Are there any tidbits from “The Wizard of Oz” that YOU only spotted only after you got older? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Wizard of Oz Facts That Will Ruin Your Childhood - th-cam.com/video/7-MA2MjihjI/w-d-xo.html
When the Wicked Witch leaves Munchkinland, her exit is supposed to mirror her entrance. She spins away from Dorothy and Glinda and hits her mark about 10 feet away. Smoke rises from under the stage, momentarily obscuring her. A trap door opens, she drops underneath the stage, and then flash-pots go off to signal that she has magically teleported away. But on the day of filming, the timing of the special effects went haywire. If you watch carefully, you'll notice that the smoke begins to rise a good 3 seconds before the Witch hits her mark. As the scene continues, the flash-pots go off as the Witch is dropping through the trap-door. The actress, Margaret Hamilton, was severely burned by the flash-pots, and filming had to be delayed for several days. The production team couldn't afford to scrap the footage and re-film the scene, so they kept it as is, with some judicious editing.
I've watched THE WIZARD OF OZ for 51yrs(I'm 52yrs old now) and I looked forward to watching 1x a yr for years up until I moved a year and a half ago to a rinky dink town w/o cable or satellite 🛰 😂
Margaret Hamilton was so convincing as the Wicked Witch of the West that children were scared of her. Fred Rodgers decided to bring her on as a guest on "Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood" to show kids that she was just "pretending" to be a witch in the movie and that in fact she was actually a kind and loving person.
@@jeatig They are children. They aren't going to thknk about skin color, just that they were scared. The point is her performance scared children for decades and Fred thought it was a good idea as a teaching moment to show children that she was merely "pretending and dressing up" like kids love to do.
I can't verify this, but I've heard that Margaret Hamilton was the only person on set who was nice to Judy Garland, or at least was the nicest to her in the cast.
I remember seeing it as a small child in the mid 60’s - our Dad kept the change to color secret ~ he told us to keep watching after the house landed .. we knew something was going to happen . He really built up the suspense! It was magical when she opened the door to all those colors. He absolutely loved movies and knew everything about all the classics. He passed away during the pandemic. Miss you, Dad…
My heartfelt condolences to you and your family on your dad's passing. May he rest in peace. Mine, too, loves movies as well as the behind the scenes and technical stuff (partly why I became an Entertainment Tech), and he too didn't mention the color change as well. My parents and I never missed it on TV, and it was always a special family event. May your wonderful memories with your dad be a loving treasure always.
@@eoharrison7499 thank you. That’s very sweet. I just held my baby grandson for the first time today and my daughter and I were talking earlier about how we could feel my dad’s presence. Your words really meant a lot.. 🥹💙❤️ thanks for sharing your memories, too.
@janeskey5042 'tis nothing, my dear. I'm glad they brought some measure of comfort, and you're enjoying your time with your daughter and precious little angel! I truly believe that our loved ones are always near in one form or another. Sending hugs, well wishes, and infinite blessings. Welcome to the world, wee little one! You're going to love it here! Be blessed. Be happy. Be you!🙏🏻🕊💞
Frank Baum wrote the story. He died before the movie was made. The costume director bought a lot of the clothes at thrift stores. Turns out the frock coat Professor Marvel wore was actually Frank Baum's. It had been purchased in the thrift store. Back in those days clothes were expensive and people had their names in their coats. No one realized it until they were filming. They found the name in the coat. I have remembered this fact for over 60 years
It's L. Frank Baum, and he died twenty years before the movie was made (three years before Judy Garland was born), and the story of the frock coat has never been proven.
Funny story for you. In anticipation of seeing the premiere of The Wizard of Oz on tv for the first time ever when I was a child in the 60’s, my father surprised us on the day of the airing with a console color tv (we only had a black & wht at that time and a tv like that was a financial stretch for our family,). We were so excited that we were going to see this movie in color and my mom made jiffy popcorn for the occasion. When the movie came on and it was black and white, my father was angry and frustrated about why there was no color. He thought the tv was bad. Every time I hear about this movie, I have this vision of him laying on the floor playing with the color adjustments the whole beginning of the movie and us all standing behind him trying to watch it. When the segment came in Oz and it changed to color, my father thought he had miraculously figured it out. When the end switched back to black and white, my parents realized that it was on purpose, my father was fuming. We never talked about it in front of him because he would get upset. He thought people should have been warned, but that was part of the surprise and wonder of the whole movie. My father was a special man and a great dad, and I felt bad when I got older that his pride had been hurt in front of his children when he went through great lengths to get us that tv, hook it up to the antenna so we could enjoy that movie, cartoons and Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. 💋love you-RIP
Crafty, first, let me say your Dad sounds like a top bloke! I'm very sad for your loss :( I was a litle kid in the 60's too, my Dad used to do magic tricks... quite poorly 🤭 Later, he had a thing about baking bread.... Oh how he tried. I'm sorry to say that we could have built a small wall with his loaves, and a cobbled path with his buns 🤫 And we totally took the mick, which was wicked, but impossible to resist 🥸
I was born in the mid-50's, words cannot explain how exciting it was as a young child to see this movie. A time where we had no streaming, dvd's, vcr's and color tv's were rare. In the USA, you only had once chance to see it! This was an annual Sunday evening event that aired around Easter time and the network (I think NBC) was pumping up the preview weeks in advance. Families would gather to watch this! The next morning, you know all your grade school classmates watched as well. The boys would be chanting the witch's guard marching theme in the hallways and the girls were practicing how to gross-over their legs to do "We're off to the see the Wizard" walk. To this date, it is still my favorite movie of all-time, nothing can bump it out of first place on my list. Most likely I've watched over 500 times now. Guessing that the new generation have not seen this movie compared to the baby boomers at 95-99%.
Yep, once a year, every year without fail like its own holiday, in March, I think, it was a big event ... but not starting till the mid-1960s for me. I hardly ever see it anymore because you can watch it just ANY old time you want. Although I actually was killing time in an airport for a layover, went into a toy store where the movie was showing, about 3/4 through, and stood there watching the entire rest of the movie, transfixed till the end! WOW, and I thought having seen it at least THIRTY times was a lot! Good to know you can still love it as much after 500 viewings.💚
I was also born in 1955 and the annual showing of the Wizard of Oz was so exciting. The next day at school we would talk about our favorite characters: the cowardly lion, scarecrow or tinman. Mine was the lion, he was such a sweet thing.
I must have watched it on those Sunday evening broadcasts at least a dozen times and I always looked forward to it the next year. I would not have missed it for anything. My mom watched it with her college roommates when it first came out and she and her mates sang "We're Off to See the Wizard" all the way back to their dorm rooms.
The whole film is full of iconic lines, scenes, characters, ideas.... It is the most widely known movie (maybe pop-cultural creation) of all time, at least in the US, though I fear as time passes fewer and fewer people will know it, watch it, or care about it. Star Wars is probably first runner-up, but in some ways it feels more childish (ironically) and dated than The Wizard of Oz - and original Star Wars lore will probably fade too with time and the accumulation of other Star Wars series and movies. I'm glad I lived in a time when mass cultural shared experience was a thing.
All i can say about this Hollywood classic is that the Wicked Witch of the west scared the shit out of me as a kid. This is one of my all time favorite movies. It stands the test of time.
_It stands the test of time._ That's really true. I have the DVD, and when you think about here was NO SUCH THING as CGI special effects, those tornado scenes are AMAZING.
Yea the flying monkeys never bothered me but the witch scared the crap out of me. I would crawl up in the couch with Mom and Dad when she showed up. In real life Margaret Hamilton was just the opposite. A living angel. ❤
How many of you remember that Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch, played “Cora“ on the Maxwell House coffee commercials for years? She had had a little country grocery store and would tell her customers about how good Maxwell house coffee was.
as a kid and even now I saw her as the star of the show - by far the most vivid portrayal in the movie, and not even modern video technology could produce a more perfect combination of appearance and voice. Margaret Hamilton rocked,
So many great lines from this movie: "we're not in Kansas anymore", "Pay not attention to that man behind the curtain"... the list goes on and on. A true classic.
We were in Kansas last fall, and on our return home, I threw out "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" as we crossed the border into the next state. As you say, so many great lines in this movie, still with us. I can also hear the Miss Gulch theme in my head any time I see someone not in control of their dog.
When i was a child this movie was a big excitement in our house every year. My mom would sit all 8 of us in front of that old black and white tv set with popcorn. All day long we would be the " perfect" 8 kids, because my mom would say, " you all better be good or no Wizard if Oz tonight" it brings back wonderful memories of my siblings and my mom. And still today at 69 i cant wait to watch it. 💕
66 here and remember it being on TV once a year. We didn't have a color tv until I was 15. Watching it for the first time when it went from b&w to color was magic. Still is.
Yes! It was always on after the holidays, I can't remember if it was January or February but it was the only thing to look forward to between the holidays and spring, at least for us kids. I remember our neighbor got the first color TV set in on the street when I was around ten and all the kids were there that night to watch it in color for the first time. Being able to watch anything you want any time you want is great, but somethings I miss things like that....Like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang only being shown at Thanksgiving....
As a kid we had a black and white TV. So I had no idea that most of the movie, or any of it, was in color. So I was shocked at age 19 when I watched it on a friend's color TV. What a revelation.
Margaret Hamilton showed up at UConn in the early 1980s and we students went nuts!😂It was so cool that we got to see her and hear about her experiences in the industry. She was super nice and very humble... a real star!💫❤
Dorothy didn’t believe there was no place like home when she arrived in Oz. That’s why Glinda said she had to learn it for herself - only then would the magic work.
It's the oldest trick in the book. Make somebody believe that their current messed up situation is good, by subjecting them to an even worse reality. This was this movie's greatest flaw. the moral of the story is toxic. Home wasn't good for Dorothy, it was familiar. But she didn't know the difference.
The Cost/Benefit Analysis that Glinda does, (What is the cost of putting Dorothy through hell compared with the benefit of learning that “There’s no place like home”) makes no sense. Glinda is a sociopath.
Glinda wanted Dorothy around as team leader long enough to take out her rival the Wicked Witch of the West. Once that was done, Glinda gave Dorothy the secret of how to get home. That’s how I always interpreted it. Very transactional, that Glinda, but in super sugar-coated form.
I never realized Frank Morgan played so many roles in this film. He really was talented. The film itself is such a technological marvel that never gets old.
There was talk about a lot of famous actors,of that time,who are bantered around as casting ideas. W.C. Fields and Ed Wynn were considered. Morgan wound up playing the wizard and the extra roles because of hte money spent on things like the film technology or to further the idea that the wizard was manipulating Dorothy and co. throughout their time in Oz.
When the cowardly lion runs down the wizards hall and dives through the window is hilarious. So is the "I do , I do, I Do believe in ghosts" line in the haunted forest, and the King of the Forest song is pure comedy gold.
My favorite movie quote of all time comes from The Wizard of Oz and I overlooked it for many decades. I’m nearly 60 years old and didn’t meet my true love until I was 40. Shortly after we met we watched it together and had seen it many times before unknowingly as children and young adults. The quote comes late in the movie when the all powerful Oz gives the Tin Man a Heart watch/clock and says something I now cherish since my love died almost five years ago when he says “A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others”. My Rae was loved and thought of by so many people she impacted in her life that this quote stays with me always.
*Oh what a sweet memory...I am so sorry that you lost the love of your life* *DogDad...That is so tragic. One day you will run through the white light to* *scoop Rae up in your arms. May God and His Angels walk this grief journey* *with you. Love, light and Peace offered to you!*
Best part is when Glinda tells Dorothy that she's made an awful enemy of the wicked witch -- and then says well, best be on your way, bye! That always makes me laugh!
Except that she doesn't say that; she tells Dorothy not to take the shoes off (knowing that the WWW will not be able to touch them) and gives Dorothy a kiss of protection.
Because of the depression, in the 1930's, it would have been quite common for parents to give up their children to other family members, so that they could travel to find other work, or just because they couldn't afford to take care of them. Nobody in 1939 would have even questioned this.
@@cruzloera4931 I always imaged the story occurring around the end or turn of the century. Baum made up the stories to tell his nieces before he eventually wrote them down.
I agree. No viewing audience in 1939, when the film was released, would have questioned Dorothy living with her Aunt and Uncle. Times were hard, so children were often farmed out to relatives or even put up for adoption. The same could have happened in the 1900's when the book was written. Additionally, the viewing audience in 1939 might not have read the books so they took the movie at face value, not questioning Dorothy's age, the color of the slippers, etc.
The movie was re-released in the early 1950s. My mother had taken my sister and me (both of us very young--neither of us had started kindergarten yet) to Downtown Cleveland to do some shopping. As we passed one of the movie theaters on Euclid Ave., Mom stopped in her tracks. Change in plans. She bought us all tickets to the movie of which I had no idea what it was about. Seriously. And after all the years, I still remember that day. (I am now 74.) Being the reader that was, for Christmas that year, I received the Wonder Book edition of "The Wizard Of Oz". Memories . .
Late forties, in fact. 🙂 Weird thing: Judy had made _Meet Me in St. Louis_ by that time, and the posters for the _Wizard_ re-release featured her as she looked in that movie rather than as Dorothy.
Great nostalgia ! Thankyou. I was born 1954 . I never saw OZ in a movie theatre , however when the once-per-year tv presentation rolled around , NOTHING could prevent me from seeing it ! That applies also to the rare times the 1960 movie The Time Machine aired. As a small boy , i was very impressed when i considered how adults were willing to spend their hard-earned money and resources to making a movie to delight an 8 yr. old.
I always notice Dorothy’s interaction with Professor Marvel where he guesses she’s running away because “they don’t understand you at home” and she wants to see great lands, etc. I want her to exclaim, “I’m running away because someone is trying to kill my dog!!”
@@MaskedMan66 She does, but I still maintain that the immediate impetus for her running away was Toto. When he escapes from Miss Gulch and returns to her, she says, "They'll be coming back for you in a minute. We've got to get away. We've got to run away!"
@@kkvegas To be sure. But who knows how much thinking she did during the time she was walking to that little bridge over the brook where Prof Marvel had parked his caravan? And please remember, when Marvel guessed that she didn't feel appreciated, she said, "Why, it's just like you could read what was inside of me!" So she was concerned for herself and her dog. 🙂
I have fond memories of being scared as a kid watching this on TV. It's a brilliant film. One thing I noticed as an adult is the very excellent acting by everyone in the film, even minor characters like Uncle Henry. Watch his face in the scene where Aunt Em is almost telling Miss Gulch off over the Toto episode. "Just because you own half the county . . . but being a Christian woman, I can't!" His facial expressions go from Ooh-ooh to bemusement, very subtle. Everyone is good.
@@abbynormal4740 I always had the impression that Henry, Em, and Almira were schoolmates, and that he maybe dipped their pigtails in inkwells and put frogs down their backs. Em had a sense of humor about it, but Almira got nasty.
In the stage version of the movie, Almira gets her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole (offstage, of course), so while she's recuperating, the Gales will settle matters with the Sheriff.
@@tegavelful n the stage version of the movie, Almira gets her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole (offstage, of course), so while she's recuperating, the Gales will settle matters with the Sheriff.
@@rebecca8525 In the stage version of the movie, Almira gets her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole (offstage, of course), so while she's recuperating, the Gales will settle matters with the Sheriff.
My favourite line from the movie is after they've been attacked by the flying monkeys, and the scarecrow has been essentially eviscerated. They ask what happened, and the scarecrow says, "First they tore my legs off and threw them over there. Then they pulled my chest out and threw it over there." To which the Tin Man replies, "Well, that's you all over!"
I saw this movie 100 times before I heard a quote from the lion. When he was first introduced and was scaring/bulling everyone, he said to the tin man, "how long you stay fresh in that can"?🤣😉
My favorite line was when the Wizard told Dorothy how he became said Wizard. His line "Times being what they were; I took the job". A reference to the Depression. The story was written in 1900.
Although she was terrifying to me as a toddler, I couldn’t help but notice that while the Wizard was a phony, the Witch had a ton of power. She could travel at will with a flying broom, burst onto the seen in a ball of fire, conjure balls of fire, cast spells, had an army of soldiers, had a squadron of flying monkeys, and had castle fortress. Okay, she wasn’t a looker and couldn’t take a bath, but otherwise, she was powerful until her greed got the best of her.
Greed? Those were her sister's shoes that Glinda and Dorothy stole like a couple of hoodlums after Dorothy murdered/manslaughtered the Wicked Witch of the East.
@@soxpeewee I don't think it counts as manslaughter (or witchslaughter) if your house is ripped up by a tornado and dumped on someone whilst you're in it. A reasonable person couldn't foresee that happening, or control it in anyway.
That's the whole point as mentioned in the many deconstructions of the story: The Wizard was a colossal bluff, using trickery to give the wicked witch(es) the impression he had real magic. If not for that, all of Oz might have been long since conquered.
Best line in the movie (my opinion). Dorothy and the Scarecrow had found the Tin Man, who is trying, with difficulty to communicate. He says something through his rusted jaw, Dorothy says to Scarecrow, "He said oil can", Scarecrow replies "Oil can what?" I'm 65 years old, and it still makes me laugh.
I was born in 1963 and watched Wizard of Oz once every year from the age of 3. I had recurring nightmares of TORNADOES as a child all the way into adulthood. I can only attribute that to this movie as I had no other way of knowing about Tornadoes back then, and living in Virginia all my life! This movie was my original experience of the frightening tornado experience.
You had mentioned the farm hands had talked about brains and courage, but the "machine with a heart" part was cut. Actually, Jack Haley said "Someday, they'll build a statue of me." So that's the Tin Man reference.
He was working on a machine/device to detect storms/tornadoes, in between farm chores... Ref, Auntie Ems' line , " I saw you tinkering with that contraption. "
One of my Top 10 favorite movies. When I was a kid back in the Stone Age, it came on once a year and was a big deal. Families would plan to be home together to watch it. Jiffy Pop was always on the menu! No one worried about any of the things you mentioned. I always loved the flying monkeys, hated Miss Gulch and still shout, "Run Toto, Run!" every time he makes his escape. This movie never gets old. Not everything needs to be over-analyzed. Just sit back and enjoy this fabulous movie.
Yep. It was almost like another Christmas Eve or something when TWoO came around for its annual broadcast! I was always scared by the tornado myself, and always thought how scary it'd be to be caught out in the middle of nowhere when one struck! To this day, I'm fascinated by tornado footage that storm chasers post here on YT!
I remember seeing it around Thanksgiving time, and looking forward to it with great anticipation! It's the perfect movie to see at Turkey Day! So American!
@@jerryfarmer5737 Yikes, that could be, as we say now, a bit triggering if you actually HAD one at the time! We live nowhere near Texas or "Tornado Alley," but they showed it here every March too. Since the latter half of the 1960s, at least. I can't imagine how the three TV networks we had back then could've squeezed it in among all the Christmas programming between Thanksgiving and Christmas!
New Year's Day. I remember being so excited the first time - then realized it happened every year. But I can't remember if we had aa color TV then. We were the last ones in the family to get one.
It would be hard for me to exaggerate how sentimental & emotional this film is for me. I've been watching it since childhood 60+ years ago. I adore Margaret Hamilton and her portrayal of the Wicked Witch.
It is my absolute favorite but it's hard to ignore some of the things that happened. Like Margaret Hamilton getting her face burned with the chemicals used in the first scene with the witch,or Judy Garland being called a "fat,little pig",by the executives at MGM,the fact that she was slapped by the director,Victor Flemming,or how the original TinMan being booted due to an allergic reaction to the silver in the makeup and him nearly dying as a result. All things considered I blame a lot of Judy Garland's addiction issues on the hoops they made her jump through for the part she played.
@dawnclark4635 I couldn't agree with you more on all this. Judy probably would have lived a longer life if she hadn't became addicted to the things she was addicted to nor would she have had any eating disorders. Hollywood may be a beautiful place but it's also very toxic
My 3 favorite things about the movie: 1) I loved the acting- such expressive faces and performances by all the actors! 2) I like the special skipping dance steps they did when they were off to see the Wizard! 3) The creative instrumentation in the music is amazing- the orchestra in this movie really outdid themselves!
As a kid I always thought of Glinda as Aunt Em's Oz counterpart, but back then I didn't pay attention to how they don't look or sound alike. I would still like to think so, but as the movie's version of Oz is all a dream, Glinda could be a representation of how Dorothy sees her aunt. A lovely, kind and caring person who is still firm in her convictions.
Agreed and when we did the stage version of Wizard of Oz, Aunt Em and Glinda were played by the same actor but I do like the idea of it being Dorothy's mother.
In one of the many documentaries included in the Blu-ray release it is mentioned that Billie Burke was originally going to also be a friendly chatty but somewhat scatterbrained neighbor of the Gales who tries to console Dorothy after Miss Gulch takes Toto, and accidentally implants the idea of running away
@@wesleyjenkins4267 The ironic thing is the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West-Margaret Hamilton-was a school teacher…of the kindergarten grade.
Yes! My grandmother saw the movie when it came out in theaters and said they didn't advertise that the movie was in color. There was an audible gasp when Dorothy opened the door.
I got to see in graduate school wizard of Oz on the giant scream that we used to have back in the '60s. This was in the 1980s but they played it in the auditorium. That scene where the cabin door opens and you see us is so fantastic on the giant screen. I can't describe to you The difference. And yes I was an adult. But I think kids did see that difference when it was a giant green as opposed to the smaller ones of today or the TVs that we first watched it on. Another great scene was when the witch turns her face to the audience and laughs and you see that giant face on that giant screen and you're looking at an auditorium jammed with students and adults who all involuntarily push themselves back in their seats!
My wife is a German GI bride and came back to the USA with me. She has been in the USA 39 years. She had seen bits and pieces of this movie but not the whole thing. We had a mini vacation of northern Minnesota last fall and stopped at the Judy Garland museum in Grand Rapids. Kinda spendy but very cool! When we got home she wanted me to sit down and watch "The Wizard Of Oz" with her. I had not seen it for like 55 years. The movie still holds it's own after 83 years! I enjoyed it. Perhaps because now I'm an adult watching it with adult eyes. The flying monkeys terrified me when I was a small kid! In 1939 when the film went from sepia to color that must have been better than any acid trip for the viewers that any one could take nowadays!!!
I know someone who saw the first Star Wars in theaters… immediately after wisdom tooth extraction went poorly and had even heavier painkillers than were typical at the time… special effects were AMAZING! (They actually were, especially for when they were made, but yeah… extra special that night)
From the time I was about 4 or 5 in the 1950's when all we had was black and white TV, I never saw the Wizard of Oz in color until I was maybe 21 around 1975. After seeing the movie a dozen or more times in b & w, seeing it in color was an impressive experience
I never saw it in color until I bought my 1st color TV in 1978, after getting my 1st career job. That Sony Trinitron 17" cost 578 then! Took over 2 yrs to pay off. But what an experience to see the colors in Munchkinland!
I watched The Wizard of Oz at a local theater for an 80th anniversary showing. I have seen this dozens of times on tv, but had never noticed Toto had his own bed in Dorothy’s room.
There's something with movie theaters you'll put your self to focus on the movie, huge screen, surround sound, but also no distractions. I finally got a big screen TV but the sound makes me have to watch it with subtitles. I can hear the music and special effects loudly but for some reason on a modern TV with a sound bar I don't hear the conversation.
Not necessarily missed tidbits, but: 1. The studio did test silver slippers, but decided they just didn’t read well on screen. 2. Shirley Temple as Dorothy? It almost happened. Would have been a wildly different movie. 3. When the movie was taken over by a new directing/production staff, Over the Rainbow nearly got the ax. They thought it was too maudlin for the film. Can you imagine? 4. The coat Frank Morgan wears as Professor Marvel belonged to L. Frank Baum. 5. Some people thought the Oz books were subversive and seemed to be supporting a socialist or communist agenda. We’ve been ridiculous for a long time. 😂. Yeah, I’m a bit of a dork about the movie. 🤣
If you pay close attention, you will notice that in one of the last scenes, the scarecrow follows a rope up the wall across the ceiling and down the other wall and realizes that if he cuts it, the huge light fixture will fall. Thus trapping the soldiers. He used a brain for that deduction. And didn’t he figure out a way to make those apple trees throw the apples at them. For someone without a brain, he was pretty bright. And let’s look at the tin man, he supposedly had no heart. However, anytime his friends were in trouble. He started crying. He had emotions.
Maybe there was no tornado. It was a metaphor for Dorothy’s rage as she murdered Miss Gulch, after which she withdrew into a psychotic hallucination conjuring up the land of Oz.
Something that's likely not as well known as it was in 1939: Why the adults go into a panicked scramble to get Dorothy out of the pig pen when she tumbles into it. They're in a rush to get her out of it because pigs can, will, and have eaten people.
@jeffl.9633 My late father, if he enjoyed something would say "I haven't had this much fun since the hogs ate my younger brother." (c) 1985. I use it wherever and whenever it works. I sure get some strange looks.
@@johntiggleman4686 - That's a good multi-faceted line there, worth a tip of the virtual hat to your father and a like. I suspect that people hearing that for the first time without reacting with something akin to "Yeah...wait, what?" weren't paying attention.
Yep. Pigs can be deadly. I remember, as a kid, my sister and I were at an aunt's and we were looking at the pigs. Her hat (like a straw hat iirc) fell in. No more hat. I'm glad she didn't jump in after it.
One of the lines that I never listened to when I was a child watching the movie and completely missed this until i was an adult...the Wizard told the Tin Man " that a heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others" ...that's heavy and great advice to live by...think about it!
But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man That he didn't, didn't already have And cause never was the reason for the evening Or the tropic of Sir Galahad. [ America: "Tin Man" ]
I don't think I agree with that. True love is not always giving people what they think they want. Conversely, there could be someone, like a cult leader, whom everyone loves, but may ultimately lead them down a wrong and harmful path. Someone could be full of love, and do a lot of good for people, but if done anonymously, few people would be aware of their actions. Love can also take different forms, such as fighting for social justice so any controversial actions would result in enemies as well as admirers. So, when I think about it, I think: it's definitely more complicated!
My favorite line which is such a good bit of wisdom as well. "What a world, what a world. Who thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness."
To me, the W of O is pure hope. Released before the world exploded in WWII - it gave us hope in beautiful B/W then color. Plus the music. Pure and utter grace - we strive to make it on our own but the ruby slippers prove the power is given to us all the time. It’s beautiful. It’s America at its best.
It was amazing that the director was working on the film at the same time he was working on Gone With the Wind. 3 days a week on one, 3 days the other, and a day off.
@@StinkinGoodAle3241 That's not how it went. With only the Kansas sequences to film, Fleming was called away to work on GWtW. Judy Garland was angry about that because she had a crush on him and loved working with him. For many days, people didn't dare to mention Vivien Leigh's name in her presence if they knew what was good for them! 😲
To this day my favourite film of all time. And I'm 60 next year. The film was released in 1939 a few weeks before my mum was born. Which I think is a sweet connection.
So many iconic lines still being repeated by people to this day. "I'll get you my pretty", "Oh, what a world, what a world", I don't believe we are in Kansas anymore", "Put 'em up, put 'em up". "And Toto, too". Great classic!
I was Margaret Hamilton's personal chef in Litchfield,CT,a place called rose haven she was there for rehabilitation after breaking her leg and lived in Salisbury,CT.untill her passing 3 years after I worked for her she told me of things about oz nobody knew than,she was also on mr.rogers neighborhood,she absolutly loved children her land now is owned by Meryl steep a place called twin lakes I miss my friend Margaret,I made the mistake tell her "I'll get you my pretty scared me"when I was younger on occasion she would say it in the witches voice and laugh very heartfeltly I'm glad I could share this she was a very kind loving 👠 women I miss my friend very dearly we had gotten very close while working for her mat God rest her soul love you Margaret Hamilton ❤❤❤
I remember in the movie that after Toto escaped from Miss Gulch Dorothy happily reunited with him. The happiness was short lived however when she realized that Miss Gulch will come back for Toto once she realizes he's gone. That was why she and Toto ran away from home. I believe at the end that Miss Gulch died in the tornado because we saw her inside the tornado riding her bicycle.
Have to disagree with you about Miss Gulch. Remember, a shutter on the house blew in and hit Dorothy in the head. Everything that happened from that point forward was Dorothy's dream/delusion until Dorothy woke up again at the end of the movie. The Gulch storyline was left unresolved.
We had a Cairin Terrier, a Toto dog, named Brodie. After his arrival in 2003, we looked at the movie through the eyes of Toto. The dog was the catalyst for the whole adventure, there with her getting in trouble with Miss Gulch and in the bed when Dorothy wakes up. Also, the basket must have held treats because Toto is at the side of whoever carries it. Brodie loved snacks and did many tricks! I did a report on this in college in a Childrens' lit class.
We had Princie, a dog that was one third Collie, one third Scottie, and one third Westie. Toto was a Cairn terrier a close relative of Scotties and Westies. His mother was the Scottie Westie mix.
I like how Glinda asks Dorothy if she is a good witch or a bad witch, then goes on to say that "only bad witches are ugly." This means that Glinda couldn't tell by looking at Dorothy if she was ugly or not.
Ha! But ~ only fruits can be apples, but not all fruits are apples. Only bad witches are ugly, but not all bad witches are. Not knowing if one is a good or bad witch means they are pretty. So, in its way, it is... a compliment? But yes, Glinda is a big weirdo who has been floating around in bubbles at too many festivals, nobody is questioning this ;)
Wrong! Glinda knew full well that Dorothy was a human child. If you listen to the dialogue, Glinda is asking on behalf of the Munchkins, who haven't the least idea who or what this stranger is.
@@thatjalopy Glinda is to Oz what Gandalf is to Middle-earth; a wise and powerful guardian. She knew already that Dorothy was a human. She was asking on the Munchkins' behalf.
When I got older, I saw the Wizard of Oz as a spiritual journey, each character is a part of us that we have to find and face within ourselves. When Glinda says "you always had the power to go home" I took it to mean the power to know who you really are and what greatness lies within you. The Yellow Brick Road is the Path to Enlightenment,
One other fun fact. The coat Frank Morgan is wearing as Professor Marvel was gotten from a second hand store, when they looked inside, they found an old label showing that it belonged to, of all people L. Frank Baum himself!
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen this movie. From a very early age, i was about 9, it was coming on television, but I was grounded and wasn't allowed to watch TV for a month. Mrs. Giberson was an after-school caregiver and had talked my mom into letting me watch it. And I did. Many years later, I was a caregiver to an older lady that had dementia, and we'd watch this movie together everyday, sometimes twice a day because it was her favorite movie. She loved it just as much as I did. At one point I even had the soundtrack on CD and the DVD when those were a thing. It is a timeless classic, the movie at least, I tried reading the books but after watching the movie adaption, the books were boring. But I'll always have a heart for this movie, so many things were connected to it, I've even watched it at a friend's house in high-school while playing the Pink Floyd album, and there was just so much connection there. Never noticed the discrepancies though... there's an innocence that I wouldn't want ruined, but thank you @MsMojo for bringing back a lot of good memories associated with The Wizard of Oz.
I have theories/ideas about some of these: 1. I don’t think Glynda needs to have Kansas counterpart, considering the fact that Uncle Henry & Aunt Em don’t have Oz counterparts. 2. The witch could’ve probably just magic’d herself clean 🤷🏻♀️ 3. I heard a theory recently that Miss Gulch was actually the Wicked Witch of the East and that maybe she did actually die in the tornado. That would explain her not coming back for Toto. Or it could be that Miss Gulch just had bigger fish to fry what with a tornado happening and potentially destroying her house or something.
In the ending of the movie, it was reported by one of the characters (I believe Professor Marvel) that Miss Gulch was killed in the tornado riding her bike- she never knew that Toto had escaped from her basket! This part was edited out.
@@jeannehall6546 Wow, I wonder if that piece still exists? A lot was scrapped, like the Jitterbug scene, but they did find some rare scenes like the dance Dorothy and Scarecrow do when they meet, him bouncing off the fences like a pinball.
I always thought the witch in the cyclone was the witch of the east. The "wicked" story explains a lot of these things. The witch and water, the wizard, the cyclone the Monkees etc
7:40 i assume she didnt come back for toto because a tornado just tore through the area. Usually when that happens, we kinda stop whatever we were worried about before and focus on clean up
In the book the WWW kept Dorothy kidnapped for longer, but was never able to get the shoes when Dorothy had taken them off. One of the few times was when Dorothy was taking a bath, because of the whole water thing. That was nice of the WWW to provide a tub and allowed her to fetch water for it. (The other time Dorothy took the shoes off was at night, when she slept, but inexplicably the WWW was just as scared of the dark as she was of water, so going into a dark room at night was a no go.)
Also, in the book, the WWW couldn't kill Dorothy because of the mark that the Good Witch Of The North gave Dorothy at the beginning of her journey. That was why she made Dorothy her slave instead.
The explanation as to why the WWW was afraid of the dark is simply that she was a coward. 🙂 Even the Cowardly Lion wasn't afraid of the dark; probably because he could see in it.
There were no such things as video recorders when I was a kid so I remember recording the sound track on our reel-to-reel and panicking that there wouldn't be enough tape to get it all on! (There was!) I had to turn it over and re-spool though so missed about 40 seconds of dialogue. Such was my adoration of this movie as a kid (it's still one of my top ten). Consequently I used to listen over and over to it, running the scenes through my memory and imagination. I can still remember about 95% of the dialogue!! (I now have the blu ray of it - and STILL watch it! lol)
My name in Judy and I grew up on Garland Street; it was foreordained that I would love this film from childhood on. You should hear my sisters and me sing the score together; I have a pretty mean Wicked Witch cackle, too! BTW, I always thought Dorothy was an orphan and Auntie Em and Uncle Henry really WERE her aunt and uncle; although they could be her godparents, too. 🐒
It says on the first page of the book that Dorothy is an orphan, and that her aunt and uncle are her aunt and uncle. But they could have been her godparents as well, though Baum never said.
Glinda didn't take the ruby slippers; being magic, they transfer to whoever overcomes the current wearer. Dorothy killed the witch of the East, so the slippers were transferred to her. Just like when the witch of the West said "Those slippers will never come off.....as long as you're alive."
Billie Burke played Glenda the Good Witch. Billie was a stage actress, got her start in the Ziegfeld Follies and subsequently married the great showman himself, Flo Ziegfeld.
Sometime in the early 80s I was driving on a highway on the Maine coast. I was being passed by a car and I glanced over and saw “the outline” of the face. You can’t mistake that face. It was most definitely Margaret Hamilton. I got to my friend’s house and told him who I’d seen and he nonchalantly said that yeah she has a place up the coast
When I was a little kid in the 1960s--5 in 1965--that scene where the shoes disappeared, and the feet and legs curled up, was the scariest scene in the whole movie to me. For the next couple of years, I would cover my eyes when that scene was about to happen. I remember to this day how I felt watching that scene. Now of course, I got this and "The Ten Commandments" on my phone. Among about 30 other favorite movies. It's lovely to be able to watch "Big Trouble in Little China" at will. ;)
@@karenkenney6021 We're the same age. I wonder if that's why I have to sleep with socks on and my feet covered by the sheet in summer and the blanket in winter?
Ms. Mojo, when she stepped into Oz, it blew me away when I saw the movie for the first first time on TV in the early 1970s. I thought Dorothy was visiting her aunt and uncle during summer vacation. I imagine ‘The Wicked Witch’ smelling musty and of dirty laundry. I think the whole point of Dorothy going through everything was for her to learn to think for herself and how to help herself. “Shrew” is a nice word to use for ‘Ms. Gulch’.
Shrew was the equivalent term back in 1939 of what we now call Karen. Gulch was stated to have owned half the county and even if it was an exaggeration she was still considered high up in local society.
The bit about scarecrow doing Pythagorean theorem was done in the Simpsons too. Homer does the line exactly like scarecrow while in a bathroom and a guy using one of the stalls corrects him yelling out "That's a right triangle ya idiot!"
I read in a youtube comment elsewhere long ago, that it wasn't known that the Wizard of Oz had any color scenes - I guess it was marketed with just a few black and white scenes. They said their grandparent saw it in theaters when it first came out and said there was an audible gasp from everyone in the theater when Dorothy opened that door and everything turned to color.
The B&W to Color transition was performed with a Dorothy double who was dressed in a sepia-toned dress. She opens the door, steps back, and then Judy steps forward in her full color outfit. The whole scene was filmed using color film.
And how they did it was purely genius. There was a double wearing a sepia colored dress that we only see from behind and has she opens the door and steps out of the shot , Judy Garland wearing the blue dress steps into the shot.
They're "off to see the wizard..." in one scene - right after they acquire the Tinman - they are skipping off and Dorothy is without the ruby slippers and is wearing black shoes. It's only noticeable for a moment, but it is something you will never miss again, once you've seen it.
Another goof you can’t unsee once you notice it…the trap door that opens in the road for the witch to disappear into after the “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” scene in Munchkinland. They tried to hide it with smoke, but you can still see it very clearly.
I've been watching the Wizard of Oz for almost 4 decades now, and it wasn't until this most recent time that I noticed there is a reference to the song that was cut, "The Jitterbug" still hiding in the film. The Wicked Witch says, "Take your army to the Haunted Forest and bring me that girl and her dog. Do what you like with the others, but I want her alive and unharmed. They'll give you no trouble, I promise you that. I've sent ahead a little insect to take the flight out of them. Now FLY!" The little insect was the jitterbug, which when bitten by it, they had the uncontrollable urge to sing and dance and tire themselves out. Amazing how it's still there, even though the song was cut.
I don't know when the song "Jitterbug" was written, but I wonder if that song took reference from the movie! Which came first? The "Wizard of Oz" or the song, "Jitterbug"?
IIRC, in the original Wonderful Wizard of Oz book the wicked witch uses an insect called "jitterbug" to help subdue her victims. A bite from the jitterbug caused its victims to dance until they dropped. Hence the witch's line in the movie about sending ahead the insect to take the fight out. Apparently, there was a musical/dance Jitterbug scene that was filmed but cut from the final film, but for some reason the witch's reference to the Jitterbug wasn't cut or the scene reshot. Either the continuity error wasn't noticed in time or it wasn't practical to correct it due to cost or cast availability, etc.
When they come out of the forest where the "Jitterbug" scene was deleted you will notice them carrying a butterfly net and an rather large old fashioned bug sprayer. What they used before the aerosol cans of today.
My father saw this film on the big screen when it came out. I watched it on TV every year, 1960s and 70s. Going to watch this Sunday, July 21, 2024. Been planning for a while....
Dorothy was younger in the book, around ten. And when I first saw this movie on television, as a little girl, we had a B&W television, so I didn't understand the "Horse of a different color joke" as I didn't know Oz was in color. Also, Oz was real. Dorothy eventually went back to stay.
@@jonesnori Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did not return to Oz in the original book. Oz was real in that book though. I've forgotten what it was, but there was something at the end of the story that made that pretty clear.
@@jonesnori It wasn't a retcon by Baum - Oz was real in the books. The movie producers didn't want to cater too much to the fantasy world, though, so they made it a dream and populated OZ with the dream version of people Dorothy knew. The producers didn't think the movie audience would go for the fantasy aspects.
I am reading all the books Baum wrote. It has been a long journey but you are right, Dorothy does end up staying in OZ but also with her Aunt and Uncle as well.
Yes, in Baum's books Oz is a real place at the center of a continent surrounded by the Nonestic Ocean. Ironically, when Baum was making a series of Oz films back in the silent era, it was _he_ that had a cinematic version have Dorothy's experience be a dream! Not many people realize the 1939 classic literally is a remake...
Can’t believe you didn’t mention that the Cowardly Lion was just a dandy lion. His lines had a whole new meaning watching this in the Castro Theater in San Francisco in the 1980s
Bert Lahr, as his son John has noted, was first and foremost a Broadway comedian (his portrayal may have been a inspiration for Hanna-Barbara's Snagglepuss character) and Bert knew all too well that not all performers, producers, directors, etc. were "arrows". [As was the case with many in Hollywood then and now.]
I believe he also refers to himself as a dandy. I saw the movie on the big screen on the 80th & 85th Anniversary - You really notice a lot of little things when seeing an old film in the format it was meant to be seen. The Lion also said he was ‘born to be a sissy’. All of that went over my head for years. I was a figure skater for over a decade. Not sure how I missed a lot of the words the Lion used to describe himself!
I was born in the early '50's. We watched the Wizard of Oz every year on a black and white TV. I didn't see it in color until I went to college in the early '70's. I still remember being impressed with the sight! The flying monkeys are actually scarier in black and white 😮.
The Wicked Witch emerging from an ominous, grayish black puff of of smoke on a b&w TV impressed me more than when she emerged from a slightly comical bright orange billow in color.
Margaret Hamilton’s costume has so much detail, it’s such a shame that her scenes were cut short for being so convincing. From the veil/sash adorning her hat, to the Snow White bubble shoulders, from the corset to her purse. I think most just saw a black costume and that’s it. even the design of her broom was genius.
I’ve seen The Wizard of Oz since the late fifties more times than I care to count. This is my favorite movie and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow “ my favorite song. After decades of watching the movie I finally found that the real hero is Toto. He’s with her every step of the way and leads the three to rescue her from the witch’s castle.
They're all heroes. And of course in the book, Toto was as much a prisoner as Dorothy in the WWW's castle, with the other three incapacitated, meaning that Dorothy took on the WWW all by herself! 🙂
Life long favorite ❤has calming effects when you think of it as an adult and you notice why you always watched it every holiday and pick me ups. The movie is bright, Dorothy and Glenda are beautiful. Also love the many renditions throughout the years.
2 things: 1) If you can get killed by a bucket of water, would you leave one lying around your castle? 2) The Professor states he's a bad wizard, but a good man. I disagree. He sent Dorothy and her companions to certain death to retrieve the Witch's broomstick just so they would stop bugging him.
I'm reminded of Patricia C Wrede's Enchanted Forest series. Probably inspired by this, the evil wizards were melted (not killed, they'd eventually un-melt) when doused with soapy lemon water (as discovered by a character who was bother by one while mopping).
In the book, which has many more adventures, peoples, and witches, the Wizard does try to send Dorothy home (in a hot air balloon). It’s really not his fault that it doesn’t work out. 😀 I do recommend the book. It’s really weird and very different to the movie, but it’s fun. Baum wrote several sequels with additional fun creatures and places. I love the place where certain trees grow fresh boxed lunches and dinners as their “fruit.”
My grandfather took his kids, including my dad, to see this movie when it first came out. He was furious to see it was black and white when Technicolor had been advertised.
This move packs an incredible emotional and sentimental wallup. It has perhaps the single greatest score ever written for film. It's got Judy Garland. And it's STILL the greatest head film of all time! I LOVE the Wizard of Oz!!
Did you know it's because of a scraped story line where Dorothy and the scarecrows farmhand counterpart were courting? They decided to try and make Dorothy younger so that was scrapped.
The Tin Man sabotaged her exit to stay close to her and then she disses him at the end. That must have hurt. Watch closely and you see he unties the rope to the balloon.
@@Supergirl-rz8yi I think you mean "courting" - when two people are in a serious relationship hopefully leading to marriage. If they were helping Auntie Em and Uncle Henry to count those baby chicks? Nothing wrong with that.
Fun fact: the technology used for Technicolor back then actually existed all the way back to the late 1920s, but due to the Great Depression, using that technology was way too costly, so Hollywood was only able to use the cheaper black-and-white cameras until “The Wizard of Oz” came out. Even after that, only films with big budgets were able to use the technology due to the high costs
1939 was also the spectacular "Gone With The Wind," in full colour. Another 1939 Academy Award "Goodbye Mr. Chips was all B&W. In fact all of the other best picture nominees were black and white films: "Of Mice and Men," "Dark Victory," "Stagecoach," "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," "Ninothcka," and "Wuthering Heights."
The actors hated filming in Technicolor due to the super bright lighting they had to use. I've read about actors that it caused problems with their eyes, gave them headaches and was very warm to work on set in.
@@georgegilbert7347 It's not an error. He got it wrong because he has no brain. The wizard is a fake and did not actually give him a brain. It is actually proof of this, because we can see that he didn't get any smarter.
Are there any tidbits from “The Wizard of Oz” that YOU only spotted only after you got older? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Wizard of Oz Facts That Will Ruin Your Childhood - th-cam.com/video/7-MA2MjihjI/w-d-xo.html
A dog leash would have stopped Dorothy's problem to begin with.
Scarecrow got the math wrong .
What about the fact that poppies (aka opium) put everyone to sleep and snow (cocaine?) wakes them up?
Agreed on poppies.
Papaver somniferum. Somni for sleep and ferum for the reddish color of iron.
When the Wicked Witch leaves Munchkinland, her exit is supposed to mirror her entrance. She spins away from Dorothy and Glinda and hits her mark about 10 feet away. Smoke rises from under the stage, momentarily obscuring her. A trap door opens, she drops underneath the stage, and then flash-pots go off to signal that she has magically teleported away. But on the day of filming, the timing of the special effects went haywire. If you watch carefully, you'll notice that the smoke begins to rise a good 3 seconds before the Witch hits her mark. As the scene continues, the flash-pots go off as the Witch is dropping through the trap-door. The actress, Margaret Hamilton, was severely burned by the flash-pots, and filming had to be delayed for several days. The production team couldn't afford to scrap the footage and re-film the scene, so they kept it as is, with some judicious editing.
It was so special when I was a child to see, once a year on tv, The Wizard of Oz.
Yes, and Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin.
It sure was!
I'm 63 and I still watch it about once a year
@@karenseay2225 me too. 🤗
I've watched THE WIZARD OF OZ for 51yrs(I'm 52yrs old now) and I looked forward to watching 1x a yr for years up until I moved a year and a half ago to a rinky dink town w/o cable or satellite 🛰 😂
Margaret Hamilton was so convincing as the Wicked Witch of the West that children were scared of her. Fred Rodgers decided to bring her on as a guest on "Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood" to show kids that she was just "pretending" to be a witch in the movie and that in fact she was actually a kind and loving person.
Did these children also believe that Miss Hamilton in real life had green skin??
@@jeatig They are children. They aren't going to thknk about skin color, just that they were scared. The point is her performance scared children for decades and Fred thought it was a good idea as a teaching moment to show children that she was merely "pretending and dressing up" like kids love to do.
She terrified me as a child! I couldn't wait for the movie to come on tv, but had to cover my face when I knew her scenes were coming up. 🤢
I saw an interview where Judy said Margaret was her best friend on the set. And how she would laugh at her green skin.
I can't verify this, but I've heard that Margaret Hamilton was the only person on set who was nice to Judy Garland, or at least was the nicest to her in the cast.
I remember seeing it as a small child in the mid 60’s - our Dad kept the change to color secret ~ he told us to keep watching after the house landed .. we knew something was going to happen . He really built up the suspense! It was magical when she opened the door to all those colors. He absolutely loved movies and knew everything about all the classics. He passed away during the pandemic. Miss you, Dad…
❤❤❤
BLESSINGS to you for your loss. W of Z brings back memories of good old days before crazy leftist destroyed America 🇺🇸
My heartfelt condolences to you and your family on your dad's passing. May he rest in peace. Mine, too, loves movies as well as the behind the scenes and technical stuff (partly why I became an Entertainment Tech), and he too didn't mention the color change as well. My parents and I never missed it on TV, and it was always a special family event. May your wonderful memories with your dad be a loving treasure always.
@@eoharrison7499 thank you. That’s very sweet. I just held my baby grandson for the first time today and my daughter and I were talking earlier about how we could feel my dad’s presence.
Your words really meant a lot..
🥹💙❤️ thanks for sharing your memories, too.
@janeskey5042 'tis nothing, my dear. I'm glad they brought some measure of comfort, and you're enjoying your time with your daughter and precious little angel! I truly believe that our loved ones are always near in one form or another. Sending hugs, well wishes, and infinite blessings.
Welcome to the world, wee little one! You're going to love it here! Be blessed. Be happy. Be you!🙏🏻🕊💞
Frank Baum wrote the story. He died before the movie was made. The costume director bought a lot of the clothes at thrift stores. Turns out the frock coat Professor Marvel wore was actually Frank Baum's. It had been purchased in the thrift store. Back in those days clothes were expensive and people had their names in their coats. No one realized it until they were filming. They found the name in the coat. I have remembered this fact for over 60 years
That's amazing!
Thanks for reminding me of that fact.
It's L. Frank Baum, and he died twenty years before the movie was made (three years before Judy Garland was born), and the story of the frock coat has never been proven.
@@owlfethurz8377 But not proven.
@@lawr5764 It isn't a fact, so far as anyone knows.
Funny story for you. In anticipation of seeing the premiere of The Wizard of Oz on tv for the first time ever when I was a child in the 60’s, my father surprised us on the day of the airing with a console color tv (we only had a black & wht at that time and a tv like that was a financial stretch for our family,). We were so excited that we were going to see this movie in color and my mom made jiffy popcorn for the occasion. When the movie came on and it was black and white, my father was angry and frustrated about why there was no color. He thought the tv was bad. Every time I hear about this movie, I have this vision of him laying on the floor playing with the color adjustments the whole beginning of the movie and us all standing behind him trying to watch it. When the segment came in Oz and it changed to color, my father thought he had miraculously figured it out. When the end switched back to black and white, my parents realized that it was on purpose, my father was fuming. We never talked about it in front of him because he would get upset. He thought people should have been warned, but that was part of the surprise and wonder of the whole movie. My father was a special man and a great dad, and I felt bad when I got older that his pride had been hurt in front of his children when he went through great lengths to get us that tv, hook it up to the antenna so we could enjoy that movie, cartoons and Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. 💋love you-RIP
Thanks for sharing: amusing, yes, but also endearing and poignant.🙂
Crafty, first, let me say your Dad sounds like a top bloke! I'm very sad for your loss :( I was a litle kid in the 60's too, my Dad used to do magic tricks... quite poorly 🤭 Later, he had a thing about baking bread.... Oh how he tried. I'm sorry to say that we could have built a small wall with his loaves, and a cobbled path with his buns 🤫 And we totally took the mick, which was wicked, but impossible to resist 🥸
This story made me laugh and cry (almost). What a beautiful memory. Your Dad sounds like he was a great guy.
Great tale!
Beautiful tale ❤😊
I was born in the mid-50's, words cannot explain how exciting it was as a young child to see this movie. A time where we had no streaming, dvd's, vcr's and color tv's were rare. In the USA, you only had once chance to see it! This was an annual Sunday evening event that aired around Easter time and the network (I think NBC) was pumping up the preview weeks in advance. Families would gather to watch this! The next morning, you know all your grade school classmates watched as well. The boys would be chanting the witch's guard marching theme in the hallways and the girls were practicing how to gross-over their legs to do "We're off to the see the Wizard" walk. To this date, it is still my favorite movie of all-time, nothing can bump it out of first place on my list. Most likely I've watched over 500 times now. Guessing that the new generation have not seen this movie compared to the baby boomers at 95-99%.
Yep, once a year, every year without fail like its own holiday, in March, I think, it was a big event ... but not starting till the mid-1960s for me. I hardly ever see it anymore because you can watch it just ANY old time you want. Although I actually was killing time in an airport for a layover, went into a toy store where the movie was showing, about 3/4 through, and stood there watching the entire rest of the movie, transfixed till the end!
WOW, and I thought having seen it at least THIRTY times was a lot! Good to know you can still love it as much after 500 viewings.💚
I was also born in 1955 and the annual showing of the Wizard of Oz was so exciting. The next day at school we would talk about our favorite characters: the cowardly lion, scarecrow or tinman. Mine was the lion, he was such a sweet thing.
I must have watched it on those Sunday evening broadcasts at least a dozen times and I always looked forward to it the next year. I would not have missed it for anything. My mom watched it with her college roommates when it first came out and she and her mates sang "We're Off to See the Wizard" all the way back to their dorm rooms.
That's called 'grossing over the legs'? All this time, I had no idea - thank you!
very nice :)
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"--Such an iconic line and used again and again for many reasons.
I recently bought some quaint door signs on Etsy that read: Nobody gets in to see the Wizard...not nobody, Not no how!
This may be one reason why "Lost" became my all-time favorite TV series!
Yeah, like 1984/bigbrother/network type reasons.
The whole film is full of iconic lines, scenes, characters, ideas.... It is the most widely known movie (maybe pop-cultural creation) of all time, at least in the US, though I fear as time passes fewer and fewer people will know it, watch it, or care about it.
Star Wars is probably first runner-up, but in some ways it feels more childish (ironically) and dated than The Wizard of Oz - and original Star Wars lore will probably fade too with time and the accumulation of other Star Wars series and movies. I'm glad I lived in a time when mass cultural shared experience was a thing.
@@drumsforlife _Star Wars_ is timeless. At least the movies are. The recent T.V. shows are painfully early 21st century.
"And your little dog, too".
I use this all the time and always get big laughs.❤
All i can say about this Hollywood classic is that the Wicked Witch of the west scared the shit out of me as a kid. This is one of my all time favorite movies. It stands the test of time.
_It stands the test of time._
That's really true. I have the DVD, and when you think about here was NO SUCH THING as CGI special effects, those tornado scenes are AMAZING.
You too?
I saw flying monkeys in the trees after that.. Shudder, poor Toto 🐒 🐕
I would always leave the room when she came on, and get my dad to tell me it was clear for me to come back when she was gone.😂
Yea the flying monkeys never bothered me but the witch scared the crap out of me. I would crawl up in the couch with Mom and Dad when she showed up. In real life Margaret Hamilton was just the opposite. A living angel. ❤
How many of you remember that Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch, played “Cora“ on the Maxwell House coffee commercials for years? She had had a little country grocery store and would tell her customers about how good Maxwell house coffee was.
oh yeah!! she did!!❤❤
I remember that 😁
I remember
SCTV did some hilarious take-offs on that.
I was scared of Cora. I was also more scared of Miss Gulch (on that bike) than the witch, bc Miss Gulch was real waking life.
There will never be a better witch than Margaret Hamilton! Perfection.
She's the witch I compare all of the others to and none are as great as Margaret Hamilton.
She was so perfect for the part of the wicked witch. Like the part was written for her
Witchie-poo comes pretty close
as a kid and even now I saw her as the star of the show - by far the most vivid portrayal in the movie, and not even modern video technology could produce a more perfect combination of appearance and voice. Margaret Hamilton rocked,
@dalehelmstead2306 Witchie poo was great but more comedic.
So many great lines from this movie: "we're not in Kansas anymore", "Pay not attention to that man behind the curtain"... the list goes on and on. A true classic.
We were in Kansas last fall, and on our return home, I threw out "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" as we crossed the border into the next state. As you say, so many great lines in this movie, still with us. I can also hear the Miss Gulch theme in my head any time I see someone not in control of their dog.
"There's no place like home"!
And your little dog, too!
@@ringozeitgeist Good one!
My dad, an actor, occasionally played poker with Margaret Hamilton. I always thought that was so cool.
That is 😎
Definitely 🆒.
"You will LOSE, my Pretty!"
Was she a good poker player
Did he douse her with water if she got a winning streak?
When i was a child this movie was a big excitement in our house every year. My mom would sit all 8 of us in front of that old black and white tv set with popcorn. All day long we would be the " perfect" 8 kids, because my mom would say, " you all better be good or no Wizard if Oz tonight" it brings back wonderful memories of my siblings and my mom. And still today at 69 i cant wait to watch it. 💕
Me too!
66 here and remember it being on TV once a year. We didn't have a color tv until I was 15. Watching it for the first time when it went from b&w to color was magic. Still is.
I thought I'd never get tired of it until my young nieces played the video multiple times a day . . . and just the munchkin scene when Dorothy lands.
Yes! It was always on after the holidays, I can't remember if it was January or February but it was the only thing to look forward to between the holidays and spring, at least for us kids. I remember our neighbor got the first color TV set in on the street when I was around ten and all the kids were there that night to watch it in color for the first time. Being able to watch anything you want any time you want is great, but somethings I miss things like that....Like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang only being shown at Thanksgiving....
Same here. I came from a family of 8 children myself. Every spring it was shown. And we all were excited.
As a kid we had a black and white TV. So I had no idea that most of the movie, or any of it, was in color. So I was shocked at age 19 when I watched it on a friend's color TV. What a revelation.
brilliant comment
you are so lucky to have had that child's experience at 19
Same here. First time I saw it in color was during a theatrical re-release probably in the late 1960's. I was pretty awed. I was 11-12 years old.
If it all was in black and white as most of our TVs were back then, I found it puzzling as a kid when they kept saying, follow the yellow brick road.
You weren’t alone. We didn’t get a color tv until my grandmother died in ‘72 and we got her floor model.
I also remember the first time I saw a man fly an airplane. What a revelation. It was in 2021
I thought that Margaret Hamilton stole the show with her incredible performance of the Wicked Witch of the West. Absolutely nailed it!!
Nobody stole the show from anyone else; they all shone with equal magnitude.
@@LaoshiDJ "Option?"
Margaret Hamilton showed up at UConn in the early 1980s and we students went nuts!😂It was so cool that we got to see her and hear about her experiences in the industry. She was super nice and very humble... a real star!💫❤
Oh...university of Connecticut - UConn sounds like a convention🤣 Smart people get together and collect things, etc.
Dorothy didn’t believe there was no place like home when she arrived in Oz. That’s why Glinda said she had to learn it for herself - only then would the magic work.
I guess that makes sense
Nah I prefer MadTV's take on Oz. 🤣
It's the oldest trick in the book. Make somebody believe that their current messed up situation is good, by subjecting them to an even worse reality. This was this movie's greatest flaw. the moral of the story is toxic. Home wasn't good for Dorothy, it was familiar. But she didn't know the difference.
The Cost/Benefit Analysis that Glinda does, (What is the cost of putting Dorothy through hell compared with the benefit of learning that “There’s no place like home”) makes no sense.
Glinda is a sociopath.
Glinda wanted Dorothy around as team leader long enough to take out her rival the Wicked Witch of the West. Once that was done, Glinda gave Dorothy the secret of how to get home. That’s how I always interpreted it. Very transactional, that Glinda, but in super sugar-coated form.
I never realized Frank Morgan played so many roles in this film. He really was talented. The film itself is such a technological marvel that never gets old.
There was talk about a lot of famous actors,of that time,who are bantered around as casting ideas. W.C. Fields and Ed Wynn were considered. Morgan wound up playing the wizard and the extra roles because of hte money spent on things like the film technology or to further the idea that the wizard was manipulating Dorothy and co. throughout their time in Oz.
I didn't notice either
CGI has no heart
@@ultrasometimes8908 I've watch CGI shows and movies, they're great, but I've actually favored the 2-D animated stuff more.
I love him in "The Shop Around the Corner".
When the cowardly lion runs down the wizards hall and dives through the window is hilarious. So is the "I do , I do, I Do believe in ghosts" line in the haunted forest, and the King of the Forest song is pure comedy gold.
My favorite movie quote of all time comes from The Wizard of Oz and I overlooked it for many decades.
I’m nearly 60 years old and didn’t meet my true love until I was 40.
Shortly after we met we watched it together and had seen it many times before unknowingly as children and young adults.
The quote comes late in the movie when the all powerful Oz gives the Tin Man a Heart watch/clock and says something I now cherish since my love died almost five years ago when he says “A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others”.
My Rae was loved and thought of by so many people she impacted in her life that this quote stays with me always.
*Oh what a sweet memory...I am so sorry that you lost the love of your life*
*DogDad...That is so tragic. One day you will run through the white light to*
*scoop Rae up in your arms. May God and His Angels walk this grief journey*
*with you. Love, light and Peace offered to you!*
@@lcal9305 *Amen Ical! I love LOVE!*
Touching story 🙂
Lovely memories these old movies bring back thank you for sharing 😊
Thank you for sharing. I'm sorry you lost Rae. I'll be 60 in a few months and I still have not met my true love.
Best part is when Glinda tells Dorothy that she's made an awful enemy of the wicked witch -- and then says well, best be on your way, bye!
That always makes me laugh!
Except that she doesn't say that; she tells Dorothy not to take the shoes off (knowing that the WWW will not be able to touch them) and gives Dorothy a kiss of protection.
Because of the depression, in the 1930's, it would have been quite common for parents to give up their children to other family members, so that they could travel to find other work, or just because they couldn't afford to take care of them. Nobody in 1939 would have even questioned this.
Idk when the movie takes place but the book was written in 1900
That's a good point
@@cruzloera4931 I always imaged the story occurring around the end or turn of the century. Baum made up the stories to tell his nieces before he eventually wrote them down.
I agree. No viewing audience in 1939, when the film was released, would have questioned Dorothy living with her Aunt and Uncle. Times were hard, so children were often farmed out to relatives or even put up for adoption. The same could have happened in the 1900's when the book was written. Additionally, the viewing audience in 1939 might not have read the books so they took the movie at face value, not questioning Dorothy's age, the color of the slippers, etc.
I never wondered why she was living with her aunt and uncle.. I always figured Dorothy's parents were dead....either from disease or accident.
The movie was re-released in the early 1950s. My mother had taken my sister and me (both of us very young--neither of us had started kindergarten yet) to Downtown Cleveland to do some shopping. As we passed one of the movie theaters on Euclid Ave., Mom stopped in her tracks. Change in plans. She bought us all tickets to the movie of which I had no idea what it was about. Seriously. And after all the years, I still remember that day. (I am now 74.) Being the reader that was, for Christmas that year, I received the Wonder Book edition of "The Wizard Of Oz". Memories . .
Late forties, in fact. 🙂 Weird thing: Judy had made _Meet Me in St. Louis_ by that time, and the posters for the _Wizard_ re-release featured her as she looked in that movie rather than as Dorothy.
Great nostalgia ! Thankyou. I was born 1954 . I never saw OZ in a movie theatre , however when the once-per-year tv presentation rolled around , NOTHING could prevent me from seeing it ! That applies also to the rare times the 1960 movie The Time Machine aired. As a small boy , i was very impressed when i considered how adults were willing to spend their hard-earned money and resources to making a movie to delight an 8 yr. old.
I always notice Dorothy’s interaction with Professor Marvel where he guesses she’s running away because “they don’t understand you at home” and she wants to see great lands, etc. I want her to exclaim, “I’m running away because someone is trying to kill my dog!!”
Except that obviously she does feel misunderstood and underappreciated.
@@MaskedMan66 She does, but I still maintain that the immediate impetus for her running away was Toto. When he escapes from Miss Gulch and returns to her, she says, "They'll be coming back for you in a minute. We've got to get away. We've got to run away!"
@@kkvegas To be sure. But who knows how much thinking she did during the time she was walking to that little bridge over the brook where Prof Marvel had parked his caravan? And please remember, when Marvel guessed that she didn't feel appreciated, she said, "Why, it's just like you could read what was inside of me!"
So she was concerned for herself and her dog. 🙂
The scene where Dorothy meets Professor Marvel sort of parallels the one were Luke first meets Obi-Wan.
I think you need to be older, if not adult, to get Scarecrow's line "Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?"
Which is relevant even today 😏
I don't know about that. I got it the first time I saw it at about 8 years old, and recognized the truth of it.
Well, isn't that the saying - 'The empty wagon is the noisiest wagon.'
@@jesse7631 : I've never heard that one before. It must be a regional thing. Is that anything like, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"?
Exactly
I have fond memories of being scared as a kid watching this on TV. It's a brilliant film. One thing I noticed as an adult is the very excellent acting by everyone in the film, even minor characters like Uncle Henry. Watch his face in the scene where Aunt Em is almost telling Miss Gulch off over the Toto episode. "Just because you own half the county . . . but being a Christian woman, I can't!" His facial expressions go from Ooh-ooh to bemusement, very subtle. Everyone is good.
Uncle Henry looked like he was thinking: "Oooh, You are going to get it now." 🤣
I noticed his facial expressions also!
I completely agree!
I also love the way Uncle Henry "casually" let the gate door smack Miss Gulch in the posterior 😁😜
@@abbynormal4740 I always had the impression that Henry, Em, and Almira were schoolmates, and that he maybe dipped their pigtails in inkwells and put frogs down their backs. Em had a sense of humor about it, but Almira got nasty.
I always assumed Gulch never returned from her bike ride in a tornado. Rather dark, but a neat background detail that eliminates another witch.
In the stage version of the movie, Almira gets her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole (offstage, of course), so while she's recuperating, the Gales will settle matters with the Sheriff.
Yes, I assumed she died in the tornado, like the witch.
@@tegavelful n the stage version of the movie, Almira gets her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole (offstage, of course), so while she's recuperating, the Gales will settle matters with the Sheriff.
I always wondered about Gulch as well, and your fan theory makes sense.
@@rebecca8525 In the stage version of the movie, Almira gets her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole (offstage, of course), so while she's recuperating, the Gales will settle matters with the Sheriff.
My favourite line from the movie is after they've been attacked by the flying monkeys, and the scarecrow has been essentially eviscerated. They ask what happened, and the scarecrow says, "First they tore my legs off and threw them over there. Then they pulled my chest out and threw it over there." To which the Tin Man replies, "Well, that's you all over!"
That was horrible as a kid to watch that part of the movie. Thanks for reminding me. lol
And while they're scrabbling to gather his limbs and put him back together, you can see the floorboards of the soundstage.
Ya. That always got a laugh outta me.
I saw this movie 100 times before I heard a quote from the lion. When he was first introduced and was scaring/bulling everyone, he said to the tin man, "how long you stay fresh in that can"?🤣😉
My favorite line was when the Wizard told Dorothy how he became said Wizard. His line "Times being what they were; I took the job". A reference to the Depression. The story was written in 1900.
Although she was terrifying to me as a toddler, I couldn’t help but notice that while the Wizard was a phony, the Witch had a ton of power. She could travel at will with a flying broom, burst onto the seen in a ball of fire, conjure balls of fire, cast spells, had an army of soldiers, had a squadron of flying monkeys, and had castle fortress. Okay, she wasn’t a looker and couldn’t take a bath, but otherwise, she was powerful until her greed got the best of her.
Greed? Those were her sister's shoes that Glinda and Dorothy stole like a couple of hoodlums after Dorothy murdered/manslaughtered the Wicked Witch of the East.
@@soxpeewee😂
@@soxpeewee I don't think it counts as manslaughter (or witchslaughter) if your house is ripped up by a tornado and dumped on someone whilst you're in it.
A reasonable person couldn't foresee that happening, or control it in anyway.
That's the whole point as mentioned in the many deconstructions of the story: The Wizard was a colossal bluff, using trickery to give the wicked witch(es) the impression he had real magic. If not for that, all of Oz might have been long since conquered.
@@soxpeewee your comment literally had me laughing out loud for 15 minutes.
Best line in the movie (my opinion). Dorothy and the Scarecrow had found the Tin Man, who is trying, with difficulty to communicate. He says something through his rusted jaw, Dorothy says to Scarecrow, "He said oil can", Scarecrow replies "Oil can what?" I'm 65 years old, and it still makes me laugh.
Im today years old before I got that one!! Thanks for sharing that chuckle! 😄
I don't know if the Tin Woodsman was originally meant to be made of iron or that Baum didn't know that tin doesn't oxidise like iron.
I always thought the best line was when Glinda says "Begone, before somebody drops a house on you!"
Blimey, Pat, I never caught that! I'm 63 🤭
Me too.
I was born in 1963 and watched Wizard of Oz once every year from the age of 3. I had recurring nightmares of TORNADOES as a child all the way into adulthood. I can only attribute that to this movie as I had no other way of knowing about Tornadoes back then, and living in Virginia all my life! This movie was my original experience of the frightening tornado experience.
Yes, it was shown on network television once a year, and we always watched
You had mentioned the farm hands had talked about brains and courage, but the "machine with a heart" part was cut. Actually, Jack Haley said "Someday, they'll build a statue of me." So that's the Tin Man reference.
He was working on a machine/device to detect storms/tornadoes, in between farm chores... Ref, Auntie Ems' line , " I saw you tinkering with that contraption. "
"Some day they'll build a statue of me."
Aunt Em: "Well, don't start posing for it now!"
People usually build statues of people they love, respect, admire, etc.
One of my Top 10 favorite movies. When I was a kid back in the Stone Age, it came on once a year and was a big deal. Families would plan to be home together to watch it. Jiffy Pop was always on the menu! No one worried about any of the things you mentioned. I always loved the flying monkeys, hated Miss Gulch and still shout, "Run Toto, Run!" every time he makes his escape. This movie never gets old. Not everything needs to be over-analyzed. Just sit back and enjoy this fabulous movie.
I agree!!❤❤
It was annual Halloween tradition at my house, too. Popcorn and fudge were the treats my mom made us.
@tlouiseallen9302 My mom made homemade fudge too. I've seen this movie probably 50 times, still love it!
My Sister and I watched it together every year, on our black & white tv. Loved it.
Yep. It was almost like another Christmas Eve or something when TWoO came around for its annual broadcast! I was always scared by the tornado myself, and always thought how scary it'd be to be caught out in the middle of nowhere when one struck! To this day, I'm fascinated by tornado footage that storm chasers post here on YT!
When I was young, this movie was aired once a year around Christmas....it was a very important event in our home and I remember it fondly...
I remember seeing it around Thanksgiving time, and looking forward to it with great anticipation! It's the perfect movie to see at Turkey Day! So American!
It aired every year in the spring where I grew up; in Texas tornado season.
@@jerryfarmer5737 Yikes, that could be, as we say now, a bit triggering if you actually HAD one at the time! We live nowhere near Texas or "Tornado Alley," but they showed it here every March too. Since the latter half of the 1960s, at least. I can't imagine how the three TV networks we had back then could've squeezed it in among all the Christmas programming between Thanksgiving and Christmas!
New Year's Day. I remember being so excited the first time - then realized it happened every year. But I can't remember if we had aa color TV then. We were the last ones in the family to get one.
Yeppers! It aired annually somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, where we lived in California, too! We just
L❤️VED it!
It would be hard for me to exaggerate how sentimental & emotional this film is for me. I've been watching it since childhood 60+ years ago. I adore Margaret Hamilton and her portrayal of the Wicked Witch.
Despite the dark sides of this film, the Wizard of Oz is one of my favourite
films of all time 👠👧🐶🦁🤖👨🌾🪄
I agree with you. Judy Garland was an amazing actress and has a beautiful voice
It is my absolute favorite but it's hard to ignore some of the things that happened. Like Margaret Hamilton getting her face burned with the chemicals used in the first scene with the witch,or Judy Garland being called a "fat,little pig",by the executives at MGM,the fact that she was slapped by the director,Victor Flemming,or how the original TinMan being booted due to an allergic reaction to the silver in the makeup and him nearly dying as a result. All things considered I blame a lot of Judy Garland's addiction issues on the hoops they made her jump through for the part she played.
@dawnclark4635 I couldn't agree with you more on all this. Judy probably would have lived a longer life if she hadn't became addicted to the things she was addicted to nor would she have had any eating disorders. Hollywood may be a beautiful place but it's also very toxic
💯!!!
I think the same
My 3 favorite things about the movie: 1) I loved the acting- such expressive faces and performances by all the actors! 2) I like the special skipping dance steps they did when they were off to see the Wizard! 3) The creative instrumentation in the music is amazing- the orchestra in this movie really outdid themselves!
Herb Stothart was the genius who put all the music together for this movie. 🙂
As a kid I always thought of Glinda as Aunt Em's Oz counterpart, but back then I didn't pay attention to how they don't look or sound alike. I would still like to think so, but as the movie's version of Oz is all a dream, Glinda could be a representation of how Dorothy sees her aunt. A lovely, kind and caring person who is still firm in her convictions.
Agreed and when we did the stage version of Wizard of Oz, Aunt Em and Glinda were played by the same actor but I do like the idea of it being Dorothy's mother.
I figured that glinda's counterpart was dorothy's school teacher
In one of the many documentaries included in the Blu-ray release it is mentioned that Billie Burke was originally going to also be a friendly chatty but somewhat scatterbrained neighbor of the Gales who tries to console Dorothy after Miss Gulch takes Toto, and accidentally implants the idea of running away
@@wesleyjenkins4267 The ironic thing is the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West-Margaret Hamilton-was a school teacher…of the kindergarten grade.
@@JamesDavy2009 I already knew that
Yes! My grandmother saw the movie when it came out in theaters and said they didn't advertise that the movie was in color. There was an audible gasp when Dorothy opened the door.
I got to see in graduate school wizard of Oz on the giant scream that we used to have back in the '60s. This was in the 1980s but they played it in the auditorium. That scene where the cabin door opens and you see us is so fantastic on the giant screen. I can't describe to you The difference. And yes I was an adult. But I think kids did see that difference when it was a giant green as opposed to the smaller ones of today or the TVs that we first watched it on. Another great scene was when the witch turns her face to the audience and laughs and you see that giant face on that giant screen and you're looking at an auditorium jammed with students and adults who all involuntarily push themselves back in their seats!
My wife is a German GI bride and came back to the USA with me. She has been in the USA 39 years. She had seen bits and pieces of this movie but not the whole thing. We had a mini vacation of northern Minnesota last fall and stopped at the Judy Garland museum in Grand Rapids. Kinda spendy but very cool! When we got home she wanted me to sit down and watch "The Wizard Of Oz" with her. I had not seen it for like 55 years. The movie still holds it's own after 83 years! I enjoyed it. Perhaps because now I'm an adult watching it with adult eyes. The flying monkeys terrified me when I was a small kid! In 1939 when the film went from sepia to color that must have been better than any acid trip for the viewers that any one could take nowadays!!!
I still remember seeing it and how much awe I felt when I was a little kid 60 years ago.
I know someone who saw the first Star Wars in theaters… immediately after wisdom tooth extraction went poorly and had even heavier painkillers than were typical at the time… special effects were AMAZING!
(They actually were, especially for when they were made, but yeah… extra special that night)
The tornado is one of the greatest pieces of special effects that ive ever seen. Its beautiful!
An ingenious use of available materials! As a child I was utterly convinced that I was seeing a real tornado.
The storm in the 1925 version of _Wizard_ is impressive as well.
A nylon stocking with a fan in the bottom.
@@Modeltnick No. A thirty-foot muslin tube moved along tracks in the floor and ceiling with wind machines blowing Fuller's Earth all over the place.
Toto's performance is by far the best of any animal in any film in Hollywood history
From the time I was about 4 or 5 in the 1950's when all we had was black and white TV, I never saw the Wizard of Oz in color until I was maybe 21 around 1975. After seeing the movie a dozen or more times in b & w, seeing it in color was an impressive experience
I never saw it in color until I bought my 1st color TV in 1978, after getting my 1st career job. That Sony Trinitron 17" cost 578 then! Took over 2 yrs to pay off. But what an experience to see the colors in Munchkinland!
I also did not see it in color until 1973 when I went to college and watched on the TV in the dorm.
I watched The Wizard of Oz at a local theater for an 80th anniversary showing. I have seen this dozens of times on tv, but had never noticed Toto had his own bed in Dorothy’s room.
I did the same for the 85th anniversary showing. It was like going back in time (sans DeLorean) to 1939.
There's something with movie theaters you'll put your self to focus on the movie, huge screen, surround sound, but also no distractions.
I finally got a big screen TV but the sound makes me have to watch it with subtitles. I can hear the music and special effects loudly but for some reason on a modern TV with a sound bar I don't hear the conversation.
With his name on it!
Shut, up! I need to look for that next time. Amazing the things you see on the big screen.
Also, the pattern on Dorothy's bedroom wall is that of poppies...
Not necessarily missed tidbits, but:
1. The studio did test silver slippers, but decided they just didn’t read well on screen.
2. Shirley Temple as Dorothy? It almost happened. Would have been a wildly different movie.
3. When the movie was taken over by a new directing/production staff, Over the Rainbow nearly got the ax. They thought it was too maudlin for the film. Can you imagine?
4. The coat Frank Morgan wears as Professor Marvel belonged to L. Frank Baum.
5. Some people thought the Oz books were subversive and seemed to be supporting a socialist or communist agenda. We’ve been ridiculous for a long time. 😂.
Yeah, I’m a bit of a dork about the movie. 🤣
The evils of Socialism and Marxism became clear as soon as countries began trying it. It hasn't changed in 150 years.
@@St63420 And then there's falling asleep in the field of (opium?) poppies.
@@StinkinGoodAle3241Yes about Poppies
I knew that Shirley Temple was considered for the role ✅✅
@@St63420 There sure were a lot of creative ideas, thanks for the info.
If you pay close attention, you will notice that in one of the last scenes, the scarecrow follows a rope up the wall across the ceiling and down the other wall and realizes that if he cuts it, the huge light fixture will fall. Thus trapping the soldiers. He used a brain for that deduction. And didn’t he figure out a way to make those apple trees throw the apples at them. For someone without a brain, he was pretty bright. And let’s look at the tin man, he supposedly had no heart. However, anytime his friends were in trouble. He started crying. He had emotions.
Fairly sure Miss Gultch died in the tornado. Remember her riding her bike when Dorothy is in the twister going to Oz.
My thoughts, too. Or perhaps she was picked up and drowned after being dropped in a river, lake, or pond. Some kind of water death.
Her death is a good explanation.
Maybe there was no tornado. It was a metaphor for Dorothy’s rage as she murdered Miss Gulch, after which she withdrew into a psychotic hallucination conjuring up the land of Oz.
The Royal Shakespeare Company stage adaptation has Miss Gulch getting hit by a telegraph pole and breaking her leg. But yeah, no further explanation.
Then the farm hands in the row boat must have died too.
Something that's likely not as well known as it was in 1939: Why the adults go into a panicked scramble to get Dorothy out of the pig pen when she tumbles into it.
They're in a rush to get her out of it because pigs can, will, and have eaten people.
One reason why pigs are so maligned in certain cultures.
If you don't believe it, watch Deadwood, and look for Mr. Wu's pigs!
@jeffl.9633 My late father, if he enjoyed something would say "I haven't had this much fun since the hogs ate my younger brother." (c) 1985. I use it wherever and whenever it works. I sure get some strange looks.
@@johntiggleman4686 - That's a good multi-faceted line there, worth a tip of the virtual hat to your father and a like.
I suspect that people hearing that for the first time without reacting with something akin to "Yeah...wait, what?" weren't paying attention.
Yep. Pigs can be deadly. I remember, as a kid, my sister and I were at an aunt's and we were looking at the pigs. Her hat (like a straw hat iirc) fell in. No more hat. I'm glad she didn't jump in after it.
One of the lines that I never listened to when I was a child watching the movie and completely missed this until i was an adult...the Wizard told the Tin Man " that a heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others" ...that's heavy and great advice to live by...think about it!
But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have
And cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad. [ America: "Tin Man" ]
❤ I actually remember hearing that line as a child and being touched by that. I never forgot it 😊
I actually prefer the earlier line, "Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."
Hm... What if you live in a corrupt culture? Then, the most hated people are the most legit and frequently the most caring.
I don't think I agree with that. True love is not always giving people what they think they want. Conversely, there could be someone, like a cult leader, whom everyone loves, but may ultimately lead them down a wrong and harmful path. Someone could be full of love, and do a lot of good for people, but if done anonymously, few people would be aware of their actions. Love can also take different forms, such as fighting for social justice so any controversial actions would result in enemies as well as admirers. So, when I think about it, I think: it's definitely more complicated!
My favorite line which is such a good bit of wisdom as well. "What a world, what a world. Who thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness."
To me, the W of O is pure hope. Released before the world exploded in WWII - it gave us hope in beautiful B/W then color. Plus the music. Pure and utter grace - we strive to make it on our own but the ruby slippers prove the power is given to us all the time. It’s beautiful. It’s America at its best.
It was amazing that the director was working on the film at the same time he was working on Gone With the Wind. 3 days a week on one, 3 days the other, and a day off.
@@StinkinGoodAle3241 Didn't know that - that must have been grueling!
@@StinkinGoodAle3241 That's not how it went. With only the Kansas sequences to film, Fleming was called away to work on GWtW. Judy Garland was angry about that because she had a crush on him and loved working with him. For many days, people didn't dare to mention Vivien Leigh's name in her presence if they knew what was good for them! 😲
To this day my favourite film of all time. And I'm 60 next year.
The film was released in 1939 a few weeks before my mum was born. Which I think is a sweet connection.
my fav too and im 64😊
So many iconic lines still being repeated by people to this day. "I'll get you my pretty", "Oh, what a world, what a world", I don't believe we are in Kansas anymore", "Put 'em up, put 'em up". "And Toto, too". Great classic!
Dorothy's line was, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." And Glinda's was just, "Toto, too!"
"Oh, you go away!! I'll bite ya myself!!!"
I was Margaret Hamilton's personal chef in Litchfield,CT,a place called rose haven she was there for rehabilitation after breaking her leg and lived in Salisbury,CT.untill her passing 3 years after I worked for her she told me of things about oz nobody knew than,she was also on mr.rogers neighborhood,she absolutly loved children her land now is owned by Meryl steep a place called twin lakes I miss my friend Margaret,I made the mistake tell her "I'll get you my pretty scared me"when I was younger on occasion she would say it in the witches voice and laugh very heartfeltly I'm glad I could share this she was a very kind loving 👠 women I miss my friend very dearly we had gotten very close while working for her mat God rest her soul love you Margaret Hamilton ❤❤❤
I remember in the movie that after Toto escaped from Miss Gulch Dorothy happily reunited with him. The happiness was short lived however when she realized that Miss Gulch will come back for Toto once she realizes he's gone. That was why she and Toto ran away from home. I believe at the end that Miss Gulch died in the tornado because we saw her inside the tornado riding her bicycle.
Have to disagree with you about Miss Gulch. Remember, a shutter on the house blew in and hit Dorothy in the head. Everything that happened from that point forward was Dorothy's dream/delusion until Dorothy woke up again at the end of the movie. The Gulch storyline was left unresolved.
@@BrylcreemBill - She melted when Dorothy threw water on her "Twinner" in Oz. 😄
@@BrylcreemBill Dorothy was clocked by a windowpane.
@@michelefrazier3767 Triplet; the WWE was also played by Miss Hamilton.
Dorothy was dreaming by then.
We had a Cairin Terrier, a Toto dog, named Brodie. After his arrival in 2003, we looked at the movie through the eyes of Toto. The dog was the catalyst for the whole adventure, there with her getting in trouble with Miss Gulch and in the bed when Dorothy wakes up. Also, the basket must have held treats because Toto is at the side of whoever carries it. Brodie loved snacks and did many tricks! I did a report on this in college in a Childrens' lit class.
We had Princie, a dog that was one third Collie, one third Scottie, and one third Westie. Toto was a Cairn terrier a close relative of Scotties and Westies. His mother was the Scottie Westie mix.
In the book, Dorothy kept bread and butter in her basket at first, then supplemented with fruits and nuts as their journey continued.🙂
I like how Glinda asks Dorothy if she is a good witch or a bad witch, then goes on to say that "only bad witches are ugly." This means that Glinda couldn't tell by looking at Dorothy if she was ugly or not.
Ha! But ~ only fruits can be apples, but not all fruits are apples. Only bad witches are ugly, but not all bad witches are. Not knowing if one is a good or bad witch means they are pretty. So, in its way, it is... a compliment? But yes, Glinda is a big weirdo who has been floating around in bubbles at too many festivals, nobody is questioning this ;)
Wrong! Glinda knew full well that Dorothy was a human child. If you listen to the dialogue, Glinda is asking on behalf of the Munchkins, who haven't the least idea who or what this stranger is.
@@thatjalopy Glinda is to Oz what Gandalf is to Middle-earth; a wise and powerful guardian. She knew already that Dorothy was a human. She was asking on the Munchkins' behalf.
Trouble is, a bad witch would claim to be a good witch if asked, and to her, Glinda is the bad witch
@@scottmarshall1414 No, not at all. Wicked Witches revel in their wickedness, as we've seen. They're repelled by goodness.
When I got older, I saw the Wizard of Oz as a spiritual journey, each character is a part of us that we have to find and face within ourselves. When Glinda says "you always had the power to go home" I took it to mean the power to know who you really are and what greatness lies within you. The Yellow Brick Road is the Path to Enlightenment,
Yes, you have to find it for yourself. Only as an adult I couldn't take the noise.
While Toto is opening up the curtain to reveal the wizard, Toto is looking off screen to whoever is pointing to Toto what to do.
Also, the curtain is tucked into the dogs collar. Toto isn't pulling it with his teeth.
That would be her trainer.
One other fun fact. The coat Frank Morgan is wearing as Professor Marvel was gotten from a second hand store, when they looked inside, they found an old label showing that it belonged to, of all people L. Frank Baum himself!
@Glen-qh5xq that might be an urban legend.
@@susanhirsch2690 It was confirmed true by his wife Maude when she visited the set/saw the film.
I was going to speak up about just this very thing- glad others had heard that tidbit too!
No it's true. So cool0
Gives me chills.
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen this movie. From a very early age, i was about 9, it was coming on television, but I was grounded and wasn't allowed to watch TV for a month. Mrs. Giberson was an after-school caregiver and had talked my mom into letting me watch it. And I did.
Many years later, I was a caregiver to an older lady that had dementia, and we'd watch this movie together everyday, sometimes twice a day because it was her favorite movie. She loved it just as much as I did.
At one point I even had the soundtrack on CD and the DVD when those were a thing. It is a timeless classic, the movie at least, I tried reading the books but after watching the movie adaption, the books were boring.
But I'll always have a heart for this movie, so many things were connected to it, I've even watched it at a friend's house in high-school while playing the Pink Floyd album, and there was just so much connection there.
Never noticed the discrepancies though... there's an innocence that I wouldn't want ruined, but thank you @MsMojo for bringing back a lot of good memories associated with The Wizard of Oz.
Discrepancies?
One of the things that I always wondered about, how could Dorothy fall into the pigs' pen and not get dirty?
Because it was dirt, not mud. It brushes off.
I have theories/ideas about some of these:
1. I don’t think Glynda needs to have Kansas counterpart, considering the fact that Uncle Henry & Aunt Em don’t have Oz counterparts.
2. The witch could’ve probably just magic’d herself clean 🤷🏻♀️
3. I heard a theory recently that Miss Gulch was actually the Wicked Witch of the East and that maybe she did actually die in the tornado. That would explain her not coming back for Toto. Or it could be that Miss Gulch just had bigger fish to fry what with a tornado happening and potentially destroying her house or something.
In the ending of the movie, it was reported by one of the characters (I believe Professor Marvel) that Miss Gulch was killed in the tornado riding her bike- she never knew that Toto had escaped from her basket! This part was edited out.
@@jeannehall6546 I always like to think that a house fell on Miss Gulch! 😆
@@jeannehall6546 Wow, I wonder if that piece still exists? A lot was scrapped, like the Jitterbug scene, but they did find some rare scenes like the dance Dorothy and Scarecrow do when they meet, him bouncing off the fences like a pinball.
@@jeannehall6546 Miss Gulch being killed in the tornado would make sense, since she was seen riding her bike in the the cyclone.
I always thought the witch in the cyclone was the witch of the east. The "wicked" story explains a lot of these things. The witch and water, the wizard, the cyclone the Monkees etc
7:40 i assume she didnt come back for toto because a tornado just tore through the area. Usually when that happens, we kinda stop whatever we were worried about before and focus on clean up
That, and she got her leg broken by a falling telegraph pole, at least according to the stage version of the movie.
In the book the WWW kept Dorothy kidnapped for longer, but was never able to get the shoes when Dorothy had taken them off. One of the few times was when Dorothy was taking a bath, because of the whole water thing. That was nice of the WWW to provide a tub and allowed her to fetch water for it.
(The other time Dorothy took the shoes off was at night, when she slept, but inexplicably the WWW was just as scared of the dark as she was of water, so going into a dark room at night was a no go.)
I'll file the WWW's nyctophobia under "🌈⭐🦚".
Also, in the book, the WWW couldn't kill Dorothy because of the mark that the Good Witch Of The North gave Dorothy at the beginning of her journey. That was why she made Dorothy her slave instead.
The explanation as to why the WWW was afraid of the dark is simply that she was a coward. 🙂 Even the Cowardly Lion wasn't afraid of the dark; probably because he could see in it.
There were no such things as video recorders when I was a kid so I remember recording the sound track on our reel-to-reel and panicking that there wouldn't be enough tape to get it all on! (There was!) I had to turn it over and re-spool though so missed about 40 seconds of dialogue. Such was my adoration of this movie as a kid (it's still one of my top ten). Consequently I used to listen over and over to it, running the scenes through my memory and imagination. I can still remember about 95% of the dialogue!! (I now have the blu ray of it - and STILL watch it! lol)
My name in Judy and I grew up on Garland Street; it was foreordained that I would love this film from childhood on. You should hear my sisters and me sing the score together; I have a pretty mean Wicked Witch cackle, too! BTW, I always thought Dorothy was an orphan and Auntie Em and Uncle Henry really WERE her aunt and uncle; although they could be her godparents, too. 🐒
It says on the first page of the book that Dorothy is an orphan, and that her aunt and uncle are her aunt and uncle. But they could have been her godparents as well, though Baum never said.
Glinda didn't take the ruby slippers; being magic, they transfer to whoever overcomes the current wearer. Dorothy killed the witch of the East, so the slippers were transferred to her. Just like when the witch of the West said "Those slippers will never come off.....as long as you're alive."
Uncle Henry's house killed the WWE. And the WWW was probably wrong; Dorothy was able to take them off to sleep or bathe in the book.
Billie Burke played Glenda the Good Witch. Billie was a stage actress, got her start in the Ziegfeld Follies and subsequently married the great showman himself, Flo Ziegfeld.
I think she was also related to someone who was casting for the show. Either married or something. She was 50 when she landed the role of Glinda.
And had a larger salary and dressing room than the wicked witch!
Wasn't she Witchiepoo on Pufenstuf?
@@ronaldviens7862 Billie Burke died in 1970. She stopped performing in 1960.
@@ronaldviens7862 I think Witchiepoo was played by Billie Hayes. I remember her from General Hospital. =^..^=
Sometime in the early 80s I was driving on a highway on the Maine coast. I was being passed by a car and I glanced over and saw “the outline” of the face. You can’t mistake that face. It was most definitely Margaret Hamilton. I got to my friend’s house and told him who I’d seen and he nonchalantly said that yeah she has a place up the coast
When I was a little kid in the 1960s--5 in 1965--that scene where the shoes disappeared, and the feet and legs curled up, was the scariest scene in the whole movie to me. For the next couple of years, I would cover my eyes when that scene was about to happen. I remember to this day how I felt watching that scene. Now of course, I got this and "The Ten Commandments" on my phone. Among about 30 other favorite movies. It's lovely to be able to watch "Big Trouble in Little China" at will. ;)
That was the scariest thing for me too!
@@karenkenney6021 We're the same age. I wonder if that's why I have to sleep with socks on and my feet covered by the sheet in summer and the blanket in winter?
@@timothyj.mannion5210 lol maybe
Those curling up legs freaked me out for sure when I was a kid.
I always thought the legs curling up were hilarious!
Ms. Mojo, when she stepped into Oz, it blew me away when I saw the movie for the first first time on TV in the early 1970s. I thought Dorothy was visiting her aunt and uncle during summer vacation. I imagine ‘The Wicked Witch’ smelling musty and of dirty laundry. I think the whole point of Dorothy going through everything was for her to learn to think for herself and how to help herself. “Shrew” is a nice word to use for ‘Ms. Gulch’.
Shrew was the equivalent term back in 1939 of what we now call Karen. Gulch was stated to have owned half the county and even if it was an exaggeration she was still considered high up in local society.
Nowadays, she'd be called a "Karen."
@@JamesDavy2009 No, she's an Almira, which is even worse.
@@alkholos She's already an Almira.
I'm 68 and this is still my all time favorite movie bar none.
I even have a Cowardly Lion wind chime.
Where did you get it?
The dead witch's shriveling feet freaked me out for years.
The bit about scarecrow doing Pythagorean theorem was done in the Simpsons too. Homer does the line exactly like scarecrow while in a bathroom and a guy using one of the stalls corrects him yelling out "That's a right triangle ya idiot!"
Right triangle and he says “square root” instead of square.
"D'OH!" -Homer Simpson
An isoceles triangle can be a right triangle, but a right triangle is not necessarily an isoceles triangle.
Why do people expect math to work in Oz the same way as on our side of the Desert? Physics doesn't! Nature doesn't! Why should Math?🙂
That's the Nowitallian Theorem, and reflects the fact that maths in Oz are not the same as on our side of the desert.
I read in a youtube comment elsewhere long ago, that it wasn't known that the Wizard of Oz had any color scenes - I guess it was marketed with just a few black and white scenes. They said their grandparent saw it in theaters when it first came out and said there was an audible gasp from everyone in the theater when Dorothy opened that door and everything turned to color.
The B&W to Color transition was performed with a Dorothy double who was dressed in a sepia-toned dress. She opens the door, steps back, and then Judy steps forward in her full color outfit. The whole scene was filmed using color film.
Caren Marsh Doll, one of the doubles for Judy Garland, is still alive at age 105 as of today (June 2, 2024)
@@maplebench173 She was Judy's stand-in, and it's her feet we see when Dorothy taps her heels together. Her stunt double was Bobbie Koshay.
Margaret Hamilton was only 5 feet tall. Yet, she was one of the most menecing villains in cinematic history.
The change is color was magical.
And how they did it was purely genius. There was a double wearing a sepia colored dress that we only see from behind and has she opens the door and steps out of the shot , Judy Garland wearing the blue dress steps into the shot.
@@majorneptunejr Yup! That was her stunt double Bobbie Koshay.
They're "off to see the wizard..." in one scene - right after they acquire the Tinman - they are skipping off and Dorothy is without the ruby slippers and is wearing black shoes. It's only noticeable for a moment, but it is something you will never miss again, once you've seen it.
Another goof you can’t unsee once you notice it…the trap door that opens in the road for the witch to disappear into after the “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” scene in Munchkinland. They tried to hide it with smoke, but you can still see it very clearly.
Is it just me, when Dorothy says to Glenda, "I've never seen a beautiful witch before," do you say something like, "Well, you still sort of haven't."
@@firecat3613 No. It's just you.
Judy always had the shoes on when they were dancing in wide shot.
@@Kiara_Kat It's an elevator, not a trap door, and who's to say it's not a manifestation of her spell?
I've been watching the Wizard of Oz for almost 4 decades now, and it wasn't until this most recent time that I noticed there is a reference to the song that was cut, "The Jitterbug" still hiding in the film. The Wicked Witch says, "Take your army to the Haunted Forest and bring me that girl and her dog. Do what you like with the others, but I want her alive and unharmed. They'll give you no trouble, I promise you that. I've sent ahead a little insect to take the flight out of them. Now FLY!" The little insect was the jitterbug, which when bitten by it, they had the uncontrollable urge to sing and dance and tire themselves out. Amazing how it's still there, even though the song was cut.
I don't know when the song "Jitterbug" was written, but I wonder if that song took reference from the movie! Which came first? The "Wizard of Oz" or the song, "Jitterbug"?
IIRC, in the original Wonderful Wizard of Oz book the wicked witch uses an insect called "jitterbug" to help subdue her victims. A bite from the jitterbug caused its victims to dance until they dropped. Hence the witch's line in the movie about sending ahead the insect to take the fight out. Apparently, there was a musical/dance Jitterbug scene that was filmed but cut from the final film, but for some reason the witch's reference to the Jitterbug wasn't cut or the scene reshot. Either the continuity error wasn't noticed in time or it wasn't practical to correct it due to cost or cast availability, etc.
Why did they cut that scene? I've seen old deleted clips that look really cool
@@CHRISMED2 Perhaps it had something to do with the run time of the movie.
When they come out of the forest where the "Jitterbug" scene was deleted you will notice them carrying a butterfly net and an rather large old fashioned bug sprayer. What they used before the aerosol cans of today.
I highly recommend seeing this on a big screen! It makes a big difference!
My father saw this film on the big screen when it came out.
I watched it on TV every year, 1960s and 70s.
Going to watch this Sunday, July 21, 2024. Been planning for a while....
If you get the chance, watch it in 3D. It's amazing!
Dorothy was younger in the book, around ten. And when I first saw this movie on television, as a little girl, we had a B&W television, so I didn't understand the "Horse of a different color joke" as I didn't know Oz was in color. Also, Oz was real. Dorothy eventually went back to stay.
I think that was a retcon when Baum decided to write more books. I may be wrong, though.
@@jonesnori Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did not return to Oz in the original book. Oz was real in that book though. I've forgotten what it was, but there was something at the end of the story that made that pretty clear.
@@jonesnori It wasn't a retcon by Baum - Oz was real in the books. The movie producers didn't want to cater too much to the fantasy world, though, so they made it a dream and populated OZ with the dream version of people Dorothy knew. The producers didn't think the movie audience would go for the fantasy aspects.
I am reading all the books Baum wrote. It has been a long journey but you are right, Dorothy does end up staying in OZ but also with her Aunt and Uncle as well.
Yes, in Baum's books Oz is a real place at the center of a continent surrounded by the Nonestic Ocean.
Ironically, when Baum was making a series of Oz films back in the silent era, it was _he_ that had a cinematic version have Dorothy's experience be a dream!
Not many people realize the 1939 classic literally is a remake...
Can’t believe you didn’t mention that the Cowardly Lion was just a dandy lion. His lines had a whole new meaning watching this in the Castro Theater in San Francisco in the 1980s
Bert Lahr, as his son John has noted, was first and foremost a Broadway comedian (his portrayal may have been a inspiration for Hanna-Barbara's Snagglepuss character) and Bert knew all too well that not all performers, producers, directors, etc. were "arrows". [As was the case with many in Hollywood then and now.]
“and the bulls kowtow!”
Bears, too!
I believe he also refers to himself as a dandy. I saw the movie on the big screen on the 80th & 85th Anniversary - You really notice a lot of little things when seeing an old film in the format it was meant to be seen. The Lion also said he was ‘born to be a sissy’. All of that went over my head for years. I was a figure skater for over a decade. Not sure how I missed a lot of the words the Lion used to describe himself!
@@melaniesharp397 You're stereotyping when you think the words "dandy" and "sissy" automatically mean homosexual.
I was born in the early '50's. We watched the Wizard of Oz every year on a black and white TV. I didn't see it in color until I went to college in the early '70's. I still remember being impressed with the sight! The flying monkeys are actually scarier in black and white 😮.
The Wicked Witch emerging from an ominous, grayish black puff of of smoke on a b&w TV impressed me more than when she emerged from a slightly comical bright orange billow in color.
Scared me more in color! And when we had a bigger TV, I got a nightmare that was one of my worst ever--and I was 35 yrs old!
Margaret Hamilton’s costume has so much detail, it’s such a shame that her scenes were cut short for being so convincing. From the veil/sash adorning her hat, to the Snow White bubble shoulders, from the corset to her purse. I think most just saw a black costume and that’s it. even the design of her broom was genius.
They only trimmed a few lines; Miss Hamilton lost no more than a few seconds, I'm sure. Not like two major sequences getting the axe.
@@MaskedMan66 obviously you didn’t read the script. her scenes were drastically cut because children thought she was terrifying during screenings.
@@hmfrias I own a book that has the script in it. It was only a few lines.
You didn't mention the field of "Poppies" they fell asleep in or the "snow" that woke them up. 😁
So? Not every rundown has to mention every little thing. ;-) The snow was gypsum, by the way, not asbestos.
Is the Witch cranky because she’s dehydrated? LOL! Brilliant!
As many times as I’ve seen this, it NEVER occurred to me that the Wicked Witch wouldn’t be able to bathe or drink water!!! Thanks Ms. Mojo
@@ginnieplato2871 She had no blood, so she didn't swear, so she wouldn't need to bathe.
I’ve seen The Wizard of Oz since the late fifties more times than I care to count. This is my favorite movie and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow “ my favorite song.
After decades of watching the movie I finally found that the real hero is Toto. He’s with her every step of the way and leads the three to rescue her from the witch’s castle.
They're all heroes. And of course in the book, Toto was as much a prisoner as Dorothy in the WWW's castle, with the other three incapacitated, meaning that Dorothy took on the WWW all by herself! 🙂
Dorothy wears shimmering, dazzeling ruby slippers....with ankle socks!
Life long favorite ❤has calming effects when you think of it as an adult and you notice why you always watched it every holiday and pick me ups. The movie is bright, Dorothy and Glenda are beautiful. Also love the many renditions throughout the years.
Glinda.
2 things:
1) If you can get killed by a bucket of water, would you leave one lying around your castle?
2) The Professor states he's a bad wizard, but a good man. I disagree. He sent Dorothy and her companions to certain death to retrieve the Witch's broomstick just so they would stop bugging him.
I'm reminded of Patricia C Wrede's Enchanted Forest series. Probably inspired by this, the evil wizards were melted (not killed, they'd eventually un-melt) when doused with soapy lemon water (as discovered by a character who was bother by one while mopping).
Castle floors need mopping too. 😄 The witch probably had rules about that, but a worker did not follow them...maybe hoping for an "accident"? 😆
In the book, which has many more adventures, peoples, and witches, the Wizard does try to send Dorothy home (in a hot air balloon). It’s really not his fault that it doesn’t work out. 😀
I do recommend the book. It’s really weird and very different to the movie, but it’s fun. Baum wrote several sequels with additional fun creatures and places. I love the place where certain trees grow fresh boxed lunches and dinners as their “fruit.”
This is Dorothy’s dream and she wants to make sure those wicked witches are DEAD. 😁
@myspin9680' lol They had to do something for him, before he would help send her home.
My grandfather took his kids, including my dad, to see this movie when it first came out. He was furious to see it was black and white when Technicolor had been advertised.
This move packs an incredible emotional and sentimental wallup. It has perhaps the single greatest score ever written for film. It's got Judy Garland. And it's STILL the greatest head film of all time! I LOVE the Wizard of Oz!!
I love the fact Family Guy pointed out the ending when Dorothy said she’d miss Scarecrow most of all
Did you know it's because of a scraped story line where Dorothy and the scarecrows farmhand counterpart were courting? They decided to try and make Dorothy younger so that was scrapped.
"Oh, okay, kind of an odd thing to say.."
The Tin Man sabotaged her exit to stay close to her and then she disses him at the end. That must have hurt.
Watch closely and you see he unties the rope to the balloon.
@@nemomarcus5784 Wow!
@@Supergirl-rz8yi I think you mean "courting" - when two people are in a serious relationship hopefully leading to marriage. If they were helping Auntie Em and Uncle Henry to count those baby chicks? Nothing wrong with that.
Fun fact: the technology used for Technicolor back then actually existed all the way back to the late 1920s, but due to the Great Depression, using that technology was way too costly, so Hollywood was only able to use the cheaper black-and-white cameras until “The Wizard of Oz” came out. Even after that, only films with big budgets were able to use the technology due to the high costs
1939 was also the spectacular "Gone With The Wind," in full colour. Another 1939 Academy Award "Goodbye Mr. Chips was all B&W. In fact all of the other best picture nominees were black and white films: "Of Mice and Men," "Dark Victory," "Stagecoach," "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," "Ninothcka," and "Wuthering Heights."
The actors hated filming in Technicolor due to the super bright lighting they had to use. I've read about actors that it caused problems with their eyes, gave them headaches and was very warm to work on set in.
Not true. Three-strip Technicolor, as used in _Gone With the Wind_ and _Wizard,_ was new.
@@garyw9164 Victor Fleming ordered the lights shut off every half hour so everyone could relax and cool off.
It's the hypotenuse of a RIGHT triangle, not an isosceles. (a2 + b2 = c2)
So True. I caught that error too.
@@georgegilbert7347 It's not an error. He got it wrong because he has no brain. The wizard is a fake and did not actually give him a brain. It is actually proof of this, because we can see that he didn't get any smarter.
...and the squares of the sides, not the square roots!
Bing bing bing!! That's it!
@@georgegilbert7347 What error? Oz maths don't work the same as ours.