A Deep Dive into the Horror-filled Production of The Wizard of Oz (1939)

[@KazRowe]

Hi all, due to a copyright debacle I've been fighting with Warner Bros over this video, I've been forced to cut out 4 short sections of this video. If you notice some confusing choppiness, that's why. The sections are: - When talking about how Over the Rainbow was nearly cut from the film, an exec said during a screening, "Why is she singing in a barnyard?" - During the scene where the Wicked Witch disappears in a puff of smoke and fire, Margaret Hamilton did the scene just fine but the director still wanted more cuts, which is when the accident happened. - During the scene where the Winkies are chasing toto, one of the actors stepped on Terry's foot and injured it and the dog was out for weeks - During the scene where Dorothy, Tin Man and the Scarecrow are skipping off into the forest, a popular myth says that you can see the body of a munchkin in the trees. This is false. It is a doctored fake video. There is a crane flapping its wings in the background. That's it. I'm very sorry for how Warner Bros decision has affected the video. I hope you can understand and that you can still enjoy it. Thank you.

[@Strawsp]

Just found this channel and I rly love this video :D

[@Tine_of_Nice_Dreams]

Thanks for explaining what was cut. I really enjoyed the video and am glad you won't have them leeching your income from it!

[@obiwanpez]

Why would WB get upset about you dispelling a myth about an on-set suicide? Was it the clip itself? And why? Seems really weird.

[@KazRowe]

@@obiwanpez Nah they just wanted money because I used some short clips from the film

[@theemichaelphaley9896]

@@KazRowe ah so the usual corporate greed. Nice.

[@Cure_Hana]

Honestly, props to that doctor who refused to let Margaret continue to be harassed while she was recovering and chewed the studio out for their lack of ethics (even if it didn’t really do much to change things afterwards).

[@aswespeakI65]

@@MaskedMan66 .

[@cosmikgazer]

@@MaskedMan66 yea okay, believe the lies. She was traumatized and harassed by taking that role. She’s even said it herself. Why not believe the actual actor?

[@claremisskitty1486]

P

[@vibechecked7522]

@@MaskedMan66 Oh so a woman getting her hand burned off by the set, after wearing dangerous paint, wanted a day off? How horrible that the doctor was caring for her wellbeing.

[@reneedailey1696]

@@MaskedMan66 Yikes dude.

[@sillysilly366]

the doctor that yelled on margaret’s behalf is an absolute icon so is margaret herself

[@jayebeeson9372]

@@MaskedMan66 on god why do you care so much about this doctor? Hes probs long dead, you dont need to be this committed to decrying him across the entire comment section.

[@jayebeeson9372]

@@MaskedMan66 you're obsessed, touch a boob or something

[@sothisishowusernameswork.2043]

@@jayebeeson9372 What did they say?

[@jayebeeson9372]

@@sothisishowusernameswork.2043 In all honesty, I can't really remember, but I think across like 6 or 7 comments, this guy was just spamming about how the doctor was unprofessional or something, and how it wasn't worth keeping her away from work, just generally really weird behaviour.

[@sothisishowusernameswork.2043]

@@jayebeeson9372 huh.

[@marlowewillard]

I don't know if someone else said it, but I felt as though I should say it. Ray Bolger was the last of the main 4 actors to die. After his death, an artist published an illustration in the Chicago Tribune as a tribute to Bolger. The illustration showed Scarecrow running to catch up to the other 3 at the horizon on the Yellow Brick Road. Probably one of the most wholesome tributes I ever saw.

[@toniremer1594]

@marlowewillard - I remember seeing that tribute. It was, still remains, one of the best tributes of all time.

[@sharpeslass5452]

I didn't see it, but I just teared up reading about it. It doesn't take much these days.

[@omarslayz]

i searched up “ray bolger chicago tribune death tribute illustration” and it immediately popped up and yup it’s definitely a remarkable piece of art

[@TrangPakbaby]

If Judy’s face was badly flawed I’d love to see what they thought a perfect face looked like. Judy was an absolute beauty

[@cheneethompson5756]

I agree!

[@jj-if6it]

if only she hadn't touched her eyebrows!

[@jj-if6it]

@@MaskedMan66 eyebrows massively overplucked especially in the middle. It's a pet peeve of mine

[@poughkeepsieblue]

I know, ive loved her as long as ive known her.

[@nishottara777]

I disagree. She was very homely looking although she had big eyes. They made her wear metal rings in her nostrils to stretch out her nose which helped

[@akihayakawaliker]

Margaret Hamilton sounded like such a kind woman, it’s really upsetting to hear about how she was treated on set. Being a theatre kid as well as a small movie nerd a thing I’ve noticed is that a LOT of the people who play nasty villains are always the sweetest and most caring people

[@willmfrank]

Forrest J. Ackerman once said of Boris Karloff that he may have played some of the most evil, monstrous characters on film, "but underneath was Santa Claus."

[@mathddv]

True. I've got a book about "forgotten women of history" from many places and different industries, she seemed really nice

[@ladyredl3210]

As a former theatre kid, I agree with you.

[@sejsuper4660]

as someone who is always casted as the villain/antagonist: thank you!!

[@tjenadonn6158]

Not just people who play monsters but often the people who create those monsters as well. Japanese horror icon Junji Ito, famous for horror manga like Uzumaki, the Tomie series, and image board classic one-offs like The Enigma of Amigara Fault and Army of One, is an absolute teddy bear who wrote a self-parody comic about his cats. Alan Moore, a titan of English language comics responsible for the ≈700 page meditation on the Jack the Ripper murders that is From Hell, is an outspoken anarcho-socialist and trans rights advocate. Even Thomas Ligotti, whom in addition to being one of the greatest horror writers of his generation is also one of today's leading proponents of philosophical pessimism, existential nihilism, and antinatalism is by all accounts a kind and caring fellow. I feel like people who deal with dark topics in their works have a counterbalancing need to put more light into the world where they can.

[@OfficialROZWBRAZEL]

The Mr. Rogers episode where Margaret Hamilton shows how the Witch role is make-believe and the children don’t have to be scared of her remains one of the cutest episodes ever. 🥰

[@crazyralph6386]

Makes one realize how badly she was typecasted both professionally and personally, for being one of the most recognizable movie villain of all time? She simply accepted it with class and grace.

[@MASTEROFEVIL]

Sesame Street did her dirty

[@kgrlktty]

I met two of the actors who played munchkins when I was a kid because the local highschool production hired them to be there for the opening two nights. It was one of the main ways they still got money, touring and making appearances. They were so nice and sweet, very open and talked very kindly about Judy.

[@gematoledo9226]

How old were they and how long ago did this happened?

[@martinez3690]

I thought the munchkins had molested and harassed Judy Garland

[@kgrlktty]

@@gematoledo9226 they were both around their early or mid 70s I think? I'd say this was about 1997 or 98. If I remember correctly, she was very young in the movie, one of the sleepyheads? And he was also young but maybe a couple years older, I believe he was part of the lollipop guild. I can probably find out the exact names, I'm sure it was advertised

[@staceykimbell9324]

They keep the mayor of munchkinlands house just as it was in Washington, KS.

[@whodatninja439]

Were the munchkins really assholes and drunks?

[@walpurgisnight7]

Judy certainly deserved far better, but Margaret Hamilton has been all but forgotten likely due to her not being a perfect example of Old Hollywood glamour. She seems like such a caring, gentle person and I hope everyone who continues to love Judy Garland will do the same for Margaret.

[@KacyRaider]

I disagree that Margaret has been forgotten. The recent release of the lost Wicked Witch of the West Sesame Street episode shows how iconic she and her performance still are

[@princesspikachu3915]

@@KacyRaider How could that episode be lost when I have a DVD of it that was a transfer from a VHS recording??? My mother had a taped recording of it that was made back in the late 1970’s. And about 20 years ago I made a transfer of it to DVD. Had no idea it was lost but I suppose other people recorded it too.

[@Commander_Bowling]

@@princesspikachu3915 So, the episode was not entirely lost. But it only aired one time back in the 70's. Since that airing, a few screenshots were found and released. Back in 2019, it was confirmed the episode was preserved in the US Library of Congress, but it couldn't be recorded so the only way to view it was to travel there in person. Currently no one knows how it was leaked, but back in June the episode in its entirety was released online. That said, I think it would be awesome if you recorded your DVD copy of it and released it as a KZbin video! It would be amazing to have proof that someone recorded the original airing of the episode!

[@DeadnightDownfall]

@@princesspikachu3915 you could have sold that dvd for thousands last year

[@princesspikachu3915]

@@Commander_Bowling I don’t have a computer at the moment but I will upload it once I figure out how. I think my copy looks pretty good but my mother had recorded it on VHS as a young child and when I transferred it back in 2003 the tape was already starting to have sound issues. She recorded it in the late 1970’s and obviously they (meaning her childhood household) were early adopters of the VHS so this was a very primitive recording. The picture on it is really good and I no longer have the VHS recording. I can, however, make copies of the episode onto DVD as I have a copier but I’m not sure if I can legally due to the copyright. I did successfully make DVD copies of it as “back ups” and I gifted my nerdy preacher at church a copy of it. I didn’t realize how difficult it was to find the episode. But the preacher having nostalgia tears because he always wanted to see that episode should have told me. I think I probably should have went through more of those old recordings. So many of mothers tapes have since been ruined…

[@KingOfGaymes]

Them saying that Judy’s face was “badly flawed” is just absolute insanity. She was so beautiful. I don’t understand what the people back then thought “beauty” was if Judy was considered bad looking.. .. And I thought todays beauty standards were awful..

[@Ailacatailu]

Beauty standards for women were terrible then but they are definitely worse now. Judy would be pressured to get lip filler, buccal fat removal, a brow lift, Botox, nose job, and enough medications to make her a size 00. The beauty industry has grown so enormous, and it’s business model is built on making women and girls feel as inadequate as possible.

[@morbidsearch]

​@@Ailacatailu How is this any worse than the stuff listed at 15:40? Just switching out manual methods for plastic surgery.

[@duckpin]

It’s called misogyny and things have barely changed

[@Gay_Bradbury]

​@@duckpinRight on. it's disgraceful how Weinsteins behaviour was ignored, along with all the other sexual assaults that go on. For f sake the "casting couch" thing is a long standing joke ( ... joke, depending on your moral compass). There are so many women in Hollywood who have been used, abused and treated like crap. The only people who think it's not a problem are the ones who have a very low regard for women. I'll bet hard cash that there's lots more skeletons in a lot more cupboards that everyone is aware of. Things are getting worse, not just on Hollywood. Dick pics, revenge porn, women destroying Thier bodies with injections and botulinum neurotoxin thanks to internalised misogyny. I was on a bus the other day, a father n his son were chatting about something on his son's phone "Ew who is the ugly scrag-end?" scrag-end is a British term) talking about another child on his own child's Instagram. How TF are we still raising kids with such toxic ideals?

[@abunchahooey]

Them shouldn’t have said that.

[@kariannstickle2708]

I volunteer as an exhibit illuminator at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. My specialty wings are the SciFi-Fantasy sections which feature THE Wizard of Oz costumes. THE costumes. The actual costumes. I have seen grown men cry upon seeing Dorothy’s dress. It’s where I learned what “Friend of Dorothy” meant. People have left love notes to Judy Garland in noooks and crannies near the costumes.

[@tatehildyard5332]

I'm in LA and I know that the Academy Museum out here has her Kansas dresses. Glad the archive is being shared amongst multiple museums.

[@sarahwarnock2707]

Omg that is so sweet

[@SkyofDread]

This comment is awesome. I live close maybe I’ll surprise my fiancé with a visit there sometime. Sounds so fun.

[@eajaros]

They have THE ruby slippers just in a waiting room with some marvel costumes too in Warner bros lot’s costume dept that was wild to see while waiting for a fitting to start. Their costuming dept is also INSIDE of a parking garage!

[@grundlehunter69]

Yoooo, the MoPop? I've been there so many times. I remember when it was the EMP.

[@samanthahamilton9117]

Since you empathize with Margaret Hamilton, I’ll share a story. In 1969, my dad stage-managed a Broadway musical called Come Summer, which was advertised as the first reunion in 30 years of Ray Bolger and Miss Hamilton. It was a screaming flop, running four days. (I was just old enough to have seen the show a few times in out-of-town tryouts; I was quite nearly old enough to understand that I was witnessing a masterclass in How Not to Produce a Play.) Anyway, WoO was re-released to theatres 10 years later, and my dad, running into Miss H at some function, remarked that his youngest (my half-sister) was just getting of an age to see the film, but his wife was concerned that the WWotW and the monkeys would prove too scary. “Well!” said Miss H robustly, “she can hardly be scared, can she, if she’s sitting right next to the Wicked Witch? Have your wife call me, Frank; I’ll take her to the picture.” And so she did. My sis (now a well-credentialed actress in her own right) first saw WoO halfway in the lap of the WWotW. Miss Hamilton (no relation) was a lovely, intelligent woman who really did care about kids.

[@L0rdOfThePies]

Thats really interesting! Love the subtle roasts

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

That’s lovely :)

[@themangledwither]

Damn it's stories like this that make feel so bad for many actors back then, it's also because of stories like this that I've wanted to become an actor (outside of loving to do it)

[@colleenroberts8202]

Thanks that made me cry

[@MidnightDarkness666]

There was that time she went on Mr Rogers neighbourhood to basically help ease the children's fear of her and that it was all make believe. It's basically an adorable set of two older people playing dress up and reminiscing.

[@omegafilming]

I'll never *not* be mad about how show business misused and abused Garland. Doesn't matter if it happened three fourths of a century before my own existence 😡

[@AWindy94]

I can't like this comment hard enough.

[@reneedailey1696]

Hard same.

[@oomflem]

Judy Garland's life was so horrible, it almost seems like the result of some awful cosmic bet between deities to see how much awful they could possibly cram into one person's life. It would be almost comical if it weren't so horrifying.

[@etherealtb6021]

Still happens, dude.

[@reneedailey1696]

@@somethingclever8916 Who thinks that? If anything with the internet, we're more aware of the horrors that happen , and we're less likely to excuse it.

[@alicecourtney5816]

When you talked about Margaret Hamilton eating her lunch in the Glinda actresses’ dressing room, I had to pause the video and have a bit of a cry. I never really liked Glinda, especially for the line “only bad witches are ugly.” But I think it says something that all these decades later, most people can’t name the actress who played Glinda, but everyone knows Margaret Hamilton.

[@Gloomdrake]

I think it helps that the WWotW has more screentime and a more energetic performance. Glinda is barely is the movie, and the character is so subdued

[@zacharyrome3432]

I'm a huge fan of the Addams Family TV show and she was wonderful as Mortica's Mother !

[@sallyhazy]

When I heard that, I felt like it could be a scene from Wicked

[@Gloomdrake]

@@SilverDusk1 lots of them still don't

[@Fireberries]

@@SilverDusk1 I wouldn't say she was treated horribly by children. The Mr Rogers appearance went well, but the Sesame Street one did not. It got so many complaints by angry parents. They were confused and did a test screening only to find the kids they test screened only commented on how cool her green skin was (in the era of black and white TV only just phasing out). The kids were never scared, it was the weirdly over-protective adults

[@twc3546]

Growing up in Illinois, the tornado sequence was terrifying. They did an amazing job creating a twister decades before CGI.

[@darladeville8644]

Growing up in California with no tornadoes I was also terrified

[@mick6247]

@@darladeville8644im in exact middle of tornado alley, Oklahoma specifically , I’ve been through many tornados ,most notable a ef 5 in 2013, and let me tell you, to this day the tornado sequence amazes me, it’s so realistic, I’d argue alot more realistic then alot of up to date tornado movies , using cgi. A lot of new movies make a tornado to clean and cartoonish, while this sequence was perfect ,especially with how it popped out of nowhere. It’s so realistic infact sometimes our weather men use “we’re not in Kansas anymore” to describe a tornado, props to them cause TILL THIS DAY, it’s one of the best tornado effects out there that people try to replicate in cgi, but i haven’t seen anyone be able to do those type of effects, except maybe twister. And honestly if I didn’t live in a state where tornados came constantly I would be scared to, like I’m terrified of earth quakes and hurricanes cause they don’t happen here 😭

[@vedacarmony5754]

I was painting my front room one day in Illinois when a string of tornadoes popped up in a row leading towards us, not 8 miles away. We quickly moved to Oregon.

[@maryblakley3590]

My dad (born in 51) got to see it on re-release in theaters as a child. Apparently his mum had to carry him out of the theatre crying, because he was so scared of the flying monkeys. To this day, whenever Oz is shown on TV, he busies himself in the kitchen during the flying monkey scenes. It is one of the most endearing things about him.

[@woodlefoof2]

@@MaskedMan66 bruh, get out of here with your pedantic autism

[@woodlefoof2]

@@MaskedMan66 you’re definitely an pedant. It’s not an admirable trait.

[@woodlefoof2]

@@MaskedMan66 what’s flying monkeys to you?

[@woodlefoof2]

@@MaskedMan66 calling it a flying monkey is accurate. Correcting someone that it is technically a winged monkey is pedantry

[@joannemcfadden6405]

That part always scares my daughter, she is now 41 and still scares at the thought of those flying monkeys.

[@kristiecarney3750]

I worked at the Smithsonian in the summer of 2017 and I worked on the restoration project for the slippers. My job was to count the sequins on a high res picture of them and make notes of any sequins that were missing. I was allowed to touch them once, when they were being moved back into storage for a few weeks, and I have never been more terrified lol. That was my favorite project to work on that summer!

[@ScooterinAB]

Having worked in museums (though not in conservation itself), my soul aches for you, knowing that you definitely had to could the sequins from photos. That is such a museum thing to do.

[@Link-kw5rg]

I saw those a few years ago and they were beautiful. The precision on the sequin are incredibly impressive. There was such a line to see them and I'd never seen people so happy and excited. I was shocked they were so pretty as well. They totally met my expectation and were beautiful.

[@gracioussdreamer]

Do you remember seeing bows on them? #mandellaeffect

[@xXOpenYourHeart759Xx]

How lucky you are! I would've loved that! I still have yet to see a pair:(

[@keetahbrough]

Wow. I’m a nurse and I can’t imagine handling a pair of shoes with more sacredness then we do sick people.

[@curator3539]

The fact about Frank's coat somehow making it onto the set actually made me tear up a little bit. There was a lot of bad behind the scenes, as there is to a LOT of films both back then and now, but the fact that his coat made it there is a little heart warming to me.

[@Butterflydr3w]

I’ve heard it was a pr stunt 💀

[@hinoname3954]

it wasn't actually ever verified, but i hope that it was true!

[@tartnouveau3652]

Yeah I googled it and immediately got a snopes article saying it was most likely a PR stunt

[@ferociousgumby]

I have to say that my immediate reaction was "Nope." Just too far-fetched to be true.

[@Will........]

I love to believe in fate. Stories like that are so heartwarming

[@underwatersphinx1148]

Not the focus of the video obviously, but I want to point out that "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was by L. Frank Baum *and* W. W. Denslow. They shared the copyright for a reason: Denslow's illustrations and book design were an integral part of what made the novel a bestseller, and they're as much a part of the text as Baum's words. Denslow's contribution to the novel constantly gets overlooked and it's a huge shame.

[@Chronoplague]

I couldn't agree more! The illustrations are wonderful. I'm personally fond of Ozma and Glinda's designs.

[@blueestarr16]

@@Chronoplague ah Denslow didn’t really design Ozma though, because he didn’t illustrate the Other books. Only the first One. The rest of them were illustrated by John R. Neil

[@Chronoplague]

@@blueestarr16 oh, thanks for the correction! I see where you're coming from too. The first book has some great designs, and is especially expressive. The image of Dorothy scolding the Lion, or the one-eyed Witch of the West comes to mind.

[@saljablo2767]

I disagree

[@saljablo2767]

@@MaskedMan66 I disagree that the pictures are as just as much as the words and story. It’s my opinion.

[@Just_Julia_]

As someone who’s worked with stage lights, I can only imagine how dangerous those lights were. Back in the day there weren’t to many regulations on stage lights so they were very dangerous (to the point where you could have lights that could give you burns if you stood under them) so it is a god damn miracle the lights didn’t cause a fire

[@whatabouttheearth]

The movie industry was extremely shady back than, the owners would have people killed and stuff, and look at what they did to Francis Farmer, yikes!

[@whatabouttheearth]

@@MaskedMan66 I guess I'm not saying everyone, but the bosses and leadership were very connected to the mob, I guess I was kinda making a side comment not about the video, it was more your comment about the dangers of the lights, made me think, do thee owners really give a damn about worker safety so long as it doesn't cause them problems? It actually made me think of Barley Sociables video 'The Music Industries Darkest Secret' and Dark Victory by Dan Meola kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJDckK2bptFqpsU kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH2Qi2uphcqnqbs

[@whatabouttheearth]

@@MaskedMan66 I didn't know I was making an argument, I was making a side point that I doubt the owners give a fuck about the workers unless it effects the owners.

[@jaybee4118]

@@MaskedMan66 there’s a reason regulations are set legally, because enough people cause injury and/or death. That doesn’t mean anyone thinks everyone involved is guilty of treating others badly. And that goes for anyone that talks about “shady practices”, it doesn’t mean that they’re talking about talking about every person involved, just the ones that are. You are taking this subject WAY too seriously seeing as you’re commenting on every thread.

[@suziefinley328]

@@jaybee4118 I don't think so!

[@Felicat82]

The biggest thing that struck me when I first saw The Wizard of Oz was the seemingly magical transformation from Dorothy's dull, sepia toned life to the brilliant color pop of Oz. It felt like such a special thing to witness, and even at such a young age, I understood the moment from a storytelling standpoint. I don't think I've ever seen a film actually manage to reproduce that feeling, and many, many have tried.

[@donnythompson9233]

Great comment and observation! When my dad was just a lad, he saw WoO in the theater, and he told me that the entire audience gasped with amazement when Dorothy opens the door of her house, and everything suddenly goes from subdued sepia to vivid, vibrant color. Considering that, with few exceptions, most feature films in theaters at that time were still B&W, it must have been quite an experience to be sitting in a theater and experience first-hand the change to color…and not just because it was color, but because it was such an incredibly vibrant color. I know it effected my dad, because he remembered that experience all his life, and spoke about it with fondness and amazement anytime he saw that scene in the film in the years afterwards.

[@rickkroll]

​@@donnythompson9233thats so intresting!

[@darladeville8644]

So true

[@DarthRayj]

I'm sure it wasn't quite the same, but I still remember seeing Tron: Legacy in 3D in the theater mainly for two reasons. The score by Daft Punk was fantastic, and the movie was in standard 2D until they entered the world of Tron, at which point the 3D kicked in. I'm sure they were going for a similar feeling, but I don't think it was quite as impactful as black and white to color would be. Still memorable for that though, and a detail that I would be sad to miss were I to rewatch it without 3D. @@donnythompson9233

[@quietone748]

@@donnythompson9233 My mother said the same thing. She went to see the film when she was four in 1940 and remembered the magic of the colors.

[@NRNF1776]

Fun fact : one of the movie’s most famous scenes is the moment Dorothy opens the door of gray Kansas to see the colorful munchkin land. This was a hard scene to make, and the filmmakers decided to take the ‘easier’ way out by literally painting the whole room sepia, having a stunt for Judy garland also painted sepia, wearing an equivalent dress in sepia colors, and when the one-shot has her out of frame, Judy Garland takes Toto off her hands, and come back into the frame with her colorful blue dress.

[@90sbaby1]

lmfao thats hilarious and ghetto but I would've never noticed

[@90sbaby1]

@@MaskedMan66 🙄 be gone snowflake

[@sophroniel]

Margaret Hamilton is so undervalued. She is so humble and talented, and got such a raw deal and deserved so much better.

[@oliverbrownlow5615]

Happily, many of her performances survive and can still be heard and seen today.

[@sophroniel]

@@MaskedMan66 she was heavily judged for her looks and still is. She also struggled with being typecast, and her successes are not because of how a majority of others valued her and her work, it's in _spite_ of it. She could've been far more successful if people were less shallow in valuing her only based on looks, and the fact that she is best known for what is, to many (though not all), an anti-Semitic caricature, speaks a lot of how her works were valued. The fact that she still was gracious about her role and the film's success is a testament to her grace and kind nature, where I think it could've been so easy to resent the success others gained from their roles in this movie (cough good witch bad witch cough), yet she shone and was a classy lady about the whole thing. Tbh Hamilton was far, _far_ from the only actress I could say all of the above about, because say what you might about talent and wit, when valuing the screen potential and "likeability" a female actors (and to some extent, in a slightly different way, but yes male actors have this too), both film-makers and audience members have a heavy thumb when it comes to more beautiful actors. Imagine Margaret Hamilton in the same roles as, say, Tallulah Bankhead, Elsa Lanchester, Norma Shearer, Miriam Hopkins, Ann Harding, or even Eva May . Putting aside everything else re locality, timing, availability at the time, etc, can you honestly say that given a choice between all these actresses and Margaret Hamilton that she would be chosen for something like a romantic lead? No. She would be cast as the "strict stepmother" or "stern spinster" "nasty schoolmistress" etc. And yet all those actresses I named? They were all born in 1902, just like her, so technically she wasn't older, which makes it even more unfair, imo, that she was cast in so many parts as a mean/stern older woman character, even when she wasn't that old. Basically, what I think is that she should've had just as much chance of becoming a romantic lead with just as much chance as someone like Norma Shearer, but she didn't because it was a culture where someone like _Judy Garland_ was considered plain and unattractive. Looks were everything, and in a narrow window, where what was "beautiful" was decided by a small handful of older, white western (usually american) men, at the expense of all other beauties with features that some consider to be unattractive or, at least, unconventionality beautiful. TL; DR: I'm sorry for all of that ramble, I just really like Margaret Hamilton's work and the crux of the rant is that I think she was unfairly judged and treated in Hollywood, who ignored her talent because she was not an incredible beauty by their standards, which meant she had to work very hard indeed, and no doubt took some more demeaning roles that perpetuated stereotypes she didn't agree with but had to take to further her career. Don't get me wrong, that's common in the industry, but it must've been hard to constantly hear of how unattractive, old and spintstery people think you are, and to keep getting overlooked because of your looks, having your talent ignored time after time. I said I think she is undervalued because, using Wizard of Oz as an example, which shows a very good comparison with comparing the wicked and good witches and how audiences and the public imposed the characteristics of each woman's character onto the women themselves, _as if they were those characters._ The other part of the comparison is seeing what it did to their careers; not to mention the horrible physical suffering Margaret received from being burned due to negligent safety practices at the time and how little the production seemed to care about the ordeal. Whilst I can't remember where it is or the precise quote (I could hunt but I cba, it's on youtube somewhere, sorry), I still remember this quote that stuck out to me where Margaret said words to more or less the effect of _"I was cast because I looked "evil and witchy". It was only thinly veiled opinion of more than a few of the men around set (and few had courtesy sufficient to put in much effort in trying to hide their opinion, such as it was, to keep me from hearing their words) that this was what some certain people thought of my looks, which was not the greatest thing to hear, especially at first. It was especially just after I was back on set after hospital [from the accident she got badly burned in] and a certain uncharitable comment was overheard, saying_ "it's not like she had looks to worry about losing, and even if half her face burnt up, I'd half wager it's be half better than it ever was before!"; _basically, it implied I had a face so unpleasant I'd need to burn it to be fanciable to young men. Fortunately, I don't thin, the silly words of young men matter much, and is speaks more of them than it does me, as I am perfectly confident in myself, and I am more concerned about their self esteem, and what led them to feel the need to say such things about a person, a stranger they don't know. It's a bit sad really, and I feel sorry for people like that." Perhaps, had she had been born with the features of someone more conventionally beautiful, she might’ve been more widely recognised for her incredible talents, and more people could've therefore enjoyed her work, but I think the fact that she was able to become as incredibly successful as she was speaks to her true talent and star power. I just resent that she was put through some pretty mean, demeaning and people saying some just irrelevant, unnecessarily upsetting and judgememtal things to get there. (Also the fact that she didn't like scaring children is so wholesome. Look up the sesame street bit she did it's on youtube too)

[@TrangPakbaby]

She visited my older brothers school before she died. I believe she used to work at the school as a teacher? Anyway they have a photo with her embracing all the kids, all nationalities etc. it’s such a beautiful photo, it’s cute seeing my big, rough tough brothers turn into mush remembering that moment lol

[@reneedailey1696]

@@sophroniel Masked seems to take issue with people having opinions that aren't theirs; I really wouldn't spend much effort engaging them.

[@flyingmintbunny1286]

@@sophroniel jesus, even the TLDR is TLDR

[@nicsfx9600]

My grandma introduced me to the wizard of oz and she would always do the witch cackle. Now my grandma has introduced my daughter to the wizard of oz and she still does her witch cackle for her now. I love that we both get to experience it from her and share that memory while she’s still here with us ❤️

[@TaraHisakata]

She arrived in a bubble dog. A WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST BRO. My dad grew up seeing Wizard of OZ on their first color TV. The transition from black and white to color after the tornado was mind blowing for him. Im sure that affect feels lost on my generation.

[@gabriellegay4097]

The first time I saw it as a child in the early 2000’s, I was so annoyed when it was in black and white🤣

[@dcluvspie5777]

I think the vividness of the colors in stark contrast to the dull black and white does a lot to draw people in regardless I know it did for me when I was a kid I'm 31 born in 91 and this is my Favorite movie of all time....

[@maicey_t.]

You're gonna look at me and tell me that I'm wrong?! Am I wrong?!

[@lqmon._.]

As a Gen Z growing up, the transition from black and white, then to color, was the coolest thing to me. Still kinda is

[@princesspikachu3915]

@@lqmon._. Same for me except I’m a millennial. And I grew up with both a black and white TV and a color TV. I’m probably one of the few people who distinctly remembers watching Nickelodeon on the black and white TV for the novelty of watching Ren and Stimpy in black and white format. Same for Rugrats, Rocko, Angry Beavers, Catdog, and eventually SpongeBob. I was a weird kid lol.

[@chattycassiee]

Sociopolitical issues aside, I literally cannot think of another film that has had such a lasting impression on so many generations. Obviously, disney films like Snow White and Bambi have had a similar cultural impact, but the thing about Disney movies (even back in the early days) is that if you see one, you’ll most likely see all of them because Disney just has that kind of clout. This movie didn’t really have that back then and yet it went on to earn it, all on its own, throughout the years. So much so that even heaps of Gen Z kids grew up watching this movie, myself included.

[@CashelOConnolly]

You should try and read Baum’s other Oz books. They are very weird and hard too read. In one Dorothy goes to the land of the invisible people. It’s wild and almost unreadable 😳🏳️‍🌈

[@its_dey_mate]

@@CashelOConnolly "You should read those books! They are weird and unbearable to sit through." Kind of a conflicting message you are giving us there haha

[@gregoryjimenez8714]

@@CashelOConnolly Sounds interesting would definitely read those. Looking forward to it.

[@MadameSomnambule]

I was born in 1994 (so, a millennial) and the first time I saw The Wizard of Oz was on vhs and I even saw the behind the scenes special that came after the movie. I was always one to watch a tape 100% of the way through without skipping previews anyway, but I was always fascinated seeing how movies were made behind the scenes, this one included.

[@katie_cant_compute]

@@CashelOConnolly I tried to read one a few years back, I can’t recall which one exactly. I found it quite confusing- and I was by no means a slow kid- and gave up around halfway into the thing. Maybe I’d enjoy it more if I read it now as an 18 year old?

[@emmitstewart1921]

My most vivid childhood memory wasn't the movie. It was Judy herself. I remember watching her big television special when she performed in front of her name spelled out in lights. The instant she appeared, I instantly saw that something was wrong with her. I was in my early teens and had never seen a person strong out on drugs. Because of her many movies, the audience loved her. I had seen some of those movies but she had changed so much that I didn't recognize her. All I could see was a woman in so much pain that she could barely hold herself together. If that show were broadcast again or available on You Tube or DVD, I would not watch it. I never want to see a person in that much pain ever again.

[@kriminal7009]

*CONTENT WARNING: DRUG ABUSE, EATING DISORDER, SUICIDE, ABORTION* was curious about Judy Garland and looked into her drug abuse, and *oh man* did I almost cry. It’s one of those things that you know happened, but reading into it is a whole new experience. When she was allowed to get better after becoming a husk of her former self (thanks to the drugs) she was immediately forced by on uppers and downers as well as fasting because she was “too plump.” She cut her throat with glass when she got sick an fired from her job. Her mother and the studio were angry at her romantic life and her pregnancy and wanted to arrange an abortion. Mickey Rooney said of it all “They seemed to want her to pass away, and no one wanted to heal her.”

[@obiwanpez]

I did, however, slightly chuckle at Kaz's "enemy of the channel, Mickey Rooney" comment.

[@GeorgiaGeorgette]

@@obiwanpez I'm new here and didn't get that.

[@obiwanpez]

@@GeorgiaGeorgette I don't understand what specifically she has had on here before, as I am new, also. He did yellow-face in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and it... yeah, it's baaaaad.

[@mgconlan]

Judy Garland was put on drugs not to keep her working an insane schedule. It was to keep her weight down. Elvis got hooned on drugs for the same reason: to keep h is weight down to proportions the studios considered camera-friendly. When Louis B. Mayer signed Greta Garbo - he actually wanted her director, Mauritz Stiller, but Stiller made him take Garbo as part of the deal - Mayer told Stiller, "Tell her that in America we don't like fat women."

[@reneedailey1696]

@@MaskedMan66 You have an agenda here, you continue to downplay what Judy went through in these comments. What's up with that?

[@gadgetgirl02]

My mum was of the first generation to see Oz on TV. Years later, we were re-watching it on TV together, and got to the part where Dorothy steps out from her ruined house into Munchkinland. My mum started exclaiming about how Hollywood has to colorize everything, and why didn't they do the Kansas scenes too? What a terrible colorization job! I had to explain it was originally shot part in black & white (well, sepia) and mostly in colour. My mum had no idea because she and all her friends had only seen it on black & white TV sets. It's funny to think, especially since the shift from sepia to colour and back is so essential to the visual storytelling.

[@Narnianchick]

My mom has a similar story! Didn’t realize it was (mostly) in color until later in life because her family didn’t have a color TV!

[@jacobhall5927]

Fun story: my grandpa actually met the actor who played the cowardly lion back in the late 1970s. He owned a restaurant and Burt randomly came in for a meal. My papa had nothing but great things to say about him!

[@rainbowsandkittens1537]

"I envy the children who have yet to see The Wizard of Oz for the first time." What a sweet line.

[@candellak]

@@MaskedMan66 it’s probably best that kids don’t read these books, don’t want them growing up to be a psychopath like you.

[@meta527II]

Even with all this horrible truth about it?

[@TherealRNOwwfpooh]

@@meta527II Look, that was just how the movie studio business operated (and still kinda does, in all truthfulness, given the downsides many former child actors find themselves facing post-fame). It couldn't be helped, because if you spoke out & you were hired by a major movie company, powerful executives could make sure "you never worked in this town (if not the entire film industry) ever again".

[@meta527II]

@@TherealRNOwwfpooh It still makes me feel REALLY upset that the directors of the movie abused and even KILLED Judy Garland! And to hear this about a movie that I grew up loving, only to learn that I’m no longer allowed to like it because by enjoying it, I’m approving of all the abuse they put her through? Especially when this is the THIRD time I learned that a movie I grew up with is a movie that did something unforgivable that means I’m not allowed to like it anymore! It makes me feel like my life has no meaning anymore!

[@TherealRNOwwfpooh]

@@meta527IIYou're misunderstanding. You can still like the film, even if the production involved what would be considered abuse by modern filmmaker standards. I mean, there's tons of movies (even from other forms of family films/children's entertainment) that have questionable elements in them or surrounding them, but that doesn't mean the film itself is bad, nor does it make you a bad person for enjoying the film for whatever reasons you like the film for. It's ridiculous that some blame fans for liking movies/shows/comics/whatever when it turns out that the thing being liked has questionable parts that aren't okay according to contemporary, politically-correct, Cancel Culture social activists. I mean, everyone likes something that could have questionable things in it. I mean, look at how people falsely accuse _Dumbo_ , _The Jungle Book_ , _Peter Pan_ & other Disney animated classics for having racist stereotyping (The Crows [ironically, the lead crow is named Jim, in reference to the legitimately racist Jim Crow laws that were enforced at the time of the film's making] were actually good guys helping Dumbo learn how to fly using the magic feather as a placebo, King Louie & his fellow primate band [Even though white Italian-American jazz musician Louis Prima is the one voicing King Louie, Walt Disney originally considered black jazz player Louis Anderson for the part, only to retract out of concern of harmful typecasting, since the term "monkey" was being used by white supremacist bigots at the time as a catch-all term for black people & well-meaning Uncle Walt didn't want to be seen as offending anybody] were less harmful than either python Kaa or tiger Shere Khan in terms of their villain ranking [In fact, in later projects using the animated animals of _The Jungle Book_ by Disney, the fun-loving orangutan isn't even a villain at all & is actually openly friendly towards both Baloo the bear & Bagheera the panther], the Lost Boys and the two Darling boys are singing about 'hunting Injuns' in "Follow the Leader" before actually getting accepted into the tribe courtesy of the rather controversial "What Makes the Red Man Red" song due to the outdated caricature of Native Americans drawn for the _Peter Pan_ film [This is even more relevant now nowadays on account of how the Redskins & Indians official sports teams actually decided to change their names to something else due to certain woke people in positions of power feeling strongly offended by each of them]) when none of these 3 films ever intended such bigotry whatsoever, they were just byproducts of their era.

[@mollygoebel8349]

i used to always cry when i was little and i watched judy sing somewhere over the rainbow but i never knew why. I think its probably because I could feel her pain while she was singing it and I just didn't realize that that is what was happening. There is so much pain and hope in that song and judy captures it perfectly. I still cry to it and that song means so much to me.

[@DocBree13]

Your post brought me to tears ❤

[@illuminaticonfirmed1389]

@@MaskedMan66 her whole life was literally awful but okay

[@violetsparkles5453]

I get chills every single time, from head to toe. I know exactly what you mean

[@Jolis_Parsec]

I heard about the wicked witch nearly getting her face melted off by the makeup she was wearing being ignited by the pyrotechnics used whenever she’d appear and disappear. I also heard that the actress who played her was one of the nicest ladies who ever lived and who was sad to hear that her iconic character was considered frightening by the children who watched the film. Apparently that’s why the episode of the wicked witch visiting Sesame Street went missing in the first place since it was pulled from syndication not that long after it first aired due to kids being scared of her.

[@cattymajiv]

Faces don't melt. They burn.

[@Sandy-mb2sc]

What happens when something burns knumbskull it melts

[@xxsilent19xx]

​@@Sandy-mb2scknumbskull 💀

[@valmarsiglia]

I've also read the reason the jitterbug sequence was cut had to do with not wanting to tie the movie too closely to any specific time period because the jitterbug was a then-current dance craze.

[@Roadent1241]

Oh really? I heard it on the soundtrack CD and wondered when I'd missed it. I wonder if my parents would know this dance. Can't ask my nan without an ouija board even though I watched this with her every weekend and she never mentioned it.

[@fugithegreat]

It really was a good call, if that's what it was. The film is much more timeless without this number.

[@hannahwatson4003]

when i was in a production of WOZ in middle school i was so confused when jitterbug came up bc i had never seen that in the movie- i wish they would have kept it but i understand why not!

[@valmarsiglia]

@@hannahwatson4003 Very interesting, I didn't know it was still part of the libretto (or whatever it's called lol).

[@hannahwatson4003]

it was a weird combination of WOZ jr and WOZ, bc my director wanted something that wasn’t elementary school level but also wasn’t high school level for us. i guess jitterbug was added into one or both versions and our director kept it in!

[@axnyslie]

There is no shortage of stories, scandals, and urban legends around The Wizard of Oz. Truly an icon of American cinema on and off screen. I particularly like the ginormous Technicolor camera used in filming. The DF-24 camera was 8 ft tall and housed three separate 35mm reels inside for red, green, and blue captures. It can be seen here at 28:08 it took three men to operate it.

[@honkstheclown8631]

@@MaskedMan66 I'm a little confused as to why you're defending this production so extremely. Is it a special interest of yours? Did a relative work on the film? This is a sincere question and I'm not trying to be rude.

[@bingcherry1122]

My friend's four year old son was totally terrified of the Witch. When his mother had him watch the episode where Margaret visits Mr. Rogers. Margaret totally removed the little boy's fears!!! The boy now understood that it was an act. Wow!!!

[@Kazooples]

I’d love to see a breakdown of the production of Poltergeist, a lot of negligence that they used to convince people the set was haunted, a little girl died and they just. Said it was ghosts. Disgusting.

[@CykeMonkey]

she died of a misdiagnosis of Crohn's Disease, not because of abuse on the set. Doesn't mean working on Poltergeist wasn't hellish, though. Just means her death was an accident. The really weird part is that four people died after the movies were made, all in tragic conditions.

[@Kazooples]

@@CykeMonkey I never said it was abuse, I just think the documentary they made afterwards was very exploitative, and it upsets me that she wasn't properly diagnosed, poor kid.

[@CykeMonkey]

@@Kazooples which documentary? There's a ton of them. And I don't think it was her death by itself that caused people to jump up and claim the production was cursed, it's also the fact that a lot of weird shit went on with the production and a lot of it was just tragic accidents. Not to mention all four movies had something weird happen at some point during production. People probably remember the little girl dying because she died so young. If it was by itself, then we'd just remember it as a tragedy of misdiagnosis. In context with the malfunctioning clown doll in the first film, the supposed use of real skeletons in that first film, the death of a Native American actor who was also a Shaman that died shortly after blessing the set, among other weird events across the other films, is why people claim a curse because it's such a weird pattern and humans are good at pattern recognition.

[@searchingfororion]

She died mid production of 3. *Everyone* on the project (yes, including the producer/s and director) wanted to shut it down, out of a combination of respect and grief because many of them had known her for *years* and those that hadn't had become close to her and also realized how distasteful it would be to keep shooting. It was the *studio* that sent a huge IDGAF notice saying the film was going to be released either way. The other tragic thing was that she was ill throughout the whole film and her mother kept taking her to doctors and hospitals to try to get her help. One hospital said they ran the test and it was negative - *but they never really did* if they *had* tested her, or were honest about the testing to her mother, it could have been caught in time to be treated and save her life. Technically, yes - it was an ailment, but it was medical negligence that caused her death. As for the "poltergeist curse" there were *a lot* more bizarre unusual and tragic phenomenon that occurred with the cast than is being mentioned here. Few people claim that it's "ghosts" (even those who believe) it's more that there's far too much that happened - some that cannot be explained with simple logic - and surrounding violence and tragedy that it is more than mere coincidence.

[@MaxOakland]

@@searchingfororion Nothing is more than mere coincidence. That’s how reality works

[@JC-yy8iv]

Talking about its impact & influence: When I was a child and lots of older movies hadn’t yet been put on home video, they used to show it on TV once a year (I wanna say at Christmastime?) and it was a big deal, everyone watched it. They didn’t release it on home video until the 50th anniversary, and that was a huge deal as well but I kinda miss the excitement of having to catch something on TV at a specific, infrequent time

[@bitchenboutique6953]

Home video messed up a lot of the *event* of movies like Wizard of Oz. (Also the way Disney would re-release classic movies into theaters every seven years or so and I would go see my favorites every time!)

[@oomflem]

Fun story: My mom grew up watching the wizard of oz on tv once a year like this, but her family only ever had a black and white tv. So when she went to a screening of it a film festival in her twenties and Dorothy got to Munchkinland, she literally yelled "IT'S IN COLOR?" in the theater. I guess this must have happened to a lot of people, but it's still hilarious.

[@marykayryan7891]

I so remember this. And if you messed up and missed it, you were just out of luck until the next year. Same was true for all the Christmas movies. We watched the TV Guide like hawks so we did not miss these once a year treats.

[@KiannarratheDemon666]

@@oomflem My mom had a similar story- their family television was black and white for most of her childhood, but when her older brother and his wife moved in, they brought their color TV and put it in the living room so everyone could watch. My mom specifically always mentioned finally getting the "horse of a different color" joke.

[@literaterose6731]

Oh, yes, I vividly remember that once a year viewing! Totally big deal, we were even allowed to eat in front of the tv for it (on tv trays, which I’m pretty sure have passed out of popular use since). The other yearly tv event in my family was The Ten Commandments, which was always on near Passover. It’s funny to think that fairly soon the concept of only being able to watch something on a specific day and time will be entirely forgotten. (Get off my lawn, you whippersnappers, and all that! 😏)

[@michaelhall2709]

I’ve always felt a small connection to Judy Garland and this wonderful film, due to a chance encounter my mother had with the actress around, I would guess, 1960 or so, when I was about two years old. We had boarded a plane bound for California, and my mother was already seated and had belted us in when she heard a voice exclaim, “What a cute baby!” and looked up to see Dorothy Gale herself, on her way to First Class, who paused long enough to pat me on the head and commiserate on the challenges of motherhood, including a wistful remark about missing her own children. Then she was off, and out of our lives forever. I asked my mother, an unusually perceptive woman who was very savvy about people, how Garland came across, and she said, “Very nice, but a little sad.”

[@smilerachel996]

Hearing about the toxic makeup and heavy costumes and explosions is awful. I remember watching as a kid thinking the actors looked absolutely GOOPED and turns out they were!

[@Kirsten_is_cursed10]

@@MaskedMan66 you sound like a nightmare.

[@ellemarland3879]

I played "the Tinwoodsman" in my middle school musical (gotta love the copywrite free names) and It's kind of funny the similarities between my experience and the experiences of the actual cast. I couldn't sit or lie down in my cardboard box, (despite needing to acording to the script) and the silver hairspray made my kinda sick by the end of it all. But at least my silver face paint didn't dye my skin like the poor wicked witch. Her hands and neck were green for a WEEK

[@ellemarland3879]

Oh, and how could I forget, our lioness had a huge fluffy coat to wear in the un air-conditioned gymatorium during June. It really does seem like we had much smaller versions of the costume malfunctions the actual cast did. Weird.

[@normalizenatalie]

i was a munchkin because i was a child and i got really mad i had to cover my eyes and hide during the wicked witch entrance instead of watching it

[@doefarris2189]

No, he's called The Tinwoodsman in the book, too.

[@willmfrank]

Be thankful that your silver face paint didn't do a Buddy Ebsen number on you. His ordeal was, I'm sure, instrumental in making theatrical makeup safer for performers and cosplayers ever since.

[@Acidfrog475]

@@doefarris2189 He was the *Tin Woodman.* The words tin and woodman are separate, and it's woodman, not woodsman.

[@a.g.r1350]

Not Kaz making a vid about my special interest

[@camillekesler3569]

I’d love to see a similar video about another one of my childhood favorites: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Even though the movie was made to sell chocolate bars, rejected by Roald Dahl, and had its own (less serious) set of safety issues; I absolutely loved it as a child, and find it’s making incredibly fascinating.

[@spicedch4i]

I know nothing about the production of that movie, but that sounds super interesting! Do you know of any articles or facts about it?

[@shyguy7265]

@@spicedch4i i know theres a part where the remaining people are on this weird vehicle and the foam used in that scene caused something for everyone, im not sure what it was or anything but i wanna say they had to be hospitalized

[@magicknight13]

Yesss I would love a video on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!

[@_kaleido]

@@spicedch4i Idk if it’s an urban legend or not but I heard that the child who played Charlie wasn’t told about the scene where Wonka would be screaming at him, so his reaction/crying would be genuine :(

[@austinlewis5459]

Fun fact: I got to meet Meinhardt Raabe (aka the Munchkin Coroner) when I was in elementary school. I always like the coroner part and still remember that day quite fondly haha. He was a sweet little old man happy to entertain a tiny elementary school in the middle of nowhere. I even got his autograph haha.

[@fugithegreat]

I love the story of L. Frank Baum's coat showing up in such a serendipitous way! After all the terrible conditions forced upon the cast and crew, at least there was this one happy occurrence.

[@Friotx78]

@@MaskedMan66 You agree or get blacklisted. It's an intimidating and pressuring work force. All of your stories sound cute! Doesn't excuse mistreatment.

[@DonyaLane]

The coat story gave me chills. That's the kind of sycronicity that should cause you to pay attention... It's a blessing!

[@shirin9216]

The wizard of oz was one of the first movies I ever watched. My family’s dvd of the film was in Farsi, one of my mothers possessions she brought with her from Iran when she immigrated as a teenager. I wouldn’t see it in English until i was maybe seven, but some of my earliest memories are of watching the farsi dub that had meant enough to my mother for her to bring along to a new country. This movie not only pervades time and generation, but language and nationality.

[@mysmirandam.6618]

Shalom

[@neru1584]

It was one of my first too since my mom was such a big fan of older Hollywood and actors, I remember watching it every year with her along with the original willy Wonka and we STILL do

[@shirin9216]

@@MaskedMan66 great point! i experienced the movie this way first, but I went on to read the entirety of the series and its long list of installments throughout the rest of my childhood. my mother saw how much I liked the movie and in turn would give me the books to read. im glad I grew up honoring the legacies of both the film and baum's literature :D

[@mykkie100]

It just happened that I found your wonderful channel after being intrigued by the title, "A Deep Dive into the Horror-filled Production of The Wizard of Oz (1939)." You really did your homework. It's not just that. You have an honest sense of how and why people individually or collectively respond in certain situations. I love your enthusiasm and your honesty. Thanks.

[@Snips.Snails.Fairytales]

I had a friend who loved Baum's books, and was constantly incensed that the film changed the silver slippers to ruby ones. They said it was important that the shoes were silver and the road was gold because the metaphor was supposed to represent something about commerce and capitalism. I'm not sure if that's true, or how effective the metaphor would be on film. I, for one, think that the shoes and maybe the film would not be nearly as striking if they were in silver instead. The constantly glittering ruby is just too magical to overlook. It's really one of the most iconic pieces of film costume history period.

[@cmbeadle2228]

The silver thing comes from a 1950s paper written by a historian who imo was reading way too deeply into it - he believed it was related to momentary policy (in the 1900's the dispute between bimetallism and the gold standard was one of the biggest political schisms around) and that the revealing of the wizard as a fraud was a metaphor for the progold standard President McKinley being a fraud.

[@Chronoplague]

I don't know about the capitalism metaphor, but color was really important in the first three books. Each of the lands had a color and a witch. It's easy to see why they chose this movie to promote technicolor, since color was already a motif. I don't think Baum was a particularly good author, but he did something cool by describing Kansas as grey and drab, and then describing Oz as bright and colorful. It translates very naturally to film. Even if it doesn't fit the color-coded lore of the book, I think ruby was a good choice for the slippers, because they visually tie Dorothy to the colorful and fantastic world she's found herself in.

[@Snips.Snails.Fairytales]

@@Chronoplague that makes much more sense to me honestly. I don't remember all of what they told me about it, but I think their reasoning behind the capitalism metaphor was Baum's political history. A quick look at the wiki mentions the emphasis on silver and gold too, but I haven't read the books myself to have an opinion.

[@ettaz]

Totally agree with you on how iconic those shoes are. You can see any pair of sparkling red, sort of feminine shoes and immediately think Wizard of Oz. Can't wait for Kim Kardashian to wear them on a red carpet soon

[@cam4636]

@@Snips.Snails.Fairytales Supposedly the silver shoes on the golden road were meant to represent the silver standard for currency being implemented in addition to the gold standard (aka, instead of a dollar bill being worth X percent of a gold bar, it could also be worth X percent of a silver bar, so the government isn't just worth the total number of gold bars they had but the total of gold AND silver. -Currency is a pyramid scheme).- All the info I've read on that though just sort of...references all the other papers that are referencing each other, with no 'original' proof. Personally I think it sounds like someone came up with a fan theory and everyone else latched onto it as canon, but that doesn't mean it's NOT the author's meaning, just that I haven't actually seen proof of that.

[@Fallenblackangel]

I remember seeing it as a child, but more memorable was watching it as an adult. I'd get together with my gay friend, and we would make alcoholic pancakes with cream and chocolate sauce and strawberries and watch the Wizard of Oz, before spending the entire day getting dolled up to go out that night to the local gay bar event, that happened once a month. The Wizard of OZ is HUGE in the LGBT+ community. So much so, that one of the little hints those in the community used to give each other, was saying, "I'm a friend of Dorothy's." or "Everyone is a friend of Dorothy here."

[@KaminoKatie]

I guess that the hints fell out of fashion as the years go by

[@Fallenblackangel]

@@KaminoKatie they did. But also, being gay is not as taboo as it once was. We no longer need to speak in code, or put pink triangles in our windows to signify a safe space.

[@colinouille2786]

@@Fallenblackangel that's such a good story!!

[@gaywizard2000]

In Australia they say friend of Kylie?

[@Fallenblackangel]

@@gaywizard2000 I've heard that one too. Friend of Dorothy is the American code. Though I didn't hear friend of Kylie as often.

[@ambermartin3961]

I had the honor of being in a well-done stage production and definitely felt the struggles the main characters went though as they dealt with hot costumes, relatively insane makeup, dancing whilst wearing a flying rig, etc., but this has definitely shown me how far we've come in terms of safety! I was an "everything" from the curtain to the Witch's flying double to a munchkin voice (as I scrubbed off witch makeup to prepare for an Oz citizen) to a puppeteer in the Jitterbug scene, etc. Wow, I wish I still had that energy! Tin Man, Lion and I are still buddies. Btw, we had to put in a lot of hours of flight practice, and they really really really emphasized safety.

[@Theturtleowl]

The part about the actors who played the Munchkins was so sweet in a way. I am so happy that these people felt part of their own community on set.

[@Tram235]

Thank you for this. I’m 75 years old, and as a child I read all 50 plus Oz books, and then I saw the movie. You brought back some wonderful memories for me.

[@kjnodwell]

I love Margaret Hamilton...she had such a fantastic sense of humor about herself!!

[@thesewinggeekmiri9029]

I remember reading this anecdote in a book about the production of the Wizard of Oz, and I never hear it talked about, so I want to share it here: not only was Margaret Hamilton's makeup toxic, but despite the crew's care, some of the copper *did* absorb into her skin. Not much, but enough for it to be noticable: Margaret was visiting with a friend one day, and the friend pointed out "Margaret, you're green!" She checked her face in the mirror and sure enough, there was a slight greenish tinge to her skin! Not solidly green, but still a faint green 'look' to her skin that didn't wash off, and eventually faded away. but that's *nothing* compared to the 3rd degree burns that poor woman suffered

[@whittledraws]

Anecdote time about Margaret being a good parent ;w; I watched Shudder's "Cursed Films" series (very good, talks about dispelling the mindset of films being cursed as much as the things that make ppl think said films are cursed), and Wizard of Oz is the first episode in S2. Margaret Hamilton's son is one of the main people interviewed for this episode, and he tells a really bittersweet story about how after his mom had been burned by the copper paint in the stunt that gave her basically 3rd degree burns all over; she was wrapped head to toe in bandages and before coming home from the hospital she made sure to call her son's nanny and say "hey, tell him i'm really excited to show him this new costume from work, and dont mention i'm injured," and her son recounts being led into the room where Margaret was wrapped from head to toe in bandages to the point she looked like a mummy, and so as to not like traumatize her son she, as previously mentioned, told him it was a new costume from work, so as to reduce the like trauma of the whole experience for him (cause he was 3 or 4 at the time) Anyway, it was a sweet story and he tells plenty more. Also, one more shout into the void, please check out videos about the newly found lost media that is the sesame street episode starring the wicked witch :]

[@LizLuvsCupcakes]

@@MaskedMan66 bestie MGM isn’t gonna fuck you

[@im19ice3]

😭

[@SpellboundWolf]

Margaret Hamilton is a treasure. I watched an edit that only features the street segments of the the lost episode with my mommy & step-dad the day All Things Lost posted about it being released. I told them it was hidden away in the archives & not properly been seen since 1974 to hype it up. It is my new favorite Sesame Street episode & Mommy called it cute. I absolutly love David now. He's such a funny actor. I felt so proud of Big Bird for taking it upon himself to guard Hooper's store.

[@im19ice3]

@@MaskedMan66 i'm not sure there's an amount of horrible that i'd have more tolerance for, but i rest easier knowing my empathy isn't limited by arbitrary degrees of what distress is reasonable or not

[@Labanmahal]

Hello! New watcher here (ironically to a 2-year-old video) because my algorithm gave me you. I’m not even a minute in, and I NEEDED to comment on your extraordinary story-telling ability. The way you cleverly craft your structure adds to the impact of the content you’re covering. I’m so happy I found you!❤

[@panqueque445]

"One day he took a breath in, and nothing happened" That's probably the most terrifying description of not being able to breathe that I've ever heard.

[@jj-if6it]

I wonder what they did to save him?? Like how do you remove the bits of metal. Horrific

[@panqueque445]

@@jj-if6it I wonder the same thing. I doubt they opened him up and scraped the metal, so I'm assuming if they take him away from that environment it can go away on its own? Assisted breathing in the meantime?

[@becauseimafan]

OMG, ABSOLUTE _SAME!_ 😱

[@dcluvspie5777]

Hearing what Margaret went through made me bawl I can't I knew she was burned but hearing the torturous process of removing her makeup was awful. The Wicked Witch of the West is my favorite Character in the movie because her performance is flawless in every single way.

[@dcluvspie5777]

@@MaskedMan66 Not as much pity as it is Empathy but that's what made Margaret such an amazing person she was so positive and wonderful to everyone she met!

[@allyson.m]

The Wizard of Oz was my absolute favorite movie as a child, and it still holds that title even after 25 years. I remember I went through multiple VHS tapes, because I would watch it over and over again and end up fraying the film. I had the Dorothy Barbie doll that had a voice button, and I was Dorothy for Halloween many times. I don’t think I’ll ever lose my love for the movie

[@magbiblue7045]

ok but the way you describe Margaret Hamilton (and also the interview clips) remind me so much of my great grandmother its a little uncanny. they dont look anything alike, but they had the same mannerisms and the same kindness and friendliness with a little bit of snark (but in a very polite way), always having good things to say about everyone else, even if things are rough. Margaret Hamilton sounds like a lovely person

[@mfuentes4961]

I grew up obsessed with the Wizard of Oz and low key still am. I heard that there was some crazy production stories but I didn’t know if they were true until now. Thanks for this amazing video!

[@madkinslayer1131]

My mom was born in 60 and was absolutely in love with this movie! We watched every year! Some of my earliest memories of the holidays are tied to this movie.

[@lizziegraceless]

I played Dorothy in a high school production. I went to a tiny private school with a shoestring budget for theater, so we didn't have much (if any) set. But the show was still magical, and I'll always miss the days I spent in my ruby slippers. I still have them, and this year will be 10 years since 🥲❤️

[@sweetsongtalks]

I once played in a high school production of Thw Wizard of Oz too! Only difference is I was a munchkin. I still think about it fondly, the movie means a lot

[@DawnDavidson]

Wow. I love the bit about the Wizard’s coat actually being L Frank Baum’s. With all the tragedies involved in this film, I’d never heard about that one bit of positive magic. :) Thanks!

[@PolyBiBadger]

Another piece of positive magic, Judy Garland’s daughter married Jack Haley Jr (the son of the actor who played the Tin Man)

[@TheFangirlOtaku]

You should totally do an in-depth dive on the 1986 movie The Labyrinth with the combined talents of David Bowie and Jim Henson. (And of course others) Not only is the movie worth a watch a million times over but it was such an interesting production. Not really all that dark, but unendingly interesting. I just subbed yesterday and I'd love to see it. 😊

[@PeterPan54167]

Ironically Wizard of Oz a film with a very wholesome and family friendly reputation had a dark production, meanwhile Gone with the Wind a film of controversial subject matter(frankly I don’t think it’s that bad, just a little misunderstood) had a very wholesome production. The cast got a long pretty well all things considered , Clark Gabel was a badass by basically telling the studio to desegregate the bathrooms or he would quit.

[@PeterPan54167]

@@MaskedMan66 hard work doesn’t cover the stuff that happens on OZ all the mistreatment, and near fatal injuries. A lot of the cast was lucky to make it out alive.

[@yikesgina]

@@MaskedMan66 how would YOU know? Were you there?!

[@victoriam.4927]

As detailed in this very video, more than 3 people were hurt: Buddy Epsen had to be removed from the production entirely, Jack Haley got a severe eye infection, Margaret Hamilton & her stunt double Betty were burned. Multiple people passed out due to the hot lights/lack of ventilation. While no other major injuries occurred afaik, cast & crew were exposed to dangerous substances (aluminum dust, mercury, asbestos, etc.), and overall filming was very stressful for all involved. I think we can accurately refer to this as a “dark” production.

[@daphne8406]

So proud of Margaret’s doctor for standing up for his patient! Good job sir! 🤗👍 But the filming really sounds like a hellish and hazardous event 😱

[@barrybuckingham6604]

Fantastically researched, and well told! Like millions of kids in the 1970s, I grew up watching this every year. It was an annual event, right up there with Halloween and Christmas. It’s nice to see a younger person who enjoyed it as well. I wonder if kids are still watching it today

[@nicholasc1781]

The part about the coat literally made me tear up. That might be the most beautiful piece of information I have ever learned in my life.

[@JC-yy8iv]

Totally agreed that the Jitterbug didn’t really add anything, not only that but I feel it would have dated the movie in a way that it’s not dated without it

[@ashmorehouse8016]

Margaret Hamilton's doctor was the best character in this tale

[@cyraenea2476]

the only thing i remember about seeing the wizard of oz for the first time is my mom assuring us that “we can turn it off if the witch is too scary”. she had found the witch utterly terrifying as a kid and wanted to make sure we weren’t scared too. ultimately, i think the endurance of the movie is one of its most endearing factors; my grandma showed it to my mom, my mom showed it to me, and if i ever choose to have kids, i’ll show it to them. there’s so much love in sharing this simple but beautiful story with the ones closest to us

[@RedwoodTheElf]

I remember a movie called "under the Rainbow" which was about the production, focusing in particular on the actors hired to play the munchkins. The "Jitterbug" song is actually referenced in the released movie, when the witch is telling the monkeys to go after the trio, she says she "Sent a little insect" to take the fight out of them.

[@Melissa-tw2gp]

My grandpa had it taped on VHS. I watched it obsessively as a kid and demanded my parents call me Dorothy for about a year. Decades later, I showed it to the kids I worked with at a daycare. They were flabbergasted by how *weird* it was in their eyes. I suppose it was so much a part of the culture and my childhood that I had never realized how truly out there those visuals and the plot are. I believe time has only made it more esoteric and fascinating to newer generations.

[@kinghenryxl1747]

Wizard of Oz is still a "movie night" classic for millions around for its legendary production quality and the infamous behind-the-scenes drama. Great video.... Great Hairdo

[@wilderulz]

tbh the thing that scared me the most was the melting scene (and to a lesser degree the feet curling scene). I always left the room before that happened, something about someone screaming while they melted into the floor was terrifying to me

[@lanternheart]

I feel like there are so many urban legends based on the filming of "Oz" that it's a relief to both see a video clearing them up, and a well-researched source list at the end to explore more. Thank you!

[@joepelletier6574]

This past weekend, I took my 4 year old son to an old theater in Detroit - preserved in all of its original 1920's glory - and he saw the film for the first time. He was mesmerized for the entire runtime and it was such a joy to experience that with him.

[@megmccombs453]

@@MaskedMan66 He said it was a 1920s theater. Don’t you have any hobbies besides interjecting your opinion into this entire comment section?

[@markwilliams2620]

@@MaskedMan66 Fox Theater. Built 1928. Fully restored by Mike Illitch and company in 1988. It has hosted numerous film re-releases.

[@markwilliams2620]

@@MaskedMan66 Nice. And _The Shinning_ playing on October 25th.

[@markwilliams2620]

@@MaskedMan66 Some men prefer clams.... Congrats on getting on stage 🤩!

[@markwilliams2620]

@@MaskedMan66 It's a _Sparticus_ reference concerning a conversation between Lawrence Olivier and Tony Curtis. Basically how a buff, militant, vicious politician renowned for his vitriol is also queer AF. The whole "we fear who we are" vibe Kubrick was exploring. It was also a big middle figure to all the 1960's "Manly Men" 50's-60's vibe by showing the leader of the government suppression was also an act of a gay man who had no issues crushing a revolt of the lowest classes..

[@ronniconnelly933]

I watched OZ in 1964 for the first time. I was 9. I have watched it every year it comes on. I’m now 68. I love learning facts about the making of OZ. I appreciate it that much more. I didn’t realize that it hurt a lot of people in the making of it.

[@cassandralyris4918]

At this point I think I love this movie in spite of its production. If you ever cover Judy's fashions through her life I'm here for it. And shame on anyone who thought, or worse, called her fat or ugly.

[@mcjohn5420]

They always had SOMETHING to say to keep the talent questioning their worth. The talent were the ones who had the possibilities of obscenely huge paychecks, along with the ability to demand what they wanted in exchange for agreeing to make movies that, in an uncertain industry, stood the best chance of making pots of money. That this is extraordinarily cruel, imposing crippling self-doubt in the pursuit of profit, is just capitalism, baby. There's a story about a movie talent scout--people who were trained, experienced in, and compensated well for identifying powerful performers--writing a dismissive paragraph about a wildly successful stage performer: "Older. Balding. Can't sing, can't act. Can dance a little." He was talking about Fred Astaire.

[@cassandralyris4918]

@@mcjohn5420 I know, negging is disgusting. Shame on anyone using such horrible tactics. And Fred Astaire was and always will be a legend.

[@SteveCarras]

Well, Cassandra, I sure never did! She was truly adorable 🥰!

[@SmartStart24]

If people think the industry is tough now it was *brutal* back in the “Golden Days”. I have a certain respect for performers from those times. You had to have the toughest of skin.

[@KaminoKatie]

Those actors and singers at the golden age of Hollywood are qualified for a veteran's discount

[@SmartStart24]

@@KaminoKatie lmao no joke!!

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

Literally like they were like putting aluminum on people

[@galacticrainestorm8546]

This is super interesting. I’m only 16, but even for me as a gen-Z kid, I grew up watching The Wizard of Oz constantly. It holds a special place in my heart, and I love how it’s kind of a ‘timeless relic’ in that several generations of kids have watched and enjoyed the movie, and probably still are. It’s interesting to hear more about the history of the movie itself and how it was made. I feel bad for the one who played the wicked witch. I also can’t imagine it feels nice to be casted specifically to play a character who’s portrayed as an ugly hag, or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what they were going for. On top of that, her being treated so poorly by others on set as well. Honestly, looking back, the wicked witch was probably my favorite character from the movie, and when I think about it, she did a phenomenal job. However, it does irk me how toxic beauty standards were even more prominent back then. She was far from an ugly woman, at least in my opinion. She just did very well with portraying an evil character who’s ugly as a whole, in terms of personality and goals, and I think that’s often hard to achieve so well.

[@cattymajiv]

You write VERY well! Please keep writing and honing your skills!

[@jerrihadding2534]

Kaz, good to see you again! It was great getting a comprehensive history of the making of the film from an objective perspective. Thank you! 1956 was the year my family got our first television. Black and white, of course. I was seven and remember being terrified by the flying monkeys, not so much by the wicked witch after she dissolved muttering “What a world. What a world.”. Jerri

[@KaminoKatie]

My mom hated The Wizard of Oz(1939) because of the flying monkeys

[@SunnyMorningPancakes]

For my Mum it was the Lion (the poor cowardly lion) it was the late 60s and in the cinema (on a release) she was probably five or six

[@m.g.4446]

I also was afraid of the tornado and had recurring dreams where I and/or my family members were caught up in it. It was one of the first movies I had as a kid in the 90's so I've been watching it since before I could remember. My mom (born in the late 60's) saw it on TV before they had a color TV so she didn't know until later that it changed from black and white to color in Oz. My grandma said she saw it in the theater in a box with Fred Meijer and Gerald Ford. But my grandma also had about the same reputation for story telling as Judy Garland.

[@1heKing]

President Greald Ford???

[@m.g.4446]

@@1heKing lol, yes, pre-presidency. My grandpa was a pretty skilled ferrier, so despite being a blue-collar worker, he knew a lot of rich people with horses, so it's not quite as far fetched as it sounds at first.

[@im19ice3]

I don't have a particularly deep appreciation for this movie, not nearly as much as my mom does, but your writing was very sincere about it and i somehow found myself crying a bit by the end ❣ Great work as usual, thank you for making❣

[@ethanregan5741]

My great grandfather actually helped make this movie, along with quite a few other movies with MGM. My favorite picture of him is one with him, Bing Crosby, and Grace Kelly. He sadly passed when I was a baby, but I've heard some of his fun stories from my mom and her siblings

[@BottFuso]

As a major Oz fan myself who has written two Oz books in the series I really enjoyed your show. One of my earliest memories of the Wizard of was when we were visiting my Grandmother. She had a color TV and we did not. I thought the movie was in color so I begged my folks to stay at my Grandmother's house till the show was over. They agreed, but then the movie stated and it was in Black and white and I was terribly dissapointed. I told my folks we can go home because it wasn't in color as I had thought. We left and I caught the tail end when we got home, and had no idea I had missed the technocolor magic of Oz. Today I live in a green Victorian home with a yellow brick road that leads to the front door and a life sized Tin Woodman in the flower garden, and yet I learned as fact or two from your show that I didn't know.Great Job!

[@timothywarren9848]

Thank you for responding to me recently. I really appreciate your kind words. Dealing with this allzheimers is difficult, and I don't get any visitors, so I watch KZbin TV alot. I have always liked the Wizard of Oz. I had no idea of all the things you talk about regarding this film. Very interesting stuff. You bring a whole new light to the movie.

[@maggiekarabel123]

My father was babysat by two people who played Munchkins. They were on a bowling league with his parents and used to own a bar called The Munchkin Bar on the South Side of Chicago. It gets weirder. The town where I grew up and currently live hosts The Wizard of Oz festival and they used to bring the remaining Munchkins out for the parade. My grandfather went with us and started yelling and waving at Mary Ellen, one of the Munchkins. So after the parade she came and found him and they caught up. It was the weirdest day.

[@tycobb8974]

Very cool

[@kafrynd4184]

This movie was one of my special interests as a child, I watched it at least once a week including the 2 hour long making-of documentary. So this was really exciting for me to see, I love the way you present!

[@Tine_of_Nice_Dreams]

I noticed a few moments where content was cut out for the mgm crap but seeing this for the first time, what's here is so interesting and fantastic I don't mind missing a few bits. Glad you will get what you earned with this hard work, Kaz!

[@robote7679]

Yesterday I watched -once again-The Wizard of OZ with two friends. One a gentleman of 72 had-somewhat amazingly-never seen it before. We had a good time. But then today I stumble on your wonderful deep dive and found out so much about this beloved film. I'm 68 myself and so grew up watching the yearly showing. Because of that ubiquitous showing I don't imagine there will ever be another movie to hold such a foundational place for such a huge segment of our population. You always do a great job with your well sourced, well researched presentations. Thank you so much.

[@Ara_Arasaka]

Margret is such a sweetie. I’m so glad Mr Rodgers helped her if only a little. I was never afraid of her as well- I thought she was so cool. She’s why I got in to the next set of things I did- Hocus Pocus and Sailor Moon She was a gateway to that. So was Rita Repulsa from power rangers who had a similar effect for me. They were just so energetic and lively that their performance mesmerized me as a kid and I just loved them so much

[@kittensrus168]

Watching it as a child was a huge event for my sister and I. She was born in 63, me, 66. It was always on a Sunday night, and we were allowed to stay home from church! I cried every year when she sang "over the rainbow".

[@aprilsauce5879]

The Wizard of Oz was my first favorite movie as a child. After seeing it on TV in the 80s, my parents ended up purchasing a VCR because I kept asking to watch it again - I remember how excited I was unwrapping the clamshell video case for my birthday, then abandoning the birthday party to immediately watch the movie. The movie has such a special place in my heart because I remember how much it truly captivated me as a kid, and I remember as I got older looking to other Oz related media for more but often being disappointed that it wasn’t like the original (although I do LOVE Return to Oz). This was a fantastic video, like all of your videos, but this one really really reached my heart. ❤️

[@noapplesnofairies]

I just wanna state how wonderful your presentation is, how much insight and research is in there, and how enjoyable it is over all. I just discovered your channel and I really appreciate all the effort and the time you must have put into finding all the little stories, quotes and videos, and I'm already all excited to check out your other content. Thank you so much!

[@reneevandevander5581]

I was afraid of the wizard's giant head but not the witch. Margaret Hamilton did a fabulous job and I found her entertaining, spooky and so memorable.

[@sevenout7119]

I’m a engineer at a aviation company you’ve probably heard of. Great video! Thought i would give you a little information on something you mentioned. Arc lamps are no joke. Now they use xenon lamps but back then carbon arc lamps were used and they produce all the fun light radiation your not supposed to be exposed to in large amounts. Namely infrared and ultraviolet. You can used filters to absorb that form of light radiation but considering it was 39 and the lights were as bright as possible, i doubt they used any. I personally would not want to be anywhere near those lights.

[@violetsparkles5453]

So essentially, it’s like they were being exposed to miniature suns? Nice.

[@SpellboundWolf]

The '30s was so scary!

[@Nightman221k]

I love the part where you pretended to be Margaret Hamilton’s doctor. That doctor sounds badass. Everyone deserves a doctor who cares that much.

[@arnold20139]

I love watching these videos, just shows how horrible Hollywood has always been, didn't matter what year or decade.

[@Pragabond]

When there's enough money to be made the people willing to do anything to make it WILL show up and ruin anything sadly.