The 1939 film adaptation of 'The Wizard of Oz' reimagined L. Frank Baum's book 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' for a new age, using technological breakthroughs to depict Baum's fantastical text.

The 1925 ‘Wizard of Oz’ predates the classic 1939 film

The film differs significantly from the 1900 book and the later 1939 film adaptation: Dorothy is 18 years old, the Tin Woodman is a villain, and the entire story of Oz is framed by a toy-maker reading the original Baum book to his granddaughter.

The musical 'The Wizard of Oz' debuted in 1902

Following the success of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ Baum adapted the novel for the stage. It premiered at Chicago’s Grand Opera House in 1902 and made it to Broadway’s Majestic Theatre in 1903. It then toured the country through 1909. It was also a musical adaptation of the story.

Over the years, Baum’s story has had several adaptations and reinterpretations

The original 1900 book, ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ has been adapted in various forms for various audiences. There’s been a Muppet-centric Oz, a 3D-generated Dorothy, and one that imagines an adult Dorothy living as a children’s author in New York, just to name a few.

'The Wizard of Oz' wasn't the first film to use Technicolor

Technicolor provided warm color to films. it was first used in 1917. But the 1939 film used Technicolor in such an intentional way—by having Dorothy exit a dull, sepia-toned world before entering the Technicolor Oz—it popularized the technology, even though audiences had likely seen it used before then.

Although it's now considered a pivotal film in the history of American cinema, 'The Wizard of Oz' was initially panned by some of its contemporary critics.

In the original 'Wizard of Oz' book, Dorothy's slippers were silver, but they were changed to ruby for the 1939 film adaptation so they would pop on screen.

'The Wizard of Oz' flopped in theaters but exploded on TV

The film cost $2.7M to make—$1M more than the average production in 1939, but didn’t recoup it for almost two decades. Its success is mainly due to television. It aired annually from 1956 to 1965 and was watched by more than 49% of all television viewers.

'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' the novel that inspired the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz,' was itself inspired by a drought.

'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was the first major American fantasy novel

Baum blended elements of Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Lewis Carroll, placing them in an American context. The illustrations of William Wallace Denslow brought the fantastical elements to life, as seen below. The book was an instant smash hit, selling out its initial 10,000-book pressing within the first eight months. By the time it entered the public domain in 1956, it had sold 3 million copies.

EY 'Yip' Harburg is the lyricist behind 'The Wizard of Oz'

The 1939 film’s songs were written by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist EY “Yip” Harburg. In an early draft of "Over the Rainbow," the movie's most famous song, Harburg scribbled "Some day I’ll wish upon a star + wake + find the darkness far behind me,” which would eventually become the iconic line, “Some day I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me.”

Baum wrote 14 'Oz' novels in total

Following the success of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ Baum continued writing about the fictional world until his death, turning the world into a lucrative brand. One of the books, “The Patchwork Girl of Oz,” was turned into a silent film and released in 1914.

The 'Wicked' movie is based on several previous ‘Oz’ adaptations

Gregory Maguire's novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," published in 1995, is based on"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." It offers an adult-oriented retelling of the Oz story, focusing on Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. The book was then adapted for the stage, which premiered on Broadway in 2003. The Broadway musical was then adapted for the screen—the first film in the series debuted in 2024.

Judy Garland's body double wore a sepia dress in the most famous scene from 'The Wizard of Oz' to create the illusion of moving from a black-and-white world to a color one.

A famous scene from "The Wizard of Oz" features Dorothy leaving behind her home in Kansas and walking into Oz. The filmmakers wanted the character to exit a colorless world and enter a Technicolor one, though the nascent technology required more than some clever postproduction tricks. The scene was painted sepia, as was Judy Garland's body double's dress. As she walks through the door, into Oz, the camera turns away. Then, Judy Garland strides back into frame, wearing her iconic blue dress.

A theory about Pink Floyd and 'The Wizard of Oz' was popularized by a 19-year-old

Pink Floyd’s seminal album “Dark Side of the Moon” eerily synchronizes with “The Wizard of Oz,” offering a psychedelic soundtrack for the movie. Journalist Charlie Savage popularized the phenomenon when he was 19. He’d go on to write for the Boston Globe and New York Times winning a Pulitzer Prize.

Read the complete text of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'

The 1900 L. Frank Baum book that established the world of Oz entered the public domain in 1956, making it available for anyone who would like to read, distribute or reinterpret it. That also means you can browse the complete, original text for free.

L. Frank Baum aimed to make 'Oz' a modern fairy tale

Baum began writing stories for children while working as a traveling salesman and found success with 1899’s “Father Goose, His Book,” a book of nursery rhymes. Its popularity made him realize children did not want moral education; they wanted escapism.

'The Wiz' reimagined Baum's story for Black America

The 1978 film, produced in part by Motown Productions, starred several popular stars: Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell and Lena Horne. The music—composed by Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross, and overseen by Quincy Jones—mirrored songs from the 1939 film.

Some believe 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' is a political allegory

Although Baum claimed his book was intended as a simple children's story, scholars challenged that notion. One high school history teacher, Henry Littlefield, began teaching the book as a satire of the Gilded Age and published an essay inspiring other scholars to consider the text as a politically charged allegory.

Some believe L. Frank Baum wrote 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' on vacation

The writer vacationed in Macatawa, Michigan, in 1899. His great-grandson claims most of the book was written while staying there on the shores of Lake Michigan. The nearby town of Holland commemorated the book with the Oz Sculpture Garden.

Watch Walt Disney's early innovative film, 'Alice's Wonderland,' which innovated the use of animated characters in the real world.

'The Jazz Singer,' the first film with synchronized sound, changed Hollywood

Movies changed forever in 1927, when Warner Bros. released "The Jazz Singer," the first feature film with integrated dialogue. Based on a Broadway musical, the movie starred Al Jolson as the son of a Jewish cantor who wants to be a popular singer.

'Defying Gravity,' from 'Wicked,' references 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'

The melody in a crucial part of the song uses the first seven notes of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," an intentional reference that composer Stephen Schwartz calls an "easter egg" that acknowledges the influence of the 1939 film.

'Over the Rainbow' became a widely covered standard

Judy Garland’s original 1939 version won the Academy Award for best original song, though it never appeared on the Billboard pop singles chart (which didn’t appear until 1940). Twenty different versions of the song by other artists—including Willie Nelson, Patti LaBelle, and Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole—have appeared on numerous Billboard charts.

'Wicked' lost for best musical in 2004

For many musical theater fans, the choice for the 2004 award for best musical was clear: "Wicked," the box office smash based on a retelling of L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wizard of Oz." So when the raunchy puppets of "Avenue Q" pulled off a surprise win, people were shocked and angry.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

‘Fantasia’ initially failed at the box office

After finding success with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Disney set out to prove he could make more sophisticated art. He collaborated with conductor Leopold Stokowski on “Fantasia,” an elaborate animated feature set to classical music that flopped to the tune of $15M and nearly bankrupted Disney’s company.

The 'Wicked' movies turned an already-successful Broadway show into a behemoth

The production was already one of the most successful in Broadway history, but the release of the first movie kicked it into overdrive: It grossed 15% more in 2024, the year "Wicked: Part I" was released, than the previous year, bringing in more than $112M.

Disney's 1937 film 'Snow White' was honored by the Oscars 2 years in a row.

'Show Boat' redefined the American musical

The 1927 musical—penned by Oscar Hammerstein II, who would go on to create, with Richard Rodgers, other titanic shows like "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel"—used its songs to advance the plot and build character rather than simply entertain.

Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of 'Wicked,' is named after 'The Wizard of Oz' author

Gregory Maguire named the Wicked Witch of the West after L. Frank Baum. “I tried Lafaba, I tried Lafeyba," he said. "And then I tried Elphaba. As soon as I got Elphaba, I thought, oh, that's it.”

Broadway's songwriters began experimenting in the 1920s

Broadway’s early decades were heavily influenced by opera and vaudeville, but songwriters in the 1920s began exploring more narrative-based songwriting and psychologically complex characters. That trend would continue in the following decades, though it would evolve in even more nuanced ways.

'Steamboat Willie' was inspired by 'The Jazz Singer'

Walt Disney was mesmerized by Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer" and the way it used synchronized sound, which synced film with audio. He replicated that effect in “Steamboat Willie," producing the first animated film to do so.

How one silent movie came to define science fiction

Fritz Lang's 1927 epic "Metropolis" set the template for much of the science fiction that followed, establishing themes that would come to define the genre through films like "Star Wars" and novels like "Brave New World." This short documentary from DW digs into the history of the film and its long-lasting impact.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1896 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered special effects.

Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' blended slapstick and satire

The 1936 film thrust Chaplin's iconic Little Tramp character into the Industrial Revolution, satirizing how mass production was dehumanizing individuals. The movie was not only a hit, but it was also the product of a burgeoning Hollywood: Chaplin had founded his own company (United Artists) in 1919.

Disney was saved by 'Cinderella,' which brought the company out of debt

Producing war propaganda and training films helped the company towards solvency, but the military content wasn't a cure-all. Disney wasn't in the clear until 1950's "Cinderella," a much-needed hit. The movie's success was largely due to the return of the company's best writers and the work of Mary Blair, a watercolor artist who brought a more whimsical style to the film.

'Special effects' have evolved alongside Hollywood

Since the early days of moviemaking, directors have played with perspective to create incredible effects on the screen. From Buster Keaton to contemporary CGI, this 30-minute documentary details the amazing evolution of Hollywood's special effects.

Shirley Temple was rumored to be a potential Dorothy

The child star—who was a huge fan of Baum’s books—mentioned in a 1988 autobiography that she’d heard she was being discussed for the role before Judy Garland was officially cast. She said that Garland was, ultimately, the right pick. “Sometimes, the gods know best,” she wrote.

A young Spielberg was changed by DeMille’s ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’

The first movie Steven Spielberg saw was Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The movie’s on-screen train wreck frightened yet fascinated the young Spielberg—illustrating the visceral impact movies have on their audiences.

JRR Tolkien redefined fantasy for a new generation

Tolkien's debut novel, 1937's "The Hobbit," was aimed at young adults, yet it felt far more serious than the whimsical tales of Lewis Carroll or L. Frank Baum. "What Tolkien does is take the 'otherworld' fantasy developed in the 19th century and makes it child-sized, melding it with folklore and Norse myth," notes Farah Mendlesohn, the author of "Rhetorics of Fantasy."

Opera melodies from centuries ago still appear in TV and movies today

Even if you haven't witnessed an 18th century opera, you've likely heard melodies from one in modern media like “Apocalypse Now” and “Sesame Street.” Today, sports events, movies, and television feature operatic melodies even over a century after they were written.

Walt Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram Studio featured his earliest innovations in animation

Before he founded his iconic film company, Walt Disney was a young animator in Kansas City, Missouri. After scoring a contract to create animated newsreels for local movie theaters, Disney formed Laugh-O-Gram Studio, where he created innovative animated shorts that set the path for his later work.

The word ‘fantasy’ wasn't used to describe the genre until the 20th century

The word—at least as a word used to describe fiction—didn’t appear in the Oxford English Dictionary until 1949. Scholars believe that’s due to the arrival of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, an influential publication, and the rise in fantasy’s popularity following World War II.

The ‘Universal Monsters’ series solidified horror as a film genre

Before 1931, most scary movies were billed as “mystery” or “suspense” with grounded explanations for anything "supernatural." That changed with “Dracula,” which presented the character as a real vampire who drank victims' blood. Universal continued adapting similar titles, including HG Wells’ “The Invisible Man” and Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories.

Francis Ford Coppola began working on 'The Godfather' to bail his production company out of dire financial straits.

Watch Dalí's surreal collaboration with Disney

Production for "Destino," a surreal short by Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney, began in 1945 but stalled when the Walt Disney Company ran into financial trouble due to the commercial failure of "Fantasia" and the economic downturn of World War II. It was finally released in 2003, after Disney animators completed it based on Dalí's original storyboards.

Arnold Schoenberg's experimentations with dissonance and sound influenced the way films are scored.

What killed the Disney Renaissance

Disney aficionados consider the late 1980s and 1990s to be the Disney Renaissance, a period that found the House of Mouse returning to its roots: animated musicals aimed at children and their families. This in-depth video essay argues that the end of the company’s most popular period was caused by shortsighted business decisions and changing technologies.

Hollywood's 'golden age' was controlled by vertically integrated studios

Hollywood in the early to mid-20th century was largely controlled by the "Big Five" studios: Paramount, Warner Bros., Fox, MGM, and RKO. The studios were vertically integrated, overseeing every aspect of film production, distribution, and exhibition. During this era, actors like Cary Grant and Judy Garland were under contract with specific studios—typically for seven years. Garland signed with MGM at age 13, which counted on them to draw audiences.

Jim Henson and his creative team constructed several optical illusions to make the Muppets appear as though they walked through the real world.