The Wizard of Oz - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Wizard of Oz or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Wizard of Oz

[duane]

Dorothy's hair changes lengths throughout the course of the film, most noticeably in the Scarecrow cornfield sequence, which was the first sequence to be shot. As production progressed, refinements were made to Judy Garland's hair and makeup. At the end of filming, reshoots were done of the cornfield sequence and, thus, the shots do not match. The reshoots are believed to have been done by King Vidor, who also directed the Kansas sequences, including "Over the Rainbow", after director Victor Fleming left the production to direct Gone with the Wind (1939).

[duane]

Although it has been long believed that Lorraine Bridges dubbed Billie Burke's singing voice in the film, she actually did not. Ms. Burke did her own singing as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.

[gabriel]

The Scarecrow face makeup that Ray Bolger wore consisted, in part, of a rubber prosthetic with a woven pattern to suggest burlap cloth. By the time the film was finished the prosthetic had left a pattern of lines on his face that took more than a year to vanish.

[kyle]

This was Billie Burke's favorite movie.

[stephanie]

When Dorothy and her friends are in the Haunted Forest, the Lion has a spray pump with "Witch Remover" printed on it. In the next shot, it's gone. The reason is because there is a deleted scene in which the lion says that "the Witch Remover doesn't work but it's wonderful for threatening with." Disgusted, the Scarecrow takes the spray pump and throws it away. There is a close shot in which the spray pump hits the ground and vanishes.

[caroline]

Ray Bolger's original recording of "If I Only Had a Brain" had been far more sedate compared to the version heard in the film; during this time, George Cukor and Mervyn LeRoy decided that a more energetic rendition would better suit Dorothy's initial meeting with the Scarecrow (initially, it was to contrast with his lively manner in Richard Thorpe's footage), and was re-recorded as such. At first thought to be lost for over seven decades, a recording of this original version was rediscovered in 2009.

[ava]

Frank Morgan was a heavy drinker and often would hide liquor discreetly in his dressing room. Despite his drinking habits, he remained friendly and professional throughout his career. One of the few times he was ever noticeably drunk was the Oz guardhouse sequence, where, it was said, he would have fallen over if not for the guardhouse. He attracted attention when he began singing a ribald song. This sort of behavior was atypical, though, for the usually affable actor.

[beth]

The first album of songs from the film, issued by Decca in 1940, featured only Judy Garland from the cast. Her only vocal tracks on that album, "Over The Rainbow" and "The Jitterbug" (which featured "Oz" composer Harold Arlen as the Scarecrow, Bud Lyons as the Tin Man, and Gurney Bell as the Cowardly Lion), had already been recorded in 1939 and released that year as a 78-RPM single, but they were later included as part of the 1940 album. This was not really a soundtrack recording at all, despite what some websites say, although it did contain the film's songs. It was, instead, a sort of "cover version" featuring Garland (this procedure was common practice at a time when there really was no such thing as a record album made directly from a movie soundtrack). The other songs on this 1940 Decca album were all sung by the Ken Darby Singers, and in some songs in which Dorothy is featured another vocalist substituted for Garland. It was not until 1956 that an official soundtrack album (featuring the film's cast, of course) was issued. This 1956 MGM Records album featured extensive dialogue from the film (enough for listeners to follow the story), and was taken directly from the movie's final printed soundtrack, which meant that it also featured the film's sound effects. A new deluxe 2-CD album of the soundtrack, containing all of the songs and music ever recorded for the film (plus demos and outtakes), was issued by Rhino Music in 1995. This album, however, did not contain any of the dialogue, unlike its predecessor.

[willard]

The film had five different directors. Richard Thorpe shot several weeks of material, none of which appears in the final film. The studio found his work unsatisfactory and appointed George Cukor temporarily. Cukor did not actually film any scenes; he merely modified Judy Garland's and Ray Bolger's makeup. Victor Fleming took over from him and filmed the bulk of the movie, until he was assigned to Gone with the Wind (1939). King Vidor filmed the remaining sequences, mainly the black and white parts of the film set in Kansas (the storm and "Over the Rainbow"). Producer Mervyn LeRoy also directed some transitional scenes.

[harry]

Herbert Stothart, who scored this film, also scored Marie Antoinette (1938). A recycled piece from that film can be heard during the scene in which Dorothy and her friends attempt an escape from the Witch's castle.

[jamie]

Lorna Luft has said interviews that her mother Judy Garland was deeply disappointed in the film, at least initially after it came out; since it was considered to be a box-office failure. It would take years for it to recoup its costs and did not really take off with audiences until CBS started showing it during the holidays every year starting in 1959.

[toni]

Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Coroner of Munchkinland, was at one time the shortest licensed pilot in the U.S. During WWII he volunteered for military service, but was turned down. He was accepted as a volunteer instructor in the Civil Air Patrol.

[kyle]

Judy Garland found it difficult to be afraid of Margaret Hamilton, because she was such a nice lady off-camera.

[jesse]

The famed Jitterbug number was in actuality a leftover of an abandoned subplot that was discarded in early rewrites of the script. In the original Oz movie there was to be a large subplot involving characters named Princess Betty and the Grand Duke of Oz, to be played by MGM contract players Betty Jaynes and Kenny Baker. Jaynes, known for her refined operatic style of singing, was supposed to offset Judy Garland's jazz type of singing and a number was devised highlighting the differences. The Jitterbug number was devised by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg to showcase Garland's talents. Both Jaynes' and Baker's characters were deemed unnecessary in early script rewrites and were removed from the picture, as well as their subplot. However, the Jitterbug number survived in the script and was filmed for the movie, although it also was cut from the picture in early previews. A reference to the Jitterbug number survives in the Wicked Witch's orders to Nikko, when she tells him to "send the insects on ahead to take the fight out of them" before the Flying Monkeys take off.

[bessie]

Over 35 years after the release of this film, Margaret Hamilton revealed her approach to the character of the Wicked Witch in an interview with Fred Rogers for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968). Hamilton saw the Witch as a person who relished everything she did, but who ultimately was a sad, lonely figure - a woman who lived in constant frustration, as she never got what she wanted (this is, in fact, the basis of the novel and musical "Wicked," in which the Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed as an unfortunate protagonist). In the same interview, Hamilton also famously donned the original Witch costume to explain that the witches were only make-believe, and that children shouldn't be afraid of them.

[morris]

If you look closely, the door the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion rescue Dorothy through isn't the same as the one Dorothy enters the Hourglass Room through. This is due to the deletion of an entire scene in which the room the heroes enter (following the sound of someone humming "Somewhere Over The Rainbow") holds not Dorothy but the Wicked Witch of the West! She paralyzes the heroes, then creates a false Rainbow Bridge from that room to Dorothy's. She sends a Winkie out to test it . . . he falls through the center of the bridge. She then magically compels our three heroes to call out to Dorothy, who runs onto the bridge . . . and is carried across by the magic slippers! Our friends are reunited, and (released from the witch's spell by love/the slippers, whichever) run out of the room, with the witch screaming, "Stop them!" behind them. The scene was cut both for technical reasons--they couldn't pull off a good Rainbow Bridge--and because seeing a Winkie falling to his presumed death was considered too likely to incur the wrath of the Hays Office, the industry's official censors.

[liam]

When Miss Gulch attempts to take Toto away Dorothy calls her a 'wicked old witch'. This foreshadows the Witch of the West who is Miss Gulch's OZ counterpart.

[morris]

Originally contracted for six weeks, Margaret Hamilton ended up working for 23.

[sylvia]

The set was a major safety hazard. The Tin Man who was to originally be played by Jed Clampett (Beverly Hillbillies) how to quit when aluminium dust from his make up put him in an iron lung. Hamilton (Wicked Witch) suffered burns from a faulty trap door and missed 6 weeks of filming while her stand in spent 11 days in hospital suffering permanent burns to her legs when the broomstick prop exploded. Hamilton's make up was also so toxic (copper based) she could only consume liquid during filming and her green skin lasted months after production wrapped.