The Making of The Wizard of Oz (fantastic, brief videos)

By Nicholas Stix

The enclosed video runs only 29:49, and is worth every second. (It may take you longer, as the poor sound quality my force you to stop and replay passages.) It was written and narrated by Aljean Harmetz, based on the eponymous book she’d written two years earlier.

Seeing Harmetz in what remained of the MGM wardrobe department, talking about being a Hollywood brat—her mother had worked in that very same wardrobe department for 20 years—took me back to Nancy Olson’s wistful speech in Sunset Boulevard (1950). I’d assumed that that speech came from Billy Wilder's screenwriting partner, Charles Brackett, when it had surely come from Mrs. Wilder, the former Audrey Young, who had in fact grown up a Hollywood brat.

I posted the following comment at youtube.

Thank you, Ms. Harmetz. I just ordered your book. I see that inferior people have ripped you off.

I had previously seen your name, but this was my first experience of your work, and you've got a new fan.

I was pleased to see that you're still around at 93, and that the Times has run numerous obits you wrote of Hollywood figures during your tenure there, years after you'd left. That must be sweet, or should I say, bittersweet, since someone always had to die?

And thank you, Mr. Fisher, for the post! Unfortunately, the sound is much too faint, and the sound and visual clarity ain't great, but I'm sure you did the best you could, things being what they are. It would be nice if one of those Hollywood foundations (Spielberg?) could re-master the video. It richly deserves it, and it's only 30 minutes long.

156,788 views feb 27, 2022
“Directed by Bruce Franchini. With Aljean Harmetz, Mervyn LeRoy, Margaret Hamilton, Jack Haley.”







19,370 views May 1, 2022

“A rare and spectacular display of behind-the-scenes photos from the Wizard of Oz set! (1939) reworked to color and quality 4K by me, behind the scenes of the Wizard of Oz like you have never seen before! Subscribe to the channel and Like for part 2”


The Wizard of Oz: Behind the Scenes Rare Colorized 4k Footage





In 2019, vanity fair assigned one of its pc operatives, a Julie Singer, to write a “thing” promoting dnc talking points thinly disguised as a celebration of the 80th anniversary of Oz. Here’s Julie Singer’s lede:

“Today, Hollywood has the special effects to launch Brad Pitt into space, the sophisticated safety standards to minimize harm on set, and (finally) the motivation to push for more equality in front of and behind the camera. But in 1939, when The Wizard of Oz was being filmed at MGM, the industry was a much more primitive place….”

“Hamilton—a single mother—refused to take part in the stunt.”

“Special effects”: considering the awful quality of Hollywood movies in 2019, this was hardly something to brag about. “More equality”: In English, Julie Singer is talking about affirmative action for the talentless. “Much more primitive”: The year 1939 was the peak of movie history, and saw the release of the following masterpieces: The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Wuthering Heights and Destry Rides Again.

Margaret Hamilton was never “a single mother,” a euphemism which, in English, means unwed mother.