The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM [Paperback]

Aljean Harmetz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 331 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (December 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786883529
• ISBN-13: 978-0786883523
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #933,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wicked world! Me, a cult icon from an MGM kid-flick!, September 7, 2001

By 

Allen Smalling "Constant Reader," (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM (Paperback)

It doesn't matter unduly if you didn't grow up watching MGM's 1939 color movie "The Wizard of Oz" in re-release or on TV. You might think that a "Munchkin" is what used to be called a "doughnut hole." You may think of Judy Garland only as Liza Minnelli's mother, and avoid prewar movies like the plague. Maybe you didn't feel that shock of recognition that "Cora the Coffee Lady" in Maxwell House TV commercials was none other than Margaret Hamilton, the green-faced Wicked Witch of the West.

Of course, if you love "The Wizard of Oz" you've love THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ all the more. I just read this book for the second time (the first upon its initial publication), and was astonished and pleased by how well it has held up. Author Aljean Harmetz has crafted a book relevant not only in terms of one particular "prestige" movie off the Hollywood assembly line; but indeed her insight, research and friendly presentation make the book stand as a metaphor of all Hollywood filmmaking during the height of the Studio Era, ca. 1940. Perhaps the late Irving Thalberg was one of the few Hollywood insiders who could "keep the whole equation of pictures inside his head," but Ms. Harmetz opens up this world for us, and shows us both its realism and its wonder.

We return to an era in which studio moguls were as eccentric and powerful as today's software barons, when studio hands were nonunionized yet intensely loyal to their studios, when no movie studio even thought about a future containing broadcast TV, when movie stars were better known than Presidents or Kings, and when Technicolor would give you any color except the one you wanted. Nonetheless, solving the creative problems inherent in bringing L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wizard of Oz" to the screen was seen as an invigorating set of challenges to be met and conquered.

Back then, MGM had a real "can-do" attitude. So no one had
ever created a moving tornado for a film? After two tries the MGM tech people got it right, and the depiction of that horrendous twister so set the tintype for what a tornado ought to look like that it persists in our collective consciousness today, despite today's ubiquitous video cameras.

There were no tape recorders. How, then, to raise or lower voices artificially for dubbing? This book tells how. What happened when Buddy Ebsen almost died from an allergy to aluminum dust he had worn as the (originally intended) Tin Man? Why was Margaret Hamilton burned severely and ignored, yet Billie Burke turned an ankle and was whisked off the set in a white ambulance? Why did the film need four directors and half a dozen screenwriters, yet was fondly recalled as a labor of love by practically everyone except a prematurely embittered Judy Garland? Was the film the great commercial and critical success you might think it would be? And, by the way, what about those Munchkins' alleged sexual proclivities? Excellent answers provided by excellent research present a fully-formed world view, warts and all.

THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ would be a wonderful companion to the new restored DVD version of the film, which is so crisp you can count the gingham checkers on Dorothy's blue dress (which was actually violet, to fool the Technicolor process). How were the ruby slippers made? What about that poppy field? Read on. Some critics have said that Harmetz's later work is not as excruciatingly well researched as THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ, but I don't care. This book and the movie are not only as much fun as ever, but a great education in the good old/bad old days of the Hollywood "Dream Factory." Don't miss it!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Look at the Old Hollywood Studio System, July 13, 2001

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Reginald D. Garrard "the G-man" (Camilla, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM (Paperback)

"The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM--And the Miracle of Production No 1060" is just downright enthralling. It is an expose' that breaks down the machinery and the machinations of what it took to get a major movie made in the days of the autocratic studio heads. The book offers an entertaining and totally engrossing look at the legendary film. Judy, Ray, Jack, Bert, Margaret, and Toto, too, are all analyzed in this brilliant work. The songwriters, the respective directors, the many other craftsmen, as well as the "little people," in more than the figurative sense, are all here. Vividly embellished with stills from the production, the book's text is just as captivating. The familiar as well as the unfamiliar stories about the production make for a most satisfying read for any "Oz" fan. It is also a good primer for anyone with an interest in pursuing film as a career.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Encaptulation of the Making Of Oz, April 6, 1999

By 

Antony "Toto" LaPerna Jr. (Signfor... (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM (Paperback)

I am not an avid reader but my eye caught this book on a library shelf. I thumbed through it and found the pictures to be beautiful. I decided to give it a try and was terribly moved by the contents.

Ms. Harmetz did her homework when she wrote this trivia-packed volume about those faithful months when 4 different directors molded what would become a television tradition.

I also found that Ms. Hamilton's contributions to be some of the most interesting tidbits throughout the book, this despite the fact that her entire role in the film was a total of 12 minutes!

Ms. Harmetz peaked an interest in me that has previously been non-existent. The book is phenomenal and you will finish it within one sitting-like I did! Anthony "Toto" LaPerna Jr.