On August 25, 1939, The Wizard of Oz, which will become one
of the best-loved movies in history, opens in theaters around
the United States.
Based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of
Oz, by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), the film starred Judy
Garland as the young Kansas farm girl Dorothy, who, after
being knocked unconscious in a tornado, dreams about
following a yellow brick road, alongside her dog Toto, to the
Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz.
Along the way, Dorothy encounters a cast of characters,
including the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion
and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Though the scenes in Kansas were shot in traditional black
and white, Oz appears in vivid Technicolor, a relatively new
film process at the time.
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category,
The Wizard of Oz lost to the Civil War-era epic Gone With the
Wind.
The Wizard of Oz won a Best Song Oscar for “Over the Rainbow,”
which became one of Garland’s signature hits. Garland won a
special award at that year’s Oscar ceremony, for Best
Juvenile Performer.
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