Originally Dorothy Was Supposed To Be A Glamorous Blonde - And Other Tidbits About The Wizard Of Oz That You Might Not Have Known.

The tornado that took Dorothy to Oz

The tornado that eventually landed Dorothy in the land of Oz was made of a 35 foot long muslin stocking spun around in dust and dirt.

Mismatched

There were 4 pairs of Ruby Slippers made in the making of this movie. Some say as many as 17 pairs have been made. They are now on display at the Smithsonian Institution Museum. However they are a mismatched pair. The carpet in front of this display has been replaced several times due to wear and tear.

Deleted Jitterbug scene

A six minute scene that took over a month to rehearse and cost $80,000 was cut from the movie as studio executives feared that it would date the film. The "Jitterbug" was a tool used by the Wicked Witch of the West which if bitten by it, it would cause you to break out in dance. She sent the bug to bite Dorothy and her friends right before the Flying Monkeys swoop her up! The scene begins with the Scare Crow saying....

"I think I see a jijik

And he's fuzzy and he's furry.

I haven't got a brain

But I think I ought to worry."

® MGM

Had 20th Century Fox won the bid against Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Shirley Temple would have most likely played the part of Dorothy. The Wizard of Oz was the first MGM film to be televised on a national network

Dorothy Louise Gage

Dorothy Louise Gage, was born on June 11, 1898 to L. Frank Baum's brother and his wife Sophie Jewel and Thomas Clarkson Gage. Frank and his wife Maud had 4 boys and always wanted a little girl. Maud was devastated when her little niece passed away exactly 5 months later. Maud had to be treated medically for her grief. To comfort his wife he named the heroine Dorothy, for ever immortalizing her and he dedicated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to his wife, which he had already been working on and almost completed when baby Dorothy was born.

Dorothy as a glamorous blonde?

I am so glad they decided NOT to go with their original plan of making Dorothy a blonde with glamorous make-up. Wouldn't have made much sense to me considering she lived in a very modest farm house and wasn't afraid to get a little dirty. Remember her falling into the pig pen?

I always wondered how they did this

The horse of many color, thankfully no harmful dies were used. To color these horses they used orange, yellow, red, green, blue and purple gelatin powder. They had to shoot the scene quickly though because horses LOVE sugar and you guessed it, they started licking it off.

Rumor has it....

A rumor that one of the Munchkins can be seen hanging from a tree in the background of one of their "Off to see the Wizard" scenes. Suggesting that a Munchkin hung himself. However, it was later proven false. It was actually a wild crane used in the forest scene.

Toto was afraid

Toto did like the steam that came from the Tin-Man's funnel hat and can be seen running out of the scene.

Most of the main characters played 2 parts...

Most of the main characters played 2 parts but not Frank Morgan! He played 5 parts!

Professor Marvel - the shady traveling fortune teller.

The Doorman to the Emerald City.

The Cabbie that drew the wagon for the horse of many colors.

The Sobbing Wizard's Guard

and last but not least......

The Wizard of Oz

Auntie Em

Clara Blandick, who played Auntie Em had many health issues and became suicidal. Eventually taking her own life, but not before making her self look pretty in a royal blue dressing gown and placing near and dear mementos about her room and before taking an over dose of sleeping pills she also wrote a note that later her land lady would find that said, "I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen."

Yum!

After discovering that oil used to loosen up the Tin-Man's joints would not photograph well, they opted to use chocolate syrup instead.