Movies - The Wizard of Oz

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	Movies - The Wizard of Oz

:For other senses of this title, see The Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is based on L. Frank Baum's turn-of-the-century children's story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a resourceful American girl is snatched up by a Kansas tornado and deposited in a fantastic land of witches, a talking scarecrow, a cowardly lion, and more. It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. It also featured a cast of small actors in the roles of the Munchkins, including Jerry Maren in the Lollipop Guild and Meinhardt Raabe as the Munchkin Coroner. While not the first feature film produced in Technicolor (as commonly believed), The Wizard of Oz makes conspicuous use of the technique; its Kansas bookend sequences are in sepia-toned black-and-white, while the Oz scenes are in full three-strip Technicolor.

History

L. Frank Baum (born Lyman Frank Baum on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York) published his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. Over the following years it sold millions of copies, and Baum wrote thirteen more Oz books before his death on May 15, 1919.

The Adaptation

In January 1938, MGM bought the rights to the book. The script was completed on October 8, 1938 (following numerous rewrites). Filming started on October 13, 1938 and was completed on March 16, 1939. The film premiered on August 12, 1939, and went into general release on August 25.

The movie's script was adapted by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf. Several people assisted with the adaptation without official credit: Irving Brecher, William H. Cannon, Herbert Fields, Arthur Freed, Jack Haley, E.Y. Harburg, Samuel Hoffenstein, Bert Lahr, John Lee Mahin, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jack Mintz, Ogden Nash, and Sid Silvers. It was directed by Victor Fleming, Richard Thorpe (uncredited), George Cukor (uncredited), and King Vidor (uncredited). Costume design was by Adrian.

Music and Lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score and Best Music, Song for "Over the Rainbow").

Casting

Casting the film was problematic, with actors shifting roles repeatedly at the beginning of filming. One of the primary changes was in the role of the Tin Woodsman. The Tin Man was originally slated for Ray Bolger, and Buddy Ebsen was to play the Scarecrow. Bolger was unhappy with the part, and convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him as the Scarecrow. Ebsen didn't object to the change at first, He recorded all his songs, went through all the rehearsals, and started filming with the rest of the cast. But nine days after filming began, he suffered a reaction to the aluminum powder makeup, as it had coated his lungs as he breathed it in while it was applied daily. Consequently, Ebsen (now in critical condition) had to be hospitalized and leave the project. MGM did not publicize the reasons for Ebsen's departure and not even his replacement, Jack Haley, initially knew the reason. A 1975 book on the film's uncredited associate producer Arthur Freed (The World of Entertainment by Hugh Fordin), created with the full co-operation of Freed before his death, actually suggests that the actor was fired by Victor Fleming when he took over as director. In a later interview (included on the 2005 DVD release of Wizard of Oz), Ebsen recalled that the studio heads initially did not believe he was ill. No footage of Ebsen as the Tin Man has ever been released - only photographs taken during filming, test photos of different make-up styles, and his soundtrack recordings remain.

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Movies - The Wizard of Oz

History

The Adaptation

Casting

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