Page 29 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2024
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Wizard of Oz On-Set Appalling Stories 29
The Wizard of Oz: Five
Appalling On-Set Stories
A look back at a few anecdotes
that have not aged as well as the
1939 classic.
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. According to
Aljean Harmetz’s fascinating 1977 book,
The Making of The Wizard of Oz, Frank
Morgan—the actor playing the title
character—came to set with a minibar in
his briefcase. Of the film’s 10 main cast
members, 16-year-old star Judy Garland
got the second-lowest salary—making 2014 for $3 million. felt like we were suffocating.”)
more than only her canine companion, Meanwhile, Margaret Hamilton’s friend
Terry, who played Toto. And myriad The Original Tin Man Was alerted her, about a month and a half
injuries and miseries were suffered on set Hospitalized After a Makeup before filming ended, that she looked “so
that sound, frankly, horrifying in light of Disaster odd.” When she looked in the mirror, the
modern technology and H.R. policies. actor realized the friend was right: Her
Wicked Witch of the West makeup had
One night during the rehearsal period,
Here’s a look back at a few shocking Buddy Ebsen woke up in bed, according “sunk into my skin. It must have been
behind-the-scenes anecdotes that have to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, months before my face was really normal
not aged nearly as well as the film itself. “screaming from violent cramping in his again.”
hands, arms, and legs. When he had
The Cowardly Lion Costume Was difficulty breathing, his wife called an Sadly for the actors playing the Tin Man,
Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion, they
Constructed From Actual Lion ambulance and rushed him to the
were also banned from eating lunch
Hair hospital. He remained in an oxygen tent inside the MGM cafeteria because the
for two weeks, recovering from the pure
sight of them eating in their makeup was
Before the days of synthetic fur, there aluminum he had ingested into his lungs” deemed too disgusting.
was only one option for making an from his days in makeup as the Tin Man.
authentic-looking lion costume: using the The Snow Was Made From
hair of a real lion. Because of continuity Rather than being sympathetic to this
concerns, and the fact it was impossible severe reaction, the studio was furious. Asbestos
to find duplicate lion hides with identical “They told me to get the hell back to
colorations and patterns, Cowardly Lion work,” Ebsen said. When the studio was In the days before computer-generated
actor Bert Lahr wore one costume told that Ebsen—whose skin had turned effects, film crews had to rely on
primarily through filming. Given the blue during his reaction—could not practical tricks to simulate snow. In the
costume’s weight—and the fact that Lahr immediately return, production replaced scene in which Dorothy is awakened in a
was filming under intensely hot him with Jack Haley. Though the poppy field by a blanket of snow
Technicolor lights that had even the aluminum makeup was changed, it still engineered by Glinda the Good Witch,
lesser-costumed actors “fainting and caused Haley a serious eye infection. production reportedly used chrysotile
asbestos. (Or, as Atlas Obscura elegantly
being carried off the set,” according to
cinematographer Harold Rosson—the In lesser makeup horror stories, actor Ray put it, the film “literally dous[es] its main
actor thoroughly sweated through his Bolger—who played the Scarecrow— characters in carcinogens.”) It wasn’t just
costume each day...so much that the removed the rubber prosthetics mask The Wizard of Oz that relied on asbestos-
costume had to be put into an industrial from his face the last day of filming to laced snow—that substance was also
drying bin each night to dry the discover he had burlap scars around his used in the ’30s in holiday decorations.
perspiration. mouth and chin. (At least he was finally
free from the mask, which “wasn’t (Continued on Page 30)
Even so, the costume sold at auction in porous, so you couldn’t sweat. You
couldn’t breathe through your skin.... We
