OZ: It doesn’t take much to think of a quote from the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” — like “follow the yellow brick road” or “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” and of course, “There’s no place like home.”
The Library of Congress says it’s the most watched movie ever.
And at 85 years old, the movie is still as wonderful as it was when it came out — and the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys are still as terrifying.
Margaret Hamilton, who played Auntie Em’s nasty neighbor Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch, was almost too good at her job. After a terrifying appearance on Sesame Street, which drew the ire of parents everywhere, she went on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1975 to assure children that witches were simply make-believe.
Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is a childhood memory for many, yet the footage nearly hit the cutting room floor. Studio executives thought it slowed the film down. Associate producer and lyricist Arthur Freed insisted it remain.
Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the movie were originally to be silver, but MGM Studio head Louis B. Mayer wanted to show off Technicolor, and changed them to red. Those slippers are now at the Smithsonian Museum National Museum of American History. The exhibit is so popular the carpet has had to be replaced multiple times from wear and tear.
In the film, the Tin Man’s tears weren’t oil, but were chocolate syrup.
The little dog Toto was played by a dog named Terry, which was paid $125 a week; the Munchkins were paid $50 a week.
And remember the “horse of a different color?” The color came from Jello crystals, which were tasty to the horses, and led to scenes being shot quickly before the horses licked it all off.
