Five Questions I Had Watching...The Wizard of Oz
Name a more classic movie than The Wizard of Oz, I'll wait. For many of us, this is a childhood staple that never fails to delight when we get the chance to watch it again, and since I've just done that, I'm looking at it with some questions in mind.
via charitydingle
Here are Five Questions I Had Watching...The Wizard of Oz!
1. How many pairs of ruby slippers are there?
Five that we know about, but who knows how many other pairs are out there. Adrian, the famed MGM costume designer, created the ruby slippers (to take advantage of Technicolor, as the slippers were grey in the original book).
Four surviving pairs of ruby red slippers were made from pumps by Innes Shoe Company; one was made a half-size larger because Judy Garland's feet would swell up in the afternoons.
One pair is in the Smithsonian, and they're known as the People's Shoes; another was sold at auction and put on various displays; another pair is on display at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum; and a pair was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum and returned in 2018.
2. Who are some of the uncredited voices in The Wizard of Oz?
Okay, so one of my favourite parts of The Wizard of Oz is when Dorothy's picking apples off the tree and it suddenly reaches out and slaps her hand. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Anyways, that brief—and memorable—deep voice of the Crab Apple Tree is Abe Dinovitch, who made a number of small or uncredited film appearances from the '30s to the '50s.
When the Tin Man is singing 'If I Only Had a Heart' and the sweet voice sings back "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" that's Andrea Caselotti, the voice of Disney's Snow White. Though she had an angelic voice, she never really got a chance to use it because Walt Disney signed her to a restrictive contract, ensuring that she'd forever remain the voice of Snow White and that people wouldn't ever know that there was a real person behind that voice.
3. Did Margaret Hamilton ever resent The Wizard of Oz for essentially typecasting her?
via charitydingle
Let's be honest, The Wicked Witch of the West was terrifying as a child, and Margaret Hamilton plays her deliciously. There's a reason why she's number four on the American Film Institute's Top 50 Villains list, but what was Margaret Hamilton really like?
By all accounts, she was a sweetheart who stepped into the role when the more glamorous version of the Wicked Witch was scrapped. Though she suffered severe burns as a result of a stunt gone wrong, she returned to the set after recuperating (she admitted though that she'd had no choice, because you couldn't sue in those days) and demanded that there be no more fire stunts around her.
As a former school teacher before she moved to film, Margaret Hamilton was very conscious of children's reactions to the movie, and went out of her way to work with children to show them that she wasn't like her film counterpart. She also donated and volunteered extensively with children's charities. On an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood, she used her platform to talk about make believe and costumes.
4. Who wrote the songs for The Wizard of Oz?
Some of film history's most beloved and most memorable songs are from The Wizard of Oz (if I tallied up in a year how often I'm humming one of these tunes, it'd be in the double digits, at least). If you've read this far and you're not humming 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' or 'If I Only Had a Brain' or (my favourite) 'If I Were King of the Forest', leave a comment below and tell me how you've managed it.
Anyways, the music for The Wizard of Oz was composed by Harold Arlen and the lyrics were written by Yip Harburg. For their contribution to the film, they won the Oscar for Best Song for 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.'
Some of Harold Arlen's other best known works include 'The Man That Got Away' from Judy Garland's A Star is Born, 'Stormy Weather' and 'I've Got the World on a String.'
Some of Yip Harburg's other best known works include 'April in Paris', 'Old Devil Moon' and 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?'
In addition to the music and lyrics of the songbook, Herbert Stothart won the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz.
5. What happened to the core four's careers after The Wizard of Oz?
via tumblr, source unknown
Judy Garland had the most tragic—and most public—career after The Wizard of Oz. After a career spent in musicals, plus a universally-praised performance in 1954's A Star is Born, Judy died in 1969 of an accidental overdose. Most focus on the tragic nature of her life and career, and you can't separate what the studio did to her from how it so totally affected her life. That she was able to create such memorable performances and recordings is a testament to her talent.
Ray Bolger (The Scarecrow) continued on in film, but if you look at his filmography, he never made another film on such a huge, or beloved, scale as The Wizard of Oz. He worked frequently in film and on television, and was the last of the main cast to die, succumbing to cancer in 1987.
Jack Haley (The Tin Man) acted throughout the '40s but retired in that decade and made a career change, working in real estate and appearing sporadically on television. His son, Jack Haley, Jr., was a film producer (and married Liza Minnelli, Judy's daughter) whose credits include That's Entertainment! Jack Haley died in 1979.
Bert Lahr (The Cowardly Lion) only appeared sporadically in film after The Wizard of Oz, but was active on the stage, appearing in the US premiere of Waiting for Godot. My favourite thing about Bert Lahr was how he allegedly said, when told that Hollywood had a habit of typecasting actors, "How many parts are there for lions?" He died in 1967.
Comments
Post a Comment