Now That’s a Horse!

“What kind of a horse is that?” you may remember Dorothy asking as she and her friends rode through the Emerald City, watching the horse that pulled their carriage repeatedly change colors. “I’ve never seen a horse like that like before.”

“No, and never will again, I fancy,” came the driver’s reply. “There’s only one of him and he’s it. He’s the horse of a different color you’ve heard tell about.”

A memorable scene, for sure. Did you ever wonder how, in the world before Photoshop, they were able to pull off the visuals of the horse changing colors while the actors and scenery around it did not?

The production team considered coating the animal with several different, colorful substances, and shooting the scene numerous times. They had high hopes for food coloring and liquid candy, but that approach proved ineffective for two reasons. The colors didn’t appear as vibrant on camera as they’d hoped, and the horse liked the flavor so much he kept licking it off.

In the end, a paste of Jell-O powder supplied the color levels the production team was looking for and, although the horse found it also to be tasty, the segment was successfully shot.

And now, a memorable scene from one of the world’s most beloved movies will forever be associated with the ages-old phrase, “Now that’s a horse of a different color.”

Comments

[Treva]

But if you look at the horses they are all different per different colors. They didn't use the same horse

[shannon]

i do know by looking at the horses build and structor that they used more than one horse

[Kati]

Definitely used at least two horses. I agree with the above statements.

[Jeana]

Quit ruining it with the commentary people!! Sheesh, cant we just believe in a horse of a different color, magnificently colored by jello...

[Joesph]

Uhh, Jell-o is made from horse hoofs, right? Sorta cannibalistic.

[PnkFlamingo]

They did use mutiple horses. They say so in the special features of the dvd. :)

[Bob Carnahan]

It was 1939 people..they barely knew what color film was!!!! Give the "Steve Jobs and the George Lucas's of the day" their due. Was your silly assed Halloween "mustache" digitally attached by your mommy??? No..it was Vaseline and coffee grounds or your mother's eye liner pencil. give em credit for being creative with what they had to work with!

[Jeremy Hoesly]

Am i the only one who thinks it is a weird that they are covering horses in glue! Glue is made of horses!!!

[Suzy]

Good post, Bob C. I had to keep reminding myself that The Wizard
of Oz is a very old movie! 1939,
that was b4 TVs at least for my family. My mom was only 3 years old when it came out! Also, you know what actors say about working with children and animals! lol

[brycenewton3@gmail.com]

I LOVE TWOO. ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF TIME.