The Disastrous Production History of The Wizard of Oz

A Deep Dive Documentary into the production history of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. What were the early (and failed) adaptations? Why did the 1939 version have so many problems? What about all the lost footage, including the first 2 weeks that was be an entirely different version of the film altogether? We’ll explore all of this is and more!

PRIMARY INFORMATIONAL SOURCES:

American Experience: American Oz - PBS / The WGBH Educational Foundation

The Making of the Wonderful Wizard Of Oz - © Warner Bros. In association with Leva Filmworks, Inc.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic (1990) - © Warner Bros.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Original Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers (Book Now in Public Domain)

The Making of the Wizard of Oz - Aljean Harmetz - Published by Alfred A. Knopf, INC. © 1977 by Aljean Harmetz

The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History - Puck Productions - By John Fricke, Jay Scarfing, William Stillman. Warner Books, INC. - © John Fricke, Jay Scarfing, William Stillman.

The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75th Anniversary Companion - Copyright © Warner Bros. Global Publishing

The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Movie Classic - By John Fricke and Jonathan Shirshekan, published by Metro Books - © John Fricke and Jonathan Shirshekan

OZ: Before The Rainbow - Mark Evan Swartz, published by The John Hopkins University Press

The Oz Scrapbook - By David L. Greene and Dick Martin - Published by Random House Inc., New York - © David L. Greene and Dick Martin

The Wizard of Oz: The Artistry and Magic of the 1939 M-G-M Classic - By Jay Scarfing and William Stillman - Published by Gramercy Books, a devision of Random House Inc., New York - © Jay Scarfing and William Stillman

ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONAL SOURCES:

South Dakota State Historical Society

Museum of the City of New York

Syracuse University Libraries

The New York Public Library

The New Yorker

Hathi Trust

Library of Congress

(The rest of the attributions can be found in the video’s end credits, as they were far to long for the description)

[thewholecircus]

Fun fact: if you watch an OSHA workplace safety video and wizard of oz at the same time, they sync up perfectly

[shyb]

A few weeks ago, my dad was telling us a story about seeing the wizard of OZ on a colored TV for the first time. He said the man who had the TV was flipping out because he thought it was broken. They hadn't realized that the wizard of OZ didn't have color in the beginning.

[kait]

The fact that young Judy Garland was seen as ugly is wild to me

[QuietMn]

Kansas being gray and OZ being colorful is pretty much in the book, it mentions the grass is burnt gray and matches the dirt. It made logical sense to shoot it that way, it's wild only 1 screenwriter put it in there

[evanmak]

Margaret Hamilton was a treasure to the world. Her being Judy's emotional support on the set is so wholesome.

[PetProjects]

A few days ago, I was like "Yesterworld hasn't posted in several months. Hope they're ok." And then BOOM

[ozvlog]

Hi there! I’m a Wizard of Oz historian and this was an excellent video! A couple of details were myth/legend rather than fact, but the major points were all perfect! 💚 Well done!

[WysteriaGuitar]

I actually met Buddy Ebsen when I was in High School. He came to our school not sure why. He was at an advanced age by then but such a gentleman and all around nice guy.

[IAmTheShadowStar]

"The song stays. Or we go" what a baller way to protest against the suits, & unlike most cases in history it actually worked.

[epicgamerhank]

I find it ironic that Buddy Ebsen’s project with Disney led to the creation of audio animatronics when years ago he was originally supposed to play the Tin Man, who is basically a robot.

[maxxpowerd]

It's one thing that these actors suffered so greatly for a film that is still watched nearly 100 years later.

Now imagine all those who did the same for movies that fell into obscurity.

[TheDigitalApple]

If I remember the story correctly The Wizard of Oz’s production was so dangerous and disastrous that Hollywood had to put in new safety measures for actors during future film production.

[unclegumbald]

Margaret Hamilton had it right: If you're notorious for terrifying children for decades and wanna go on an apology tour: go 👏on 👏Sesame 👏Street! 👏

[alysssabear]

The production history of this film is a tale as old as time but this was definitely the most in depth, informative and entertaining of them all.

[Julie-pum]

As someone who just turned 66 this month I remember being so excited when The Wizard of Oz was going to be shown on TV! This only happened once a year and my siblings and I couldn’t wait to watch it! Then when my family got our first color TV it became even more magical! I remember at one point it was introduced by Danny Kaye! Such a memorable part of my childhood ❤❤❤

[VeggiePun]

Hearing that oldtimey guy measure stage lights in, "Candle power" blew my little mind

[UlrichTheOmega]

The only surviving Buddy Epsen material is the "We're Off To See The Wizard" reprise. You can hear him pronounce Wizard differently from Jack Haley.

[kestreldomann]

"movie studios put out movie after movie with little regard to quality, just hoping one would be a hit"

*TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE*

[luxythefool]

God, hearing the detector calling Judy “his little hunchback” is fucking depressing. I never really understood the beauty standards of the time until I heard that for the first time. I’m glad times have changed and my heart goes out to Judy.❤

[wstine]

The Wicked Witch of the West was my mom's favorite character. Margaret Hamilton really cooked in that role.... Literally.