17 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About “The Wizard Of Oz” — Page 2

I love that GIF, and moment in the film too, but I was at a loss as to why Tot... sorry Terry obviously was scared off by the Tin Man's eruption. Even as a kid that was one of my favorite moments.

Going back to Dorothy's dress, there are wonderful close-ups in this video.
Judy Garland's original costume

Speaking of altering colors for the Technicolor cameras (and lights) ...

They had a hell of a time getting the Yellow Brick Road to photograph as yellow. They tried all sorts of fancy paints and tinting the bricks, but it kept turning either greenish or orange under the lights.

Finally, they tried a really cheap, basic house paint, and it worked perfectly.

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I would definitely love it! Right up my alley. It seems strange to find a "Hollywood oasis" like that in Ireland, but I'm so glad they have it and are taking good care of it.

I've seen two huge collections of "Hollywood stuff," one public (Debbie Reynolds) and one private (Michael Shaw).

I saw Debbie's full collection when she had it displayed in her own hotel in Las Vegas. It was quite elaborate (many rooms that you walked through). And it was great to see so many film costumes up close. I was so sad to see them all auctioned off recently. There will never be a collection like that in one place again. It was very special.

Michael Shaw's collection isn't as large, but he owns (or owned) some really great key pieces: the now-stolen pair of ruby slippers, one of Dorothy's dresses, a Munchkin soldier's uniform, a Wicked Witch hat, Miss Gulch's shoes ... and that's just the Oz stuff. He also had in his collection the painting of Gene Tierney from Laura, props from both Cleopatra films (Colbert and Taylor), the Maltese Falcon (I wonder if that's the one recently sold), the photo-portrait of Jane Seymour from Somewhere In Time (he rescued that from the trash), four of the eight Oscars won by Edith Head, John Travolta's T-Birds "Grease" jacket, Cyd Charisse's green flapper dress from "Singin' in the Rain." Lots of very cool stuff.

I know at one point Debbie and Michael were working together to try to open a museum jointly. Sadly, it never happened ... then Debbie's Hollywood Museum (at the Hollywood & Highland complex) never opened ... and then came her auction.

Another cool thing they have in Los Angeles during "Oscar season" each year is at FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) downtown in Los Angeles. Once the nominations come out, they display the costumes from all of the nominated films, plus they usually have a dozen or so past winners. It's a wonderful way to spend a few hours, walking through the rooms with all these "cool clothes." I saw everything from Titanic, Shakespeare In Love, the Matrix, Elizabeth, etc. So many great designs. And the best part? The exhibit is free and open to the public.

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I'm happy that the Newbridge Silverware store is using it as a gimmick then.

It's a shame someone couldn't figure out a way to do that with Debbie Reynolds' collection before she sold it off in bits and pieces.

Now the Motion Picture Academy is opening a museum. They got the recently auctioned ruby slippers, donated by Leonard di Caprio and others, but they're going to have to chase down many other pieces. I assume the Academy has a decent enough stash to start with, on their own, but it couldn't rival Debbie's collection. I look forward to the day when that museum opens.

Until then ... we have the Newbridge Silverware store!

... and whatever random pieces show up at a Hardrock Cafe, I guess.

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Here's the dress on display at the NC theme park.

At the time of that photo, the dress was supposedly an authentic one. There's another Emerald City costume to the left of the big one, but I can't make out (or recall) what it is.

The Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, MN, has some cool things, too. They have a couple of spears carried by the Winkie soldiers. They also have the carriage pulled by the Horse of a Different Color, during The Merry Old Land of Oz sequence.

That carriage was also authenticated as one of Abraham Lincoln's presidential carriages, which is pretty cool. A cross-collectible if there ever was one!

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I asked John Fricke about that once. I got the impression that no one is 100-percent sure. He thinks it's more likely it was drummed up as studio publicity rather than freakish coincidence. He didn't go any further than that.

My only argument with that is they really didn't publicize it after they found out. It was written up in the '70s by Aljean Harmetz in her book, although people have discredited several things she wrote about already.

Still, it's possible, since the Baums lived in Hollywood and Mrs. Baum donated old clothes to charity. It's possible that the MGM costume department picked up that coat, and it made its way to Frank Morgan as Professor Marvel in the movie. Supposedly, Maud Baum verbally authenticated it as one of her husband's old coats. There was no big article written about it at the time, and she didn't go on record or provide any certificate of authenticity, etc.

Ms. Harmetz said that MGM decided not to publicize it because the story sounded too far-fetched to be true ... even though it was.

Shorter answer: I dunno.

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I do, too. I just don't think MGM would drum up such a great (and odd) story and then not publicize it. To what purpose?

Even though there's no proof, it's one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" tales to me.

... yet part of me puts it in the "hanging Munchkin" category, too.

Still, I personally tend to believe this one.

Professor Marvel's coat:





L. Frank Baum:



(By the way, Frank looks a bit like themysteriousgrowl in this shot.

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Have you ever gotten apple juice in your eye before? It BURNS!

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SM2 --- I love that book, too. I am a "knowledgable fan," but I am by no means an expert on this subject. I heard fairly recently, as in the last couple of years, that Aljean's book states many things that just aren't true by more than one "expert" in the field. So you'd have to ask them.

Personally, I think we should get all experts on this (or any) subject into a big ring and let them mud wrestle it out.

Winner gets to say what really happened. That sounds fair and rational to me.

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That's just gossip.