City legends surrounding The Wizard of Oz have been alive for many years, however because the daybreak of the web, they’ve unfold like wildfire. Fortunately, there’s somebody that may make clear all of them as soon as and for all. John Fricke, who could possibly be essentially the most trusted voice in every part concerning the Technicolor marvel, has come out to debunk many of the rumors, and make clear what actually occurred in the course of the manufacturing of one in all Hollywood’s most distinguished classics.
Directed (largely) by Victor Fleming, The Wizard of Oz is taken into account one of the crucial necessary movies ever made. Nominated for a number of Academy Awards, the musical went on to turn out to be a basic of its time. Nonetheless, a number of rumors have at all times been related to the movie, and so they vary from the downright hilarious to the extremely tragic. With time, these rumors grew to become “info” as everybody capitalized on the recognition of conspiracy theories because the web grew. However now, right here’s somebody with the data to lastly set the report straight.
Fricke wrote “The Wizard of Oz, The Official fiftieth Anniversary Pictorial Historical past” and “The Wizard of Oz, An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Film Basic,” each of that are near-enough instructional paperwork in regards to the 1939 movie. Whereas Depraved, the 2024 spin-off to Fleming’s basic, floods the multiplexes worldwide, the Oz knowledgeable just lately spoke to Individuals about all of the rumors surrounding the difference of L. Frank Baum’s fantasy guide:
We’re dwelling at a time when something is plausible. It’s turn out to be the material of our day-to-day life. However we all know the reality.
The Movie Historian Shuts Down A number of Horrific City Legends Surrounding ‘The Wizard of Oz’
Many legends encompass the basic. Margaret Hamilton, aka the Depraved Witch of the West, and her stunt double, Betty Danko, have been injured throughout manufacturing. Hamilton suffered burns when the Witch disappears in a cloud of smoke, and naturally, she didn’t wish to do any extra dangerous scenes. Danko changed her when the witch rides her broom and, per Fricke, the scene led to catastrophe: “Betty Danko went flying in a single route. The hat went in one other route. The broom went in a 3rd route, and he or she ended up within the hospital.”
Nonetheless, Fricke says that filmmakers have been simply making an attempt to innovate with new methods and particular results. He additionally implies that about 10% of the movie went mistaken, however “it has been inflated to 98 p.c—and now it’s been fabricated and lied proper right into a legend.” He defined:
“They have been doing stuff that had by no means been performed earlier than and trying stuff that had by no means been performed earlier than. There wasn’t any pre-thought of, ‘Let’s be careless.’”
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Cynthia Erivo has weighed into the talk over audiences singing in screenings of ‘Depraved’.
The knowledgeable additionally talks about one of the crucial egregious lies that’s been unfold about silver display icon Judy Garland, the movie’s star. In his memoir, Garland’s third ex-husband, Sid Luft, said that the Munchkins had sexually assaulted the actor by placing their palms beneath her costume. Fricke makes issues clear about this rumor:
“The Munchkins didn’t sexually abuse Judy Garland. One in all them requested her out to dinner and he or she mentioned no. That was so far as it went.”
For years, The Wizard of Oz was the topic of many conspiracy theorists who preferred to invent stuff in regards to the movie. It wasn’t precisely a clean manufacturing because of it being so bold for the time. Buddy Ebsen, the unique Tin Man, did undergo from allergic reactions to his make-up, and somebody did step on Toto the canine in the course of the shoot. However saying somebody died by suicide whereas making the film? That’s extreme. And one of many legends about The Wizard of Oz that went viral earlier than “viral” was a factor. And it is one other rumor that Fricke places to mattress, saying:
“There isn’t a hanging Munchkin at Tin Man’s cottage. That is the type of stuff that will get perpetuated.”
- Launch Date
- August 25, 1939
- Solid
- Margaret Hamilton , Jack Haley , Judy Garland , Bert Lahr , Ray Bolger
- Runtime
- 102 minutes