Working with Technicolor meant the crew had to work with a crazy amount of lighting on set. All those lights kept the set at nearly 100 degrees. If you watch very carefully you can even see reflections from all of the lights on set pieces throughout the film. Just watch the floor of Emerald City as it rolls by.
That’s not the only thing to watch in the 1939 masterpiece. Dorothy’s hair can be seen to change lengths throughout the picture. Props come and go as if by magic including the Tin Man’s spear that turned into an ax, and the bouquet the munchkins give Dorothy upon her arrival in Oz that subsequently disappears. Logically we should also question a witch who can be killed by water living in a castle surrounded by a mote. Honestly, why does she keep buckets of water around at all?
Don't Scare The Crew!
Ray Bolder, who played the Scarecrow, Bert Lahr, who played the Lion, and Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man, wore costumes that were both very lifelike, and very hard to get on and off. Between takes, and during lunchtime, they often had to rest and eat in costume. In the 1930's cast, crew, and other employees on the MGM lot were not particularly used to horror movies or realistic special effects.
This meant that the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man were banned from eating in the regular MGM lunchroom, reportedly, so they wouldn't scare other staff members. They had to eat alone, something that is all but unimaginable in today's selfie and celebrity obsessed culture.
The Original Dorothy Gale Wasn't A Damsel In Distress
In the Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland plays Dorothy Gale as very much your standard damsel in distress. She is always being thrown about, captured, and in need of help. In the book, blonde Dorothy with her silver slippers is very different. Oz, as a real land rather than a dream, is a world where Dorothy finds she fits in as a strong and self-assured character.
In the novel, it is Dorothy who saves other characters, rather than depending on them to come to her aid. Baum has actually admitted to writing Dorothy as a strong role model for his young female readers.
L. Frank Baum’s Coat Made An Appearance In The Movie
Frank Morgan was cast not only as the Wizard of Oz but also as Professor Marvel, who Dorothy runs into when running away in Kansas. Costume designers worked very hard to find the actor, just the right coat for his two characters. They wanted Morgan to look fashionable, but also modest. They went searching through local thrift stores for the perfect style. They found it.
When they passed off the coat to Morgan he examined it before putting it on and found a label, stitched to the coat's interior that read, "L. Frank Baum." It was indeed the original author's coat, and had, back in the day, been tailored to fit him perfectly. After production on the film was complete, the producers gave the coat to L. Frank Baum's widow to keep.
Munchkins Rumors Debunked
While we all love some good Hollywood trivia, one story about the Wizard of Oz set that has persisted throughout the years, was that a munchkin hung himself on set and, this instance was actually caught on film for the movie. There was not a single suicide on set, by cast or crew. Conspiracy theorists claim you can see someone hanging from a tree, but itis actually just a bird.
It's a real bird too. MGM had rented, from a local zoo that they'd worked with on previous projects, some 400 birds. Many of the birds escaped their cages while working and ended up hanging out in random places around the set. The bird in the "suicide" scene is actually a crane with its wings outstretched.