Top 10 Things Only Adults Notice in The Wizard of Oz

"The Wizard of Oz" works on another level as an adult. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the wonderful, wizardly, and weird things about “The Wizard of Oz” that might have grabbed their broomsticks and flown over our heads when we were kids. Our countdown includes where are Dorothy's parents?, is Glinda really all that good? Dorothy's shoes are meant to be silver, and more! Are there any tidbits from “The Wizard of Oz” that YOU only spotted only after you got older? There’s no place like the comments section to share them with us!

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#TheWizardOfOz #Wicked #JudyGarland #OnlyAdults #Oz

[chriskay]

Margaret Hamilton was so convincing as the Wicked Witch of the West that children were scared of her. Fred Rodgers decided to bring her on as a guest on "Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood" to show kids that she was just "pretending" to be a witch in the movie and that in fact she was actually a kind and loving person.

[Revolver]

It was so special when I was a child to see, once a year on tv, The Wizard of Oz.

[JohnSmith-ctjd]

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"--Such an iconic line and used again and again for many reasons.

[rebeccanorris]

When i was a child this movie was a big excitement in our house every year. My mom would sit all 8 of us in front of that old black and white tv set with popcorn. All day long we would be the " perfect" 8 kids, because my mom would say, " you all better be good or no Wizard if Oz tonight" it brings back wonderful memories of my siblings and my mom. And still today at 69 i cant wait to watch it. 💕

[DogDad]

My favorite movie quote of all time comes from The Wizard of Oz and I overlooked it for many decades.
I’m nearly 60 years old and didn’t meet my true love until I was 40.
Shortly after we met we watched it together and had seen it many times before unknowingly as children and young adults.
The quote comes late in the movie when the all powerful Oz gives the Tin Man a Heart watch/clock and says something I now cherish since my love died almost five years ago when he says “A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others”.
My Rae was loved and thought of by so many people she impacted in her life that this quote stays with me always.

[flarrfan]

I think you need to be older, if not adult, to get Scarecrow's line "Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?"

[cvent]

One of my Top 10 favorite movies. When I was a kid back in the Stone Age, it came on once a year and was a big deal. Families would plan to be home together to watch it. Jiffy Pop was always on the menu! No one worried about any of the things you mentioned. I always loved the flying monkeys, hated Miss Gulch and still shout, "Run Toto, Run!" every time he makes his escape. This movie never gets old. Not everything needs to be over-analyzed. Just sit back and enjoy this fabulous movie.

[franvarga]

So many great lines from this movie: "we're not in Kansas anymore", "Pay not attention to that man behind the curtain"... the list goes on and on. A true classic.

[patrickdarcie]

When I was young, this movie was aired once a year around Christmas....it was a very important event in our home and I remember it fondly...

[marywatkins]

I have fond memories of being scared as a kid watching this on TV. It's a brilliant film. One thing I noticed as an adult is the very excellent acting by everyone in the film, even minor characters like Uncle Henry. Watch his face in the scene where Aunt Em is almost telling Miss Gulch off over the Toto episode. "Just because you own half the county . . . but being a Christian woman, I can't!" His facial expressions go from Ooh-ooh to bemusement, very subtle. Everyone is good.

[robertkomanec]

The movie was re-released in the early 1950s. My mother had taken my sister and me (both of us very young--neither of us had started kindergarten yet) to Downtown Cleveland to do some shopping. As we passed one of the movie theaters on Euclid Ave., Mom stopped in her tracks. Change in plans. She bought us all tickets to the movie of which I had no idea what it was about. Seriously. And after all the years, I still remember that day. (I am now 74.) Being the reader that was, for Christmas that year, I received the Wonder Book edition of "The Wizard Of Oz". Memories . .

[BruinPhD]

Not necessarily missed tidbits, but:

1. The studio did test silver slippers, but decided they just didn’t read well on screen.
2. Shirley Temple as Dorothy? It almost happened. Would have been a wildly different movie.
3. When the movie was taken over by a new directing/production staff, Over the Rainbow nearly got the ax. They thought it was too maudlin for the film. Can you imagine?
4. The coat Frank Morgan wears as Professor Marvel belonged to L. Frank Baum.
5. Some people thought the Oz books were subversive and seemed to be supporting a socialist or communist agenda. We’ve been ridiculous for a long time. 😂.

Yeah, I’m a bit of a dork about the movie. 🤣

[jeffl.]

Something that's likely not as well known as it was in 1939: Why the adults go into a panicked scramble to get Dorothy out of the pig pen when she tumbles into it.
They're in a rush to get her out of it because pigs can, will, and have eaten people.

[Muffy-bg]

I watched The Wizard of Oz at a local theater for an 80th anniversary showing. I have seen this dozens of times on tv, but had never noticed Toto had his own bed in Dorothy’s room.

[kkvegas]

I always notice Dorothy’s interaction with Professor Marvel where he guesses she’s running away because “they don’t understand you at home” and she wants to see great lands, etc. I want her to exclaim, “I’m running away because someone is trying to kill my dog!!”

[debbieheidt]

One of the things that I always wondered about, how could Dorothy fall into the pigs' pen and not get dirty?

[marvinmartin]

I highly recommend seeing this on a big screen! It makes a big difference!

[JohnLittrell-fobx]

One of the lines that I never listened to when I was a child watching the movie and completely missed this until i was an adult...the Wizard told the Tin Man " that a heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others" ...that's heavy and great advice to live by...think about it!

[LKMNOP]

I got to see in graduate school wizard of Oz on the giant scream that we used to have back in the '60s. This was in the 1980s but they played it in the auditorium. That scene where the cabin door opens and you see us is so fantastic on the giant screen. I can't describe to you The difference. And yes I was an adult. But I think kids did see that difference when it was a giant green as opposed to the smaller ones of today or the TVs that we first watched it on. Another great scene was when the witch turns her face to the audience and laughs and you see that giant face on that giant screen and you're looking at an auditorium jammed with students and adults who all involuntarily push themselves back in their seats!

[myspin]

2 things:
1) If you can get killed by a bucket of water, would you leave one lying around your castle?
2) The Professor states he's a bad wizard, but a good man. I disagree. He sent Dorothy and her companions to certain death to retrieve the Witch's broomstick just so they would stop bugging him.