The Wizard of Oz…. a grisly road to the Emerald City?
Golden age Hollywood was pretty much a hot-bed for spooky urban legends. Tales of wild parties, vanishing starlets, criminal cover-ups and on-set antics abound from the 1910s through to the 1950s. It was a heyday for movies and a heyday for… well pretty much anything you could get up to in a newly rich desert town with the police on your side.
Before the advent of such uninspiring modern inventions as PR people, health and safety and… I don’t know, online recruitment software, urban legends about the movie business spread like partially truthful wild fire.
One of the most famous Hollywood urban legends concernsThe Wizard of Oz. For years it was believed that at one point in the movie you can see one of the Munchkin actors hang himself. If you look carefully (very carefully!) during the scene when Dorothy and Scarecrow meet the Tin Man a shadowy movement in the background does look oddly like someone hanging from a tree. The myth gained momentum and detail: it was suggested that the suicide hung himself from a broken heart, caused by unrequited love for another one of the performers.
For a long time it was suggested that the studio had dodged answering questions about the supposed suicide, and this added fuel to the fire. However, this was never the case. They’ve always maintained that the unusual shadow was one of the live birds they hired in from Los Angeles zoo to decorate the techni-coloured set. The most likely culprit is a crane or pelican! This does seem more plausible- I can’t imagine Judy Garland et al happily acting away whilst someone meets their demise behind them! You’d think they’d pause filming at least.
Of course, this won’t convince the most hardened urban legend fan. There are a whole range of clips of this scene on youtube for you to check out yourself- in black and white, in colour, mastered, unmastered… Have a look and see- is it an unchecked suicide or a bird stretching its wings?
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