The Wizard of Oz

Production

Production began after Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs demonstrated the commercial viability of children's fantasy films. In January 1938, MGM acquired the rights from Samuel Goldwyn, who had considered casting Eddie Cantor as the Scarecrow. The script underwent at least ten screenwriters. William H. Cannon submitted a four-page outline that reduced fantastical elements, reimagining the Scarecrow as a man too stupid for other work and the Tin Woodman as a criminal softened by a tin suit; this was rejected.

Irving Brecher wrote a treatment that was also rejected, and he was reassigned. Herman J. Mankiewicz delivered a 17-page draft of Kansas scenes on March 3, 1938, followed by 56 more pages four days later. Noel Langley and Ogden Nash were hired simultaneously; Nash produced a four-page outline, while Langley submitted a 43-page treatment on March 22.

Mankiewicz was removed the next day. Langley wrote three more scripts incorporating songs by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. On June 3, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf were assigned to ensure fidelity to Baum's book; they added the Wizard as Professor Marvel in Kansas. Their second script trimmed Langley's dialogue, but Arthur Freed disliked it and returned the work to Langley, who replaced their dialogue with his own.

Music

The film's songs were composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E. Y. 'Yip' Harburg, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'Over the Rainbow'. Herbert Stothart won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Georgie Stoll served as associate conductor, with orchestral and vocal arrangements credited to George Bassman, Murray Cutter, Ken Darby, and Paul Marquardt. As vocal arranger, Darby handled the Munchkin and Winkie voices; since speeding up vocal tracks was not possible, he suggested recording at 60 feet per minute instead of the standard 90.

Douglas Shearer manufactured a new gear for the sound-recording machine. The King's Men recorded the Lollipop Guild vocals at a slower rate, played back one-fourth higher in pitch; for the Winkies, vocals were recorded faster than normal and played back slower. Songs were recorded before filming.

Buddy Ebsen's singing voice remained on the soundtrack in group vocals for 'We're Off to See the Wizard' after he left the cast. Ray Bolger's original recording of 'If I Only Had a Brain' was more sedate; a more energetic version was recorded during filming after George Cukor and Mervyn LeRoy decided it better suited Dorothy's meeting with the Scarecrow. The original recording was considered lost until a copy was discovered in 2009. Some musical pieces were filmed and deleted in editing.

Release

The film premiered at the Orpheum Theatre in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on August 10, 1939, though the August 23, 1939 issue of 'The Exhibitor' places the debut a day earlier in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first sneak preview was in San Bernardino, California. Test markets included Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Dennis, Massachusetts, on August 11, and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on August 12. The Hollywood premiere was August 15 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

The New York City premiere at Loew's Capitol Theatre on August 17 was followed by live performances with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney; Garland extended her appearance for two more weeks. The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939. CBS bought television rights for $225,000 per broadcast.

The first television showing was November 3, 1956, on Ford Star Jubilee, achieving a Nielsen rating of 33.9 and 53% audience share. A repeat on December 13, 1959, had a 36.5 rating and 58% share, becoming an annual tradition. The UK television premiere was Christmas Day 1975 on BBC1, with an estimated 20 million viewers.

The first videocassette release was October 25, 1980, in VHS and Betamax by MGM/CBS Home Video; a THX-certified VHS followed on September 10, 1996. Current home video releases are by Warner Home Video. The first LaserDisc release was in 1983; 50th-anniversary releases in 1989 came from Turner and The Criterion Collection. The film was released on CED in 1982 and on Video CD in Asian markets.

Reception

The Wizard of Oz received universal acclaim upon release. Frank Nugent of The New York Times called it a 'delightful piece of wonder-working' that succeeded as well as Disney's Snow White, though he had issues with some special effects. He praised Judy Garland's Dorothy and noted the fantasy was best when the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion were on screen.

Variety's John C. Flinn predicted record-breaking box office, praising the scenic passages and calling Garland 'an appealing figure' and the musical numbers 'gay and bright'. Harrison's Reports wrote that even those uninterested in such pictures might see it for its technical treatment, and that it brought credit to the industry. Some reviewers felt 16-year-old Garland was too old for the role.

Russell Maloney of The New Yorker called the film 'a stinkeroo' with no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity. Otis Ferguson of The New Republic wrote it had dwarfs, music, Technicolor, freak characters, and Judy Garland, but lacked a sense of humor and a light touch of fantasy. The film placed seventh on Film Daily's year-end nationwide poll of 542 critics naming the best films of the year.

Did You Know?

• Dorothy's dog Toto was played by a dog named Terry.
• The tornado effect was created using 35 feet of muslin cloth hung from a steel gantry, with Fuller's earth sprayed from compressed air hoses.
• Adriana Caselotti, who voiced Juliet in the Tin Man's song, also voiced the character.