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I'm Melting! - The Wizard of Oz (7/8) Movie CLIP (1939) HD

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Musical Wicked is all about the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch

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Musical Wicked is all about the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch

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Cast & Creative | WICKED | Official Broadway Site

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Meet the team that brings the story of WICKED to life.

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See what items on eBay consist of an interesting The WICKED Witch collection. Join elphaba53 to create inspiring collections on eBay!

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Two facts about the Wicked Witch: burns and toxic makeup

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Two facts about the Wicked Witch: burns and toxic makeup

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The Wizard of Oz had its Hollywood premiere on August 16, 1939, which means the classic is celebrating its 75th anniversary today.

By now you probably know this amazing film was originally a loss for MGM and that Toto the dog was paid more than the Munchkins. You may also know that the Scarecrow said the incorrect Pythagorean Theorem or that the book was based off the United States banking crisis. But even if you're in love with the film, we bet you didn't know the following seven facts:
1. Judy Garland's iconic rendition of Over the Rainbow was almost cut from the film entirely.
The song was almost taken out of the film on multiple occasions. Originally when composer Harold Arlen presented the song, it was thought to be to "symphonic" and that it would have to be sung like an opera. Arlen simplified the melody with smaller chords and the scene was created. Then director Victor Fleming thought it should be cut "because it's too long and it's too difficult." The songwriters, Arlen and lyricist Yip Harburg, convinced MGM it should go back in. Another director, one of the five who worked on the film, cut it back out. MGM also may have thought it was problematic to have their star singing in a farmyard.

In the end, Arlen and Harburg convinced MGM to insert the song back into the final release. But trouble didn't end there. At the time, many critics deemed Over the Rainbow long and unnecessary. Among many other journalists, Robbin Coons of the Associated Press said, "The picture could have been speeded more at its beginnings, especially by the elimination of Judy's first song." As you may know, Over the Rainbow ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
2. Director Victor Fleming slapped Judy Garland when she wouldn't stop giggling. Then she kissed him.
In Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master, Michael Sragow wrote about the incident:

When [Judy] Garland couldn't stop breaking into giggles at the pseudo-menacing advance of [Bert] Lahr's Cowardly Lion, Fleming escorted her off the Yellow Brick Road, said, 'Now darling, this is serious,' slapped her on the cheek, then ordered, 'Now go in there and work.'

Apparently Victor Fleming felt really terrible about slapping Judy Garland after the incident and started saying that somebody on the crew should punch him. Garland overheard this and said, "I won't do that, but I'll kiss your nose." And then she did.
3. Multiple lead actors were physically scarred due to special effects and costuming used in the film.
While filming her exit from "Munchkinland," Margaret Hamilton, the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West, received severe burns on both her face and hands. The fire she was supposed to be leaving through accidentally rose up before she had descended. Hamilton's stunt double was also burned while filming a different scene when a pipe exploded.

Ray Bolger, the actor who played the Scarecrow, ended up having "permanent" lines on his face due to the intense rubber mask that was glued to his face every morning for filming.

A different actor, Buddy Ebsen, was actually supposed to play the Tin Man, but then his lungs failed. The original costume for Tin Man involved covering Ebsen in aluminium dust which ended up sending him to the hospital for two weeks.

Also, the temperatures on set were also insanely hot due to the technicolor process requiring very bright shots. Cinematographer Harold Rosson claimed "people were always fainting and being carried off the set," due to the heat.
4. The green makeup was so toxic that Margaret Hamilton wasn't allowed to handle food and had to be specially fed.
The makeup put on Hamilton was copper-based and therefore could be toxic if ingested. The makeup person for Hamilton, Jack Young, explained the risk:

... green is toxic because it's made with copper. Every night when I was taking off the Witch's makeup, I would make sure that her face was thoroughly clean. Spotlessly clean. Because you don't take chances with green.

Apparently, the colouring stained her face for quite some time after filming wrapped.
5. But not all costumes were toxic. The Tin Man's "oil" was chocolate sauce and the horses were covered in "Jell-O."
Jack Haley, the actor who played the Tin Man explained the fake oil: "The oil Ray Bolger squirted at me, to loosen up my joints, was not oil but chocolate syrup. They squirted chocolate in my face, because the oil wouldn't photograph right, but chocolate will."

The horse that kept changing colours was actually played by four horses. Each were covered in lemon, cherry or grape powdered gelatine. The horse apparently kept trying to lick the gelatine off. This may seem particularly cruel as common wisdom is that gelatine comes from horse hoofs and bones. In fact, the powder is mostly made from cows and pigs.
6. Professor Marvel's jacket was bought from a thrift store. In the most insane coincidence ever, the jacket used to belong to L. Frank Baum, the author of the original novel.
The truthfulness of this is a bit up in the air, but it has been somewhat confirmed by Harold Rosson, the previously mentioned cinematographer and a publicist for the film at the time. Apparently, the crew wanted a ratty, but once expensive jacket for the character of Professor Marvel to wear in the film. They went to a thrift store and the jacket they ended up choosing was later discovered to once be owned by L. Frank Baum. Someone noticed that his name was stitched into the jacket after it was chosen.
7. The Wizard of Oz is the most watched film of all time.
This, according to the Library of Congress. A bonus 7.5 fact for the 75th anniversary ... if you're a super fan, you're certainly not walking the yellow brick road alone!
This article is republished with permission from the Huffington Post.

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7 things you never knew about The Wizard of Oz

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The Wizard of Oz had its Hollywood premiere on August 16, 1939, which means the classic is celebrating its 75th anniversary today. By now you probably know this amazing film was originally a loss for MGM and that Toto the dog was paid more than the Munchkins.

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Margaret Hamilton ( December 9,1902 - May 16,1985) was the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch in MGM's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and Aunt Em in Journey Back to Oz.

Hamilton's film career began in 1933, when she recreated her Broadway role in the movie version of Another Language. By the time she was cast as the Wicked Witch, she had already made 25 films. (Hamilton worked more than many actors in her day, because she freelanced instead of signing a studio contract, and cleverly kept her salary below $1000 per week.) She had previously played the Witch onstage, in two community theater productions.

On 23 December 1938, while filming the Wicked Witch's exit from Munchkinland in a blaze of fire, Hamilton suffered first-degree burns on the right side of her face and second-degree burns on her right hand; the flames rose too soon, before she had descended below the stage. Hamilton's green makeup was copper-based and potentially toxic, and had to be removed from her burned flesh with alcohol - an intensely painful process. She was not able to return to the movie until 10 February. When she did return, she wore green gloves, since her hand was not yet fully healed.

Hamilton's infamous Witch's laugh blew out sound equipment circuits. For several weeks after she completed work on her role, Hamilton's complexion retained a green tinge from the Witch's makeup.

When the film was previewed for test audiences in June 1939, Hamilton's performance as the Witch was perceived as too frightening. In a letter dated 16 July, L. Frank Baum's granddaughter Florence wrote to Ruth Plumly Thompson about a preview three weeks earlier: "It was very good, although the Witch was so terrifying that some small children had to be taken out." The final edit of the film removed a least a dozen lines of the Witch's dialogue to tone down her effect.

Margaret Hamilton had previously played with Oz castmate Frank Morgan in By Your Leave and There's Always Tomorrow (both 1934) and Saratoga (1937). She would appear with Judy Garland again in Babes in Arms (1939), with Jack Haley in George White's Scandals (1945), and with Ray Bolger in The Daydreamer (1966). And she appeared with Clara Blandick in three films from 1934 to 1950.

In the finished film, Hamilton's Wicked Witch has twelve minutes of screen time. Hamilton worked on the production for four months, and earned precisely $18,541.68.

Prior to her acting career, Hamilton had worked as a kindergarden teacher. She made efforts to stay true to her roots by promoting elementary education throughout her life. In 1948 she was elected to a school board in Beverly Hills, California. In the 1970s she donated considerable amounts of money to Public Broadcasting Service, in particular the Children's Television Workshop, in an effort to promote early learning.

Hamilton provided the voice for Aunt Em in the 1974 animated film Journey Back to Oz.

in 1975 Hamilton appeared on the PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Hamilton appeared in an episode of Sesame Street which aired February 10, 1976, reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz (1939). Reportedly, her performance scared so many children that their parents wrote in to CTW, saying their kids were too scared to watch the show anymore. As a result of the overwhelming reaction, this episode never re-aired. As of 2018, no record of the show exists save for one still photograph showing Hamilton sitting besides Oscar the Grouch in his trash can. It is unknown whether or not any live-action footage of it still exists.

Hamilton appeared in the Paul Lynde Halloween Special which aired October 29, 1976. She appeared as both herself and the Wicked Witch of the West. Also present was Billie Hayes as her "sister" Witchiepoo, from the series H.R. Pufnstuf.

In the 70's she appeared in several PSA commercial and provided the role of Cora the store clerk that only sells Maxwell House Coffee

Hamilton died in her sleep on May 16th 1985 from a heart attack in a nursing home in Salsbury Connecticut at the age of 82

References

1. Aljean Harmetz, ↑ The Making of the Wizard of Oz, New York, Delta edition, 1989; p. 123.

2. Kenneth Von Gunden, ↑ Flights of Fancy: The Great Fantasy Films, Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1989; p. 222.

3. John Fricke, Jay Scarfone, and William Stillman, ↑ The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History, Warner Books, 1989; p. 122.

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Margaret Hamilton ( December 9,1902 - May 16,1985) was the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch in MGM's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and Aunt Em in Journey Back to Oz. Hamilton's film career began in 1933, when she recreated her Broadway role in the movie version of Another Language.

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The search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind caused pandemonium at MGM in the late 1930s.

The casting of another film, which would be released in the same year - 1939 - was almost as challenging for the studio. Weeks before filming began, all of the main roles in the musical The Wizard of Oz had been filled. Only the Wicked Witch of the West remained.

In author L. Frank Baum's book, which the beloved movie was based on, the character wasn't much of a looker, resembling an old hag with pigtails and an eye patch.

But Oz's producer, Mervyn Leroy, wanted to take things in a decidedly different (read: dishy) direction.

Inspired by Disney's seductive wicked queen in Snow White, the animated film released the year before, Leroy wanted to make Oz's witch beautiful and glamorous.

He had just the actress in mind: gorgeous Gale Sondergaard, who had received an Oscar the year before for her work in the costume drama Anthony Adverse, which Leroy had directed. (It wasn't a totally left-of-center idea: Sondergaard had previously played a witch in the Theater Guild's 1928 production of "Faust.")

The actress was persuaded to test for the role. Donning a form-fitting sequin dress and a pair of perfectly arched eyebrows, Sondergaard was a stunner. Leroy was ecstatic - he had found his witch.

Not everyone in the production department agreed - in particular, screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, who had expanded the role of the Wicked Witch from the book to the screen, and had written several unforgettable scenes for her, along with some killer lines, including "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" and "Thought you'd be pretty foxy, didn't you?" Our witch should be ugly, Mankiewicz insisted.

So Leroy ordered the MGM makeup department to give Sondergaard the "ugly treatment." The de-glamming didn't work: The actress's gorgeous and exotic features simply could not be hidden, even under layers of pancake makeup. (We should all be so lucky.)

Eventually, Sondergaard decided she didn't want the role, believing playing a hag wasn't all that great for her image or her career. She was forty at the time, a dicey time for any actress.

The ugly witch, as we all know, would ultimately be played - brilliantly - by Margaret Hamilton, an MGM contract player. She was cast on October 10, 1938, a mere three days before filming started. And a green-complexioned icon was born.
Read another story from us:Wizard of Oz - Stolen Ruby Red Slippers Recovered, 13 years Later
The Wizard of Oz may not have panned out for Sondergaard, but she did pop up in another children's classic the following year, playing Tylette the Cat in The Blue Bird, a 20th Century Fox vehicle for the studio's mop top darling, Shirley Temple - who, ironically enough, had originally been considered for role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

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The Wicked Witch of the West Started Out as a Beauty

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The search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind caused pandemonium at MGM in the late 1930s. The casting of another film, which would be released in the same year - 1939 - was almost as challenging for the studio.

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Original drawing of Wicked Witch of the West from 1900

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Original drawing of Wicked Witch of the West from 1900

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