10 Things You Didnt Know About WizardOfOz

[Music] [Applause] 1939's the wizard of oz magical story about a kansas farm girl called dorothy gale who wants to leave her mundane sepia tone life and head to a magical new world over the rainbow after a tornado swoops her farmhouse with her inside dorothy and her little dog toto find themselves in the magical technicolor land of oz where she must follow the yellow brick road to the emerald city in order to find the magical wizard of oz so he can use his powers to get her home along her journey she makes some friends who join her to visit the wizard including the scarecrow who wants a brain the tin man who wants a heart and the cowardly lion who wants some courage so just to recap dorothy wants to go home scarecrow wants a brain tin man wants a heart cowardly lie and wants the noive and toto blesses the reins down in africa meanwhile dorothy and her friends must avoid the terrifying wicked witch of the west who wants revenge on dorothy for her house landing on her sister the wicked witch of the yeast and to claim the magical ruby slippers that dorothy now wears in this classical movie which has entertained and been adored by many generations [Music] so today we are going to follow the yellow brick road so we can explore 10 things that you didn't know about the wizard of oz and if you already did know them well hey that's okay we can still be friends so let's avoid that really scary wicked witch of the west at all costs and check it out [Music] lions and tigers and bears oh my giants and tigers and bears lions and tigers number 10 differences between the book and movie as most oz fans would know the wizard of oz movie is based on the 1900 book the wonderful wizard of oz written by american author l frank baum and it was the first book in his land of oz book series which would consist of 14 books with the last book glinda revos being published in 1920 like the film the wonderful wizard of oz follows the adventures of kansas farm girl dorothy gail the character was actually named after barm's real-life niece dorothy louise gage who tragically passed away during infancy and barm's wife in particular was really attached to her and was really affected by her death which is where the name dorothy comes from what's interesting about the wonderful wizard of oz is the staggering differences between the book and its famous movie that everyone would come to know and love for a start in the book dorothy is seen to be a little blonde girl and her magical ruby slippers are not ruby slippers but are indeed magical silver shoes the reason the ruby slippers were chosen was because it was thought that the red glowing colour would look great on the big screen in fact even the wicked witch in the book looks drastically different to how she does in the movie in the book it's not a tornado that takes dorothy away but a cyclone the book is also considerably more violent than the movie that preceded it there is a subplot in the book where the witch sends 40 wolves to devour our heroes but the tin man decapitates them all then the witch sends 40 crows to which the scarecrow breaks all their necks then a heap of bees are sent to get the better of dorothy and her oz friends but the tin man puts himself in the firing line so all the bees sting him and thus just like real bees after stinging they all die only the tin man didn't get hurt as he's made out of tin which is actually quite clever when you think about it the biggest difference though is the endings the movie very much leans towards the idea that dorothy dreamed her adventure in oz as a way of coping with her otherwise mundane life in kansas whereas in the book there is no ifs or buts about it dorothy went to the magical land of oz i don't know what's scarier about the book the fact that the scarecrow and tin man can very quickly become homicidal maniacs or all the animal cruelty better not tell peter about this one but jokes aside there are still tons of differences that i didn't even mention yeah i just didn't do it so if you are interested grab the book and see for yourself it's a very interesting experience comparing the two number nine there were several oz adaptations before the 1939 movie even though it was the very early days of cinema frank baum was keen for his books to leave the confines of book pages and leap into other medias like stage shows and short films it started with a musical stage play in 1902 simply called the wizard of oz that was followed up in 1908 with radio plays then in 1910 there was a 15 minute silent movie called the wonderful wizard of oz in 1914 frank baum even founded his own movie production company and movie studios called the ozfil manufacturing company in which this really creepy logo was created which features the floating head of the princess osmo character staring at us with a very crazy stare creating what looks like sheer nightmare fuel the company produced several short films some of which are sadly missing the oz related movies that the company had produced include the patchwork girl of oz his majesty the scarecrow of oz and the magic cloak of oz with all these movies coming out in 1914 sadly the oz film manufacturing company became defunct in 1915 and the studios were eventually demolished and balm passed away in 1919 at the age of 62 20 years before he would have been able to see the huge impact his story would have on the entire world but we weren't quite there yet as there were still a few other attempts namely a 1920 version of the wizard of oz which once again was a silent movie only this one clocked in at 93 minutes then in 1932 the land of oz in which the movie seems to be lost no seriously this film is so lost no one seems to have a clue of where it is number eight the wizard of oz movie was made because of snow white and the seven dwarfs the wizard of oz movie as we know it was picked up by metro goldwyn mayer otherwise known as mgm oz was to be mgm's answer to the 1937 walt disney pictures movie snow white and the seven dwarfs as it was very successful becoming the highest grossing movie of 1938 and proved that movies based on old children's stories could be very successful theatrical movie musicals mervyn leroy was hired as head of productions for mgm and suggested that mgm make a movie version of the wizard of oz where the rights for the book were by his own admission leroy nearly got fired while working on the wizard of oz by the studio for spending too much money as he had managed to spend up a 2.8 million dollar budget which was just an insane amount of money for a movie at that time thankfully though he wasn't fired even if he did rattle a few cages leroy may have been hired as producer but he also wanted to direct the movie as well but it was decided that doing both may be too difficult so the movie was directed by victor fleming who that very same year directed the equally classic gone with the wind look it's actually a really long and complicated story with the directing of the wizard of oz so more on that later and yeah apparently the behind the scenes of the wizard of oz was very chaotic so buckle up number seven judy garland was 16 when she was cast as dorothy considering in the oz books dorothy is about eight or nine years old the number one choice for the parts at that time was child star shirley temple producer leroy had a lot of pressure put on him for casting the popular child star despite believing that the not as well known judy garland would be a better choice temple had an audition and after hearing her sing in the audition it was decided that the singing chords required were too much for the child star so she wasn't cast at this time judy garland was under contract with mgm and proved to be very talented when it comes to singing and dancing in 1938 she starred in fellow mgm musical everybody sing where it was clear that the young actress had amazing talent leroy managed to convince the higher-ups at mgm to cast 16 year old garland in the role of dorothy have a feeling we're not in kansas anymore in order to make garland appear more childlike she had to wear a corset and to lose weight she was apparently instructed to go on a diet of chicken soup black coffee and cigarettes yeah look it was the 1930s all i can say is that maybe back then there were some things that we just weren't sensitive or even sensible about and as you can see from these early makeup tests they went through several looks in order for her to look childlike and to find her inner dorothy something that one of my favorite movie analysts rob aeger has pointed out is a title card that is shown at the start of the movie which kind of hints at dorothy appearing to be much older than the character actually is by using the phrase young in heart twice in the dialogue we must be over the rainbow and bless her heart she pulls it off as a kid watching this movie i always felt that dorothy was another kid just like me number six the wicked witch of the west was originally going to be hot the production of the wizard of oz originally modeled the wicked witch on the evil queen from snow white and the seven dwarfs who had a sinister gothic beauty about her so that's where they were going to go with the wicked witch of the west producer leroy wanted a wicked witch who was seductive so actress gail sondengaard was approached for the part sundergard did some costume tests for the role where you can see that we nearly got a witch who looks incredibly different to the one we got however the studio executives didn't want a sexy wicked witch insisting that bad witches should not be beautiful sondergaard was then given new makeup to try and make her look more hideous however the actress didn't want to look ugly so she left the part and would later go on to say that she has no regrets doing so enter former kindergarten teacher turned actress margaret hamilton who was actually just 36 years old at the time the actress had already made six movies with mgm where she was offered the part of the witch at first she was actually horrified to be offered the role of the witch but thankfully she took the part and she really threw herself into the role i'll get you my pretty and your little dog too the character scared the saturday morning coco pops out of me when i was a kid thanks to her high-pitched sinister voice green makeup and long nose and chin and often violent antics as a kid i was instantly terrified and periodically had nightmares that the wicked witch was chasing me and trying to kill me in real life though margaret hamilton seemed like a really nice lady in 1975 she guest starred in an episode of mr rogers where she showed that her wicked witch persona was just a costume in an episode that teaches children that baddies in movies are only just pretend so you don't have to be scared of them in real life that's actually really sweet and something that i actually really appreciate number five finding a wizard and the rest of the characters so we've talked about dorothy and the witch but not about the actual wizard himself the character who the movie is named after well several actors were considered for the wizard or were interested mgm actor wallace berry wanted the role but the studio turned him down as the wizard of oz's shoot would have been a really long one and they wanted him to star in other movies at that time radio comedian edwin was offered the role but he turned it down as he felt that the part was too small actor w.c fields was very nearly cast in the role but salary disputes kept getting in the way so that didn't end up happening mgm regular frank morgan won the part of the mysterious but sheepish wizard oh pay no attention to that man well technically he landed five different roles in the movie including the wizard as mentioned the kansas sideshow psychic professor marvel the doorman of the emerald city the carriage cabbie and one of the guards she at this rate i'm surprised i didn't cast him as toto as well broadway star bert lah was cast as the cowardly lion when i was a kid this good old dandelion was definitely my favorite i mean look at him you just want to give him a hug although his early makeup tests weren't exactly cuddly but more horrific and apparently his lying costume was made out of real lion's skin which is kind of disturbing and seems less magical and cuddly when you think about it broadway star turned mgm actor ray bolger was cast as the tin man but he felt that he was much more suited to play the scarecrow so after convincing some mgm executives bulger was then cast as dorothy's lovable best friend the scarecrow so which yeah he does seem well suited in the part and has the physicalities down perfectly only had a brain he too also had to undergo several makeup tests and yeah wow seriously look at how terrifying he looks here i'm glad they didn't go with that look all the makeup tests look pretty scary to be honest so this leaves the tin man where the part was cast with buddy ebsen whom it actually worked with judy garland before however buddy ebsen didn't end up playing the tin man so what happened well that segues into the next point number four make up hell in the early days of being cast just like his co-stars actor buddy ebsen had to go through several makeup screen tests however the production team put aluminum dust all over his makeup this caused the actor to breathe it in and for the aluminum dust to get into his lungs 10 days into the movie shoot he found that he was unable to breathe where he was then rushed to hospital and actually nearly died from his exposure to the dust and required months of recovering so he had to be replaced in which actor singer comedian jack haley replaced him giving us the tin man that we all know and love if i only had a heart and thankfully the production learnt its lesson and didn't use aluminum dust anymore but instead aluminum paste which although didn't nearly kill him didn't stop him from getting a very nasty eye infection in fact all the actors would go on to say what a nightmare the makeup was while filming the wizard of oz tin man actor jack haley said that there was nothing fun about making the wizard of oz adding quote like hell it was fun it was a lot of hard work it was not fun at all scarecrow actor ray bulger said that during the shoot he and co-stars jack haley and bert lah went to the studio dining area for lunch which was shared by other people working on other movie productions and they went there in their makeup and everyone was terrified of them and thought that they looked horrific they actually got kicked out and had to eat their lunch in their dressing rooms in addition to that filming under the hot studio lights would cause the scarecrow's latex mask to melt onto bulger's face even judy garland commented that all three of those actors hated their makeup and had debates over who had the worst makeup but it wasn't just them who suffered the green face paint that margaret hamilton had to wear in order to be the wicked witch was so toxic she couldn't eat any solid foods as to avoid the paint going into her mouth and being digested so she had to live on liquid diets that she consumed through straws it seemed the special effects were also a little bit dodgy too as the snow used in the movie was apparently asbestos yikes and then there's the scene where the wicked witch vanishes in a ball of fire this was achieved by having actress margaret hamilton exit the set via a trapdoor elevator lift that was under the set one take was done and it was perfect so it was decided to do a second take and the time when hamilton ducked under the set and the fireball flame were out of sync which caused hamilton to be engulfed by the fire which led to her to suffer severe burns to her face and hands ouch the poor lady it actually took three months for her to heal from her injuries number three nightmare shoot the wizard of oz is kind of famously known for having a real troubled and difficult shoot where i don't think many people who are working on the movie were enjoying themselves the shoot took place entirely on mgm sound stages in culver city just outside los angeles filming in the technicolor process was long and tiring with the shoot going over six months with the main cast having to work six days a week usually from 4am to 7pm making the days long and exhausting and the hot technicolor studio lights that the actors had to work under was a miserable experience for all as they were really really hot as mentioned the director of the wizard of oz was victor fleming however he wasn't the original director at the start of the shoot a director called norman tarog was in the director's seat and had done several makeup tests but he was then replaced by fellow director richard thorpe who shot about two weeks worth of filming before he was assigned to another project there is something of a lost version of the wizard of oz with forbes early footage which hasn't seen the light of day but still survives thanks to some still images and what's interesting is some of the makeup that we see our characters in looks quite different along with judy garland's hair and the original tin man buddy ebson appears in the lost scenes the scenes include dorothy meeting the scarecrow for the first time and scenes in the witch's castle producer mervyn leroy felt that thorpe was rushing the production and thus affecting the actor's performances and that the film just didn't look quite right so he replaced him with another director george cuckoo who acted as something of an advisor on the production making lasting changes like ditching judy garland's blonde wig for her natural dark hair as well as improving the general look of the movie after a short while he left the wizard of oz to direct gone with the wind instead where victor fleming finally came in and took over as director but it gets more complicated as during the end of the movie shoot victor fleming left to direct gone with the wind after previous director george cuckol who left the wizard of oz to direct gom with the wind had now left gone with the wind too so victor fleming replaced him again geez it's like these directors keep switching and changing movie productions however the wizard of oz still needed more scenes filmed mainly stuff on the kansas farm including the somewhere over the rainbow sequence and the tornado scene so another director king videl came on to finish those scenes so as you can see the production of the wizard of oz really was a mess and pure chaos and to make matters worse there are also stories floating out that some of the actors who played the munchkins would often get drunk and some of them would even try to pick up judy garland number two over the rainbow was added in the last minute one of the most important aspects of the wizard of oz is the musical numbers and none of these were more memorable than the show stopping somewhere over the rainbow in fact the song would go on to become as big as the movie itself however somewhere over the rainbow wasn't originally in the wizard of oz the music and songs of the wizard of oz were at the hands of composer harold arlem and songwriter ey yip harburg who wrote the lyrics the two had composed all the songs for the movie except for the musical number that dorothy was to sing on the farm harold arlem knew that he didn't have that big memorable song for the movie the kind of song that stands out above the rest and he just could not creatively find it one night he happened to go out to buy some chinese food but on the way he stopped at a pharmacist as also that night he wasn't feeling very well and it was while in the pharmacist that he suddenly came up with the idea of over the rainbow interestingly enough after early test screenings the somewhere over the rainbow sequence was cut from the movie as it was felt that it slowed it down however after a while it was decided to put it back in that didn't stop another song from getting deleted though a song called jitterbug probably because it featured the vocals from the original tin man buddy epson speaking of deleted scenes an entire wacky dance sequence of the scarecrow flying and bouncing around all over the place was also deleted as it was felt that once again it just slowed everything down which is a shame as the sequence seemed to have some really interesting stunt work so before we get to number one here is a bonus entry comic book so over the years there have been plenty of wizard of oz media created for new young audiences to enjoy from action figures to video games however in 1975 the wizard of oz movie finally got an official comic book adaptation which recreated the movie and comic book panels for all comic book fans to enjoy so the biggest question is with such momentous occasion like the wizard of oz getting a comic book version who was the publisher dc or marvel well it was both yep the wizard of oz is so epic it needed to be printed by both dc and marvel creating a very rare occasion where dc and marvel join forces and to think it was a magical fairy tale with witches and munchkins that brought these two comic book powerhouses together and these days the comic book is considered to be a rare and valuable collector's piece number one the wizard of oz wasn't a high earner until later when the wizard of oz was released in august 1939 it was met with huge critical acclaim from critics praising it as a wonderfully magical movie that's bound to please children as well as praising judy garland's performance the wizard of oz was also nominated for six academy awards however despite all its accolades the wizard of oz was a box office disaster only making just over 3 million dollars on a 2.7 million dollar budget those who watched it loved it the problem is not many people were watching jumped 10 years later in 1949 and the wizard of oz gets re-released and proved to be more successful followed by another 1955 re-release in which the movie would go on to make 29.7 million dollars the wizard of oz would occasionally get re-released throughout the decades with a special imax 3d release in 2013 and then another release in 2015. funny enough what really put the wizard of oz in the popular zeitgeist was the 1956 tv broadcast of the movie on cbs well at least according to the library of congress the wizard of oz has been hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time some even consider it to be the greatest movie of all time the movie is the embodiment of being a young child going on a magical adventure in an exciting fantasy world when you're a child it takes you on an adventure beyond your dreams and when you're an adult it takes you back to your childhood despite its chaotic and even questionable production the production of the wizard of oz was still able to create something that brings out the child in all of us a fantastical tale that celebrates the purity and innocence of youth what i personally find fascinating about the wizard of oz is the two phrases most associated with the movie which are somewhere over the rainbow and there's no place like home there's no place because they are stark contrasts of each other total and complete opposites one of these phrases is about daring to dream beyond your horizons for new and exciting places and the other one is about loving your own home and that home is more important than anything else and i think that that kind of sums up the wizard of oz it's about venturing off to explore exciting new lands where adventures and wonderment awaits but at the same time always believing in your soul that at the end of the day home is where the heart is well that was my look into the wizard of oz and i kind of feel like i've barely scratched the surface as there are so many more tails floating around about what happened during the making of this movie so if you're interested go and investigate there are all manner of crazy stories awaiting you anyway i'm minty and remember there's no place like home see ya [Music] [Music] so you

Channel: Minty Comedic Arts

Views: 218,481

Rating: 4.9468498 out of 5

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Id: GLA7L5OZ6FM

Length: 26min 55sec (1615 seconds)

Published: Thu May 06 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Senojor1]

Good old Minty! There's no way he could forget to review The Wizard of Oz! He also did a top ten video about Return to Oz.

[u/Hana2013]

No matter how many times I watch that movie- I am a kid again, in awe of the whole thing!

[u/Senojor1]

One of his best lists. He really dug up a lot of stuff on the film. Five directors! I knew about four but he reveals a fifth. He also found lots of great photographs. Many of them--some anyway--I hadn't seen before.