The Making of the Wizard of Oz by Aljean Harmetz

Fellow child actor Joan Kenmore also recalls the shoot fondly. “As a little girl, I saw those enormous plastic colorful flowers, the yellow brick road, that pool, that village - I was just so stunned by it,” Betty Ann Bruno, who played a Munchkin, tells Closer. “What you can see is an optical illusion caused by the lighting,” says Harmetz.ĭespite everything, many actors were happy to be part of The Wizard of Oz. However, the legend that there’s the body of a suicidal Munchkin visible in a tree in Munchkinland is false. Betty Danko, Margaret’s stunt double, was hospitalized for six months after a motor propelling her across the sky during the “Surrender Dorothy” scene caught fire. There were other mishaps, and even rumors and gossip that the production was cursed. The formula of the Tin Man’s makeup was also changed. The actor spent six weeks hospitalized in an oxygen tent, and Jack Haley assumed the role. “He couldn’t breathe, and his fingers and toes started to cramp up,” his daughter Kiki tells Closer. But two weeks into filming, Buddy became extremely ill from his silver aluminum powder makeup. “There was some ambiguity of who was going to play who, but eventually Ray was cast as the Scarecrow and Buddy was the Tin Man,” says William Stillman, coauthor of The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75th Anniversary Companion. Vaudevillle veterans Ray Bolger and Buddy Ebsen (later Jed Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies) were among the first cast as Dorothy’s friends. “The only stars that made less than she did were Toto and the Munchkins,” notes John Fricke, author of Judy: A Legendary Film Career. At the time, Shirley was a bigger star than Judy Garland and would have commanded more than the $9,649.98 Judy earned.

“If you read the book, Shirley was closer to the age of Dorothy, but 20th Century Fox refused to lend her out,” says Aljean Harmetz, author of The Making of the Wizard of Oz. Shirley Temple had been the front-runner to play Dorothy Gale in MGM’s film adaptation of L. Get to Know Late Icon Judy Garland's 3 Kids: Liza, Lorna and Joey!

The Making of the Wizard of Oz by Aljean Harmetz