A Wizard of Oz Documentary

[Music] many many miles east of nowhere lies the amazing land of ours a magnificent Empire created in the mind of a man who wrote a great book about it like wildfire in the wheat field the fabulous tale of The Wizard of Oz spread from town to city to nation to the entire world The Wizard of Oz more people have seen it than any other movie over a billion of them it's probably the most beloved movie ever made in any language a film historian has noted that the enduring magic of The Wizard of Oz touches not only our children but the child in all of us the enchantment is easy to explain the movie sentiments are universal its timelessness that of any great classic those who created this work came as near to perfection as anyone could ask they didn't want to do that believe me to spend that much money because there was a lot of money in those days 2 million 6 a lot of money they hold and they almost fired me for spending so much money we finally took some of the makeup off they took some of the makeup off and we went to the commissary and it was such a frightening thing to see for other people because what we look like for people from another world for those weird kind of faces that we had and they just kicked it out of the commissary and made it eat in the dressing room question me like your question you know say must have good thoughts making that picture there's a lot of hard work was not fun at all there's nothing funny about it I had to work with three very professional men you know Jack Harry and Darin ray Bolger and they had so much makeup on and they were so busy complaining about their makeups and each one was making bets as to which makeup was the most difficult always for attention I talked that she was the most adorable creature that would ever put on this earth and so right for the part of Dorothy she was just like a little girl from Kansas her great big eyes she wasn't pretty his plump but in a way she was beautiful and and we all want to follow her so I wanted to be this gecko so I could follow her the longest down the yellow brick road I think she holds the whole picture together her sincerity that she wants to get back to Kansas you believe her she wants to get home to Iran and so what and that was a whole public picture how the Wizard of Oz became a national heritage is a really fascinating story it all began in 1900 when l frank Baum published his classic children's book for Wonderful Wizard of Oz nearly 40 years later the man indirectly responsible for bringing us to the screen was none other than Walt Disney his Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is not only 1938 s biggest hit it is the most successful movie ever made to that date this fact does not go unnoticed by other movie moguls especially Louis be mayor the highest paid executive in America he reigns supreme at metro-goldwyn-mayer a studio that boasts it has more stars than there are in the heavens when it suggested that MGM acquired the rights to the Wizard of Oz Mayer is interested but he has a problem his brilliant head of production Irving Thalberg has passed away over a year ago Mayer has been desperately searching for a successor and finally finds him Mervyn Leroy a bright 38 year old producer director seems the perfect choice Laroy accepts and coincidentally one of the first projects he proposes is oz I always want to make the Wizard of Oz since I was a little boy mr. mayor called me and I said look why don't you just produce his picture you're so crazy about I said but but that would be I want to direct this picture too he said well I think it's too big for you to do both but I produced it not very proud of it to produce a motion picture this complex Laroy definitely needs help he takes on songwriter Arthur freed as an uncredited associate years later as a producer Freed's name would become synonymous with the golden years of the MGM musicals but at this moment his biggest job is to help Laroy cast the picture she has been the biggest star in the world for the past four years and many think Shirley Temple is the natural choice to play the role of Dorothy Laroy is under pressure to cast her however after hearing Shirley sing at an unofficial audition Laroy and freed aside the demands of the part are beyond the talents of even this amazing 10 year old still on the off chance that things might change Shirley seems prepared two and a half when young Judy Garland began her vaudeville career as part of the gum sisters kiddie act she had been billed as the little girl with a great big voice by the time she is 15 years old her name has been changed from France's Gumm to Judy Garland and she has been under contract to MGM for almost three years she can sing and dance she can play drama or comedy anyone in Hollywood who has seen her perform and benefits or private parties knows Judy Garland is destined for stardom Laroy and free convinced me that oz could be her breakthrough Judy must lose some weight but the part of Dorothy is her duty even a smart girl like you could be wrong we've just seen the tips we made of you for the pardon you mean yes that you're Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz but I never thought I'd be some lucky you're not lucky we are the lucky but if I do wake up and it's also on the promise that work and study and you do anything that makes you spoken like the real true for the duarte I think I better go now I mean you mind if I run home and tell my mother the news she'll be so thrilled run along Judy and best of luck thank you thank you dude I mean Dorothy when Mama spoke about making the Wizard of Oz I could always tell what respect she had for the movie and how proud she was to have been a part of it whenever she watched the movie you could see in her eyes that she loved making them film because she was a kid she was 16 years old she had a great time making that movie and it was a happy time cameras ready - ready wait - everybody speed after weeks of uncertainty cameras start to turn but the troubles of ours have only just begun [Music] sometimes my father and and Ray would be interviewed on shows together because they were good friends and Ray would begin to rhapsodize on on how thrilled they were all were to be making the picture and and I'm sure and raised mind that that notion still exists but my father would bring him up short always saying ray you know that's not true it was a miserable job with all of this much rather than doing another kind of a picture rather than going through the chaos surrounding the picture it was very hot by evening you'd be wilted you reverb exhausted and fearless dead because so much of the carbon they were very hot too and you just it was just terribly hot but then they would open the doors and let the breezes come in for a few minutes a great big doors and they did this as much as they could but they couldn't stop very often a crystal lights running all the time the lights and the camera the whole thing they knew had to be in the building not arriving at the building at 7:00 you had to be in the chair it said they would put the nose on you see and that was all then my face and then look at the chin the same thing and we arrived at 6 o'clock and what that meant was from from one standpoint of the work was that the hours were long and the time off from work was short during this period we had to have our dinner sleep and get back up again at 5 o'clock in the morning we hardly ever arrived home earlier than than 7:30 or 8 so you see how what a short time we had to no recreation none whatsoever it was a one-year of just plain hard work [Music] [Music] [Music] that means all our life savings here we have the children to care for I have so much faith in those doors but I want you to take that to $100 and guess those stories pups every one of mr. Barnes characters were completely products of its own imagination I think the secrets of mr. Barnes successful that he never wrote bound with children he wrote as a child in his imagination all those characters were very brief and MGM the question was how to bring this classic to the screen without destroying its magical qualities well it finally required the combined efforts of 14 writers and five directors to capture Baum's vision on them 1938 MGM is ideally suited to the demands of bringing The Wizard of Oz to the screen the art department is the envy of other studios we had about seven or eight draftsman at Paramount I think they had 40 at MGM so that was the difference it was a complete architectural plant from the designer to the draftsman to the mill to the stage so it was a factory process of talented people that that could take any subject design it and build it and see it erected on the stage in a way that could be shot by a cinematographer MGM's art departments led by a meticulous artist who will learn 11 Oscars in his lifetime ceedric gibbons the 60 sets that will become oz are overseen by his assistant William Horning fantasy imaginative type of landscape that we have to paint we have to develop that different ways of doing things the primary thing of course was for the backing what did you have on the backing and it was fortunate that the first big challenge came in a an area that was fantasy rather than reality you know the flying monkeys and all that construct it was always that spirit [Music] l frank Baum's writing and WWN loathe illustrations provide only a general guide to places props that would now have to be designed drawn built and decorated for the camera complicating hornies tasks is the fact that every scene in the film will be shot indoors but no stage is large enough to create the massive cornfield where Dorothy meets the Scarecrow this is accomplished through some masterful painting on an enormous backdrop 25 feet high at 400 feet long George Gibson to handle their scenic department was himself one of the fine fine watercolors in this country he didn't see the big canvas of a backing as just that it was another enlarged fine art painting it takes Gibson and twelve fellow artists three weeks to paint the cornfield but many scenes require an even larger list in contrast to the cornfield backdrop the road that stretches into the distance is actually less than five feet long known as a matte painting it's just one of many that were used to spectacular effect [Music] the screenplay is credited to three writers Florence Ryerson Edgar Allan wolf and a young man who deserves most of the praise 26 year old Noel Langley contributes key elements to the script he changes Dorothy's shoes from silver to Ruby he establishes the fantasy characters as hired hands on the Kansas farm and he inspires Dorothy to realize there's no place like home two young men from Broadway are assigned to write the songs for Oz Harold Arlen will compose the music ey Yip Harburg will create the lyrics and make important contributions to the script and casting of the film I would dance and be merry life would be an injury of the melody for what became if I only had a brain was originally created for a Broadway musical two years earlier called hooray for what it somehow didn't end up in hooray for what and when they were working on the musical sequences for The Wizard of Oz Arlen remembered this particular tune which he felt had a sort of whimsical quality that would be appropriate for the characters of The Tin Man the lion and a scarecrow the song sung by each of the individual characters are wonderful ways to reveal their character soon if I only had a brain the characters we will explain what they were really lacking and it was the same song each time but it's treated quite differently and it almost felt as if it was a different song every time then I'm sure to get a brain much of the credit for adapting Harbor Garland's music into recurring motifs falls on the shoulders of MGM Orchestrator George Baskerville he took a little bit of the accompaniment in if I only had a brain and turned it into a whole piece was able to take that second Terry motif and develop that as the Tin Man dance music he just took that phrase and played with it turned at all different ways and he was so proud of having done that if you just look at the Tin Man without music you can see that he's really on me out of ten it's kind of a metallic colored cardboard suit that this guy's wearing it was a little bit silly but he is anvils and wood blocks and muted brass to accompany the dance of the Tin Woodsman and especially when is this pipe situation blow smoke you know [Music] [Music] in 1938 MGM had developed a very complex system of recording and shooting musicals with overdubs and multi-tracking most interestingly pre-recorded all the actors who had listened to it on a playback and synchronize their live motions and their dancing to the pre-recorded music the sync is pretty good on it than I am he's a little soft over down the game but Dorothy I mean Judy Garland was just incredible I think we had finished the one for Judy in Kansas and I knew what I wanted but when it doesn't come it becomes one of those things that bugs you and most of us don't like to be bugged so I said to my song I said let's go to Grandma's Chinese and I said you drive the car no I wasn't thinking of work and as we drove by drugstore I said pull over and we stopped and I took out my little B's manuscript and put down but you know now is over the rainbow of course and needed mr. Harvard lyric Judy we've just finished writing one of the songs you're to sing in The Wizard of Oz and no one's heard it yet so we've got our fingers crossed you actually mean I'm gonna be the first one to hear this that's right but I hope you're not the last one that's going to hear it now this song is the theme of the entire picture you are the little girl in Kansas that unhappy little girl who is always yearning to be somewhere else not home oh you mean you mean I'm always trying to escape from myself mm-hmm that's it Judy and we try to express that yearning the yearning of all little girls in this song singing Harold [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] that's beautiful I can hardly wait to learn it what do you piece it to me please now it sounds inconceivable but over the rainbow is cut from the film after the second preview it slows down the picture some executives complain and they consider it undignified for an MGM star to sing in a barnyard but good sense finally prevails and the song is restored someday I'll wake and rub my eyes and let my and beyond disgust you this represe of over the rainbow was sung by Judy Garland while locked in the witch's castle the Jitterbug number to five weeks and tens and thousands of dollars to prepare rehearse on film and it was cut after the first preview but here's a chance to see the entire amazing routine [Music] [Applause] [Music] the triumphal return musical sequence brought Dorothea and company back to Emerald City with a witch's broomstick [Music] New Year's Day 1939 The Wizard of Oz still has three more months of shooting but the MGM publicity department is wasting no time an elaborate float makes a grand appearance in the Tournament of Roses Parade and thousands of children get an eye-popping look at their odds fantasy characters come to life [Music] Judy Garland endures an endless barrage of interviews radio shows and silly newsreel appearances privilege salmon and Jeanette to be able to congratulate you I'm doing elected president between New York and Judy Garland 17th birthday party becomes a public event she and Mickey Rooney are the newest rage among teenage moviegoers and their boss Louie B Meyer is well aware of it the studio sends Judy and Mickey to New York to open the film as innocent commuters scramble for their trains Grand Central Station becomes a madhouse the much publicized arrival causes a near-riot 10,000 screaming fans are held back by an emergency squad of 250 patrolmen and 25 detectives hastily summoned to maintain order but despite the heat in the bedlam Mickey and Judy survived when the Capitol Theater opens its doors over 15,000 people are in line circling the entire block after each screening of Oz Mickey and Judy perform a specially prepared musical comedy act garland and Rooney and laws break all attendance records in one of the most successful launchings of a film in history wherever they appear New York audiences go wild one reporter says these kids have the biggest news since Lindbergh came home at the New York World's Fair Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia gives Mickey and Judy a guided tour [Music] [Music] this would be the last summer of peace before World War two begins for millions for years it's the end of the yellow brick road no more rainbows there were only a few channels back there maybe three or four in each tower it wasn't like the hundreds of channels today and there was no such thing as a tape or DVD when a movie was shown on the tube everybody watched it you could say that again hmm I was five back in Wisconsin I watched the movie that night with three cousins and two sets of aunts and uncles and my mom and dad and everybody else had a wonderful evening I had the life-changing experience cBS then didn't show Wizard of Oz again for three years they held it they thought once a year would be too much well they showed it to get in 1959 in the ratings they went through the roof they were astronomical it was like something like 45 million people and then it started once a year everyone could remember where they were the first time Lisa it was like three main events of a child's annual life birthday the December holidays be they Christmas or Hanukkah and the night The Wizard of Oz was all part of the magic was that you could only see it once a year you would sit there and think oh there's the cyclone I'm not gonna see it for a year oh but there's Munchkinland I also remember cowering and hiding my eyes whenever the Wicked Witch came out of the street I was so terrified of poor Margaret I'm not afraid of a witch I'm not afraid of anything what I remember is peeking out from behind the couch and then I would hear that horrible cackling there's no question it moved me profoundly and scared me actually deeply and I'm sure it's when the flying monkeys appeared and I was just put me away I was terrified my father was a TV repairman and we were one of the first on the block to get a large color console TV and he did this right before the annual showing of the Wizard of Oz I think he had that in mind and you know my parents the day of the movie were telling me oh you're in for surprise something wonderful is going to happen and you know I remember being excited to see the movie anyway but then when I actually saw her open the door and it burst into color it was just you know most amazing thing [Music] we're not in Kansas anymore after its initial release Oz would appear occasionally through several reissues and kiddie matinees and then in 1956 Along Came televisions bill for the first two decades most viewers could only see it in black and white which didn't stop the millions who had never seen it before from falling under its spell you know it's interesting how you can watch a bad movie and once is enough in the case of The Wizard of Oz a hundred times may not be enough they are with us for the next 30 years Judy Garland makes successful appearances all over the world and memories of The Wizard of Oz are never far away no performance would be complete without Garland singing over the rainbow in a letter to Harold Arlen Judy writes over the rainbow has become part of my life it's so symbolic of everybody's dreams and wishes but I'm sure that's why some people get tears in their eyes when they hear it I sung it thousands of times and it's still the song that's closest to my heart I think it's endured because of people's dreams and because of the possibilities and because that there may be some place over the rainbow that everybody wants to find something better and even if it's more colorful when we're outrageous or scarier and you end up wanting to go home and then you know medicine that's the best place you can be after all of the things that you learn no matter how beautiful everything else's home this room manners [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Magnificent beautiful spectacle which highlights the new entertainment season that's the Wizard of Oz a glorious extravaganza painted with a rainbow of Technicolor with a cast of thousands at a cost of millions from border to border and coast to coast they're calling The Wizard of Oz the sensation of the year [Music]

Channel: Tomy9878

Views: 100,295

Rating: 4.8693562 out of 5

Keywords: judy garland

Id: We2OQVqvs3s

Length: 32min 9sec (1929 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 31 2019