Wizard of Oz

Fun Facts About Wizard of Oz

• In the original 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's magical slippers were silver. They were changed to ruby red for the 1939 movie to show off MGM's Technicolor.
• The movie crew spent a week testing different shades for the famous yellow brick road. They had problems making the color appear right on camera. The road was also not made of real bricks. It was actually painted plywood and thick cardboard that was easier to paint and handle.
• The snow in the poppy field scene was made of asbestos. This was very common at the time, but is considered highly unsafe by today's standards.
• The dog who played Toto was paid $125 per week. But the 124 actors playing the Munchkins received a lower, union-scale wage of around $50 to $100 a week.
• The Wizard of Oz barely broke even at the box office initially. It only became financially successful after TV reruns made it a cultural phenomenon starting in the 1950s.
• The iconic tornado scene was created using a 35-foot muslin stocking wrapped around a chicken wire cone, attached to a gantry crane above and a car driving on a track below the soundstage. It was shot at 1/12 scale and projected onto a screen for the actors.
• Buddy Ebsen was originally cast as the Tin Man. But he was replaced by Jack Haley after Ebsen inhaled aluminum dust from his makeup and had to be hospitalized.
• The line "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" spoken by Dorothy is widely recognized as one of cinema's most iconic quotes of all time.