''The Making of the Wizard Of Oz'', written by film historian
Aljean Harmetz
Aljean Meltsir Harmetz (born December 30, 1929) is an American journalist and film historian. She was the Hollywood correspondent for '' The New York Times'' from 1978 to 1990.
Her film books include '' The Making of The Wizard of Oz'' (1977), ...
, is a book about the production of the 1939 film ''
The Wizard of Oz''.
It was the second book published documenting the making of this film, released a year after Doug McClelland's 1976 work ''Down the Yellow Brick Road''.
The book was published in November 1977, after the film had been telecast nineteen times. With 93 photos, it tells readers how the film was made and describes the Golden Era of moviemaking in the 1930s and 1940s at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
.
The book took two years to create. Aljean Harmetz researched the film and the studio and interviewed the surviving cast, crew and MGM staff. From the acquisition of the music to the scripts, casting, and filming, Harmetz's book provides readers with a detailed re-creation of how the studio produced the film.
It was reissued in paperback in 1984, and again with a new preface by the author for the film's 50th anniversary in 1989. Another reissue was released, again with a new preface, shortly before the film's theatrical re-release in 1998, and a further reissue was planned for the film's 75th anniversary in 2013.
After the success of the book, Aljean Harmetz adapted her knowledge and contacts with the film's survivors into a 30-minute
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
documentary in 1979.
Content
* The Studio 1938
* The Scripts
* The Brains
* The Heart
* The Nerve and the Music
* Casting
* The directors
* The Stars and the Stand-ins
* The Munchkins
* "Below the line"
* Special Effects
* Accidents
* After Oz
References
1977 non-fiction books
1989 non-fiction books
1998 non-fiction books
Books about individual films
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
Oz studies
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