Horrors Behind the Scenes of the Wizard of Oz

the wizard of oz is possibly the singular most iconic american film of all time the film was released in 1939 and it was produced by metro goldwyn mayer the film brought some much needed light to the lives of americans who were in the middle of the great depression the use of technicolor set the film apart from many other movies at the time and the colorful cast fun score and beautiful set design all helped solidify this film in history while the film ultimately became a huge success the budget of over 2 million dollars made it difficult for the studio to break even it wasn't until the film was re-released 10 years later that metro goldwyn mayer finally made a profit still film critics recognized its genius the moment it was released the wizard of oz was nominated for six oscars including best picture while the film gone with the win ultimately won the title of best picture that year the wizard of oz still took home two academy awards according to the library of congress the wizard of oz is the most seen film in history and for good reason the filming process may have taken over a year but every cast and crew member poured their heart and soul into their work it was a grueling process but it yielded wondrous results even though the film is decades old it still holds up to the modern standards of a great film and it can be easily enjoyed by people of all ages however many trials and tribulations went into creating such a masterpiece of a film many of the cast members suffered during the filming process and some were affected permanently because the wizard of oz was created so long ago there weren't as many safety regulations on set and the actors were subjected to dangerous and even deadly conditions crew members often used harmful chemicals and reckless pyrotechnics to create the film's special effects even though the special effects may have looked great in the final result they were a huge source of stress for the actors even worse was the fact that actors were not given the protection they are today young judy garland was only 16 when she began filming the wizard of oz but she was treated cruelly by the director make sure you stick around to find out when director victor fleming took things too far and make sure you stick around to find out what part the wizard of oz played in judy garland's untimely death the wicked witch of the west put her life on the line margaret hamilton played the film's iconic antagonist the wicked witch of the west however the filming process ended up being disproportionately terrifying for the poor actor the first complication came in the form of her green makeup today actors are granted all sorts of protections and rights to ensure their safety is the number one priority however this simply wasn't the case back in the day the paint that was used to make margaret hamilton's skin green actually contained copper which is incredibly toxic in certain forms after every shooting day she had to make sure the makeup was completely cleaned off of her skin to prevent harmful effects even more terrifying than the toxic makeup however was when margaret hamilton caught fire on set while she was supposed to descend onto the set with a fiery background hamilton's broom caught fire causing her to suffer horrible burns on both her face and hands she was hospitalized and had to take three months off of filming to recover toto was ridiculously overpaid toto dorothy's lovable canine companion took home a check of his own after each week of filming he received a paycheck of dollars a week while that may not seem like much these days during the great depression that was an exorbitant amount of money 125 dollars roughly translates to 2 000 in today's money while it may seem funny that a dog was paid that much during the filming of the wizard of oz it was no laughing matter to some of the other cast members the actors who played the munchkins were tragically underpaid in comparison to toto and most were given less than half the money he took home each week while the actors who played the munchkins were still relatively well paid it was still pretty humiliating to take home less money than the dog the tin man was recast due to a health hazard the tin man was originally played by buddy epson the star of television shows like the beverly hillbillies and barnaby jones however he only lasted 10 days before he had to quit filming much like poor margaret hamilton who played the wicked witch of the west the makeup used for the tin man was incredibly dangerous the makeup crew used aluminum powder to make his skin silver which buddy epson reacted violently to he was hospitalized in critical condition because the aluminum powder had coated his lungs jack haley was recast as the tin man and while he did an excellent job you can't help but wonder how differently the movie would have ended up if buddy epson had played the iconic role thankfully the makeup crew changed the makeup so it was much safer and jack haley got through the production without any complications that same can't be said for buddy however who suffered with breathing problems for the rest of his life judy garland was grossly mistreated by the director the reason the filming process was a nightmare for many of the actors was because they didn't have as many laws in place to protect themselves back in the 1930s many cruel treatments were considered fair game poor judy garland who was only 16 when she was cast to play dorothy gale was treated shockingly by the film's director victor fleming during the famous slap scene judy garland had a difficult time keeping a straight face many actors like to have fun while filming and some can have a hard time keeping themselves from giggling however film was and still is extremely expensive after several takes were ruined because judy garland kept giggling the director victor fleming took her to the side and slapped her in the face he told her go in there and work and thoroughly chastised judy garland got through the scene without laughing once however this was far from judy's worst experience on the set of the wizard of oz make sure you stick around until the very end where we will reveal the horrible part the film played in her untimely death and if you're enjoying this story so far please take a moment to like this video and subscribe to our channel for more the cowardly lion had an uncomfortable costume the actor for the cowardly lion bert lahr had one of the most difficult costumes to wear it was incredibly heavy weighing around 90 pounds and was made with real lion pelts the special lights used while filming got very hot and sometimes the set reached temperatures of 100 degrees poor bert lar ended up sweating so much in his costume it had to be thoroughly cleaned and dried every single night shirley temple almost played dorothy the iconic role of dorothy gail required a special kind of actor someone young and vibrant with real acting talent as well as an incredible singing voice shirley temple was a popular actor at the time and producers seriously considered her for the role of dorothy after much discussion however they knew she simply wasn't right for the role despite her talent her singing voice didn't match the role of dorothy and they realized judy garland would be the perfect choice the snow was made from asbestos the beautiful poppy field and the wizard of oz featured the talents of 22 artists these incredibly hard workers had to make forty thousand individual poppies which took a week in all however amidst the beauty of the poppy scene was a very real danger the snow that was used during the scene was actually asbestos judy and her companions were all dusted with carcinogens for the sake of the film we can only hope none of them suffered any long-term effects the wizard of oz ultimately ended judy garland's life even today hollywood often projects unhealthy physical standards on actors especially women it was even worse in the 1930s even though judy garland was at a perfectly healthy weight studio executives called her horrible names with regard to her weight often referring to her as a fat little pig with pigtails even when she dieted herself to the point of being underweight they still wanted her to be skinnier as a result the studio chief of mgm louis b meyer only let her eat chicken soup black coffee and cigarettes as well as diet pills she was only 16 years old as a result judy became reliant on drugs to maintain the quote ideal weight for film producers ultimately she died of a drug overdose when she was 47. despite its huge success as a film the wizard of oz hid many dark secrets throughout its production were you more surprised to find out about all the toxic chemicals used during the filming or by the fact that judy garland was forced to starve herself even though she was at a perfectly healthy weight let us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe to faxverse for more you

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Id: LLyXxB0bgNg

Length: 9min 11sec (551 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020