Tag Archives: Burt Lahr

the creators of the wizard of oz (volume 4, episode 9) part one

According to the Library of Congress, The Wizard of Oz is the most viewed film in the history of motion pictures.

Still photo with the Wizard of Oz’ major characters

Most of the other roles were plugged in with various MGM contract players or veteran character actors who got salaries lasting only a few weeks.  Ray Bolger was initially asked to play the Tin Man although he had his heart set on the Scarecrow.  Buddy Ebsen didn’t really care who he played and his agreement to swap roles with Bolger and play the Tin Man had dire consequences.  A second tier actor Bert Lahr, better known for his Broadway comedic ability was cast as the Cowardly Lion.

Publicity photo of Toto (Terry) and Judy Garland

The dog, Toto, depicted by Denslow seemed a straightforward small terrier but finding such an animal able to function in a soundstage environment amidst the typical commotion, lighting and sound effects became a formidable project in itself.  Dozens of visually suitable dogs were auditioned by LeRoy personally, none were even close to what the role technically required.  This process grew so unproductive that consideration was even given to dressing up an actor in a dog costume.  Finally, a professional dog trainer with previous experience providing animals to the motion picture industry heard about this unique talent search.  Carl Spitz was a German immigrant operating a ten acre kennel, dog boarding and training facility in the San Fernando Valley who occasionally padded his income with a movie role for one of his own trained pets.  The St. Bernard used in Clark Gable’s 1933 Call of the Wild was to date Spitz’ most famous canine movie star. Upon hearing about MGM’s difficulty in finding just the right animal, Spitz took a gamble on a small female Cairn terrier he owned named Terry.  Initially a dog dropped off by a customer for traditional training, Spitz kept the dog when the patron couldn’t afford to pay the bill and never came back to retrieve the animal.  Terry was so shy that Spitz figured he could never train it to work in films but, in 1934, an MGM director familiar with Spitz’ kennel was desperate enough to try and use Terry in a Shirley Temple film.  The dog performed beautifully and appeared in several subsequent movies but Spitz wasn’t sure the small, still somewhat timid animal could handle such a massive production.  Upon entering MGM studios with the dog, Spitz was immediately escorted to the Thalberg building, where the entire pre-production crew was attempting to get the Wizard of Oz into filming as quickly as possible.  Terry was practically cast on sight, with Spitz using non-verbal commands to get what became America’s most famous Cairn terrier through its usual tricks.  Spitz’ only regret was that he did not realize how desperate MGM was, agreeing to a weekly salary of a mere $125 a week.

Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow

Bolger’s wrinkled burlap face was provided by a specially molded rubber mask that covered his head and neck with the exception of his nose, mouth and eyes.  The mask had to be glued on daily, makeup then manually added to his visible nose and mouth.  This process took two hours, necessitating Bolger’s studio arrival at 6:15 AM.

Bert Lahr as The Cowardly Lion

Lahr’s lion costume and makeup was even worse.  The padded body suit he wore weighed ninety pounds, prosthetic devices were glued to his face that prevented him from eating anything that he couldn’t ingest through a straw.

Louis B. Mayer

Born Lazar Meir in the vicinity of Minsk, Russia, most likely on July 12, 1884, Meir emigrated to St. John’s, New Brunswick, Canada, with his parents and siblings, anglicizing his name to Louis Burt Mayer.  A high school dropout at age 12, Mayer worked within his father’s junk and scrap metal business, crisscrossing St. John’s in a wagon and salvaging any scrap of value.  At age 20, in 1904, Mayer moved to Massachusetts and continued in the scrap metal trade, subsidizing his meager income by hustling various odd jobs.  Even as a young man in New Brunswick, Mayer was fascinated by vaudeville and show business, perhaps as an escape from an impoverished and gloomy existence.  He scraped together enough money to buy a seedy burlesque house in Haverhill, Massachusetts and transformed it into a movie theater. Sensing that the motion picture business was on the cusp of widespread popularity, Mayer bought up additional theaters and formed a partnership to distribute films throughout New England.  He paid D. W. Griffith $25,000 for the exclusive regional rights to show “Birth of a Nation,” typically without ever seeing the film himself, a deal which brought in four times the rights fee.  Mayer also was interested in the production side of the film industry, establishing production entities first in New York and then in Los Angeles in 1918, where he formed his first production company, Louis B. Mayer Productions.

L. Frank Baum

Long before the Wizard of Oz was produced as a film, the children’s novel written by L. Frank Baum had already achieved immense popularity.  Born in 1856 in upstate New York, Baum’s background was typical of many American journeyman attempting to eke out a living in late 19th century America.  Although interested in writing from an early age, he initially spent his twenties as both a member of a touring acting troupe as well as a salesman for his uncle’s carriage lubricant, Baum’s Castorine.  Eventually tiring of these financially unproductive efforts, in 1888, Baum and his wife made the decision to move from Syracuse to present day Aberdeen, South Dakota.  Initially a shopkeeper, when his store went bankrupt, he acquired and then began publishing and editing the local newspaper, The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer.  As a columnist, Baum expressed his views on various issues, including politics and current events but this venture was also a failure and Baum and his family returned to Chicago, where he was employed as a reporter for a large daily, the Chicago Evening Post.  He also again supplemented his income as a salesman, but his enterprising mind continued to produce ideas involving creative writing.

First edition of the Wizard of Oz

Baum made a deal with W. W. Denslow to illustrate the book, a 50-50 split, and the illustrations again broke new ground in children’s literature.  By October of 1900, the book was well into sales of its second edition and a runaway success and Baum’s first royalty check in December of 1900 was for $3,000, approximately $100,000 today. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz remained the best-selling child’s book for more than two years after its release.   

Victor Fleming on the set of Gone With the Wind

Oz resumed production on November 4, 1938, with director Victor Fleming.  Fleming already had a reputation as MGM’s fixer of problem productions.  His experience dated back to silent films, working for various directors including D. W. Griffith.  He made stars out of Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow in the late twenties and early thirties.  Having made a good living in motion pictures for many years, Fleming lived the high life on his twenty acre horse ranch in Bel Air, riding a motorcycle years before it was fashionable.  As good looking as the men he directed he also carried on affairs with many of his leading ladies ranging from Clara Bow to Ingrid Bergman, finally marrying at age 34 in 1933.  Although considered a breach of studio etiquette and the star system, Clark Gable routinely ate lunch with Fleming at the studio commissary, such was his respect for the director, also a close friend.

Mervyn LeRoy on the set with Edward G. Robinson

In an effort to bolster MGM talent behind the camera, Mayer poached one of Warner Brothers most esteemed producer-directors in Mervyn LeRoy.  He secretly paid Leroy $6,000 a week, practically double what any other producer was making, although his salary did not remain secret for long.  But LeRoy was a veteran of nine years at Warner Bros and well known as both a quality filmmaker and efficient professional.

Ozcot

Baum always envisioned Oz as the perfect backdrop for an amusement park and to pursue such a venture he moved permanently to Los Angeles, acquiring land in central Hollywood in what was then mostly orange groves, building an elaborate two story home he christened “Ozcot,” where he lived for the rest of his life.

Publicity photo of Judy Garland.

the creators of the wizard of oz (Volume 4, episode 9) part two

According to the Library of Congress, The Wizard of Oz is the most viewed film in the history of motion pictures.

One of the original pairs of the Ruby Slippers.

Even the magical slippers, a major plot device in both the novel and film are changed from silver to ruby, to take advantage of the Technicolor film process used for the Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy, over the rainbow

Judy Garland faced challenges of a different kind.  Playing the part of a twelve year old required that any appearance of breasts were eliminated by a constrictive corset that forcibly flattened her chest.  Between her mother and the studio, every aspect of Judy’s life was choreographed especially when it came to diet.  She was encouraged to smoke tobacco and drink coffee, practices that inhibited appetite.  Her mother had already exposed her to amphetamines at a young age, again as a diet inhibitor and energy booster. 

Billie Burke and Judy Garland, in Munchkinland

Another production challenge was the preparation and choreography of the Munschkinland scenes, frequently involving over a hundred individuals.  One blessing was that besides Judy Garland and Billie Burke who played Glinda, all of the other voices were lip synched and ultimately recorded by several voiceover artists associated with Disney productions. Their voices were then sped up to varying degrees to get the appropriate sound for a tiny person.

The terrifying Wicked Witch of the West, played by Margaret Hamilton

One such effort involved The Wicked witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton and her fiery exit from Munschkinland in a cloud of red dust and flame.  Seemingly she magically disappears into thin air, actually her escape was set in motion by an elevator that lowered her beneath the sound stage.  Hamilton had to back her way into an exact spot on the stage with perfect timing to escape any flames as she was lowered out of sight.  If her legs were even slightly unaligned, she could break one or both as she fell through the opening.  Two stagehands were ready to grab her as she came down the elevator.  Hamilton rehearsed the scene and process endlessly, getting to the correct spot, tightening her elbows next her sides so they did not slam on the edge of the pit, keeping her costume behind her and clutching the broomstick close to her chest so it did not get caught on the opening.  The first take was so good that when Hamilton returned to the soundstage from below, the usually stern Fleming was actually smiling.  However, he typically demanded another take as a precaution.  As it was lunch time the entire crew left for a break and when they returned, nothing went right, and after four takes with mistakes, Fleming returned to his typical drill sergeant demeanor.  After demanding that everyone pull themselves together and get the scene done, Hamilton proceeded.  This time the flame effect started way too early, the witch’s broomstick and hat ignited and by the time Hamilton was grabbed off of the elevator below, her eyelashes and one eyebrow were gone and upper lip and one eyelid badly burned.  Her right hand was also severely injured and the toxic copper based makeup had to be removed manually, alcohol painfully applied to a large and essentially open wound.  Hamilton was in agony, claiming subsequently that she had never experienced such pain.  Ointment was also applied to her face and covered with gauze, only her eyes, nose and mouth left uncovered.

Luckily, Hamilton was not needed for filming for six weeks and when she returned, she was told she would have to ride on a mechanical device that simulated her flying above the Emerald City as part of the “Surrender, Dorothy,” scene.  The device also spewed smoke from a pipe concealed by her broomstick.  Hamilton absolutely refused to have anything to do with the smoke device, agreeing only to closeups with a wind machine and the broomstick rocking back and forth.  She told Victor Fleming that he could fire her if he wanted but she would not get near any fire related special effects again.

Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton and Jack Haley in a 1970 reunion photo

Of all of the actors associated with the film, perhaps the strangest outcome was experienced by Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West.  Despite her permanent association with the role, she successfully avoided typecasting and enjoyed a lengthy career in film, television, where she appeared on the Addams Family and was a regular on the soap opera, the Secret Storm, and even in television commercials where in her seventies she portrayed the kindly merchant Cora praising Maxwell House coffee.  But, especially as the Wizard of Oz reached nationwide prominence in the sixties and seventies, she received large amounts of mail from fans obsessed with every aspect of her role in the film. 

Jerry Maren, Munchkin, also member of the Lollipop Guild, the last surviving member of the Munchkins. He passed away in 2018

Although the Munschkinland numbers are among the most impressive musical and dance songs ever filmed in Hollywood, it was the alleged off screen antics of these unique actors that eventually added to the Oz legend.  On the Jack Paar show in 1967, to much laughter, Judy Garland described the acting troupe as a “bunch of drunks” “who got smashed every night,” and one even propositioned her.  She also claimed that if a Munschkin became too intoxicated to navigate their way back to their Culver City hotel, they would be picked up with butterfly nets.  Although Garland was known to exaggerate, screenwriter Noel Langley referred to the group collectively as, “The wildest, little whoring rascals you ever saw.”  Mervyn Leroy’s 1974 autobiography recollected truly depraved behavior: “They had sex orgies in the hotel, we had to have police on just about every floor.”  By the time these urban legends became engrained any contradictions from actual surviving Munschkins themselves were typically ignored.

the creators of the wizard of oz (volume 4, episode 9) book and music information

The books used in this podcast included:

The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum, by Rebecca Loncraine.

Victor Fleming, An American Master, by Michael Sragow

The Making of the Wizard of Oz, by Aljean Harmetz and

The Road to Oz, by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman

The music used in this podcast included:

Island Dream, by Chris Haugen (both intros)

AngloZulu, by Kevin McLeod (outro, part one)

American Frontiers, by Aaron Kenny