5 Wonderfully Weird Things About The Wizard of Oz
12 Nov 2019.  -

Image by: Raymond Helkio

#1  THE STINKY COWARDLY LION
The Cowardly Lion’s costume was made out of real lion hair which, under the intense heat of the studio lights, meant the studio had to have actor Brent Lahr’s costume put into an industrial drying bin.

#2  ALUMINUM KNOCKED THE TIN MAN DOWN 
For two weeks, the Tin Man was hospitalized and kept on oxygen because of the toxic amount of aluminium in his make-up.

#3  TOXIC SNOW
The Wizard of OZ has grown into a holiday favourite in part because of the magical snowfall scene in the poppy field. To get that effect, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer used chrysotile asbestos which is essentially the purest form of asbestos. At the time, the risks of exposure to asbestos were widely known but because it looked so realistic they used it anyway. Prior to asbestos flakes, studios would often use cotton pieces but as you can imagine, coating a movie set with highly flammable material was not exactly a safe practice either.

#4  THE WITCHES ARE BURNING!
Margaret Hamilton who played the wicked witch caught on fire during the scene where she was supposed to disappear in a cloud of smoke. The studio crew had used a real fire to create the smoke but accidentally started it before she was safely out of range. The fire had started on her broom and quickly spread to her hat, ultimately was engulfing it in flames and leaving her forehead and hand badly burned. A stunt double was brought in to try the scene again and she too caught fire.

#5  IS THAT ALL THERE IS?
While there’s nothing wonderful about this fact, it is true. Judy Garland was just 16 when she accepted the role as Dorothy. She was the second lowest paid actor after the dog Toto, whose real name was Terry. Okay, calling your dog Terry is totally weird.