Wizard of Oz Collectibles

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When "The Wizard of Oz" was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1939, it was an immediate success, if not an instant money-maker. Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film won just two—for its score by Herbert Stothart and its signature song,...
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When "The Wizard of Oz" was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1939, it was an immediate success, if not an instant money-maker. Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film won just two—for its score by Herbert Stothart and its signature song, "Over the Rainbow," written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg and sung, of course, by a young Judy Garland. The film lost Best Picture to "Gone with the Wind," but what must have really stung MGM executives was losing the Academy's first Best Special Effects Oscar to a black-and-white 20th Century Fox film about an earthquake and flood set in India ("The Rains Came"). In contrast, "The Wizard of Oz" portrayed Dorothy Gale's Kansas in dusty sepia tones, while the Oz sequences in the film's middle section were an assault of Technicolor and cinematic wizardry. A decade later, in 1949, "The Wizard of Oz" was re-released, and that's when it finally began to turn a profit for MGM. But for many Americans, their first glimpse of the film was on television, which meant that those who watched it on a black-and-white TV would not appreciate what all the fuss was about when the action shifted from Kansas to Oz. The first airing occurred on November 3, 1956—beginning in 1959, watching "The Wizard of Oz" on TV became a highly anticipated annual tradition. Over the years, all sorts of collectibles and memorabilia associated with the film's characters and stars have been sought by movie buffs. Autographs signed by actors such as Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton, and members of Singer's Midgets—who portrayed the Munchkins—are prized, as are props and ephemera related to the film's release, especially production stills, lobby cards, and movie posters. In particular, a pair of the famous ruby slippers worn by Garland is one of the most popular attractions at The Smithsonian. The film also spawned a cottage industry of products, from Christmas ornaments to cookie jars in the shapes of Munchkins, winged...
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