HAROLD ARLEN

Harold wrote the music for TWoO

Arlen would get a motif stuck in his head and go to play it on the
piano. Hed play it over and over again until it got in Harburgs head.
Then, if lyrics didnt come or didnt make sense, hed go to the
garden out back, plant something and try again.
The tune for Over the Rainbow came to Arlen outside the cinema
where the film later had its preview, in a car, with his wife.
He usually wrote songs, with lyricist Yip Harburg, at night
He was distraught when Over the Rainbow was to be pulled
CLARA BLANDICK
Born on a boat (cool)
Big in previous Hollywood films
Killed herself similarly to Garland after ill health caused her to be in
unbearable pain and go blind
Her roles were usually motherly leading some to think she was a
maternal figure on set
RAY BOLGER
Ray was basically an attention whore and lived in the spotlight, he
never let anyone else speak
His suit was made of asbestos
He got cast as the Tin Man but wanted to be the scarecrow. He got
it.
He had a semi-drinking-problem while shooting due to the long days
and costumes/makeup
Ray was not as friendly with Bert and Jack who knew each other
better he was sort of a loner character
He was the only one who attempted to identify with and accept the
little people, he was essentially the only one who was nice to them,
as he used to work with little people in vaudeville, and one had a
crush on him.
BILLIE BURKE
Billies dressing room was lavish and was colour co-ordinated, lots of
baby pinks and blues. She also had nice furniture, whereas most
actors had grubby rooms
She used to not show up when she was due to film and, if she was
questioned, shed cry and accuse them of bullying her
VICTOR FLEMING
Fleming used to say here goes nothing! before filming, which made
everyone nervous
He directed the film for four months; much longer than other
directors. However, he neither started nor finished the film

Victor was very sarcastic when things didnt go right, which annoyed
a lot of people, he was a disciplinarian, had a temper and stood for
no foolishness could be very polite, when he was giving notes he
rarely ordered people around and merely suggested had a tight
rein on particularly Judy
Victor slapped Judy when she couldnt stop laughing. Before this,
she did try and control herself, running behind trees in the set and
trying to regain focus. But it didnt work. After the slap and the
humiliation of being sent back to her dressing room, she did the
scene.
Clark Gable fell out with George Cukor (director of Gone with the
Wind) on GwtW and requested Victor take over directorial duties. He
won an Oscar for this
Victors cameraman/general assistants brother had been Victors
wifes first husband, but the pair got along well in spite of this

ARTHUR FREED
Freed made $1500 a week as a songwriter for MGM
His partnership with LeRoy is what drove most of the movie
Freed = pushy, ruthless, ambitious man, he showed up to almost
every preview involved in the film or not, he had courageous
opinions, lecherous
If Mayers ass itched, Freed scratched took a pay cut of $1200 to
kiss his arse and make Mayer let him be a producer
Freed originally negotiated getting the book so he could produce
TWoO he wanted the glory
He came up with no place like home
Freed hired the music guys used to be a songwriter was a
Broadway hoe insensitive to all but music did musicals before,
basically knew what he was talking about more than anyone else
partnership with Yip Harburg, who wrote the music for the film but
they did argue about politics because Freed was a bit of a fascist
Freed was distraught when Mayer pulled the plug on Rainbow
Freed wanted Judy to be perfect so the picture would be perfect, but
he did give her the time of day, unlike Mayer him and LeRoy were
basically Team Judy
JUDY GARLAND
Judy Garland was contracted by MGM at 13 (on my birthday, js)
Judy was described as ugly and the studio starved her, gave her a
nose job and made her wear punishing corsets
Judy was nice to the little people, giving them sweets and
personalised autographed photos, but it was insincere, as she
accused them of depravity years later
Garland was always happy and wanting to laugh she had great
manners, called the men Mister in some polite weird American way

 but she later resented the cast: if she got bored of you she could
be as mean as she was charming
JACK HALEY
Jack Haley resented the lack of acting his character did he came
up with the way the characters spoke he hated the makeup
process/costumes
MARGARET HAMILTON
Margaret Hamilton hated the 3 main guys (Ray, Bert, Jack)
Margaret Hams stunt double (Betty Danko) was needed because
shed been burnt and she said she would never work with fire again,
and she had to sit on a pipe (which exploded and caused more
burns)
Margaret Hamilton: When I was 6 years old, I played Sleeping
Beauty That was my first acting appearance and last time, if I may
say, that I ever played a beauty of any kind
She was divorced 3 years before the picture she lived with her
three-year-old son and his nurse
YIP HARBURG
Yip was the lyricist for the songs in TWoO
Yip was out of Alice in Wonderland full on socialist got into
fights with Freed about politics
His main partnership, though also with Freed and LeRoy, was with
Arlen the songwriter
Harburg wanted a reprise of Ding Dong. He was overruled
He was distraught when Over the Rainbow was to be pulled
BERT LAHR
Bert Lahr was just so vain, apparently had no time for family as he
was obsessed with his work gave his wife mental probs
Bert Lahr detested the makeup and wouldnt put it on until he had
to he had to take off his lion costume between shots because he
would pass out otherwise he had to drink through a straw and
couldnt eat so he lived off milkshakes and soup
Bert was an attention whore too on stage he wanted all the
applause he was also a hypochondriac (always thinking hes ill)
and had the beginnings of an anxiety disorder
His wife had been institutionalised for over 7 years in that time he
fell in love with another woman she got married to someone else
but divorced them a year later his first marriage was never
annulled, until after the picture (they married in February 1940)
MERVYN LEROY
Mervyn made $6000 a week at MGM as a producer

Mervyn = sweetheart, a nice guy, absolute confidence in himself,

son in law of of one of the Warner Brothers, replacement for Irving
Thalberg (initially involved with MGM, a genius)
He wanted to direct and produce TWoO but Mayer told him it was
too big a picture for you to do both
The Witch was originally meant to be glamorous and wear sequins
but, last minute, LeRoy decided she had to be ugly

LOUIS B. MAYER
Co-founder of MGM
Mayer = Emotional, cried a lot, head of MGM, believed in God,
America (he celebrated his own birthday on the 4th of July rather
than his actual birthday) and motherhood, his casts were his
family, intolerant of mediocrity, a very big bastard
He kicked Noel Langley (the main screenwriter) off the film because
he jokingly insulted him
He wanted to get rid of Over the Rainbow because he felt it slowed
the pace of the film
Mayer was obsessed with the fact that Judy was not sexually
attractive, and therefore, despite having the best voice, Garland
almost lot the part numerous times to pretty women
Pre-Oz, he planned on trading Judy for Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
but the deal got nixed when Harlow unexpectedly died of liver
failure at 26.
LUCILE ROSSON
Had a pet marmoset monkey
Was once married to the cinematographers brother (Harold Rosson,
hence her surname)
Extravagant woman
RANDOM FACTS ABOUT RANDOM PEOPLE/THE FILM ITSELF
Carl Spitz trained Toto
The cast were worried, with the frequent change of directors, that
they might lose their jobs
Filming took 23 weeks the film opened at Graumans Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood
MGM tried to make 1 film a week 40 other movies were released
the year TWoO was
20th Century Fox also wanted to buy the book
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AT MGM CUTE MOMENTS
TWoO took twenty years to make its money back ($2.77 million) but,
being a fantasy, it was only ever expected to break even, no one
thought it would become anything
The film only really took off in popularity after a contract to play it
annually crept up before this, it was considered almost a flop

Almost all the screenwriters for TWoO (of which there were 10) had
a problem with either their marriages, alcohol or gambling
The film made more of the setting in Kansas, something that was
barely touched upon in the book THE B&W WAS SYMBOLIC OF
DOROTHYS BORING, GREY LIFE
Noel Langley (screenwriter) was dismissed from the film twice and
wasnt invited to the premiere (no writers were) When he did see it,
he cried because theyd screwed up his script and, additionally, his
life
Other scriptwriters were drafted in, including Edgar Allan Woolf who
was definitely gay I promise, he died because he fell down the stairs
because his dog tripped him up I swear to god this is true
The snow from the poppy scene was taken from the 1902 Wizard of
Oz play, the only thing to be taken from this source in TWoO canon
Richard Thorpe directed TWoO for two weeks, George Cukor for
three days, Victor Fleming for four months, and King Vidor for ten
days
Thorpe didnt get the childish, magical nature of the film when
directing, so he was fired.
People were fainting due to the hot nature of the studio and all the
arc lights needed for Technicolor said lighting cost $100,000 alone
William Horning was the art director (did sets/costumes/etc.)
Reflection from the Tin Mans suit could white-out an entire scene,
needed to dampen bits down
Essentially, everything in the Emerald City had to be dyed green