Admitting that he is just a balloonist from Kansas, the Wizard offers to take Dorothy home. The green makeup contained copper, which, if ingested, could prove to be fatal. Just 4 feet 11.5 inches, she could be underweight and still appear heavy or out of proportion on screen.. WebThe Wizard of Oz. But much to the disappointment of its makers, the film did not do very well at the box office. The movie rights were fought over between several studios, but MGM ultimately got the rights. The script was based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which sold over a million copies and launched a long series of Oz books. So, how much is Billy Curtis worth at the age of 79 years old? It is basically a morality film that teaches if you have hope, anything is possible. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf were the credited authors of the final screenplay, which was begun in late February 1938 and completed in August. Behind the Curtain: The Wizard of Oz - The American Society of Cinematographers (en-US) Historical April 25, 2023 Behind the Curtain: The Wizard of Glinda tells her she can go home if she clicks the heels of the ruby slippers and thinks "There's no place like home" three times. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents. Self care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life. Encouraged by stock company actress Shirley Booth to take a little person role in a stage production, Curtis soon became a professional actor, with numerous Broadway musical productions to his credit. Well send you tons of inspiration to help you find a hidden gem in your local area or plan a big day out. As an Amazon Associate, Kidadl earns from qualifying purchases. WebHeck, even midget Billy Curtis (THE WIZARD OF OZ, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER) shows up to give his thoughts on pot. Obsessed with travel? Webscottbdoug. After this incident, MGM hired attendees for them. In 1936, he replaced James Basevi as special effects chief in charge of miniatures, projection process and mechanical effects. The Wizard of Oz | Ray Bolger was initially approached to play the Tin Man, but he lobbied hard to play the rubber-legged Scarecrow. Note: This article includes stories about suicide and assault. The vivid colors came from dyes added during this process. Billy Curtis' career thrived into the 1970s, notably with solid parts in the Clint Eastwood western High Plains Drifter (1973) and the crime-caper melodrama Little Cigars (1973), in which he had second billing as a diminutive criminal mastermind. Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice was first considered for the Good Witch, but the final choice was Billie Burke, Ziegfeld's widow. Because you don't take chances with green. Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. In 1951, he was a mole-man in the dark George Reeves movie Superman and the Mole-Men. The most interesting fact is he framed the pencil that L. Frank Baum used to write the book. We try our very best, but cannot guarantee perfection. Half of the time we were hanging from the ceiling, but it was a way of life for us., Billy Curtis, one of the Munchkin actors, remembered the event, saying, "They had to clean him off like he was a baby." were photographed separately and double-printed onto the spinning background. Jack Young, one of the movie's makeup artists, revealed that the green paint that was used to cover Hamilton's body was actually toxic because it had copper in it: "Every night when I was taking off the Witch's makeup, I would make sure that her face was thoroughly clean. Is that famous line from the film accurate? The Wizard of Oz | Casting Garland was a risk, but no one ever doubted her voice. He told her to take the scenes seriously and get it done. Wizard also presented many problems not previously encountered in three-strip photography because of its numerous special effects scenes. The Wizard of Oz | Bolger mugs with Mickey Rooney, the MGM star of the Andy Hardy movies who was Garland's frequent costar. Fuller's earth was fed into the muslin funnel from above, and enough of it escaped through the porous muslin to blur the edges of the sock realistically. The Wizard of Oz | Harry Earles, Jerry Maren, and Jackie Gerlich, who became the Lollipop Guild kids in Munchkinland. This last epic was one of the few instances that Curtis was cast as a good guy; many of his screen characters were ill-tempered and pugnacious, willing to bite a kneecap if unable to punch out an opponent. creative tips and more. WebCurtis' big movie season was 1938-39: he was cast in The Wizard of Oz (1939) (albeit with voice dubbed by Pinto Colvig) and as the cowboy hero of the all-dwarf western The Some of the best remembered 'beauty shots' in Oz are Newcombe composites, such as scenes in which the towering buildings of the Emerald City loom in the distance as Dorothy and her friends follow the yellow brick road. Fleming with actors Billy Curtis (left) and Charlie Becker (right). When the Witch sets the Scarecrow on fire, Dorothy throws water on him. All of the original three-strip Technicolor film from that period was recorded on a potentially flammable nitrate-based emulsion. The actors of the film had to dress up in costumes that were tormenting. Gillespie was also called in to photograph scenes in the poison poppy field, for which it was necessary to have the camera move along the ground surrounded by flowers. Being L. Frank Baum's best-seller, the book is today one of the popular choices in children's literature and has been translated to languages from around the world. The highest paying actor from the cast seems to be Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow, and Jack Haley, the Tin Man, earning $3,000 per week. Upon alighting, it dissolves to reveal Glinda. When you buy through the links on our site we may earn a commission. Maren sang, We represent the Lollipop Guild/And we welcome you to Munchkinland, and presented a oversized lollipop to Dorothy (Judy Garland). Release Date: Tuesday, August 15 1939 83 years ago . ", Sidney Luft, Judy's ex-husband, wrote in his memoir that Garland, "unlike other actresses, could not successfully camouflage extra weight, especially because she was dancing and singing in revealing costumes. The walls of the spout consisted of a circle of painted muslin, 35' in diameter. Shirley Temple had signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. Stormy skies were created with dense smoke fed from the catwalks, while patches of spray-painted cotton attached to 8' x 4' foreground glass plates were placed in front of the camera to mask the top of the tornado and the gantry. Georgina Onuorah has been announced as the lead role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz this summer, produced by Michael Harrison and the Really Useful Group.. Onuorah is currently performing as Ado Annie in the multi-award-winning production of Oklahoma! When Feiner inspected the Scarecrow scene, the image seemed slightly off. During the process, one of the trap doors was stuck; consequently, Hamilton received second-degree burns on her face and third-degree burns on her hands. Amen. Among other injuries, there was a "two-inch-deep wound that nearly circled Danko's leg, which was full of bits of her costume." Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising. Judy Garland, 16, was under contract to MGM and was a stronger singer than Temple, but was at first thought to be too old for the part. It would have been next to impossible except that Technicolor had just introduced its new, "faster" film, which today would have an ASA rating of about 50. Louis B. Mayer, the top man at MGM, bought the rights from Goldwyn for $75,000 in June of 1938. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The images themselves were recorded simultaneously onto three strips of a special black-and-white film custom-made by Kodak: one strip was sensitized to record the density of cyan colors, another was sensitized to yellow and a third to magenta. They began including two-color Technicolor sequences in silent features as early as 1924, with The Uninvited Guest. (A few children were used as a well.). There was a lot of drama about casting over the next few years, and the part ultimately went to Judy Garland. ", Sidney Luft also wrote in his memoir that the older male Munchkin actors apparently "thought they could get away with anything because they were so small." In late October, Ebsen became seriously ill from breathing the powdered aluminum dusted over his Tin Man makeup. The main camera, mounted on a huge crane, was kept moving, tracking with the subjects in most shots. However, by the late 20th century the 1939 film When it crashes down, she emerges in Munchkinland, which is inhabited by little people, in the Land of Oz. But green makeup was toxic. That would equate to almost $2,300 per week in 2019. That equals $2,246 per week in the year 2021or a yearly salary of $116,792. Dye fading is not inherent to the Technicolor three-strip process. Then the individual objects that swirl past men rowing a boat, Hamilton riding her bicycle, Auntie Em in her rocking chair, etc. He replaced Buddy Ebsen two weeks into filming after the original Tin Man fell ill. It sort of closed the pores in my face, and when the lights got real hot and ate up all the oxygen I couldn't breathe." ", Garland told biographer Paul Donnelly that they'd give her and Mickey Rooney, with whom she made several movies, the pills to "keep us on our feet long after we were exhaustedthen knock us out with sleeping pillsthen after four hours theyd wake us up and give us the pep pills again so we could work 72 hours in a row. Kidadl has a number of affiliate partners that we work with including Amazon. The three join up and travel to the Emerald City, where a terrifying apparition appears and finally agrees to help them all if they will bring him the Wicked Witch's magic broomstick. This was back in the 1930s, so the only reason Hamilton returned to the production and didn't sue MGM's entire studio after the incident was because she knew it would ruin her acting career: "I know how this business works, and I would never work again. Pacific Title was founded in Los Angeles in 1919, the very same year that the ASC came into being. Diminutive American actor Billy Curtis avoided the usual onus of freak-show employment as a youth, opting for a mainstream job as a shoe clerk. Like the silver makeup of the Tin Man, Margaret Hamilton's (The Witch of the West) green makeup was poisonous. Seldom accepting a role which demeaned or patronized little people, Curtis played an obnoxious vaudeville performer compelled to sit on Gary Cooper's lap in Meet John Doe (1941), a suspicious circus star willing to turn Robert Cummings over to the cops in Saboteur (1942), and one of the many fair-weather friends of The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Producer Mervyn LeRoy helped persuade MGM's Louis B. Mayer to acquire the rights to L. Frank Baum's book and played a crucial role in the casting of the characters. WebThe Beverly Hillbillies. Feiner opted to make a contact liquid-gate dupe negative of the fine-grain IP, which eliminated the worst of the abrasions and emulsion digs. | In the beginning, the author could not come up with the magical land that Dorothy is swept onto. However, during one of the test runs, the pipe exploded. He had tracks made of half-tubing and designed a special dolly equipped with half-tube runners that fitted over the tracks. Fields' Wizard would've been more of a con-man while Morgan. He stumbled upon the marking of his filing cabinet, and the last drawer was marked 'O to Z,' hence the name Oz came into being. Are you also in awe of the blue and white combination gingham Dorothy wore in the Wizard of oz? The dancing Scarecrow sequence was an outtake stored on 250 feet of film less than three minutes of screen time in the CRI (Color Reversal Intermediate) format. The resulting composite was back-projected outside Dorothy and the window. Although he won Oscars in 1944 (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo) and 1947 (Green Dolphin Street), his most celebrated achievement is the tornado in Wizard. However, they were immediately bailed out so production wouldn't be stalled: "You couldn't lock them up for long because they were needed on the set. What made it look pink was the idiosyncrasies of technicolor, a process that consists of the dye-transfer technique. "We wanted to provide a pristine internegative which accurately emulates the original Wizard of Oz, and provide an enduring film record for future generations to enjoy.". Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Just livin the good life, he told the Los Angeles Times. The Kidadl Team is made up of people from different walks of life, from different families and backgrounds, each with unique experiences and nuggets of wisdom to share with you. 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