The Wonderful Case of Oz (1939)
Hey Cassettes and welcome back to the Black Case Diaries! We’re three old friends learning everything we can about movies and TV and *hopefully* teaching you in the process (introduce yourself).
We’re back after a summer hiatus and ready to go on yet another learning journey with you, this time into the land of Oz! That’s right, this week we’re finally attempting to tackle the ultra-famous 1939 musical that cemented its place in American culture as one of the most loved films of all time: The Wizard of Oz.
Author L Frank Baum published the first book in his Oz series in 1900. He called the title character Dorothy, and set the story in a land named for the last drawer in his filing cabinet. The book was a success, and would one day be considered the first American fairytale. Although it has been over 120 years since its debut, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has never been out of print. Baum wrote 13 sequels to his book until his death in 1919. Other authors later took up the mantle as the historians of Oz and continued the series, some creating unofficial spin-offs and sequels.
The Wizard of Oz (1939) was not the first adaptation of the story, but it is certainly the most well-known. In the 1930s, powerhouse studio MGM secured the rights to the first book (beating Walt Disney to the punch). Soon after they began a notoriously difficult production featuring a now iconic cast, including 16-year-old Judy Garland. Today we’re headed back to the Emerald City to learn all about the making of this iconic film. So come join us as we follow the yellow brick road to the history of The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Summary
On a farm somewhere in Kansas, young Dorothy Gale dreams of a better life. One day a tornado rips through her home, picking up her house with Dorothy (and her dog Toto) still inside. During the disaster, Dorothy hits her head and falls unconscious. When she wakes, she finds that she has been transported into Munchkinland, located in the fantastic and colorful land of Oz. Dorothy learns that she has unwittingly killed The Wicked Witch of the East, and has made an enemy of The Wicked Witch of the West. Unsure of how to get home, Dorothy follows the advice of Glinda the Good Witch, which is to follow the Yellow Brick Road into The Emerald City and ask The Wizard of Oz for help.
Along her journey Dorothy meets new friends who also seek the help of the wizard. While trying to avoid the evil doings of The Wicked Witch of the West, she soon finds herself longing for a way back home.
Making of
Samuel Goldwyn purchased the rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1934 for $40,000. There is some dispute over who originally suggested that MGM make the film. MGM producer Arthur Freed, the man credited with many of the studio’s musical productions, claimed that he suggested that MGM buy the rights to the film so that Judy Garland could play the role of Dorothy. Wizard of Oz producer/director Mervyn LeRoy claimed that it was the first film he wanted to make after joining MGM.
Judy Garland had signed a contract with MGM in 1935 when she was only 13-years-old, just after changing her name from Frances Gumm. Before The Wizard of Oz, she had appeared in several shorts, singing alongside her sisters. But it was an appearance in the film Broadway Melody of 1938 that really got MGM’s attention. In it she sang the song “Dear Mr. Gable, You Made Me Love You.”
MGM paid Samuel Goldwyn $75,000 for the rights to make the film, and soon casting was underway. Even though Judy Garland was originally Freed’s first choice as Dorothy, she wasn’t the only person considered to play the part.
MGM’s parent company at the time urged the producers to choose a bigger name, like Shirley Temple. When Roger Edens, MGM’s vocal arranger, met with Temple, he felt that she lacked the range needed for the part. Temple was also under contract with the Fox Film Corporation, and they were unwilling to loan her to a competing studio.
According to Hollywood legend, there had been rumors about Temple playing Dorothy for years. One story was that Fox and MGM were going to do a star swap, Shirley Temple for Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. However with the death of Harlow in 1937, this idea (supposedly) fell through.
In February of 1938, MGM announced that Judy Garland, the little girl with the big voice, would play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. This was her seventh feature film in only two years, not counting her short-film appearances.
As a young girl from Minnesota, Garland embodied the character of Dorothy, a midwestern child thrown into a bright and chaotic world. At first, the directors had Garland wear lots of makeup and a blonde wig. George Cukor, one of the several directors that worked on the project, removed the wig and the makeup and told Garland to be herself. This change had a remarkable impact on the film, as Judy was able to bring her own experiences into the part.
Although the success of The Wizard of Oz was the result of many people, no one receives more credit for its staying power than Judy Garland. Ray Bolger, who played the scarecrow, later said that she was the biggest star he worked with on the set. She brought the film together in a way that no other young actor could have, with her unmatched singing ability and charisma.
The way that Judy Garland was treated on the set of The Wizard of Oz has become one of the tragic tales of the so-called “Golden Age of Hollywood.”
Once Garland signed with MGM and was cast in the role, she was reportedly ordered to lose weight. This was the beginning of a life-long struggle with disordered eating. Garland herself said that it was her own mother that gave her diet pills as a young teenager to keep her weight down. Some sources claimed that while she spent several hours filming, she lived on a diet of chicken soup, black coffee, and cigarettes. She and her co-stars were reportedly given caffeine pills so that they could increase the length of their shoots, and were given more drugs to combat the insomnia side-effects.
However, this information is difficult to find from many official sources, and is not mentioned in any DVD commentary or special features that we found.
Despite the difficult filming conditions, the actors portraying the munchkins on the set recalled Garland’s kindness to them. She gave every one of them signed pictures and Christmas gifts. At one point, she bought 25 pounds of chocolate and gave it to them all to share.
Actor Margaret Hamilton had been a fan of the book series ever since she had been a young child, and she was thrilled when her agent told her that MGM was considering her for a role in the film. When she asked which part, her manager replied, “the witch.” Hamilton reacted with surprise, to which her manager responded, “who else?”
Hamilton was born in Cleveland, OH and had been a kindergarten teacher before landing her first role on Broadway. Hamilton would play screen roles that were, in her own words, “women with a heart of gold and a corset of steel.”
She had played the Wicked Witch in a stage musical in Cleveland before landing this role, which she almost lost to actress Gale Sondergaard. Despite her onscreen counterpart, Hamilton was by all accounts a gentle and loving woman, and was a great supporter of charitable causes.
During test screenings, younger audiences found the wicked witch to be just too scary. Children had to be carried out crying throughout the film. Due to this, they cut dozens of Margaret Hamilton’s lines, limiting her to just over 10 minutes of screentime. Still, she made a lasting impact on kids everywhere who were still terrified of the wicked witch.
During her first scene as the witch, Margaret’s costume caught fire when she was supposed to appear in a pillar of flame. The trap door didn’t lower quickly enough, and Hamilton’s face and hand were burned. In an interview, she described a member of the makeup team rushing her to first aid and removing the makeup, while Margaret was in agony from the pain. When they were done he told her that he was sorry, but he had to remove the makeup because it was copper-based and toxic, and it would have continued to “eat into” her face. Hamilton suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns.
When MGM announced that Ray Bolger would play the Tin Man, Mr. Bolger wasn’t having it. The actor and dancer, along with his wife, went into MGM and asked that he play the scarecrow instead. Bolger later explained that the part made more sense for him as an actor. He knew that since he was playing a character with no brain and no bones, he would be able to tumble and fall during his dance sequences, something that he was skilled in doing.
All three of the male leads had a difficult time in their makeup and costumes. Bolger and Jack Haley (the Tin Man) would reportedly argue over who was more uncomfortable.
Parts of Bolger’s first scene as the scarecrow were filmed at the beginning of the production, and some at the end. Because of this, you can see that Dorothy’s pigtails keep changing size!
The scarecrow’s song originally had an extended dance sequence, where Bolger flew up into the air. While they were filming, the crew secured the actor on his harness, and then called for lunch, leaving him hanging (literally).
Buddy Ebsen (of Beverly Hillbillies fame) was first cast as The Scarecrow, then the Tin Man. However, Ebsen was allergic to the aluminum powder that the makeup department used for the character. He was hospitalized and on oxygen, unable to return to set. In an interview later on, Ebsen explained that the pressure to perform was intense. He said that none of the producers believed that he was really sick, but that he was just angry that he wasn’t the scarecrow. He claimed that Mervyn LeRoy went so far as to call his hospital room, asking why Ebson wasn’t on set. Ebson said that the nurse who answered angrily told LeRoy that Ebson was a very sick man.
Once Buddy Ebson was out of the picture, comedian and stage actor Jack Haley took over immediately. The production failed to tell him why Ebsen had to bow out, conveniently leaving out his life-threatening situation.
The Tin Man is Haley’s best-known role. As an actor, he had a similar background to Bert Lahr (The Cowardly Lion). The two were good friends, and Haley would become the godfather to Lahr’s son.
Because the aluminum powder proved to be so dangerous, the crew switched to a paste for Jack Haley. First they would stretch a bald cap over his head, layer him with white greasepaint, and then apply the aluminum color. Once, the paste got into Haley’s eye and caused a bad infection. He was out of the picture for a week to recover.
Haley’s costume was not actually made of tin, but the actor could not sit down while wearing it. In fact, he could hardly move, much like the character himself. This didn’t stop him from having a memorable music number.
Of all the male leads, Bert Lahr most likely had the most difficult costume. As the Cowardly Lion, Lahr wore two lion skins, covered by mattress padding. After nearly every take, the crew had to peel the costume from his body, blow him dry, and wring out the costume before placing him in again. Like the other actors, he had to eat and drink from a straw while in makeup, and couldn’t sit, but only laid down to rest.
Lahr contributed his character’s most famous line in the film. In one scene, the characters are put to sleep by a field of poppies. They are saved when Glinda sends a snowstorm to wake them. The lion wakes to say, “Unusual weather we’re having, ain’t it?” They almost cut the line, but Lahr was sure it would get a laugh, and he was right.
“Ain’t the the truth” was a catchphrase of Lahr’s throughout his career as a stage actor. He says it in this film, too, when the wizard awards him his medal.
Once Dorothy arrives in Oz, she is almost immediately greeted by Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, played by Billie Burke.
Burke was a successful Broadway actor and appeared in several silent films as a comedian. Her role as Glinda is probably her most famous.
Burke said that Glinda was the closest thing she ever came to playing a stage character on screen. The film’s writers chose to simplify the original story, and combined two characters (the witches of the North and South) to create Glinda.
For years there was a rumor that Burke did not do her own singing in the film. This is not true. MGM did hire another singer to record her part, but they ended up using Burke’s recording. Her opening scene, which includes about six minutes of song, took her 14 takes (and they used the final one).
The film’s title role was played by character actor Frank Morgan, who actually played six roles in the film. He was Professor Marvel, The Gatekeeper, The Cabby, The Guard, Oz (the giant head), and The Wizard.
Several men were considered for the part, including Ed Wynn, who turned it down because he thought the part was too small. WC Fields was another option, but Morgan won the part. The later scriptwriters added more roles for the wizard actor to play, partly because they didn’t want the audience to feel cheated because they didn’t get to see the actor.
Just because we don’t want to overlook this, there was at one time a plan for Morgan to appear as a character in blackface. Thankfully, this was never filmed.
Frank Morgan was a highly successful film and stage actor and was skilled at winning over audiences. This made him perfect as the bumbling fraud of a wizard, who remains lovable despite the tricks he played on everyone in Oz.
One-hundred and twenty-four little people gathered on the set of The Wizard of Oz to play the Munchkins. According to a New Yorker article by Matt Weinstock, this amount of Little People in one place was unprecedented. Activist Billy Barty claimed that the formation of The Little People of America (a non-profit organization that provides resources to people of short stature and their families) came about because of the lifelong friendships formed between the actors on the Oz set.
Jerry Maren, the actor that portrayed the leader of the Lollipop Guild, was just 17 when he was cast. He later explained that he had never seen another little person in his life, and was thrilled to meet other people like him. When he passed away in 2018, he was 98 years old and was the last living former munchkin.
There was a long campaign to get the former Munchkins a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, after many letters and a sponsorship from Joey Luft (Judy Garland’s son), the actors that played The Munchkins got their star. They arrived at the ceremony in a carriage drawn by a horse of a different color.
Fourteen screenwriters worked on the script for The Wizard of Oz at various times during the production. Officially, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allen Wolfe are credited for the screenplay.
While adapting the story from the book, a lot of changes were made. For example, almost none of the book focuses on Dorothy’s life in Kansas. But, the writers felt that a full-on fantasy with no real-life component would not connect with audiences. Noel Langley takes credit for one of the film’s biggest changes: the ruby slippers. The slippers are silver in the book, but ruby showed off the technicolor much better.
The writers also decided that the hired hands on the Gale farm would be the same actors as her companions in Oz. This came from the popular 1902 stage adaptation of the book.
Five different directors worked on Oz, however Victor Fleming is generally credited as the film’s key director.
George Cukor made key changes to the film before leaving the project. King Vidor filmed the famous sequence where Dorothy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow. He made sure to give the scene as much movement as possible to keep the audience engaged, because it was common for solo songs to be static.
Victor Fleming was a revolutionary director and cinematographer that had a knack for finding (and fixing) the flaws in any production. He had a reputation as a “man’s man,” but he chose to accept this directing role because he wanted to make a film for his two young daughters. Those that knew him said that he wanted to give them something that would last longer than he would.
As Oz was coming to an end, MGM pulled Fleming from the project and asked him to “fix” another one of their projects: Gone With the Wind. He would later be known for directing two of the most influential films of the 20th century in the same year.
Gilbert Adrian designed costumes for hundreds of productions, with The Wizard of Oz being one of the most iconic. He created (probably) the most famous costume piece in film history, the ruby slippers. The slippers were a regular pair of shoes covered in red satin, lined with cream-colored leather, and covered in 2300 sequins. They also had felt on the soles so that Judy Garland didn’t make a lot of noise walking and dancing on the set.
Adrian was also responsible for Dorothy’s iconic gingham dress, and the Wicked Witch’s all-black garb with a pointed hat. In fact, the witch of the books looks nothing like the one in the film. This portrayal of witches became the standard.
The makeup on this film was groundbreaking, but also dangerous. We already mentioned Buddy Ebsen’s disaster as the Tin Man, and Margaret Hamilton’s toxic green paint. But beyond that, no one had ever achieved this level of fantasy makeup and prosthetics.
There wasn’t a lot of staff for makeup, but there were a lot of actors. So the production pulled workers from all over the lot to come create an assembly line of makeup. Jack Dawn was the artist that created the makeup designs, like adding a hooked chin and wart to the witch.
Arnold Gillespie was in charge of the several special effects used in the film. The Wizard of Oz achieved one of the most surprising and exciting special effects ever seen on the big screen when it seamlessly transitioned from a sepia-toned Kansas to a brightly-colored Oz. The scenes in Kansas were filmed with black and white film, but the film was washed in chocolate brown sepia.
When Dorothy first arrives in Oz, she steps from a black and white world into a colorful one. The scene begins using black and white film, as Dorothy gets up and walks down the hallway. After that cut, the rest of the film is in technicolor, even though it still appears to be black and white. Set designers painted the interior wall of Dorothy’s house in sepia tones so that it would look like she was still in Kansas. Garland’s camera double, an actor named Bobbie Koshay, steps into the frame wearing a sepia-colored dress. The audience sees Koshay open the door from behind, and she steps off-screen to hand Toto to Judy Garland. Garland then walks into the frame wearing her classic blue and white gingham dress.
Glinda’s bubble was actually a glass orb. It took two weeks to properly light it with four different lights before it was ready for filming!
When the Wicked Witch was writing in the sky, the artist used a miniature witch on the tip of a pen, and dragged it through cloudy water to get the effect.
During the twister scene, there is tornado footage superimposed on the background set, while the foreground shakes. There were several platforms that the artists were moving to make it difficult for Judy Garland to stand. There were also heavy wind machines and miniatures used in the scene, which made it look very real for 1939.
Cedric Gibbons was the art director that created many of the sets used in the film. The Munchkinland set was built ¼ to life scale and was 90 feet tall.
The sets were filled with live birds that can be seen in the background. Originally, set designers dyed the water in munchkinland blue, which dyed the ducks blue as well. They had to change this and painted the bottom of the pond blue instead.
The Yellow Brick Road was not very wide at all, and all of the backgrounds were matte paintings that were composited into the shots later. So for sets like the witch’s castle, only the parts that the characters interact with are actually there. This is true for the wizard’s throne room as well.
As we mentioned before, there were several issues with production.
After her brush with flames early-on, Margaret Hamilton refused to do any scenes that included smoke or flame. When her double stepped in to ride a smoking broomstick, the broom exploded! She also had to be hospitalized.
Some of the actors playing the flying monkeys had to be hospitalized because their harnesses broke during a flying scene.
One of the biggest complaints that the actors had on set was that it was very hot. Because of the technicolor process, the studio had to be very well-lit. This made it over 100 degrees at times. They needed so many extra lights that MGM had to go to other film studios to borrow lights all throughout production.
MGM composer Herbert Stothart won an Academy Award for his score in The Wizard of Oz, which not only weaved the melodies of the film’s musical numbers throughout the story, but also included classical music (like Night on Bald Mountain) and original themes (like the infamous leitmotif for Wicked Witch of the West.) Composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E. Y. Harburg were both thrilled to write the musical numbers. The film relies on musical numbers to move the plot forward, which was still an innovative concept for movie musicals.
Without a doubt, Over the Rainbow is the most famous song from the movie. Sung by Judy Garland, this tune became her theme song.
Arlen and Harburg had finished most of the music before writing Over the Rainbow. It was the one song that was left and they were frustrated because they knew kind of what they wanted but it wasn’t coming to them. Finally on Arlen’s way to Grauman's Chinese Theatre with his wife, who asked to drive because he did not feel well, they stopped in front of Schwab's drugstore on Sunset Boulevard. That’s when the burst of creativity for the tune came and he jotted it down.
Harburg wanted the song to be about the rainbow because he knew that Dorothy’s life would be dull, with the one colorful part being a rainbow.
The song was cut after the second preview because some executives thought it slowed down the picture, and it was unseemly for an MGM star to sing in a barnyard. Thankfully it was restored to the film before release. According to Arthur Freed’s daughter, he fought very hard for the song to be put back into the movie.
Munchkinland/Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead/Follow the Yellow Brick Road
When Dorothy arrives in Munchkinland, there are several minutes of songs. We can only hear two of the actual voices from the munchkins, with the rest dubbed by voice actors. All the singing was done by the St. Joseph’s Choir and sped up.
Victor Fleming asked the songwriters to come up with a catchy tune for the chorus to sing as Dorothy leaves, and they came up with Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
If I Only Had a Brain
Ray Bolger’s dancing was cut from this sequence, making his song a bit shorter than Jack Haley’s. This is made up by the fact that Bolger got the most screen time of the supporting actors.
They cut the sequence because of length, but also because it seemed a little too fantastical. The scarecrow flew up into the air and fought a pumpkin.
We’re Off to See the Wizard
Each time that Dorothy sings “We’re off to see the Wizard,” she does a skip/dance down the yellow brick road. As the film progresses, so does her skipping, changing with each new person that she meets. It’s a small detail that signifies how she’s changing throughout the story.
The Wizard of Oz was popular in the UK, and Winston Churchill claimed that he could sometimes hear the troops singing “We’re off to see the Wizard,” as they marched. In that way, the song and the film became a symbol of what they were fighting for.
If I Only Had a Heart
Although we see Jack Haley in the film, we hear Buddy Ebsen’s singing voice. The song was recorded before filming, except for two lines.
This song features a cameo from Adrianna Caselotti, the woman that provided the voice for Snow White. In the song she sings, “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” It’s fitting that she appears in the song because Disney’s success with Snow White partly inspired MGM to go forward with The Wizard of Oz.
The Tin Man was once a man that fell in love with the Wicked Witch’s maid. This made her angry, so she enchanted his ax to cut off his limbs, which were all replaced by tin. This is why he longs for a heart.
In his finale, Haley sways from side to side as the other actors attempt to catch him. This was achieved by fixing his shoes to the floor, an old vaudeville trick that audiences in 1939 might have recognized.
If I Only Had the Nerve
Bert Lahr only sings a couple verses of his song because he has a solo musical number later on in the film. It might seem unfair that the lion gets to sing twice, but he has the least screen time of the other actors.
When the lion makes his entrance, we see Bert’s stunt double coming in on all fours. But the growling was all Lahr, and it was dubbed in.
The Merry Old Land of Oz
When the group makes it to the Emerald City, they are greeted with many happy residents. The women were dressed to mimic 1930s high fashion, and the men resembled wooden soldiers.
The special effects team had to be very careful as to how to color the horse of a different color. They decided to use jello powder that they sprayed on the horses. The animals loved licking off the powder between takes.
If I Were the King of the Forest
This is the last song sung in the film, although it wasn’t meant to be that way. A few other songs were cut afterward, including a joyful celebration after the group kills the witch and returns to the wizard.
This song really showcases Lahr’s stage presence, and gives the audience a little more insight into the Cowardly Lion, since he was introduced last.
The Jitterbug (an outtake song)
When the Wicked Witch sends her monkeys to stop Dorothy and her friends, she tells them that she sent a bug ahead of the monkeys. This was the Jitterbug, a creature meant to distract the group until the monkeys arrived. The production spent 5 weeks on this sequence before it was ultimately scrapped because MGM was afraid it would date the film. The song also added a strange tonal shift in an otherwise spooky sequence.
Fun Facts
This version of the Wizard of Oz was the 10th screen adaptation of the book. Earlier adaptations include a 1925 silent version that starred Oliver Hardy, and an animated short by Ted Eshbaugh in 1933. In the Eshbaugh version, Kansas is portrayed to be in black and white and Oz is in color, just like the 1939 film. This is likely due to the fact that the book describes Kansas as completely gray, and Oz as very colorful in comparison.
Toto was played by a Cairn Terrier named Terry. Terry was paid better than any of the Little People hired to play the munchkins in the film.
Judy Garland was devastated that Terry’s trainer would not sell her the dog as a pet. She had grown very fond of her during filming.
Because there weren’t commercial false nails at the time, the makeup team glued cut up negatives to Margaret Hamilton’s fingers and painted them green!
The sounds of the birds in the haunted forest were played backwards to sound even scarier. Meanwhile, one of the live birds on set chased Ray Bolger because it wanted his straw. He had to hide until the bird was restrained.
All of the gifts that the wizard bestows in the film were different in the book. The book’s version had the wizard give the scarecrow a head full of bran and needles. That way he had “bran new brains” and needles to prove he was “sharp.”
Reception
Upon its release in 1939, The Wizard of Oz was not very successful. It wasn’t until the film premiered on television in 1954 that it became a national phenomenon and one of the most viewed films in American history.
In 1940 The Wizard of Oz won Academy Awards for Best Music and Original Song for “Over the Rainbow” and Judy Garland won for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year.
The film has stayed in our hearts as even now the film has won awards for being in the Hall of Fame according to the Online Film and Television Awards. In 2021 it won for the song “Over the Rainbow” and Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, in 2022 for Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, and then in 2023 for the score.
It’s incredible to think that Somewhere Over the Rainbow was almost cut from the film. In 1981, Judy Garland’s version was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2001, it was chosen as the “Song of the Century” by the National Endowment of the Arts. In 2004, it was chosen as the number one song of all time by the American Film Institute. That announcement coincidentally occurred on the 35th anniversary of Judy Garland’s death.
The Wizard of Oz is a sacred piece of cinematic history. It dazzled audiences with its innovative techniques in makeup and special effects, and touched audiences with its performances. This is a film that–at times–feels like the embodiment of movie magic. It reminds audiences of their homes and their families. Margaret Hamilton said years later that every time she watched the film she would try–and fail–not to cry. To her, it touched on the feelings she had as a young actor trying to make a living, and how she always knew that even if she couldn’t go home, home was always with her.
Because of its popularity, this film is one of the most influential in cinematic history. It’s one that was never truly replicated, partly due to the incomparable presence of Judy Garland; a woman that many consider to be the greatest performer of all time. So if you’re feeling lost, let The Wizard of Oz take you home…we hear there’s no place like it.
We’d like to thank our Patrons! Joel, John, Jacob,, JD, Anthony, Shelli, Linda, Bob, and Jaren!
You can now buy us a Popcorn! @ buymeacoffee.com/blackcasediary
Thank you to all that support us whether it be through listening, telling a friend, or donating!