Somewhere Over The Rainbow Magic
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Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t you think?” – The Wizard of Oz
In hopes of bringing “The Wizard of Oz” books to the big screen independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn paid the L. Frank Baum estate $40,000 in 1934 for the books.
Unfortunately, the few attempts to develop the project into a film failed.
“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t you think?”
The amazing unreality of “The Wizard of Oz” stories made them irresistible to readers with sales approaching $80 million, but how to successfully translate the book’s magic into film remained a mystery.
Fantasy is dead people told Goldwyn.
He decided to put the Oz property on the block for $75,000. Seeing the success of Walt Disney’s “Snow White” in 1937, Baum’s Oz books seemed like a possibility to songwriter Arthur Freed at MGM.
Freed loved the books and convinced Louis B. Mayer, producer and co-founder of MGM Studios, to buy the rights in 1938 and also arranged a producing assignment for himself.
He was the lyricist of “Singing in the Rain” and many other standards. On the side he was nurturing a talented teenager named Judy Garland.
“Judy Garland interpreted a song better than anyone,” he said. “You just couldn’t mistake that talent. There was so much of it.”
The Midwest girl named Dorothy was the heroine of Baum’s stories and Freed knew Garland was perfect for the part. That’s how the 1939 film version of “The Wizard of Oz” began to come to life for the big screen.
It was the Harry Potter of its day and made Baum a household name. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see his book made into film.
Baum was the real wizard behind the curtain. Always a fan of fantasy, he spun vivid bedtime stories for his four sons that were so popular neighborhood children would sneak into his home to listen.
People encouraged Baum to put those stories on paper. That was the beginning.
“I believe that dreams - day dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing - are likely to lead to the betterment of the world,” he said.
Baum’s own dreams were the gateway to his magical stories.
“I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives just as we ourselves look upon it,” he said. “Those who turn sad faces toward the world find only sadness reflected. But a smile is reflected in the same way, and cheers and brightens our hearts.”
The 1939 movie didn’t come out of the starting gate making serious money until its re-release in 1948 and once it began to be shown on TV on a regular basis, in 1956.
It took all of those forces to immortalize “The Wizard of Oz” in film history.
On Dec. 10, 2019, Bonhams, featured Glinda’s (the good witch) test wand at auction from “The Wizard of Oz.” Glinda, played by Billie Burke, carried the colorful stoned-wand. It sparkled on screen keeping with the pulsating world of Oz. (At least two of the wands were known to exist.)
The silver wand offered in the sale was likely used in wardrobe test shots of Burke. It sold for $400,075.
Columnist Hedda Hopper was given a special preview of the finished film. She was awestruck.
“What a relief to be carried away into another world and not have to look at propaganda, prisons, triangles, or spies,” she said, “It lifts you right out of this drab workaday world and makes you long for your lost childhood.”
