The Wizard of Oz Blog

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

Who doesn’t love Aunt Em? The scrappy Gale family matriarch ruled loved ones and farmhands alike with the same firm but loving authority.

For any fan of The Wizard of Oz, it’s easy to remember her in the barnyard, admonishing Hunk, Zeke and Hickory to stop goofing and get back to work, all while serving them fresh-baked crullers to eat. Or begrudgingly submitting to Miss Gulch after reading the sheriff’s order allowing Toto to be taken away, and then tearfully rebuking the old biddy in front of a smiling Uncle Henry. 

Stage veteran Clara Blandick was nearly fifty-nine when she took on the role and, although she starred in more than 120 films during her forty-year career, she will forever be Aunt Em to millions of The Wizard of Oz fans around the world.

As hard as it may be to imagine anyone else playing the part, several other actresses were considered. Eighty-year-old May Robson, a highly regarded, Oscar-winning actress at the time, was actually the first choice to play Aunt Em, but she turned down the role deeming it too “unchallenging.”

Successful stage and screen actress Janet Beecher was also considered, but was thought to be too elegant to play a farmwoman. British actress Sarah Padden screen-tested for the role in 1939, but in the end there was something special about Clara Blandick and she won the role.

The rest, as they say, is Oz history

Shirley Temple and Toto?

There have been many famous onscreen relationships between a child and his/her pet over the years, perhaps none so well known as that between Dorothy and Toto in the iconic film, The Wizard of Oz.

Who can forget the loyal Cairn Terrier, constantly by Dorothy’s side as they make their way through the magical, and often dangerous, Land of Oz? But did you know that Dorothy wasn’t Toto’s first onscreen master? Here’s the scoop on that, along with some other little-known facts about everyone’s favorite furry companion. 

Toto was actually a female named Terry. She belonged to a trainer named Carl Spitz who, years before, had been hired by Terry’s original owner to break her of her shyness. When the owner couldn’t pay Carl for his services, Terry became his dog.

He’d done such a good job training Terry that he thought he’d try getting her into the movies, and her first big break came not as Toto in The Wizard of Oz, but in a film called Bright Eyes. Terry played “Rags,” the faithful companion of another Hollywood icon of the era (and an actress originally considered for the role of Dorothy Gale), Shirley Temple.

Bright Eyes is a story about a little girl forced to live with a snooty family after her mother, the family’s maid, is killed. Rags is her loyal companion throughout as a difficult custody battle ensues between an aviator friend and the wealthy couple’s crotchety Uncle.

Terry actually made 13 films in all, including everyone’s favorite, The Wizard of Oz, where she was reportedly paid a weekly salary of $125—more than some of the human actors were paid!

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the movie, Carl officially changed Terry’s name, and when she passed away in 1945 he buried her on his California ranch. Fortunately for fans around the world, the scrappy and loyal Toto will live forever in The Wizard of Oz, a film that never gets old.

A Rubber Face for Rubber Legs

Everyone knows the faces of their favorite characters from The Wizard of Oz. Change one freckle, one mustache or wrinkle and it would be immediately noticeable to true fans of this legendary movie. 

Interestingly, these faces we know so well often took on several incarnations in pre-production makeup testing before the familiar final versions were arrived at. Probably the most notable case was the Scarecrow.

In the years before the film, audiences of numerous stage and screen productions saw a smooth-faced Scarecrow, with pasted-on straw hair and eyebrows, and that’s where the film’s producers began. Ray Bolger’s Scarecrow, in fact, initially resembled that of Fred Stone who played the character in the popular 1902 stage musical, with simplistic solid white makeup only slightly enhanced with dark lines encircling the eyes and cheekbone.

Ultimately, after a series of attempts that added layered features to his face, the film’s makeup artists finally arrived at the look they were going for. They created a mottled, thin rubber mask that was glued to Bolger’s face and painted over to simulate burlap. This incredibly realistic result we know and love so well took two hours each morning to apply.

Time well spent when you consider the results, and when you think about it, it seems appropriate for an actor and dancer known as “Rubber Legs” to also have a rubber face. 

The Wizard of Oz Game Launches on iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch

Back in January, we introduced you to the great new Wizard of Oz Facebook game that was created by our friends at Spooky Cool.  Guess what?  They didn't stop there.  The Wizard of Oz game is now available for all of your Apple devices!

Read more about it by clicking HERE!

http://geeks.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-WIZARD-OF-OZ-Game-Launches-for-iPhone-iPad-and-iPod-touch-20130321

A Man Wins $1,452,799.89 Playing Wizard Of Oz Slot Machine!

It must have felt like being in Oz last Saturday when a man known only as Gordon, won $1,452,799.89 on a Wizard of Oz slot machine at The Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada!

Follow THIS LINK to see the full article!

http://www.vegasnews.com/91539/player-wins-1452799-89-playing-wizard-of-oz-at-margaritaville-casino-at-the-flamingo-in-las-vegas.html

WHO was going to play Dorothy?

It’s the same with all classic films. After seeing them a time or two, it becomes hard to imagine any other actors portraying your favorite characters. This is certainly true of The Wizard of Oz. Can anyone really picture anyone else playing Dorothy, The Wizard, Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion or Scarecrow? After all these years, the faces, voices and performances of Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Jack Haley Bert Lahr and Ray Bolger are indelibly burned in our minds; these great actors will forever be the characters we’ve come to love. Yet, as funny as it may seem now, other actors were seriously considered for all of these roles.

Probably the most well-known of these stories is how Buddy Ebsen, famous for playing Uncle Jed on The Beverly Hillbillies, was actually hired to play the Tin Man but had to withdraw after he suffered an allergic reaction to the silver makeup required for the character. Not so well known, probably, is that that the film was originally considered as a vehicle for comedy legends Laurel and Hardy. Did you also know that producers thought Shirley Temple would make a great Dorothy (she was very popular at the time), or that Mary Pickford, America’s Sweetheart of silent films, was also a frontrunner for the role? How would you have liked W.C. Fields as The Great and Powerful Oz? He was heavily considered for the role (“Poor little chickadee…I hope she makes it home alright”).

There were other interesting choices considered by the studio, but, of course, no other actors could ever have played our beloved Oz characters. Wouldn’t you agree?

The Washington Post Covers "The Top 20 Facts About The Wizard of Oz"

The Washington Post recently ran an article touting "The Top 20 Facts About The Wizard of Oz."  Can you believe the wardrobe deparment made over 1,000 costumes for the film's 600 actors?  This incredible fact is just one of those featured in the article!

To read the full Washington Post article, CLICK HERE!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/4/list-top-20-facts-about-wizard-oz/

Scarlett O’Hara Meets Dorothy Gale

And you can meet them both, in a manner of speaking, at the “Gone with the Wind & The Wizard of Oz Fine Art Exhibit,” to be held at the Norwalk Mary Paxon Art Gallery in Norwalk, California.
 
Visit this exciting show and see your favorite scenes from these two beloved movies recreated in spectacular artwork by Yakovetic, T.J. Novy, Phillip Graffham and Bridget McCarty.
 
This should be a great event and not to be missed!
 
“Gone with the Wind & The Wizard of Oz Fine Art Exhibit”
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Norwalk Mary Paxon Art Gallery
6:00 to 9:00 PM

For more information, follow THIS LINK!

https://www.facebook.com/events/255888247876149/

Oscar’s Celebrity Green Room to Honor an Oz Legend

At this year’s 85^th Academy Awards, the film world’s most prestigious producers, directors and stars will escape the intensity of the presentations to a backstage green room reminiscent of Hollywood’s glamorous days of old.

Created by popular LA designer Madeline Stuart, this year’s celebrity refuge was inspired by and honors her hero, legendary cinematic art director Cedric Gibbons. In addition to his eleven Oscar statue wins (ironically, he designed the statue himself), Mr. Gibbons was nominated another incredible 28 times for his work on such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, and Annie Get Your Gun.

“He really created, almost singlehandedly, the look of the Hollywood films of the 1930s and 40s,” Ms. Stewart recently told The Washington Post.

Mr. Gibbons, who passed away in 1960 at the age of 67, was one of the original founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1930, he married one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses, Delores del Rio, considered at the time to be the female version of Rudolph Valentino. He retired in 1958, leaving a legacy to that has inspired countless cinematic art directors.

Not unlike the whirlwind that brought Dorothy’s farmhouse crashing into Oz, the pre-constructed green room will arrive backstage at the Dolby Theater this year just a few days before Oscar night, and will be removed shortly thereafter.

Even though it will be short lived, Ms. Stewart is honored to be able to pay homage to such a legendary Hollywood art director. “His body of work is so impressive, and as a designer who prides herself on being able to work in so many different architectural styles, he’s my idol because he, in order to create the sets and the environments and the world’s of these different films, had to be conversant in all these different (aesthetic) languages.”

Viewers of the Academy Awards likely won’t ever get a glimpse of the actual backstage room, but for fans of The Wizard of Oz, it’s nice to think that about how the icons behind this remarkable film continue to affect and shape the motion picture industry.

For more information, click on the link below:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-green-room-photos-backstage-423511

It's Never Too Early to Plan Your Next Costume!

A Hollywood memorabilia collector is selling one of Bert Lahr's original Cowardly Lion costumes in an effort to fund a TV history museum in Phoenix, AZ.  A good cause and a great opportunity to own an incredible piece of movie history!  Read more about by following this link to The Hollywood Reporter!
 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wizard-ozs-original-cowardly-lion-418025