The Movie - The Legend

Has there ever been a soundtrack release?

The songs from The Movie have been a popular subject for record albums ever since it was released. There were a few different versions in 1939, the most famous being one by Ken Darby and his orchestra, with Judy Garland singing "Over the Rainbow" and "The Jitterbug." This was not a true soundtrack, however, as these were specially recorded sessions for the album, not songs taken directly from The Movie's soundtrack. It was available on record and cassette well into the 1990s, most recently coupled with songs from Walt Disney's Pinocchio, but it is currently unavailable. In conjunction with The Movie's television debut, MGM released a soundtrack album on November 3, 1956, taken directly from The Movie itself, with some dialogue interspersed with the songs to tell the story. This was later expanded upon for a CD release in the late 1980s. In the 1990s the original, unedited film soundtracks were discovered, allowing a true musical soundtrack of The Movie to be released for the first time. Rhino Records issued a deluxe two-CD set in 1995, which includes outtakes, some alternate and rehearsal tracks, the background score, and other extras, as well as an illustrated booklet. Rhino also released a standard one-CD version without the extras in two different packages, one aimed at children. Many of the audio tracks were also released as part of the extras package on the 2005 and 2009 DVD releases. The Lux Radio Theater performed The Wizard of Oz on its Christmas, 1950 edition, with Judy Garland playing Dorothy, and it's been released on record, audiocassette, CD, and for download, and as an audio extra on the 2005 and 2009 DVD releases. And a 1939 edition of the Maxwell House Good News radio show, which featured a number of actors from The Movie and the public debut of its music, has been released on record, audiocassette, and CD (in the latter format with the original Maxwell House commercials, and an extra radio advertisement from MGM), as well as part of the 1999, 2005, and 2009 DVD releases of The Movie.

When was The Movie first shown on American television?

In the early 1950s, MGM began leasing some of its films to individual television stations, but held back some of its biggest films, including Gone with the Wind and The Movie. CBS expressed interest in a national showing of Gone with the Wind, but MGM turned them down. So CBS countered with an offer to show The Movie, and the television rights were sold for $225,000 each for two showings. The Movie was first shown as part of the Ford Star Jubilee on Saturday, November 3, 1956. The broadcast was introduced by Bert Lahr, Judy Garland's ten-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli, and thirteen-year-old Oz collector Justin Schiller, who had loaned CBS a first edition of the book for Lahr to read to Minnelli on air. (Schiller would go on to found IWOC two months later.) It was watched by an estimated audience of forty-five million. CBS next showed The Movie on December 13, 1959, and from then on it was shown every season on CBS until 1967, when NBC acquired the film for the next eight showings. CBS got it back again in 1976, and showed it on average once a year after that. Before the advent of cable and videotape, The Movie was regularly one of the highest rated shows of the season, and often the highest rated movie, rarely slipping out of the top twenty for the week it was shown. In 1998, The Movie was shown on network television for an unprecedented thirty-ninth time, but this would also be the last for some time. When that contract expired, the rights reverted to Time Warner (see the question Who owns The Movie now?), who decided to show it on their own cable channels. The Movie made its first cable showing on Superstation TBS in November of 1999, and has been shown without commercials on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) every July, beginning in 2000. In November 2000 it also debuted on another Warner Bros. network, TNT, and it returned to broadcast television in 2002 with a holiday season showing on the WB network until 2005. (The WB was merged with UPN to become the CW network in 2006.) Since these debuts, The Movie has become an annual holiday event on TBS and TNT, shown on both stations in late November or early December. (An interesting side note: The Movie was not the first Oz movie shown on television. The 1925 silent version of The Wizard of Oz was shown over three nights on early television station W2XCD in Passaic, New Jersey, June 8, 9, and 10, 1931 — eight years before The Movie was released to theaters!)

At what time of year has it usually been shown?

At first The Movie was a Christmas movie, shown in December. Gradually, however, showings got pushed further back, until it became an Easter staple. For a very long time it was shown in the spring, but in later years CBS showed it around Thanksgiving as well. Now that it is on cable, it seems that it will regularly be shown in July on TCM, and in November or December on TBS, TNT, and the WB.

For those who really want to delve into the trivia, here are the dates of all of the United States showings of The Movie that I could find, and what network showed it then:

November 3, 1956, CBS
December 13, 1959, CBS
December 11, 1960, CBS
December 10, 1961, CBS
December 9, 1962, CBS
January 26, 1964, CBS
January 17, 1965, CBS
January 9, 1966, CBS
February 12, 1967, CBS
April 20, 1968, NBC
March 9, 1969, NBC
March 15, 1970, NBC
April 18, 1971, NBC
March 7, 1972, NBC
April 8, 1973, NBC
February 24, 1974, NBC
March 30, 1975, NBC
March 14, 1976, CBS
March 20, 1977, CBS
March 28, 1978, CBS
March 23, 1979, CBS
March 7, 1980, CBS
February 27, 1981, CBS
March 27, 1982, CBS
March 18, 1983, CBS
March 30, 1984, CBS
March 1, 1985, CBS
February 15, 1986, CBS
March 6, 1987, CBS
February 24, 1988, CBS
March 19, 1989, CBS
February 20, 1990, CBS
March 19, 1991, CBS
November 27, 1991, CBS
February 26, 1993, CBS
November 11, 1993, CBS
November 23, 1994, CBS
May 10, 1996, CBS
May 8, 1998, CBS
November 21, 1999, TBS
July 3, 2000, TCM
November 19 and 25, 2000, TNT
July 4, 2001, TCM
December 1 and 2, 2001, TNT
July 4, 2002, TCM
November 24, 2002, The WB
November 28, 2002, TBS
December 8, 13, and 25, 2002, TNT
July 5 and 6, 2003, TCM
November 16 and 21, 2003, TBS
December 7, 2003, The WB
December 13 and 14, 2003, TNT
July 2 and 3, 2004, TCM
December 8 and 12, 2004, TNT
November 19, 20, and 24, 2004, TBS
December 19, 2004, The WB
July 3 and 4, 2005, TCM
November 11, 12, and 13, 2005, TBS
December 3, 10, and 18, 2005, TNT
December 18, 2005, The WB

Why is it being shown on cable now?

Because the current owners (see question 14.14) own cable channels as well as the WB network. Naturally they'd rather show it on one of their own channels than share the advertising revenues with another broadcaster. More and more, cable has become the home for movies on television, and The Wizard of Oz is just one of them. It's still a special event, with only two or three annual showings on TCM in early July and during the holiday season on commercial cable.

Who have been the hosts for the television broadcasts?

Until more time was needed to show commercials, each showing had a host to introduce The Movie. Besides Lahr, Minnelli and Schiller in 1956 (see question 14.2), the hosts have been Red Skelton and his daughter Valentina in 1959, Richard Boone, the star of Have Gun Will Travel, and his son Peter in 1960, Dick Van Dyke and his children in 1961 and 1962, and Danny Kaye from 1964 to 1967 (the 1964 segments were taped and repeated for the following three showings). The 1970 broadcast, the first since Judy Garland's death, was prefaced by a brief tribute to Garland by Gregory Peck. And in 1990 and 1996, Angela Lansbury hosted a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Movie and its lasting popularity. This and other specials have also been shown in conjunction with the cable showings on TNT and TCM.

Is The Movie shown on TV in other countries?

While it seems not to have quite gripped the collective imagination abroad as it has in America, The Movie has been a staple on television in other countries, such as Canada, shown on the CBC, and Great Britain, shown on the BBC. (If anyone in other countries would like to give me more information about how and when it's shown, please contact me. I'd love to include this information in a future edition of this FAQ.)

How many American video releases have there been?

Several. The Movie is one of the all-time best selling movies on home media in America, and it has been issued in a number of different packages. There have been at least four different versions of The Movie on VHS tape. The initial release, in the early 1980s, was pretty straightforward, with just The Movie. In 1989, to commemorate The Movie's fiftieth anniversary, a new edition was released, with the Kansas sequences rendered in sepia, and about twenty minutes of extra behind-the-scenes footage added at the end. This included Arlen's home movies of "The Jitterbug," Bolger's extended "If I Only Had a Brain" dance, film of Garland and Mickey Rooney at the 1940 Oscars ceremony, and some early publicity film, with Buddy Ebsen still playing the Tin Woodman. The original packaging for this edition included a booklet of behind-the-scenes information, which was dropped in later issues. In 1993, Turner Home Entertainment released a deluxe collector's edition, The Ultimate Oz, that included a new cleaned-up print of The Movie; a second cassette with the 1990 Angela Lansbury documentary, including extra material not shown on television, and more behind-the-scenes footage, including test film of the actors and special effects; a hardbound copy of the script; and a folio of publicity photographs. A new video edition, with a digitally restored picture and soundtrack remastered in THX, was released in late 1996, which in 1997 became one of the first movies ever released on DVD. This first North American DVD release includes soundtracks and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French, but no other extras. The digitally restored Special Edition seen in theaters was released on VHS video in 1999, both as a stand-alone single tape and on two tapes (the second tape included the Angela Lansbury special and other footage, much of it similar to what was in The Ultimate Oz). This version was also released on DVD, again in both standard and gift sets. This second DVD edition includes the same extras as on the second videotape and a number of DVD exclusives. The gift set includes the script book and photographs. In 2005, The Movie was again released on DVD, this time in two- and three-disk sets. Besides yet another restored version and the many extras already released in earlier versions, this editions features a commentary track by noted Oz historian John Fricke, a music and effects only soundtrack, and new made-for-DVD documentaries. The third disk in the three-DVD set includes many old black-and-white silent Oz movies and the 1933 cartoon, and a documentary on L. Frank Baum, as well as some reproduced print materials.

There is a rumor out there that a "rare" black-and-white-only video is available that shows the alleged "hanging man." There has never been a black-and-white release of The Movie is any format or medium. The rumor might refer to the Kansas scenes in the first video release, however. But there's still no hanging man in it.

Five different editions have also been released on videodisk, most with a separate audio program on the second sound channel. One from Criterion in the early 1980s included an inaccurate commentary from film historian Ron Haver, and was the first release since The Movie's premiere to show the Kansas scenes in sepia. Many of the extra features were later released on the 1989 VHS edition. Another laserdisk from MGM at roughly the same time came with an audio track that had been found without most of the dialogue for use in foreign dubbed versions. This soundtrack is now available on the 2005 DVD release. An edition from Turner in the disk version of The Ultimate Oz included better, more accurate commentary by Oz historian John Fricke, since updated for the 2005 DVD release. One version also had Spanish and French soundtracks on two different channels.

What's this I hear about the Ruby Slippers being auctioned off for a lot of money?

Dorothy's shoes from The Movie have gone on to be one of the most famous and recognized pieces of movie costuming — and the most sought after, considering how much money pairs have fetched at auction. The first pair auctioned off was at MGM's studio auction in 1970, when they went for $15,000. This pair now belongs to the Smithsonian Institution, and toured America in the 1990s as part of the Smithsonian's 150th anniversary celebration. Since then, other pairs have turned up. Like other Hollywood costumes, there was more than one pair of Ruby Slippers — and Bobbie Koshay, Garland's stand-in, had a different shoe size, meaning some had to be made to fit her as well. At least five pairs are known to exist, and they have fetched higher and higher prices at auctions. The last pair known to be sold went for $660,000 at Christie's auction house in New York City in 2000. This pair, by the way, had been given away as a contest prize in 1939, and the winner had kept them for nearly fifty years before putting them up for auction. The first auction for this pair of Ruby Slippers, in 1988, brought a price of $165,000, and the buyer put them on display at the Disney-MGM Studio park at Walt Disney World before putting them up for auction again.

Where are the Ruby Slippers now? Can I go see them?

One pair is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. In fact, that's one of the Smithsonian's most popular attractions. One pair has been displayed at times at the Philip Samuels Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri. A test pair with a different design that never appeared in The Movie is on exhibit at Debbie Reynolds' movie memorabilia museum in Las Vegas. And another pair may also be in Las Vegas, at the Planet Hollywood in the Caesar's Palace hotel. One pair often goes on tour to shopping malls. And one pair, owned by a private collector in California, is locked away in a safe deposit box. This may be the pair that was stolen during the Judy Garland Festival in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in the summer of 2005.

Where are the other costumes? Can I go see them?

Most of the costumes from The Movie are now in private hands, and are not generally on display. One of the few exceptions is one of the Scarecrow costumes, which was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by Ray Bolger.

Is it true that Ted Turner wants to colorize the Kansas sequences?

Ted Turner, the Atlanta television mogul who launched TBS, TNT, CNN, and other cable channels, became the owner of The Movie when he bought MGM's library in the 1980s. He then immediately negotiated a deal with CBS, extending their rights to show The Movie through 1998, in exchange for the television rights to his all-time favorite film, Gone with the Wind, which CBS also held at the time. While Turner has caused a stir among movie purists with his use of modern technology to add color to previously black-and-white films, he has stated that The Movie must have its Kansas scenes in black-and-white. In fact, Turner should be commended by Oz and movie fans for restoring the original sepia tones to the Kansas sequences, which had previously only been seen during the film's early theatrical releases. Besides, the whole idea of colorizing movies seems to have been a fad, as very little has been done about it of late. Nowadays, movie fans are much more knowledgeable and vocal, and thus movies are generally shown as close as possible to their original forms. Some movies are shown in letterboxed format, with black bars at the top and bottom, to simulate widescreen presentations, for example, and movies are sometimes shown in a longer time slot. In recent years, broadcasts of The Movie have lasted two hours and ten minutes or longer, so as to preserve the original film as much as possible yet still show enough commercials to make some money, just to give one example.

Is The Movie on the National Film Registry?

In 1988, in response to colorization and other alterations made to movies, several prominent filmmakers lobbied the United States Congress to do something to preserve their rights as artists and the integrity of the original films. While Congress couldn't actually come out and make these changes illegal, they did establish the National Film Preservation Board (http://www.loc.gov/film/), and a National Film Registry, administered by the Library of Congress. Every year, twenty-five American movies are added to the list as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. A pristine, unaltered print of each movie is preserved by the Library of Congress for posterity, and broadcasters and video producers are requested, but not required, to state that a film on the registry has been altered and in what way if shown in a different form. The first year that films were announced for the registry was 1989, and among them was The Movie. Other films added to the registry that year include Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath, High Noon, The Maltese Falcon, Singin' in the Rain, On the Waterfront, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, Star Wars — and of course Gone with the Wind. You can find out more about the National Film Registry at http://www.loc.gov/film/filmnfr.html and http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/clamen/misc/movies/NFR-Titles.html.

Where does The Movie rank on the AFI's Top 100 list?

In 1998, to celebrate the first century of American filmmaking, the American Film Institute polled movie makers, film historians, and others to come up with the top one hundred American films up to that time. The Movie placed at number six, and it was the highest ranked musical, fantasy, and family movie on the list. Ahead of it were Lawrence of Arabia at number five, Gone with the Wind in fourth place, The Godfather in the third position, Casablanca at number two, and Citizen Kane at the top. A year later, the AFI put out lists of the top twenty-five American movie actors and actresses. Judy Garland placed eighth among the actresses. Shirley Temple, who was briefly considered for Dorothy — see question 11.7 — and later played Tip and Ozma on television, ended up at number eighteen. In 2001, the AFI's now-annual list was of the one hundred most thrilling American films, on which The Movie placed forty-third. For 2003, the list was 100 Heroes and Villains, where the Wicked Witch of the West showed up as the fourth worst villain ever, behind Dr. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs at the top, Norman Bates in Psycho at number two, and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies in third. For 2004, the list was of the top 100 Movie Songs, which found "Ding, Dong, the Witch Is Dead" showing up at eighty-two, and "Over the Rainbow" taking the top spot. (Not bad for a song that was almost cut out entirely!) For 2005, the list was of the top 100 Movie Quotes, and The Movie had three on the list: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" at ninety-nine, "There's no place like home" at twenty-four, and "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" making it all the way to number four. As of this writing (December, 2005), the list topic for 2006 has been announced: "100 Years, 100 Cheers," for inspiring movies. The Movie is on the ballot, and it's likely to make the final list. You will be able to find out in June of 2006. For more information about the AFI's lists, including PDF files that can be downloaded, see http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/100yearslist.aspx.

Who owns The Movie now?

Okay, let's see if we can keep this straight. For a long time, of course, The Movie was owned by MGM — actually, by the studio's parent company, Loews, Inc. — since they made it. In the 1950s, after the Supreme Court ruled that theater chains owning production studios constituted illegal monopolies, MGM was spun off from Loews and became its own company in 1956, and it retained the rights to The Movie. There may have been a few ownership changes I'm not aware of in the intervening years, but in 1986, Ted Turner bought the rights to hundreds of old MGM and RKO movies, including The Movie and his all-time favorite film, Gone with the Wind. In 1995, Turner merged his media empire with Time Warner. This is why The Movie has been shown on Time Warner-owned networks in recent years (TBS, TNT, TCM, the WB), and why Warner Bros. is marketing a lot of Movie-based merchandise.

Where can I find other fans of The Movie?

Many fans of the Oz books are also fans of The Movie, and Movie fans sometimes become fans of the books. So if you can find Oz fans in general (see sections 17 and 18 of this FAQ), you can probably find fans of The Movie. There may be options available through (TMOHH) the links page of the WWOOW. Take a look at http://thewizardofoz.info/links.html, there is a whole set of links devoted just to The Movie there. If you are familiar with Usenet newsgroups, there is one set up for The Movie, alt.movies.wizard-of-oz (http://groups.google.com/group/alt.movies.wizard-of-oz), but it seems nobody is visiting it.