The Wizard of Oz was made by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio. Samuel Goldwyn had bought the film rights to Baum’s book on January 26, 1934 for $40,000 dollars according to Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf authors of The Wizard of Oz: The Screenplay.  The film had a two million dollar budget. The production of this film began in October, 1938 according to the introduction written by Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West) in Aljean Harmetz’s The Making of the Wizard of Oz.  Ms. Hamilton goes on to state that there were two directors hired prior to Victor Fleming, who was the director of the 1939 film. The two prior directors were Richard Thorpe and George Cukor. Even though Victor Fleming is given the sole screen credit for the direction of this film, he did not complete it. With three weeks left to wrap the film up, Fleming was called back to MGM to complete Gone With the Wind. King Vidor completed the filming of the film. 

The person in charge of making The Wizard of Oz for MGM was Mervyn LeRoy who had replaced Irving G. Thalberg, who died in 1936.  Arthur Freed, who wanted to be the producer of this film, became LeRoy’s assistant in the production. It was the custom of MGM to assign several screenwriters to develop a screenplay. This production was no exceptions One MGM screenwriter that would emerge as a leading contender with a viable screenplay was Noel Langley. MGM was not totally satisfied with Langley’s screenplay. It was at this time that the Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf were assigned to assist Langley. What resulted was the 1939 classic film, The Wizard of Oz. One more person’s contribution’s must be noted in this screenplay. That person is John Lee Mahin who had collaborated on several previous projects with the director Victor Fleming. Mahin had made several key revisions to the final script. Among them were the following: 1) he made Dorothy the central character from the first shot 2) he added the third farm hand named Zeke who became the Lion 3) introduced Toto’s chasing Miss Gulch’s cat in the balloon scene at the end.

As the screenplay was in the process of being developed, LeRoy’s attention began to focus on the problem of developing a musical score for the film. Arthur Freed suggested to Mervyn LeRoy that he hire Harold Arlen and Edgar Yipsel(Yip) Harburg to write the music and lyrics to the songs needed for the film. LeRoy accepted the suggestion, the problem of whom would develop the musical score had been solved. 

Judy Garland was sixteen when the filming of The Wizard of began.  Judy Garland was not MGM’s first choice to play the role of Dorothy. Some people in MGM wanted Shirley Temple to play Dorothy.  But, due to a contractual commitment to Fox, Shirley Temple was not available. During the filming Judy Garland had to endure two hardships: she was kept on a strict diet and she was forced to wear a binding cloth to keep her breasts down.

Judy Garland was not the only actor on the cast that had to endure hardships during the making of this film. The other key actors, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, and Margaret Hamilton had some hardships under which they had to labor. Their major hardships seem to revolve around the makeup they had wear during the filming. It took up to an hour in some cases to put the makeup on and another hour to remove it. The makeup and costumes these actors had to wear made them feel uncomfortable and restricted their movement. This they had to endure in the six months it took to film the movie.

The other key actors in this film were the Munchkins. The Munchkins were played by midgets. On screen, these actors brought to their roles a touch of fantasy and vulnerability which led audiences to believe that the Munchkins were adorable innocent characters.

The plot:   

Dorothy lives with her Aunt Em and her Uncle Henry on a farm in Kansas. One day a cyclone comes; while her aunt hurries to the cyclone cellar for protection, Dorothy looks for her little dog, Toto, who has hidden under a bed. Consequently, Dorothy and Toto are picked up in the house by the cyclone and carried into another world - the Land of Oz.

In Oz, Dorothy’s house is plopped down in the easternmost part of the land, right on top of the wicked Witch of the East, thus killing her and freeing the Munchkin inhabitants of that land, whom she had enslaved. Dorothy, understandably upset by all these strange events, wants only to get home to Kansas. She is advised to consult the Wizard who lives in the Emerald City in the center of the Land of Oz. She is also advised to wear the  ruby slippers that belonged to the wicked Witch, because  they are magical.

Dorothy and Toto set out on a Yellow Brick Road for the Emerald City. On the way she meets three companions.  The first is a Scarecrow, whose head is stuffed with straw and who wants some brains so he can think. The second is a Tin Woodman, who was once an ordinary being of flesh in love with a beautiful Munchkin maiden. Unfortunately, however, he was under a spell cast by the wicked Witch, so he kept chopping off parts of himself and being repaired by a tinsmith until he became a tinman. In the process, he lost his heart and thus is no longer able to love the Munchkin maiden; now he wants a heart so he can love again. The third companion is a Cowardly Lion, who ought to be King of the Forest but who is afraid of everything; he wants courage and the will to act.

After many adventures, Dorothy and her three companions reach the Emerald City, where they each gain an audience with the Wizard. The Wizard says that he will grant their requests, provided they first do something to prove themselves worthy. They must go to the westernmost part of Oz and there kill the wicked Witch of the West. Since there seems to be no alternative, they set out for the western land. After many adventures, they succeed in their quest when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on the witch, which dissolves her. 

When the four companions return to the Emerald City to claim their rewards from the Wizard, he puts them off for a long while. Finally, the Great Wizard of Oz confesses that he is really a humbug. He was a balloonist in Nebraska who worked for a circus, going up in his balloon to attract a crowd for the performance. One day a strong wind blew him all the way to Oz and dropped him in the middle of the land. When he fell from the sky, the inhabitants thought he must be a very great wizard indeed, so they accepted him as their ruler, and he led them in building the Emerald City, where he could hide without his humbuggery being discovered by the Witches of the land, of whom he was very much afraid.

Although he is a humbug, the Wizard says he will do what he can to keep his promises to the four companions. He fills the Scarecrow’s head with a mixture of bran and pins and needles, so that he will have brand-new brains that are sharp as a pin. He puts inside the Tin Woodman’s chest a heart made of stuffed silk, guaranteed not to break. And he gives the Cowardly Lion a little green bottle filled with courage, from which the Lion is to drink whenever he feels the need.

To help Dorothy get home, the Wizard builds a hot-air balloon to try to sail with her back the way he came. But just as he and Dorothy are ready to cast off, Toto runs into the crowd and gets lost. As Dorothy hurries to find her dog, the ropes holding the balloon break, and away it sails with the Wizard, who cannot control it. Thus Dorothy is still stranded in Oz.

The inhabitants of the Emerald City suggest that Dorothy should seek the aid of Glinda, the good Witch of the South. So Dorothy and her companions set out on a third journey. After many more adventures, they reach the court of Glinda the Good, who tells Dorothy that she has all along had the power to go back to Kansas whenever she wants to. The magic ruby slippers she is wearing will carry her to any place in the world with three short steps. Dorothy need only say where she wants to go, click her heels thrice, and she will be there. Dorothy now bids good-bye to her friends, says she wants to go home to Kansas, and in three steps, she is there. And so the story ends.

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Wizard of OZ

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