Today is the 75th anniversary of the first screening of the 1939 hit "The Wizard of Oz" in the USA.
The film didn't hit Australian screens until December of that year.
These articles are from the Australian Women's Weekly, 2 December 1939 - three stars was the highest accolade!
If you have never seen it, which I doubt, you must! Here is the trailer, and most of the movie is available on youtube. Odds are it will been screen this week on TV somewhere near you.
The film didn't hit Australian screens until December of that year.
These articles are from the Australian Women's Weekly, 2 December 1939 - three stars was the highest accolade!
The Lions Roar was reputed to be a gossip column devoted to "the finest motion pictures" - MGM of course- and "The Wizard of OZ" featured a number of times. This one is from 23 December 1939 (the same week that the death of Douglas Fairbanks was announced).
The movie is still as fresh today as it was in 1939. I just heard The Wizard of Oz: Concert Suite (Stothart/Arlen ed. Mauceri/Krasker) on the radio, basically a mash up of all the music from the film, which was wonderful. the original music and lyrics were by Harold Arlen (seated next to Judy Garland in the photo below) and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (4th from left), who won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Over the Rainbow."
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| Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg with Wizard of Oz cast |
Deb xx
I do love the wizard of oz, not sure if my kids have ever seen it though.
ReplyDeleteYou must let them watch it! My kids love it and they have seen it just a few times!
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