Some People Go Both Ways
Movie Trivia: The Wizard of Oz
This one sounds like a total urban legend, but Snopes says it’s true. The costume designers were looking for a very fancy coat for Professor Marvel – the Wizard’s Kansas counterpart – but one that had gotten quite shabby. Some of the crew went to a secondhand shop and bought a bunch of coats to go through; Frank Morgan (the actor who played the Wizard), the director and the wardrobe people selected one out of the bunch that seemed perfect. It had a velvet collar but the nap was worn off of the velvet and it was looking a little worse for the wear. It even fit Morgan just right. Morgan was wearing the coat one afternoon and discovered a label that said “L. Frank Baum.” The coat had originally been made for Baum in Chicago – the tailor verified it, and Baum’s widow did as well. She was given the coat after the movie wrapped.
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Comment from Tom
Time: April 3, 2009, 8:15 pm
Sweet. Yeah, def sounds like a legend – cool if true.
How’s this for Oz trivia? Millions of people across the world love Oz. . .without knowing it’s called Oz or that Baum wrote it. I was one of those people for many years. Here’s a post I just did on the subject:
http://www.tomcrosshill.com/2009/04/showdown-wizard-of-oz-vs-wizard-of.html