they never did an episode together . Margaret Hamilton was in an episode where she played Rueben Kinkade's Mother .( He was the road manager for the family .) Ray Bolger played Shirley Partridge's Father .
My Grandmother met Margaret in a Christmas church service (I don't really remember, I'll have to ask her) and she asked her if she could do the Witch laugh and she said she could and when she did, it scared some of the children in the choir. How funny is that?
Oh, you're the original up-loader! All credit goes to you my friend. I feel that this piece of gold cannot be kept from Oz and Judy fans...even Maggie Hamilton fans! It's a priceless treasure that should be shared, and if the copyright policy is getting so strict you cannot even pay homage to two wonderful ladies who made an appearance in 1968... without any of the original footage, there is a problem.
The Wizard of Oz is still the greatest movie of all time. It's magic that can't be replicated. I have the best childhood memories of rewinding the VHS tape over and over.
My favorite movie. I love Margaret Hamilton as the witch. It's to bad all the clips of her that were cut out of the movie are lost. Wish they could of been put back into the movie! I've always wanted more of her & would of be great to see.
I just love the way Judy garland talked omg Darling …… give ray my love …… it’s sounds so grand and proper seems like she has a bit of an accent that made it even better can u image if we all talked like that today 😊I mean it was late 60s but they where around before that the movie was made 1939
Bert Lahr and Jack Haley were close friends for many years, Haley and Bolger were friends, but never very close. They made many appearances together, both attended the same church on Sundays and always said hello to each other.
Ray made the greatest attempt to stay close to Judy. He was also the only Oz actor to attend her funeral service. Ray adored Judy, as I'm sure she did Ray.
@@1987AnimeBoy i wonder the same. Could be that she was busy, along with anyone else that was in the movie. Sometimes life calls and you simply just can't get away, even for something like a funeral.
