Great video! One interesting fact that I always found interesting that you left out.. Judy was slapped by her director during the scene where the 4 were walking through the forest. The cowardly lion kept trying to grab his tail and missing, and Judy kept laughing.. they had to retake the scene quite a few times, until the director came in and slapped Judy across the face.. The very next scene she aced it (but almost cracks a smile again, if you watch closely).
Interesting piece of trivia. I saw the video of her stifling her laugh. It was so cute. "The Wizard of Oz" is one of my favorite movies, and I never noticed that before.
You have the story wrong; the bit in question is when the Lion is crying after she slapped his nose. Bert Lahr was so funny that Judy got a fit of giggles, which ruined several takes. Victor Fleming, up against the clock, finally did slap her across the face to get her to serious up, and then she got it-- even though you can still see her mouth curl up minutely in the finished film. But there's more: Fleming, who had once been a prizefighter and had gotten his nose broken in the ring one time, took one of the crew aside and said, "I want you to break my nose again." When the guy asked why, Fleming said, "I hated what I had to do to that little kid." Judy, who was standing nearby behind a tree, overheard this, and walked out from behind it and said to Fleming, "I won't break your nose, but I will kiss it." And standing on tiptoes, she did!
In one interview, Judy said that at times, the three guys would unintentionally shut her out whenever they did the dance down the yellow brick road and she would find herself dancing behind them. At one point, Victor Fleming yelled from his director chair that was suspended up in the air, "Hold it! You three dirty hams, let that little girl in there!" hahaha
@@ifeelpretty5790 That was one of her tall tales, and in fact Jack Haley was very upset by that and called Judy to say, "You know that never happened."
In 1948 she was elected head of the Beverly Hills school board. Also, she took the role as the Witch because she was recently divorced, and needed to support her young son. Also, when they told her they had a role for her on this film, she asked what it was and was told "The witch." She said, "The witch?," to which the man replied, "Well, yeah, who else?"
You can still hear the original Tin Man Buddy Ebson in the "We're Off to See The Wizard" segment after the Cowardly Lion joins the group. I guess the track was recorded before it was filmed with Jack Haley. You can also find the version of "If I Only Had a Heart" with Ebson online.
His name was Ebsen, and that's perfectly true; they didn't see a reason to have them re-record the ensemble singing. It's rather ironic that when some of the cast appeared on a radio show to perform some of the songs, Jack Haley was already working on another project, so Robert Young took his place on the broadcast. So Jack STILL didn't get to sing "We're Off to See the Wizard" with his castmates!
With almost 500 comments, what to me is the biggest trivia fact maybe has already been mentioned. MGM decided to cut down the run time, and several scenes were selected for deletion. One scene was cut as it was considered too slow-paced and added little to the plot. At the last minute, they decided to leave it in. It is a scene were Dorothy sings a song called 'Over the Rainbow'.
Yep. The uncut film is still argued to exist. Also, the soundtrack of The Jitterbug, Somewhere Over The Rainbow (in the Witch's castle), and Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead (after the Witch is melted) still exist. Also, they named the song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" because as Edgar Harburg (who wrote the lyrics) and Harold Arlen (who wrote the music) were out driving one night, they stopped at a Rainbow drug store out in California, and they later came up with the name after the word "rainbow" became stuck in their heads.
This may have already been said but Judy Garland was actually 16 when filming (her 17th birthday was a big to do after the movie was filmed) and it wasn't that Shirley Temple was unavailable, she actually got in to audition for the part, however, when a director (since they had like 6 of them) or a producer, heard her singing for the role, they decided they wanted to go in a different direction and came across Judy Garland. Personally, I don't think Temple would have the same charm as Garland did regardless of Judy being 6 years older.
Alyxwrites The director's actually found Shirley Temple as too bratty and when she didn't get the part she had a break down and shouted at the director's
Producer Mervyn LeRoy always wanted Judy to play Dorothy; the only other person he would have considered was Deanna Durbin. Others at MGM considered Shirley, but it never got beyond talk.
+OceanOtter Rubbish. If that's the sort of child Shirley was, she would never have gotten as much work as she did. She never auditioned for "Wizard" anyway.
AnimeStargrl15 3 things that disprove the hangman theory: 1.the vid on RU-vid with the hangman is the only one on RU-vid ( much like how the Pokemon Red Buried alive vid is the only one.) 2. The original 1939 theatrical trailer has the same scene...it's still an emu. 3. The scene in question was filmed around the time Buddy Ebsen was on set as the Tin Man. The Munchkin village scene was shot weeks later, so the actors weren't even there yet. How can someone kill them self before even being at the studio?
The only, “hanging man,” version left is the 50th anniversary vhs which I personally have a copy. The scene was edited to show a bird rather than the hanging man.
nuspacestate correction, the only existing footage of, “the hanging munchkins,” is in the 1989 50th anniversary vhs all other version since then have been digitally remastered and, “the hanging munchkin,” has been edit so you see a bird in the background, not the hanging munchkin.
True story- they were shoppin for a coat for the guy who played a wizard and found and used one from a secondhand store. Near the end of the shooting they discovered the name "l. Frank Baum" writttten in the tag and on a slip of paper in the pocket. Talk about coincidence!!!
Margaret Hamilton's burns and the problems with the Tin Man's makeup were only about half of the problems. Toto accidentally had his/her (I can't remember which) paw stepped on by a cast member and 1 or 2 of the flying monkeys were injured after falling from a deadly height when the wires holding them snapped.
I hadn't heard about the Winged Monkey, but yes, one of the Winkies stepped on Terry's paw. It's never been confirmed whether the paw was broken or just sprained, but in any case, Terry's trainer Carl Spitz found a substitute terrier which they used until Terry recovered.
Here's an add on to the Number One piece of trivia,......since it's release, and over the course of it's 32 years of existence, the movie actually has a cult following,.......
THE WIZARD OF OZ wasn't a flop, per se. It was one of the top ten grossing films of 1939 (#8), and as you pointed out it was well-received by critics and was nominated for 5 Oscars (including Best Picture) and won two (Best Song "Over the Rainbow" and Best Score). The problem was that it was so expensive to produce and market and it barely broke even. Thus, it didn't make a profit. But you're trying to imply that it was initially unappreciated and no one went to see it, which is a lie. Many people went to see it (which is why it was the 8th highest grossing film of the year), but not enough to recoup it's astronomical budget and make a profit.
If you're going to post factual videos, get your facts straight. Judy Garland was 16 and she wasn't cast because they couldn't get Temple. Judy was picked over Temple. They only wanted Temple because she was a hit and around the right age for Dorothy, Judy got cast because of her talent.
That's right. Garland (b. June 10, 1922) was 16 during filming and turned 17 during post-production and two months before the film's premiere on August 15, 1939.
The actual truth is that while Shirley's name was bandied about by other folks at MGM, Mervyn LeRoy was adamant that Judy should play the role of Dorothy Gale.
In the movie, there is a lost ending that was never been found. The ending is after Dorothy said: "There is no place like home," the camera zoomed onto slippers under the bed. It means that the dream was real.
the wardrobe department wanted mr. marvel/oz to wear a tattered coat that gave off a “rich-now-poor” vibe. they went to a nearby thrift store and bought a whole rack of old, secondhand coats. once one was chosen the actor who played mr marvel was aimlessly playing with the pockets and he turned them out to find that the chosen cost has previously belonged to L frank baum, the original writer of the Oz series! it was confirmed by the widow of baum and the tailor who was commission by baum
There's a popular myth that you can see a Munchkin commiting suicide in the background of one of the scenes. It is actually just a peacock walking around.
It's so hard to imagine the fact that L Frank Baum did not live to see this famous adaptation. However his wife did and it turned out that Professor Marvel's jacket belonged to her
There was an animated sequel released in 1974 called Journey Back to Oz. The film was also a musical and starred Judy Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli as the voice of Dorothy.
Liza was sixteen when she recorded her lines for that movie, the same age her mum had been when she was cast in the role. :-) Also, former Wicked Witch of the West Maggie Hamilton did the voice of Aunt Em in "Journey."
Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin-Man but he talked his way into playing the Scarecrow because he felt it would better show off his dancing talents. Buddy Ebsen, who was originally supposed to play the Scarecrow, agreed to switch roles and play the Tin-Man but the aluminum paste incident made him quit the film altogether. You can still hear him in "We're Off to See the Wizard" because the producers decided re-recording the ensemble numbers with Jack Haley wasn't necessary. Jack Haley sings his own solos but Buddy Ebsen's recording of "If I Only Had a Heart" still exists and is available on some of the soundtrack releases.
It isn't a sequel, and it's an exciting fantasy adventure in which, as in all good stories of that kind, there are some scary elements, but they are not the main focus.
@@disneyrules7808 It isn't a sequel because the MGM movie made Dorothy a 12 year-old and Oz a dream; plus, Uncle Henry's surname was Gale. In RtO, Oz is real, Dorothy is 9, and Uncle Henry's surname is Blue. There are other reasons, but those should be enough.
1. It was Prof. Marvel's frock coat, actually. 2. The numbers filmed by the Mouseketeers would not have been in the finished film; they were just prototypes. 3. It was nowhere near a flop. 4. Correct!
Um... no. She didn't know how to fight the WWW, but she managed to defeat her anyway, and all in the first book. After that, the WWW was gone forever, sometimes mentioned, but never seen again throughout the Oz canon.
Wrong. An extra playing a Winkie stepped on her paw, and she had to be off the set for a little while until she healed. In the meantime, a "stand-in" was recruited by her trainer.
Right, when the Lion was crying after Dorothy had smacked him on the nose. Bert Lahr was so funny that Judy got a fit of giggles, which ruined several takes. Victor Fleming, up against the clock, finally did slap her across the face to get her to serious up, and then she got it-- even though you can still see her mouth curl up minutely in the finished film. But there's more: Fleming, who had once been a prizefighter and had gotten his nose broken in the ring one time, took one of the crew aside and said, "I want you to break my nose again." When the guy asked why, Fleming said, "I hated what I had to do to that little kid." Judy, who was standing nearby behind a tree, overheard this, and walked out from behind it and said to Fleming, "I won't break your nose, but I will kiss it." And standing on tiptoes, she did!
it's a notable fact that "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was almost cut. And it was cut partway because originally she sang a reprise while locked in the Witches tower
You should have added the Biggest piece of trivia from the movie about the "hanging lady" it is a myth that the understudy for Dorothy hung herself during the filming of a scene... and for years people speculated and still do today, however it was nothing more than a bird! Oz was filming in the same stage as another movie that had rented cranes and other birds from the LA Zoo, the bird had stuck around when they did the set change
There is no sequel. They spoke briefly of doing "The Marvelous Land of Oz" as a follow-up, but people were already working on other movies, and anyway, I don't think they could have paid Jack Haley enough to put the Tin Woodman suit back on.
They didn't "move" anything around when they remastered it. Do you seriously think that a munchkin was hanging there without anyone noticing? Someone would have noticed right away and the footage would have been BURNED. Censorship was huge in those days and there's no way they'd allow that footage to exist. The scene would have been re-shot.
Actually the lion costume wasn't 90 pounds. It was between 60-70 pounds. Still heavy non the less but, if it had really weighed that much Bert would have been hurting worse than than Jack. The biggest reason why his costume was soaked in sweat were due to the lights they used. The lights they used were very hot and it was to work with the cameras for the technicolor. Also Judy was the original choice for Dorothy. The higher ups at MGM wanted Shirley because she was a big money maker at the time. However there were two reason why she didn't get the part. 1. She was under contract with FOX during that time and they wouldn't let her work with another studio. 2. She didn't have the range like Judy did. She was an adorable little girl. I can agree with that and I will say she was a talented girl as well. When it came to her singing however it's known that she didn't have the range like Judy did which is what the producers wanted for their musical. It's also Judy Garland's big break out role that turned her into a Hollywood legend that we all know now. She wanted that part badly to where she was willing to wear the corset to flatten her chest. Also MGM cut the pay of the munchkins pay in half. There is a documentary about the munchkins where they talked about it. They were originally supposed to get $100 a week but, MGM cut it in half. With Terri(aka toto) she was given $125 a week because they were desperate for a dog for toto. Yes. Toto was actually played by a female dog. Non the less she was a well loved dog by the cast and crew.
Did you know: when Dorothy opens the door to Oz after she lands there is a stand-in in a sepia colored dress. Watch the movie and notice how she walks completely out of the shot then is easily replaced by Judy in her technicolor dress
No, it's made quite clear-- especially from Aunt Em's overjoyed reaction to seeing the niece she'd believed to be dead-- that the adventure happened, and certainly the fact that Dorothy made four more trips and on the final one, took up residence in Oz along with her aunt and uncle (and her dog and her cat), leaves no doubt at all.
The disney version is based off of the books. There are 14 wizard of oz books and there are roughly 7 wizard of oz movies that are based off of the books. Also in munchkinland there was a performing arts group of little girls who were dressed as munchkins to fill in the extra space. Another cool one is that the house was a small house that they dropped and then played backwards and forwards for the tornado.
here's a bit of trivia Buddy Ebsen, the originally Tin Man, actually outlived both Jack Haley and Ray Bolger despite his illness that landed him in an iron lung and serve time in the military during the Second World War.
Walt Disney was too late to purchase the rights to The Wizard Of Oz, but he did make a play featuring the land of Oz. And eventually, Disney made The Great and Powerful Oz (after Disney's death, of course) as a tribute to Walt's dream. I'm not sure if they bought the rights to it, though. Also, there are 14 books in the series and the monkeys gave me nightmares when I was a kid
Because, at the Emerald City, about halfway through the movie, most of the characters get a makeover. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the Cowardly Lion gets bows in his mane, Dorothy's hair gets put down, etc.
The filming shoot of The Wizard of Oz was performed from October 1938 through March 1939 when Judy Garland was age 16, not 17. After the post production work, sound mixing, and film editing, it was released nationally on 25 August 1939, just 2½ months after Judy turned 17. The massive 6-month filming shoot was carried out on 6-day weeks, each day typically running over 12 hours, requiring most of the performers to arrive at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning. Most of them had to wear very hot uncomfortable costumes and make-up under super intense set lighting. In an interview Jack Haley said, “People always say to me what fun it must have been making Oz, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. There was absolutely nothing fun about it; it was hell!”
Originally the farmhand who became the Tinman, Hickory had been working on a machine that he claimed would protect them from tornadoes. A small reference is made to this deleted aspect at the beginning of the movie
The deaths of the “Witches” by melting after their “Eject” buttons are pressed or without taking any pills in Brynhildr in the Darkness (2014) (My favorite anime series of ALL-TIME) is a reference to the death of The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) (One of my favorite movies of ALL-TIME).
Things they did miss: 1. Cape for Wizard bought at resell shop, turned out to have been owned by L. Frank Baum. 2. In 1957, Disney was working on "Rainbow Road to Oz", segments were filmed but the project was abandoned. 3. It was almost a flop, but not a real one as the budget was exactly $2,777,000 and it pulled in $3,017,000, a profit of $240,000. 4. Three songs were deleted from the film they are "The Jitter-Bug", with reprises of "Over the Rainbow" and "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead".
Judy Garland was not 17, she was 15 when they started filming and turned 16 during production. Shirley Temple was never really seriously considered; Judy had impressed the producers with her jazz singing, and they really wanted her for the part. Ironically, she ended up not doing any jazz singing in the finished film.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a serial killer towards Wizard of Oz because it has a scene where Greg and his classmates perform a school play based on the book and movie, and it ends up being a disaster because of Patty being annoying and everyone throwing apples 🍎 at her. I have to say the 1939 Wizard of Oz is much better than Diary of a Wimpy Kid for sure. It is a classic after all.
