the wonderful wizard of oz by l frank baum

The Langley script also introduced the characters of Lizzie, a love interest for farm hands Hunk and Bulbo, the son of the Wicked Witch of the West. Langley’s script is notable because it details the on-screen transformation of Kansas schoolteacher Miss Gulch into the Wicked Witch of the West as she peddles her bicycle through the cyclone. Langley’s involvement with the film was complicated. He, too, was unaware that Mankiewicz was also working on a script. Noel Langley was given the assignment on March 11, 1938. Unbeknownst to Mankiewicz, before he had even submitted his script to MGM, two other writers had also been hired to write scripts for The Wizard of Oz. Mankiewicz’s involvement with the film was short lived – in less than a month he moved on to other projects.

The Mankiewicz script that is part of the AHC collections is dated from March 3 to March 19, 1938, and follows Baum’s book in many aspects, including describing silver magic shoes and a one-eyed Wicked Witch of the West. Mankiewicz envisioned the visual contrast which was to come in the film when Dorothy opened the door of her Kansas farmhouse and entered the Technicolor Land of Oz. It was his script that established the opening Kansas scenes of the movie in black and white, expounding upon Baum’s description of the grayness of the Kansas landscape and Dorothy’s daily life. Although never formally credited for his work on The Wizard of Oz, Mankiewicz was responsible for one of the signature aspects of the film. An alcoholic with a penchant for gambling, he wrote rapidly and prolifically and was well known for his sardonic wit and clever dialogue. Mankiewicz was an acknowledged genius of a screenwriter, albeit a troubled one. Mankiewicz was the first writer hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Pictures to adapt Baum’s book into a film. The story behind the writing was a saga of its own. In hindsight it is a wonder that the script was ever completed. The effort would take months and eventually involve a whole host of writers. The challenge of adapting the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a script began on February 28, 1938. In the end, Dorothy and Toto return to Kansas, exclaiming “there’s no place like home.” Dorothy despairs she will never get back to Kansas, but Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, comes to the rescue, explaining to Dorothy that she need only tap the heels of her magical shoes together three times to travel wherever her heart desires. Toppan Rare Books Library, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.ĭorothy and her friends return to see the Wizard, who confesses to being an ordinary man, bereft of magical powers. Illustration on page 155 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900.

The wonderful wizard of oz by l frank baum