It's like seeing The Wizard of Oz for the first time! — Page 2

It was so delightful to hear them giggle enthusiastically every time the Lion opened his mouth. LS has decided that he's going to be the Lion for Halloween. He's been practicing saying "Put 'em up! Put 'em UP!"

Besty, I told them that we waited for the annual broadcast of THE WIZARD OF OZ just as we waited for Christmas! Oh, and please recount the story of you and Maggie here for Reg. It's just so lovely.

(Hi, Reg!)

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So glad to hear that this truly magical movie can still capture the imaginations and hearts of today's children.

As a small child, the yearly airing of The Wizard of Oz was always a celebration. And it always meant a "best friends" sleepover, because the movie is always best watched with others who love it! Of course, I would always bury my head in the cushions when "Oz the Great and Terrible" made his appearance. The witch didn't scare me....it was the big green floating head!

The first Halloween costume I remember choosing for myself was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Of course, a Cowardly Lion will be adorable!

Oh, yes, SM2, I know exactly what you mean!

I realized tonight that if they were to remake THE WIZARD OF OZ, Danny Burstein should play the Lion! In fact, I said something like, "Oh my god, it's Danny Burstein!" and they took me literally. So throughout the movie, they thought it was Danny.

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MP!!! what a cool night... was he freaked out?? i remember as a kid the wicked witch scared the crap out of me and my sister.

Dottie, I know what you mean.

So many ordinary, everyday things became "charged" for me because of "Oz": baskets, gingham, funnels (like the Tin Man's hat), oil cans. They all seemed kind of magical whenever I encountered them in real life.

I love this thread! It makes me smile.

RG, yes coming into contact with an oil can for the first time reminded me of The Wizard of Oz!! My dad used to have an old fashioned one in our garage.

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Miss P, I just loved the sound the oil can made.

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I found a few old posts, I'd written on the subject of Margaret Hamilton and this movie. I hope you don't mind if I copy/paste from my own BWW past...




I grew up in Kansas, and we were asked by the teacher at the start of second grade to have a pen pal. Someone we had met the summer before. Not a relative, but a friend or acquaintance that we would correspond with throughout the school year.

My family and I had travelled back east just a few weeks earlier to NY to my Uncle's wedding, and due to a few strings pulled by my grandfather (who was a former executive at Warner Bros.), I had the chance to meet Margaret Hamilton while she was appearing at the (brand new) Lincoln Center production of "Oklahoma!."

(The same one Miss Penny saw!)

One of my biggest thrills in life was sitting in Margaret Hamilton's dressing room ALONE. I was 7 years old, and I asked her how she melted in the movie. She was so sweet and told me everything, as if she were saying it for the first time to anyone. She explained about the trap door, the steam, and the tacks they used to keep her dress in place while they lowered her down slowly.

Then I bravely asked her if she would do the witch's laugh for me... because as much as I wanted to believe her, I just couldn't see that this sweet little old lady taking her theatre makeup off was REALLY the Wicked Witch of the West.

So she smiled at me and nodded, and then she did the laugh... Just her and me ALONE in that dressing room.

I will never forget it as long as I live. I was suddenly in the presence of the Wicked Witch of the West.

So... I chose for my pen pal assignment... (you guessed it) the Wicked Witch of the West! My teacher was upset, because she thought I was joking with her, I guess. She actually called my mom at home and complained. My mom asked her to explain the assignment, and then defended my choice. As long as "Maggie" would agree to do it, why should this be a problem or issue?

Miss Hamilton agreed to do it.

I still have the letters and postcards from her that we wrote back and forth during that year. What an incredibly sweet, thoughtful, classy lady.

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I feel like "The Wizard of Oz" is an allegory for my own life. I grew up in the gray Kansas surroundings like Dorothy. I had parents who loved me, but life was safe... and highly ordinary (or at least I THOUGHT so, but now I see just how special and unique it was!). I longed to see what the "colorful" world was like outside of my home.

So when my parents divorced, in an emotional "tornado," I was whisked away to New York City and then Hollywood. I've met all sorts of people on my journey in this strange land. Wonderful "characters" who seem to be searching for many things, but mostly brains, heart or courage. And as Judy says in the film, "some of this place wasn't very nice, but most of it was BEAUTIFUL."

And as much as I'm doing well in the big (Emerald) city of Movieland, I do long for a simpler life... like the one I had growing up in Kansas. In fact, I think my partner and I might just end up there again someday. We will have seen and experienced "Oz" in all its glory, but when it comes down to it... there's no place like home.

For me... it was, is and always will be my favorite film.

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I remember the first time I heard Billie Burke's "ad libbed" line "What a smell of sulfur!" I couldn't believe they had let her say it and I couldn't believe they had left it in.

I felt as if no one had ever noticed it before me.

Of course, back then before VCRs, we had to wait an entire year to see it again, until they showed it again.

I couldn't wait to see if she would say it again, as if somehow, it had been a one-time-only thing.

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The first time I watched The Wizard Of Oz was when I was about 6 years old. My parents had just bought our first Color TV (yes...we were poor, and even though it was 1990, we still had a black & white one.)

Anyway, my mother wouldn't let my brother and I watch the TV until 8pm that night, for that was when The Wizard Of Oz was going to air on television. So we waited all day, asking "Is it 8 yet? Is it 8 yet?"

Finally - 8pm arrived. My brother and I sat down right in front of the TV - and to our disappointment, the movie began - WITH NO COLOR! (My mom turned on the TV a little late so it had already scrolled through the credits...lucky for her, we saw no commercials.) My mother told us that the TV was probably broken, and she'd have to take it back the next day.

Well, we continued to watch the movie (in a very disappointed state) until FINALLY - my mom said "Maybe if I push THIS button!" right as Dorothy steps into Munchkinland. And voila! COLOR! We couldn't believe it!

I remember pushing the "pretend" button to try and get the TV to go back to black and white (or brown) ... but it never worked.

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Thanks, Elph!

That's a great memory, Bud. I remember how startling it was when the switch came from B&W to color.

It was done in such a clever way too, and most people aren't even aware of the simple trick they used to achieve it. Nowadays they would just digitally remove the color from Dorothy and the inside of her house, as she opened the door into Munchkinland, but that wasn't possible back in 1939 (or at least, if they had tried to put a mask or matte around her, it would have looked horrible with the technology they had at the time).

So they used a simple staging trick and two actresses! The locked-off shot where Dorothy goes to the door with her back to the camera and opens it isn't Judy Garland! Its her stand-in (Bobbie Koshay) wearing a B&W (with sepia tone) dress, and her arms, hair, everything was colored to look like she was in B&W. The inside of the house was painted that way too. So when she opens the door, you'll notice, she steps back out of the frame. That's when she handed Terry (the dog playing Toto) to Judy Garland, who was dressed as the full-color "Dorothy." It's Judy who then walks back into the shot and through the doorway, stepping into the Technicolor world in her blue and white checked dress. It's all done in one continuous take, with no edits, and no special visual effects used.

At the time (and for a half century to come) it was pretty eye-popping. (Oh, hell, it still gives me chills!)

I've actually seen the B&W dress (with kind of a tea-dyed look to it). It was on display when they opened the Century City Mall and original multiplex back in the '80s here in L.A. There was no explanation as to why the dress looked the way it did, and at the time, I just thought, "Wow, this dress has really faded over the years! It looks pretty bad. The light-blue checks have turned black!"

It was only a few years later that I learned about the staging trick for that famous shot... and I realized I had seen the actual dress that was used for that shot (and only for that one shot). Pretty cool stuff!


EDIT: Here's a (not very good) video clip showing you the shot, as described above with the two actresses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqpCVVNXhqs

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Updated On: 9/28/08 at 11:57 AM