Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Wizard of Oz’

Judy Garland had to wear a corset in order to appear more childlike for her role as Dorothy. She was 16 years old when she made the movie.

Glinda is the Good With of the North, was portrayed by veteran actress Billie Burke, who shockingly enough, was 54 years old at the time - eighteen years older than her counterpart Margaret Hamilton, who portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West.

You can see wrinkles in the Tin Man’s pants, which betrays the fantasy that he’s made of metal.

The tornado in the film was created with a 35-foot-long muslin stocking that was spun while dirt, dust, and wind blew against it. The Kansas farm was a miniature.

Terry was paid $125 a week, which was more than many of the Munchkin actors received. Terry had a happy career starring in 15 movies, until she died in 1945.

The now famous song 'Over The Rainbow' was almost cut from the movie, because execs thought it made the movie too long.

Shirley Temple, then 11-years-old, was a frontrunner for the part of Dorothy, but it’s said that producers didn’t think she had the vocal chops to cut it.147

The Wicked Witch’s death certificate is dated May, 6 1938, which marked the 20th anniversary of L. Frank Baum’s death.

There were 124 little people cast as Munchkins. Only two are alive today.

The special effects crew used flavoured Jell-O powder to colour the horses for the Emerald City scenes. It was a snappy shoot since the horses attempted to lick themselves clean.

Multiple sets of Dorothy's ruby slippers were created for the film. A pair of the ruby slippers were stolen in 2005, but several others remain under lock and key.

Toto was actually a female dog named Terry. Like many of the actors, Toto was hurt during filming when one of the witch’s guards accidentally stepped on her and broke her foot.

The early Technicolor process required more light than a normal film production, so the set temperatures often exceeded 38 degrees Celsius.

Margaret Hamilton’s initial career was a kindergarten teacher. While filming a scene where the witch vanishes into a cloud of smoke, Hamilton was badly burned, with the green make-up on her face and hands igniting. She recuperated, but refused to do any more scenes involving fire. Hamilton reprised her role as the witch to appear in 'Sesame Street' and 'Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood'.

The original choice for the Tin Man was Buddy Ebsen (best known for playing Jed Clampett on 'The Beverly Hillbillies'). Ebsen did 10 days of filming before the aluminum powder makeup he wore accumulated in his lungs and made him deathly ill. He was taken to hospital, and needed an iron lung to recover. When Haley took over, his makeup was switched to an aluminum paste, applied over greasepaint.

Margaret Hamilton’s makeup was toxic and could not be ingested, so she lived almost entirely on a liquid diet during filming.

Dorothy’s white dress was actually pink, which was easier to shoot in Technicolor.

You can clearly see the trap door open in the scene where the Wicked Witch departs Munchkinland.

The Cowardly Lion was originally going to be played by Jackie the MGM Lion, with lines dubbed in by an actor, until Bert Lahr came up for the part.

Ray Bolger (The Scarecrow), Bert Lahr (The Cowardly Lion), and Jack Haley (The Tin Man) ate in their dressing rooms during breaks since their costumes frightened diners in the MGM cafeteria.

Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion costume weighed almost 50kgs and was made with real lion pelts.

Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland, was married to Jack Haley Jr., the son of Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man.

Judy Garland fell in love with Terry while shooting and begged the animal's trainer, Carl Spitz, to let her keep the dog as a pet, but Spitz refused.

The “oil” that was used to lubricate the Tin Man was chocolate syrup (real oil didn’t photograph well).

Most of the Wicked Witch’s scenes had to be edited or cut all together after they were deemed too frightening for children.

The scarecrow face prosthetics that Ray Bolger wore left a pattern of lines on his face that took more than a year to vanish.

Judy Garland couldn’t stop giggling while filming the scene in which Dorothy slaps the Cowardly Lion. So Victor Fleming, the director, took her aside and slapped her. She returned to the set and filmed the scene in one take.

The Cowardly Lion’s facial makeup included pieces of a brown paper bag.

When the Witch tries to yank off the Ruby Slippers, a fire erupts. The effect was created with apple juice, but sped up on film to make it look like fire.