Since Judy Garland had an extreme drug problem, they had to stop filming over 40 times just so she could regain her strength.

Garland was supposed to look like a thirteen year old in the movie so the directors wrapped her chest with tight fabric, causing her to have breathing problems.

The entire movie was filmed indoors during the hotest summer in LA's history.

Two children wrote an Oz book in 1925 they claim was given to them through a Ouija board.

In 1935 a Big Little Book was published called The Laughing Dragon of Oz. It was written by Baum's son.

Actress Fanny Brice was originally proposed for the role of Glinda in MGM's 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz.

Trade press and industry experts wanted a real lion - even MGM's own Leo - to be used instead of an actor in a lion costume in the making of the MGM classic film of The Wizard of Oz.

Gale Sondergaard was originally cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in MGM's The Wizard of Oz, but rejected the role when a glamorous costume was replaced with the design worn by Margaret Hamilton.

Buddy Ebsen filmed several scenes as the Tin Man in MGM's classic film of The Wizard of Oz. He suffered an almost fatal allergic reaction to his makeup and is hospitalized; his role is filled by Jack Haley.

First sneak preview of MGM's The Wizard of Oz is held in San Bernadino, Calif. Following the show, "The Jitterbug" musical number is cut. Some sources claim the cut was made because enthusiastic members of the preview audience began dancing in the aisles during the number. Also cut are some of Margaret Hamilton's more menacing scenes, such as an incident when she turns the Tin Man into a bee hive. Musical numbers from the last third of the film also are cut. They include a reprise of "Over the Rainbow," sung by Dorothy in the Witch's castle, and a triumphant procession back into the Emerald City.

MGM's The Wizard of Oz is a 101-minute film that cost $3,700,000 to produce.

The world premier showing of MGM's The Wizard of Oz was at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisc.

MGM's The Wizard of Oz Hollywood premiere was at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. The author's widow, Maud Baum, her granddaughter, Ozma Baum, and actor Fred Stone - famous for his performance on stage as the Scarecrow (1902-1911) attended the event. Ten-tier bleachers lined the entrance and 3,000 stood to see the stars arrive.

Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Exiles," describes a future in which psychologists succeed in destroying all books of fantasy. The story ends with the collapse of the Emerald City as the last Oz book goes up in flames.

Three musical numbers for the planned Rainbow Road to Oz were televised on the "Disneyland Fourth Anniversary Show." The Mouseketeers starred as the Oz characters and Walt Disney himself appears on the program to talk about a proposed, but never completed, Oz project.

Nobel Prize winner Yasumari Kowabata translated The Wizard of Oz into Japanese. Ozu no Mahotsukai was published by Hobunkan, Tokyo with illustrations by Akitsuga Yokata.

In 1960, Agnes Moorhead was cast as "Endora" in the long-running television series "Bewitched" because of her performance as a wicked witch in The Land of Oz on the Shirley Temple Show.

In the 1960s, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory tried to find life on other stars calling the effort "Project Ozma."

In 1968, The Wizard of Oz was the 11th best-selling fiction book of all time, and the 20th best-selling book of all time in any category.

Ray Bolger said he was inspired to dance at age 16 when he saw Fred Stone, the Scarecrow from the original Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz (1902), dance on stage in Boston.

In 1976, the Children's Literature Association named The Wizard of Oz in its list of the 10 best books written by American authors in the last 200 years.

A Baum quote, lifted from the author's forward in The Lost Princess of Oz (1917), was printed on boxes of Celestial Seasonings, herbal teas.