A Lot of People Had Hand in ‘Oz’ on Road to Silver Screen

For years, fans of “The Wizard of Oz” haven’t merely followed the Yellow Brick Road, they’ve memorized it--celebrating every scene and song, reciting lines in character.

Many of those lasting impressions can be credited to the creative forces behind the film, including a slew of screenwriters, whose combined best efforts resulted in one of the most beloved films in cinema history, which TBS is bringing back to the small screen in a digitally remastered version being broadcast on Sunday.

When Dorothy’s journey over the rainbow began, it was no dream to L. Frank Baum. The author of the book on which the film is based sent her over the rainbow in a real cyclone, no concussion required.

But it was the late 1930s. The country was just crawling out of the Great Depression and MGM producers feared film audiences would have trouble accepting Baum’s fantasy. And so the dream was born, invented by Noel Langley, who adapted the book and became the film’s main screenwriter. His other innovations included mirroring the Oz characters with ones in Kansas, turning Baum’s silver slippers into the legendary ruby ones worn by Judy Garland in the film, and Aunt Em’s transforming appearance in the Wicked Witch of the West’s crystal ball, insinuating a connection between the two.

Dorothy’s house presented its own set of problems for the various writers along the way. The team of Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, the other credited writers on the film, turned in a draft in which Dorothy returns home to Kansas by way of Munchkinland, enabling her to take her house back with her. This wasn’t a problem for Baum. With no dream to confuse matters, in the book he simply had Uncle Henry slap together a new and improved house in time for Dorothy’s return.

Some Mankiewicz Ideas Made the Final Cut

Before it was over, at least a dozen writers worked on the screenplay for “The Wizard of Oz.” Many took insignificant turns--their contributions eventually discarded--and others dropped in only briefly on their way to other assignments. Among them was Herman J. Mankiewicz, whose early pass at the script was peppered with socialistic insights of big business and government.

In Mankiewicz’s hands, the Wicked Witch sits behind a desk in her castle office where the frosted pane of a glass door reads: “Wicked Witch of the West. Cruelties, Tortures & All Kinds of Devilments. Decent People Keep Out! This Means You!”

He was fired within a month. He promptly proceeded to pour his political philosophies into a spec script, which he sold to film studio RKO the following year: “Citizen Kane.” But some of Mankiewicz’s suggestions survived, most notably, the black-and-white filming of the Kansas prologue to capture the grays that pervade Baum’s descriptions of Dorothy’s difficult farm life.

Other writers asked to punch up the script included the film’s lyricist, E.Y. Harburg, responsible for the hilariously morbid lyrics to “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead.” He added humor as well as poignancy to the film, along with the contents of the Wizard’s black bag--the Scarecrow’s diploma, the Tin Man’s heart-shaped watch and the Lion’s medal for bravery.

Toto’s Role Gets Expanded in Film

Though the movie was to be for “children of all ages,” dark tones continued to color many of the drafts until the final screenwriter came on the scene. While John Lee Mahin strengthened the connections between the farmhands and their alter egos--the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow--he also cut most of those between Em and the Witch. He bolstered Toto’s role as an antagonist of Miss Gulch, using the pooch as motivation for Dorothy’s run away from home.

Screenwriters weren’t the only ones to pass through Oz’s revolving door. There were five directors as well, some of whom brought on their own writers who left with them before either could make an impact. The film was begun by director George Cukor, who left after only a week to shoot “Gone With the Wind” instead, and was ended by King Vidor, who shot the Kansas scenes. In between, Victor Fleming, who ultimately got the directing credit for the movie, did the bulk of the filming before replacing Cukor on “Gone With the Wind.”

Through it all, the uncredited producer Arthur Freed shepherded the film’s production. Freed came to realize that the script ultimately needed “one flavor of writing” and brought back Langley to conform the drafts. Langley put back much of his original work that had been cut by others, including the scene in the poppy fields, and Dorothy’s mantra “There’s no place like home.”

In the final analysis, “The Wizard of Oz” is indisputably a great piece of cinematic writing, and it is largely because of its screenwriters that the film has stood the test of time.

*

* “The Wizard of Oz” airs Sunday at 7:20 p.m. on TBS.