The Disastrous Production History of The Wizard of Oz
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- A Deep Dive Documentary into the production history of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. What were the early (and failed) adaptations? Why did the 1939 version have so many problems? What about all the lost footage, including the first 2 weeks that was be an entirely different version of the film altogether? We’ll explore all of this is and more!
PRIMARY INFORMATIONAL SOURCES:
American Experience: American Oz - PBS / The WGBH Educational Foundation
The Making of the Wonderful Wizard Of Oz - © Warner Bros. In association with Leva Filmworks, Inc.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic (1990) - © Warner Bros.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Original Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers (Book Now in Public Domain)
The Making of the Wizard of Oz - Aljean Harmetz - Published by Alfred A. Knopf, INC. © 1977 by Aljean Harmetz
The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History - Puck Productions - By John Fricke, Jay Scarfing, William Stillman. Warner Books, INC. - © John Fricke, Jay Scarfing, William Stillman.
The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75th Anniversary Companion - Copyright © Warner Bros. Global Publishing
The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Movie Classic - By John Fricke and Jonathan Shirshekan, published by Metro Books - © John Fricke and Jonathan Shirshekan
OZ: Before The Rainbow - Mark Evan Swartz, published by The John Hopkins University Press
The Oz Scrapbook - By David L. Greene and Dick Martin - Published by Random House Inc., New York - © David L. Greene and Dick Martin
The Wizard of Oz: The Artistry and Magic of the 1939 M-G-M Classic - By Jay Scarfing and William Stillman - Published by Gramercy Books, a devision of Random House Inc., New York - © Jay Scarfing and William Stillman
OzMuseum.com
TheJudyRoom.com
ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONAL SOURCES:
Oz Book Sales Statistics - www.rareozbook...
Oz Radio Play - steampunkopera...
Wizard of Oz Production Timeline - oz.fandom.com/...
Lost Media - lostmediawiki....)
en.wikipedia.o...
thewizardofoz....
Oz Financial Information - ozmuseum.com/b... - Article by John Fricke
Lost Media - lostmediawiki....)
Asbestos Timeline - www.mesothelio...
South Dakota State Historical Society
Museum of the City of New York
Syracuse University Libraries
The New York Public Library
The New Yorker
Hathi Trust
Library of Congress
I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary - Chris Zabriskie - chriszabriskie...
(The rest of the attributions can be found in the video’s end credits, as they were far to long for the description)
A few weeks ago, my dad was telling us a story about seeing the wizard of OZ on a colored TV for the first time. He said the man who had the TV was flipping out because he thought it was broken. They hadn't realized that the wizard of OZ didn't have color in the beginning.
I really did enjoyed that film!☺️🧙🏻♂️🌈
Sepia is color. It’s not black and white.
@@bennymora3086Do you know what me too
@@bennymora3086do you know what in wizard of Oz it's on Disney channel on 90s TV's before I just didn't know all about it before I was in kid was
@@derekllewellyn6663 Wow, I didn’t know that.
Margaret Hamilton was a treasure to the world. Her being Judy's emotional support on the set is so wholesome.
They could not have picked a more perfect witch
Judy didn't need "emotional support." She wasn't a fragile little flower, she was a Jitterbug, and everyone loved her.
@@susanrado Wicked Witch, you mean! ;-)
Margaret was far more motherly than Judy's actual mother.
@@gregorykeithmorris3970 Not at that point in Judy's life. Judy and Ethel were in fact in a very good place. But after _Wizard_ made Judy a megastar, Ethel was blinded by dollar signs.
The fact that young Judy Garland was seen as ugly is wild to me
Lol honestly. I grew up wearing out more than one VHS of The Wizard of Oz and I certainly wouldn't describe young Judy as ugly lmfao.
Execs have always been asses. Don’t let anyone ever tell you different.
It's classic abuse. Tell her she's ugly but that you're the only one that'll give her a chance and sees her beauty. It was a lie no one believed for sure
@@weatheredseeker
We call that pegging or reverse psychology aka....emotionally manipulation abusive assholes.
Nobody ever called her flat-out "ugly." But she did not fit the very narrow standards of beauty that the showbiz industry touted in those days.
I actually met Buddy Ebsen when I was in High School. He came to our school not sure why. He was at an advanced age by then but such a gentleman and all around nice guy.
And very tall!
I find it ironic that Buddy Ebsen’s project with Disney led to the creation of audio animatronics when years ago he was originally supposed to play the Tin Man, who is basically a robot.
He isn't a robot. That's more what Tik-Tok is. The Tin Woodman is a human being who became tin when he had to get bits of himself replaced as a result of his axe being under a hex.
The production history of this film is a tale as old as time but this was definitely the most in depth, informative and entertaining of them all.
Thank you so much, that means a lot to read!
No, it's only a little over eight decades old. ;-) And it's has a lot of ridiculous embellishments.
Hearing that oldtimey guy measure stage lights in, "Candle power" blew my little mind
Candle power is the Imperial measurement for luminous intensity,.though these days it's practically synonymous with the SI unit, candla.
Aka lumens
@jayterra2060 lumens is measurement of luminous flux, while relative to candla but are not the same. candla x square radian = lumen Thus, for spot lights, candla is the appropriate unit to use.
@@SuperPickle15 thanks for the clarification 🌞
Margaret Hamilton had it right: If you're notorious for terrifying children for decades and wanna go on an apology tour: go 👏on 👏Sesame 👏Street! 👏
We didn’t deserve that woman. 🥹 She was wonderful.
And Mr Roger's Neighborhood
She is so pure!
Margaret Hamilton did made her guest appearances on TV shows, including “Sesame Street” where she reprised her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in one of the lost episodes from 1976.
If only Jimmy Savile had known
As someone who just turned 66 this month I remember being so excited when The Wizard of Oz was going to be shown on TV! This only happened once a year and my siblings and I couldn’t wait to watch it! Then when my family got our first color TV it became even more magical! I remember at one point it was introduced by Danny Kaye! Such a memorable part of my childhood ❤❤❤
The very first TV. hosts for the movie were Bert Lahr and Liza Minnelli!
Fun fact: if you watch an OSHA workplace safety video and wizard of oz at the same time, they sync up perfectly
I know this reference and about the abuse of little people.
dark side of the rules?
@@mtgamateurnight
Yes, Pink Floyd syncs perfectly with Dua Lipa's 2017 hit.
@@potterinhe11 didn’t one of them hanged themselves on set, and it was left in the final film?
@@Ihartwalrusguynope that’s a myth I researched it. The only munchkin who died was of a car accident where she was a passenger during filming.
"movie studios put out movie after movie with little regard to quality, just hoping one would be a hit"
*TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE*
And that quote is rubbish.
Both statements are false.
God, hearing the detector calling Judy “his little hunchback” is fucking depressing. I never really understood the beauty standards of the time until I heard that for the first time. I’m glad times have changed and my heart goes out to Judy.❤
I have a back disability and if Louis B Mayer had said this to me. I would have sued the ass off him for discrimination if the law back then had been the way it is now.
Victor Fleming the *director* never called her any such thing. Judy claimed later in life that Louis B. Mayer called her that, but it was likely one of her many tall tales.
@@Halfscotboy_39 He didn't; Judy claimed years later that he had, but that was when she was telling a lot of whoppers to make people laugh.
@@MaskedMan66 Well in the Judy Garland biopic starring Judy Davis Me and My Shadow, that same word was used for her being a lil hunched over by make over artists AND the actor playing him used that word too! Also the makeover artists telling her she needed to lose the fat.
@@Halfscotboy_39 That series depicted a lot of things, like Judy's famous "three dirty hams" story which also didn't happen, and which almost destroyed her friendship with Jack Haley.
The Wicked Witch of the West was my mom's favorite character. Margaret Hamilton really cooked in that role.... Literally.
Yes! I agree 1000%
Not funny.
I could never have seen Temple as Dorothy, ESPECIALLY after watching “Cats Don’t Dance.” Garland NAILED the role perfectly. Perfectly.
Shirley did eventually make it to Oz, and in a sense one-upped Judy by playing the ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma, in a T.V. adaptation of the second book.
I think Shirley would have been 'too cute', Judy was much more 'real.'
@@slytheringingerwitch It depends. Shirley had a gravitas about her which people don't always realize because they instantly think "Good Ship Lollipop," but she could bring the drama when needed. But that's all moot, since she never truly had a shot at the role of Dorothy anyway.
@@MaskedMan66 I don't doubt she could have brought something different to the role, but I am still glad that they chose Judy to be Dorothy.
@@slytheringingerwitch Mervyn LeRoy never had anyone else in mind but Judy. He was, quite simply, a huge fan of hers; even though she had not yet played the lead in any movie, she had shown her abilities to be more than up to the challenge of carrying a movie.🙂
Average hospital:
"Will it hurt?"
*Pulls out the most terrifying contraption ever*
"Ah not at all, it'll just make you feel happy"
And young Fairuza Balk went on to play a wide range of weirdos and nutjobs. For completely unrelated reasons. Ahem.
You're more cowardly than the Lion.
It was a cool-looking bit of Victorian tech.
@@junkjunker842 What?
@@MaskedMan66 Did you just have a fridge moment over who the girl in the scene was?
I am heavily involved with my local church full of boomers. During one after service lunch discussion, I was talking about "the Wizard of Oz," since it's a favorite live action movie of mine along with the "fogies."
The person I was talking to asked me what I thought of the "new colorized" version of it, saying he'd grown up with the movie in black and white. I was confused at first, thinking maybe he was just trying to ask me about the color effects after Dorothy leaves Kansas, but as we kept talking, I realized that he had only watched the movie on black and white television as a child, and he believed that all the technicolor was a gimmick MGM had stuck in later to get butts in seats and boost video sales. It really was shocking to imagine growing up with an Oz devoid of color, especially when the whole story is about a girl with red shoes following a yellow road to a green city. The books are even more wild about the colors in Oz, but that's aside from the point here. I felt so sorry for him, since he had lived with a shadow of the filmmakers' intentions and thought that was all there was.
I've heard that people used to report dreaming in black and white when that was the TV standard. I can remember my dreams having a static blur to how everything looked and moved because that was the TV quality my parents could afford and HDTV was far over the horizon, but my dreams became clearer with time as technology improved. The image makes the impact.
Beautiful
Nope, it was in color from the start.
Wait, is the last part serious. If so I should have had horizontal lines moving across my dreams from watching VHS tapes in the 80s with the tracking not set right
Ok, this right here is going to be a classic real soon. This movie was made in much darker times and Hollywood's behind the scenes was specially obscure, but I never really knew exactly how it was produced and its history. Btw, welcome back Yesterworld!
Darker times than now??? You're kidding.
It's funny to me that they didnt want the film dated by the term Jitter Bug, but that term has become a universal phrase. Great Vid!
They weren't especially worried about "dating" the film, mainly because they had no idea it would take off like it did. But Jitterbug, which was the Hip-Hop of its time (lifestyle and all), was pretty much on the way out.
The Wizard of Oz is one of those film classics that started out as financial duds but gained a bigger lease on life through television, theatrical rereleases and home video.
Something that still goes on today.
Exactly the same as 1971 Wonka.
It wasn't a dud, but it only just broke even.
Not only is he back, but he's doing proper research into this topic that other people normally don't
Look at all thoses sources in the description, TheOzVlog would be proud
She commented her seal of approval! 😊
Looks like he learned from the Kimba video to do proper research.
Hey! I’m one third of the Garland Gab here on TH-cam and this is excellent work. The only small piece of feedback is that Judy didn’t smoke several packs of cigarettes a day while making Oz - that’s one of those myths fuelled by social media. She did indeed smoke but that came a few years later - the earliest photos we have are during production of Babes on Broadway in 1941.
Thank you! I wish more people would speak against that absurd story.
The fact that the dog got paid more than any of the munchkin actors😂
Golden Age Hollywood makes the wild west look tame.
The Munchkins were only in one scene and half the pay went to their agent
Terry the Terrier was in the entire move. Also the pay went to the trainer, not the dog
@@caitlinabbott7895yeah I think the OP commentor is aware
@@gracekim25 Yeah I think it was just a lukewarm iq take
@SuperXzm not everything is a take, it was just a comment laughing at a fact. Jesus
My 4-year-old daughter has recently taken up an uncanny fascination with the wizard of Oz. She wants me to read her the books all the time and falls asleep to the Judy Garland movie nearly every night. She also loves Return to Oz and even The Wiz! I can't find the James Franco movie anywhere, I suppose Disney is trying to act like it never happened lol really psyched for the new Wicked movie coming out.
Oh no, the Disney one is pretty bad.
It’s on Disney+
What do you mean "even 'The Wiz?'"
_Oz the Great and Powerful_ tries too hard to seem like the MGM movie, but it's good; I liked it better than I expected to. Joey King was a revelation as the voice of the China Girl. You wouldn't expect a child (I think she was 13 at the time) to have such a handle on getting a performance out from just the voice, but she did it!
Oh yeah, a black woman painted green 😜
@@KatieLHall-fy1hw Which "Disney one?"
The fact that The Oz Vlog has approved this documentary, means I will be watching it from start to finish!!!!
OH MY GOD HES BACK !! THIS IS NOT A DRILL !!!
I guess making videos like this one can end up being a 1 hour video.👨🏼💻
I was so excited when I got the notification!
@@bennymora3086 Considering Yesterworld for his previous community post mentioned it'll take him longer to make videos like these, don't expect him to make another video like this for a good while and such.
I honestly thought I was hallucinating.
He who?
Yesterworld is like an eclipse. Doesn’t always happen. But when it does it's a sight to see.
Edit: Mom I'm famous
Glad I don’t need special yesterglasses to merely gaze upon it though
1939-2024.
Happy 85th Anniversary.
Funny enough, I did mention that in my comment as well considering how it's now 85 years old this year....Weird to think many movies now are starting to reach the 100 year mark. And The Lost World (1925) film will turn 100 years old next year, with the stop-motion/claymation work done by the father and pioneer of claymation/stop-motion work Willis O' Brian.
Its absolutely incredible how one movie changed culture and workstyles in hollywood forever.
No... no, it didn't. But it did pioneer some areas of special effects and make-up.
Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man has been one of my classic favorite "pop culture what-if" scenarios ever since i learned about it and why he had to quit
The #1 thing is that old Nick Chopper would have been a heckuva lot taller! 🙂
I find it funny how, despite being an iconic movie that had a huge impact on the world, no one was able to do a fateful recreation of the original book, or even adapting the other Oz books at all (only return to Oz did it best imo). I guess Oz truly is an unfilmable fantasy book
They’re also not actually very good.
It could be done. If they could do the Lord Of The Rings, they could do this. The problem is that before this, every adaptation of LOTR was dealt some form of mostly criticism, and never particularly beloved (aside from a few minority of people who have an unhealthy amount of love for the Ralph Bakshi version which is still... yeesh...), but Wizard Of Oz is so beloved as a movie that a faithful adaptation would only make people angry who would hate it due to not being like the film. That's the real difference. It's not that they can't..... it's that they don't to. Even Hollywood which loves to dig up the corpse of ANY franchise for a remake tends to leave the Wizard Of Oz alone. .......well, except for that Tom and Jerry version and we all know how much people loved THAT..
@@thefonzkiss
Really? Why??
You mean faithful.
@@thefonzkiss "Not actually very good." Yeah. Sure. That's why they were such a major phenomenon. Don't be a troll.
Yesterworld still does an awesome job creating non Disney topics having a connection to Disney!
These documentaries ought to be added as extras to future movie DVD releases.
The rough cut or just the full uncut version of The Wizard of Oz originally ran 20 minutes longer than the film that we have today.
The Scarecrow dance or just also known as the extended version of If I Only Had a Brain is the only deleted scene that completely survives or remains fully intact to this day.
However, the one deleted scene that I wish had either stayed in the film or I just wish completely survived, is The Triumphal Return to Emerald City.
That scene would have been the musical climax of the movie or it just would have been the last musical number of the movie.
Yes I know only a few seconds of footage does survive of that scene in one of the film's trailers.
This is how I feel about that deleted scene, there are times I wish I never found out or I wish I never learned about that deleted scene, because when I watch The Wizard of Oz now, the movie feels tragically incomplete without it.
In mind boggles me and feels like a crime that they would cut a scene that celebrates the defeat of the film's main villain but yet they have a parade and celebration in munchkinland which celebrates the defeat of a witch who is not the film's main villain and whom is barely noticeable in the film.
Plus, Glinda herself said The Witch of the West is much worse of her sister.
But yeah I can accept and let go with the rest of the lost deleted scenes of The Wizard of Oz being destroyed, except for the Triumphal Return to Emerald City.
I doubt there's anyone alive today who has seen that lost deleted scene in its entirety before it became lost to history.
The sad reality is that most of that footage was probably lost long before some of our grandparents were even born.
Please do “The Complicated History of the Little Mermaid” video next
The Disney film?
@@BigBossMan538 Yes, the 1989 version
Coincidentally enough, just like "Over the Rainbow" was nearly cut from the Wizard of Oz, Little Mermaid nearly removed "Part of Your World"!
@@zeldafan1942I know what is it with suits wanting to remove the entire point of movies???
@@hillarypritchard9249 I don’t know, but I also have the opinion that “Part of Your World” should have also been a Best Original Song Academy Award winner, instead of “Under the Sea”!
I hope the original 2 hour cut isn't completely lost, and hopefully, somebody finds it! I would love to see the Hail Hail, The Witch is Dead number! They should've kept that for the final cut!
Its absolutely lost. Between film rot and the fact that studios didn't start hanging on to footage until well into the 90s and well into DVD releases. Its 1000% gone at this point. Studios didn't just sit around on old footage back in the day
Even when taking into account all of the fires and disasters that have happened regarding film preservation back in the day. The 2 hour preview cut was not a wide release. It was only screened a few times. And there was likely only one print of it. Had it been more widely released then the chances of it surviving due to more prints would increase assuming that the prints hadn't been altered. This is back in the era where instead of ordering new prints with editing changes, they instead just went ahead and physically cut footage from already printed reels. So, even if that print were still somehow around today it would likely not have the missing footage with it. Studios back then never ever thought about saving and preserving footage for later. When it got cut it really got cut. It was assumed that no one would care about it.
It’s a shame they didn’t wait for Buddy Ebsen. Had he recovered and ended up in the film, his death in 2003 would have made him the last surviving actor in the Wizard of Oz, right next to the munchkins.
They had a schedule to keep to. But his voice is still in the movie. Jerry Maren died in 2018. Caren Marsh Doll is still with us at the age of 105.
I watched wizard of Oz in the movie theatre yesterday on the big screen. -85th anniversary
New Defunctland and Yesterworld vids only a week apart? Splendid.
I'd say the film itself got the best form of revenge. It basically made sure that any and every other adaption (minus a certain stage adaption of a sequel book) would live forever in the big, towering Emerald City shadow. In 1962, Filmation would make A Journey Back to Oz movie, but it would take almost a decade start to end to finish (as well as another 2 years to release), for example. And it was their infamous not really a sequel to the famous film, even though it totally was. Not to mention, not unlike the Disney movie versions of fairy tales, our perception of the Wizard of Oz especially in parody and reference IS based heavily on the movie, not the books. Especially the "it was all a dream" thing the studio forced in. Wasn't that an M&M's commercial at some point? And let's not forget the most cursed adaption, directly referencing the MGM movie, of them all. That Sesame Street episode. Hearing how kindly Margaret was to Judy during the making of this film, makes that letter writing campaign that killed the episode all the more harsh. Plus, that scene where Oscar calls the Wicked Witch the most beautiful person he's ever seen and having her smile at it is low key one of the most heartwarming things I've seen.
I agree, as nasty as this film may have been to make, it was absolutely a marvelous piece of art and will never be forgotten
@@KatieLHall-fy1hw My point is that it ruined the potential of every adaption since. Like we'll never get an alternate adaption that's closer to the original text, at least in movie form. And not to say adaptions that directly reference or stem from this version. Like the weird DIC animated series from the 90's or the Dorothy in Oz cartoon WB made a few years back.
@@mightyfilm I don’t know, I disagree, I think we could. But it would be VERY dependent on the cast and the makeup and the rest of the team.
"Revenge" for what?
@@mightyfilmI mean, we got Return to Oz, which ruled. It did make a few nods to the MGM musical, but it’s still the better portrayal of Oz.
Hollywood in fiction: the dream factory
Hollywood in reality: the Nightmare factory
No, it's just hard work. Always has been, still is.
We need a follow up video on the abandoned Wizard of Oz park in North Carolina.
Hear hear!
It wasn't abandoned; it reopens every year for special events.
@MaskedMan66 it was abandoned for some time. I think that would be a cool follow up to this video.
@@emilyholasek63 No, there were still people who did their best to look after it.
@@emilyholasek63 I'll bet there are some documentaries (or attempts at documentaries) about Beech Mountain here on YT. And this may interest you; if the link doesn't appear, just type "WE'RE OFF TO SEE...To Tell The Truth! WIZARD of OZ ANNIVERSARY! | BUZZR" in the Search box. 🙂
th-cam.com/video/Pk7Voz75GRw/w-d-xo.html
Fun Fact:
Ritchie Blackmore's band Rainbow used too open and close all their shows with audio from the wizzard of oz in the form of their instrumental arrangement of over the rainbow and film audio from the beginning and end of the movie.
Blackmore Rules!
Wizard.
🎵 We’re off to see the Wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!🎵
Fun Fact: Considering, and thank god, that The Walt Disney Company isn't extending the copyright act anymore, The Wizard of Oz from MGM Studios will eventually be copyright free and in the public domain 10 years from now. And considering some of the horror movies and silent movies in the next 6 years to come will eventually be public domain, the songs however you'll have to wait for most of the 1930s and 1940s recordings to be public domain by the time the 2040s and 2050s comes around, even if the singers & actors has since long passed from this world. And while ten years is a while to wait, before you know it the 2030s will be right around the corner, thus, we'll be able to use, parody, and create new versions of the MGM Studios type of film back in 1939.
Because, because, because, because,because, @@SuperFlashDriver
@@MrJohnisthename I know, but there is still a chance I would say, but it'll take a while to get there.
@@SuperFlashDriver Disney?
@@MaskedMan66 No, I mean Wizard of Oz, this movie here, won't be entering the public domain until 2033/2034.
Fun fact; the witches Dorothy met in the book vs the movie are different. Dorothy met the "Good Witch of the North" (Given the name Locasta in Braum's play adaptation) in the book and then later meets Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, at the end of the novel. In the film, they merge the characters by having Glinda appear earlier and establishing a character relationship useful for later in the film and shortening the number of characters needed. Supposedly, instead of keeping Glinda as the Witch of the South and merely changing which directionally identified witch arrives, the changed Glinda to be the Witch of the North because they didn't want to associate "Good" and "South" due to the still prevalent sentiments that the South was pretty backwards and post-Civil War feelings. That might seem odd to some, but post-war South was still *extremely* terrible and that was still within people's memories as it was only 60~ years earlier in the 1930s.
That... also might be something someone made up to explain the discrepancy.
It's also an adaptation change that, much like our green witch and ruby slippers, has stuck around. Glinda is almost always considered the Witch of the North now.
Glinda was the Good Witch of the South throughout all of the forty books of the Oz canon, and people weren't as blinkered about the American South then as they seem to be now. There are good and bad people all over the country; that's always been the case. The Good Witch of the North's name in the books is Tattypoo.
Wow. This is one of the best if not THEE best wizard of oz documentaries I’ve ever seen an independent creator make.
Not really.
The narration is definitely not Morgan Freeman quality. I'll say that. 😐
@@MaskedMan66
Why not make one, then? You seem intent on correcting any comment that credits videos like these, which should most certainly be enough material to condense into a video.
@@justafan9399 I'd rather encourage people to read the authoritative books which have been written by people who have done the real research. Then they'd have the whole story, and more detailed and exact than can be put into a video.
Let's all pour one out for Jimmy the Crow (actually a raven but whatever), a true Hollywood rebel!
whenever people talk about L Frank Baum's views on native americans, they always seem to leave out the part that that newspaper was known for its satirical articles and ALSO ignoring the fact that one of Baum's later novels was an allegory for native genocide, condemning and criticizing colonialism.
not saying he was perfect but like.... i think there's context we're missing here
I’m more concerned on how L. Frank Baum’s views on Indians have any relevance to the troubled production of the Oz film?
@@TheDigitalApple ....because it's important to keep in mind the views and opinions expressed by people that are writing stories for OUR children, that's why. Don't pretend I don't see the subtle dog-whistling that you're trying to do, here. Everyone has a right to be informed of what authors, writers and creators that shape our perceptions of the world have said and how they behave as people. It's up to YOU to determine whether or not you choose to seperate the art from the artist, but people don't HAVE to do that if they feel it's important to be made aware.
You may as well ask why it's important for people who like Ren and Stimpy (like myself) to be aware of what kind of person John Kristfalusi is. The answer is incredibly self-evident.
@@teruienages962 what “subtle dog whistle” are you talking about? All I did was poised a question, not signal to whatever cabal your paranoia believes everyone else is apart of.
@@TheDigitalApple Zilch. And the production wasn't as troubled as some would have you believe.
“The scarecrow has a gun” is a crazy line
We all know Mark is the one behind the curtain
Mark who?
Thank you for putting together this DOCUMENTARY of a MOST beloved film that is today considered a CLASSIC from OLD HOLLYWOOD. ❤❤❤❤❤
I love hearing about all the disasters that plagued this poor movie, so interesting!! great video :)
The accidents that happened would fill less than a day; on the whole, things ran smoothly.
Omg, I’m so excited for this video!! I was obsessed with wizard of oz as a kid, (I dressed as Dorothy for two separate Halloweens, and for my birthday party). I loved kaz rowe’s video about it. When I was four I made my mom read a book about the making of the movie, but she stopped a few pages in because it was NOT for kids. (I think it had parts about what was going on with Judy garland at the time.) But yeah, this was a huge interest of mine at the time, and still is to the day! Thanks for makeing a video about this, I always love yesterwords style and thoroughness! 💜
I dressed as the Scarecrow when I was in like 2nd grade (this was the 80s). It had come from an actual costume kit that I think was licensed and everything. And came with like...a spandex sort of face mask? Everyone I trick-or-treated at thought I was Freddie Kreuger, despite all the straw stuffing sticking out of me. 😭
I'm about to go see a local play of the Wizard of Oz with my family in a few days and this video came at the perfect time. They're gonna love hearing me geek out about how terrible the conditions of filming were. 🙄😂
Don't believe everything you hear.
@@MaskedMan66 oh, I was being sarcastic.
@@Egt1074 I wasn't. ;-)
I really love how your “history of this movie” encompasses SO MUCH MORE than the movie. I’ve read the original book but had no idea there were sequels let alone that many!!!! Love your dedication and research!!!!!
There are forty Oz books.
Long time no see.I loved this thank you for the hard work you put into this
15:47 that office just gives Who Framed Roger Rabbit R.K.Maroon vibes
YESSSSSSS YESTERWORLD IS BACK WITH THE FILM DOCUMENTARIES!!!!
Another absolutely smashing video! I’m loving these longer format video essays so much! But don’t let that discourage you from doing shorter, quicker vids if the mood ever takes you! And I’m only saying that so we can see your wonderful productions even more often 😊
my favorite part is Jimmy the Raven fcking up a whole day of production lol
& my favorite song in the musical and movie is the Jitterbug, its actually so sad that it got cut ! and the fact that the studio polluted the ocean and destroyed film props and footage.... wtf????
Wizard of Oz is to this day one of the most important movies ever made if this movie didn’t exist we wouldn’t have such fantasy films like Star Wars or back to the future or even ET and I still appreciate this movie for what it does to the main stream audience give it a movie that they can look back on and say “man that’s Hollywood”
🤦 All three of those films are science fiction, not fantasy. Try again scrub. 🤷
@@Cooe. Science fiction is a subcategory of fantasy. Fiction. Fantasy. They're synonyms.
Not even close. Fantasy is a genre. Fiction isn't. It merely describes the lack of factual historicalness of a story.
@@Cooe. If Non-fiction is a genre, then so is Fiction.
I mean, even if The Wizard Of Oz wouldn't be the one to inspire many future fictional properties, Walt Disney's movies would be the ones that would have inspired many companies to do animation as well as a stab to live-action if the time calls for it. It's just that it would have happened in the late 1940s into the 1950s and 60s instead of the late 1930s.
Time to find out if this review syncs up w/ Dark Side of the Moon, too.
yesterworld disappears for 7 months and then comes back with a banger video on one of the most interesting movie productions
Kaz Rowe and Be Kind Rewind did videos like this. Go check those out.
Fantastic video, very detailed and well organized!
at one point i said, out loud, “jeez what ELSE could go wrong?!” and then realized i was only halfway through the video
A lot of what reportedly went wrong didn't actually happen. And worse things have happened on other movies; I'm talking dismemberment, paralysis, irradiation, and death.
If there's one scene I would put back, it would be the scene with Hickory's wind machine. It really bugs me that Scarecrow and Lion are foreshadowed but not Tinman.
But he is, when he poses for his "statue." 🙂
The outro music is so soothing...
I love the over-arching message of this movie.
The Lion was Brave enough to help rescue Dorothy.
The Tin Man had the heart to care about his friends.
The Scarecrow was smart enough to help plan Dorothy’s rescue.
All three characters had what they longed for from the beginning.
Movie, nothing; there was a book first, thirty-nine years before. And Dorothy rescued herself! But the lads did display their qualities elsewhere in the story.
Both it and Gone with the Wind have the kind of production nightmares that could movies all their own.
Much of what you hear about _Wizard_ is either exaggerated or just plain false.
1:07:10 Part of me can't believe that MGM thought so little of their archives that they'd dump it in the ocean, but another part looks at stuff like TV tape wiping & now whole sites being wiped without backup, and it's just more of the same.
"Back then, most studios pumped out movies like an assembly line, hoping every so often, one would stick."
Honestly, doesn't sound too different from how it is now.
That isn't how it was, but yes, that's how it is now.
I’ve seen so many bits and pieces of the story of how horrendous the production of this movie was, it’s nice to have a complete documentary of everything.
Holy crap! You’re back!!!!!!!
The only thing I’ve seen with more information about the making of this movie is the official Making of the Wizard of Oz book, a beautiful and thorough account of the troubled production. But you made a very close runner up to that book. Well done!!
The most thorough book on the subject is "The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece" (2019) by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman.
Nice to see you again Yesterworld!
When I was a kid I was OBSESSED with the wizard of oz. I would listen to my boot leg CD of the audio book every night falling asleep, and my birthday party was themed after the wizard of oz. One thing that drove me bananas about this story is whenever I told an adult I liked it, they always said some variation of “ did you know in the books her shoes were actually silver, but they changed it so they would show up better”. And I would say yes, I’ve read the book.
I’m aware this isn’t super related to the video, but I figure an extra comment does hurt when it comes to the algorithm. Anyways, I hope everyone has a good day. 🫶🏻
Hey, did you know that in the book the shoes were actually silver?
@@Dr170 oh, yeah actually, I’ve read the book. 😄 Did you know some scholars think that the silver shoes in the book were a metaphor for the importance of the American dollar being backed by silver?
(I vaguely remember learning this in a community college class, idk Wikipedia I think says something about it)
I'm thinking the Disney live action snow-white remake and Captain America can give this classic a run for its money.
Given reports state that the Live action Disney snow-white is up to three directors and got fully filmed and fully restarted at least twice and desperately reshot three times and more.
I have watched so many of these types of Oz videos to try to soak up as much as I can about a story that has a very special place in my heart and this is by far the best and most comprehensive I have ever seen! U had so much stuff in here I had never even seen before, really well done
If you want comprehensive, I heartily recommend the books "The Making of The Wizard of Oz" (1977) by Aljean Harmetz with an introduction by Margaret Hamilton, "The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History" (1989) by John Fricke, Jay Scarfone, and William Stillman with an introduction by Jack Haley, Jr., and "The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece" (2019) by Scarfone and Stillman.
Other books which contain useful bits of information include ”Down the Yellow Brick Road” (1976) by Doug McClelland, “The Oz Scrapbook" (1977) by David L. Greene and Dick Martin, and "The World of Oz" (1985) by Allen Eyles. 🙂
When I tell you i would happily sit and watch a six hour extended cut of this doc. Wonderfully made. I was just telling a friend the other day about WoO being my favorite movie ❤
HES BACK!
Very interesting documentary! Well done! It's kinda sad that you seem to hate the 1985 "Return To Oz" movie since it's actually the one movie that is closest to the actual books (some sequences being line for line from the books). Like you, I think it would be awesome if the lost footage was found and a complete version released. Just gotta click my heels, I guess,.
Very good video! You presented all the information very well, noting which stories were just rumors. That’s more than a lot of other people do.
Sadly, I doubt that the missing footage has survived. I think it would have turned up by now, considering the extensive searches and several big remastering projects. I would LOVE to see the two-hour cut of the film, as I imagine the whole thing makes much more sense when all the dialogue and musical numbers are included. Most of all, I’d love to see the "Ding! Dong! Emerald City" sequence. The still photos make it look so huge. At least all the audio prerecordings were kept, so we have the missing musical numbers in audio format.
While I generally hate the idea of using AI to create new content from dead people, I think we might be approaching a time when the missing sequences from the film could be recreated using the existing audio and still photos as guides. I’d pay money to see that, just like I paid money to see the 3-D version that was created digitally 15 or so years ago. The image in that version was the sharpest I’d ever seen; I noticed that Dorothy had freckles on her cheeks, which I’d never seen before. It was really amazing to see the film on a big screen, too.
I love your amount of dedication and care for every video. They're far in between each other but always worth the wait
What a superb documentary! Very well done indeed. 👏
Throwing historically important film into the ocean feels like a move tailor made to upset me personally on multiple levels
I remember as a kid waiting all year to watch the wizard of oz. Now a couple taps on the phone and i can watch it anytime. How times have changed!
I’m glad to see you back
I used to make it a point to watch the Wizard of Oz every year on TV back in the 80's with my mom. It certainly was an annual event and I miss those days. It's both convenient and strangely disappointing to be able to watch whatever movie/show whenever you want as opposed to waiting for an event (of sorts). There was also a strange charm when anticipating what TV channel would air which movie on weekend nights. Instead, today, I have this bizarre problem of having too many movies to choose from and then still not knowing what to watch lol.
The Wizard of Oz The Movie: 😍🌈❤
The Wizard of Oz Behind the Scene 💔☠️😨
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
Another great Yesterworld installment! Thanks for continuing to make content like this.
This was a fascinating video, but I gotta say it’s weird being an Oz fan (of the books and some of the other adaptations like Return to Oz) and seeing videos like this be like “this stuff was absolutely terrifying” or “look at this nightmare fuel!!” and just being like “…where?” I guess I’m too used to the original illustrations or something. I kinda prefer them to the way the MGM stuff looks.
(Return to Oz is genuinely a fantastic movie, BTW. I grew up with both the MGM musical and RtO, and always preferred the latter.)
Can I just say I appreciate your straightforward approach in telling the history of this production. Not the usual bells & whistles of injecting a ton of modern pop culture references & personal commentary like most modern edits. Excellent work, Yesterworld! 👏🏿
Forgive me if you covered this & I somehow missed it upon first watch, but who's decision was it to change Dorothy's slipper from silver (as mentioned in the book) to ruby?
If I remember correctly (I came upon this early in my research, so I could be mistaken), I believe it was George Cukor...what I do remember for certain is the reasoning had to do with how it would appear on-screen, as Ruby Red was much more eye-catching than silver.
@YesterworldEntertainment Ah, wow. That figures as they'd be more eye candy in terms of the fantasy element for theatrical audiences. The ruby slippers are such an iconic part of this iteration of The Wizard of Oz. I suppose the process in making them & the history of the slippers being stolen & recently found could serve as a loose "Part 2" of sorts. 😄
The Smithsonian recently restored it's pair of Ruby Slippers. Frankly, I feel that the damage is just as much a part of its history as anything. If you look inside the slippers you can see cracks in the leather made by Garland's feet. I would go so far as to say those cracks are the last physical evidence of her existence.
About the poppy field scene - I went to union trade school for heating and frost insulation. Part of our training was asbestos removal,
It’s sad because it was actually discovered to have been hazardous in or around the year 1912 in the UK. But, for financial purposes they kept a lid on for almost 50 years.
More than likely no one involved with the making of this film were aware of the danger, but there were small circles of people in the insulation industry that knew. To them, the bottom line and share holders meant more than human lives. So they kept quiet about it until it was proven medically to tthe public to be hazardous and life threatening
Swimming around like they are in that scene is reallly bad. It goes to show the dark side of corporate rule putting the mighty dollar over human life. I’m sure it wasnt the first time a scandal like that took place, and probably not the last time either.
How awful. If only they could be sued
The snow was gypsum, not asbestos.
@@thehapagirl92 "They" who? People who have been dead for decades?
Born in the mid-70s, i have heard the horror stories of this production my whole life. "Unfilmable" ... the LotR of its day. I grew up with SO many IPs through the 80s but Oz was the first and The KIng. Other things came and went, but Oz was always there, it was the oldest and most enduring. Star Trek and Dr. Who were restablished but had a lot of growing ot do ... Star Wars was just a baby ... He-Man, Transformers, and GI Joe bloomed and imploded.
8:03- interestingly enough the play not only left a huge impression on the screenwriters MGM sought out but moreso Ray Bolger as, in his version of how he got cast, was a fan of Fred Stone's Scarecrow having seen the show himself few years back and pushed back at the studio when he was picked to be the Tin Man (possibly that detail being right before they zeroed in on Buddy Ebsen) & ultimately won out.
Also re- the play, much like Baum's politics, was basically just another Vaudeville to the general masses when it was more about random songs taking the piss out of AAs and Irish people. Plus the only production to date to begin the snow on the poppies angle since the book had mice carry everyone away from them. Only The Wiz was to use the book's version of the poppy scene
Return to Oz is severely underrated, though probably not relevant here.
"The Triumphant Return" is my favorite musical piece from the soundtrack. An incredibly boneheaded decision to remove the scene. As soon as they get the broom, the film becomes very anti-climactic and I think this would've enhanced it greatly.
I danced to the Jitterbug scene for a "Wizard of Oz" ballet recital when I was in the first grade. My dance teacher had my class and I watch the behind-the-scene footage with the audio track, so we would know where it was supposed to be in the story.
It was supposed to be on the way to the Wicked Witch's castle in the Winkie Territory, but for some bizarre reason, many modern productions put it during the journey to the Emerald City.
I AM SO HAPPY YOU’VE POSTED 😩😩😩
Stage versions of The Wizard of Oz have kept in some of the cut scenes. When we did it in HS we had a tap number for the Jitterbug scene and we kept in the reprise of "Hail, Hail the Witch is Dead."
Dorothy kills a lady steals her shoes and she and her accomplices kill again
A tale as old as time
@@Nhblubird true