Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh My!) Quiz

Answer: Yes

Made by MGM, "The Wizard of Oz" was their costliest film made at the time, but initially it failed to see a satisfactory return on the studio's investment - but only initially. It went on to be nominated for several Academy Awards. Unfortunately up against "Gone With the Wind", it lost out on most of these to that mighty film, but did win the award for Best Song and Best Original Music Score. Judy Garland also received a special Academy Juvenile Award for her work in the film.

After it began to be shown on television, the film's popularity soared through the roof, and even as recently as 2008, an AFI poll revealed that this wonderful movie tops the list in not one, but TEN different genres relating to the film industry.

Answer: The door

The studio deliberately chose sepia tones for showing the first part of the film to mask the opening of the door, because the brown shade in which the door was painted doesn't show up in the sepia tone. However, from 1949 and for the next forty years, the first part of the film was shown in black and white, and this is when the colour change becomes obvious.

In 1989, in time for the celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" the original sepia tone was restored to the film, so that once again, it is only upon Dorothy's opening the door, that the audience is exposed to the beautiful colours of her new world.

Answer: Terry

Terry was a Cairn Terrier, and Terry, believe it or not, was a she and not a he. Her film career included various appearances in a total of fifteen films, longer than some human hopefuls who managed to scrape out a meagre existence in bit parts. These films included the 1934 "Bright Eyes" with Shirley Temple. Terry was born in 1933 and died in 1945.

She almost lost her life during the making of the "The Wizard of Oz" when one of the Winkie guards accidentally stood on her. Fancy having your life threatened by a winkie. Terry's salary for the film was a startling $125 a week, which was much higher than some of the lesser known actors who also took part in its production. Judy Garland developed a strong attachment to Terry/Toto during the making of the film and wanted to adopt her, but the dog's owner refused to part with his little barking gold mine.

Answer: Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) was a comedian, actor, singer, dancer and songwriter, who featured in many early Broadway, radio, movie and television productions. His trade mark was his huge rolling eyes. His films included the 1928 musical "Whoopee" and his hit songs on the radio included "Making Whoopee", "If You Knew Susie" and "Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me". Known for his extensive charitable and humanitarian works, Eddie Cantor was the major force behind the instigation of the March of Dimes.

This was a non-profit organisation which began in 1938, and headed by President Franklin Roosevelt, to help fight poliomyelitis and find a cure for this dreadful disease.

Answer: Over the Rainbow

"The Jitterbug" was an original number and was placed in the section of the film where the four protagonists are journeying to the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West. A silent film footage of the scene has survived, as has a recording of the song itself, but the film footage where the two are combined has sadly been lost altogether.

The reprise of "Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead" with its lyrics altered to "Hail! Hail! The Witch is Dead" occurs during a huge celebration of all the citizens of Emerald City, as they join Dorothy and her friends on their journey back to the Wizard. Once again, though the audio of this song exists, the scene itself has been lost, with only a few precious seconds and a few stills remaining. Finally, and though the audio has survived, the reprise of "Over the Rainbow", which is sung by Dorothy when she is trapped in the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West, was cut from the film altogether because the studio felt the scene was too "emotionally intense".

Answer: Making the Tin Man a hardened and heartless criminal

The very idea of having a romance between Dorothy and the Scarecrow - she was just a child. That idea lingered however for, in a proposed final, and discarded, scene when finally back in Kansas, Hunk (the scarecrow) has decided to leave for college and extracts a promise from Dorothy to write to him.

The implication is that of a romance some time in the future. The poor old Tin Man, as harmless a chap as you'd ever meet, was to be made a ruthless criminal, axe and all (gulp) who was spending eternity in a tin can for punishment.

Another discarded option was an opera competition between a spoiled princess in Oz and Dorothy. One can just see Dorothy singing Wagner going down well with the audiences of the day - or of any day for that matter.

Answer: Silver

Nobody knows exactly how many pairs of slippers were made for the film, but it is known for certain that there were at least four. After the film was completed, the shoes were stored in among the huge array of costumes from other MGM films. When discovered for a planned mammoth auction in 1970, one pair was bought for the then astonishing price of $15,000 and are believed to be now residing in the Smithsonian Institute.

Another pair was sold as recently as 2000 to an unknown buyer for the sum of $666,000. Actress Debbie Reynolds who has a vast collection of movie memorabilia, has since auctioned off a third pair, while the last pair, which were on display in the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota, have been stolen.

When making the movie, MGM changed the colour of the shoes in the book from silver to red because the new technicolour film making process had become available.

They wanted to display the shoes in the brightest colour possible.

Answer: W. C. Fields

The studio lost patience with Fields because he took too long negotiating for a fee to play the role, so he lost out on film immortality as a result. Poor old Buddy Ebsen suffered ill effects for the remainder of his life over the ingredients in the make-up he was wearing for the role of Tin Man. Oddly enough, he had originally been contracted to play the Scarecrow, and Ray Bolger the Tin Man, but Bolger convinced him to swap roles.

Interesting too is the fact that when the studio was looking around for elegant coats that had become worn and overly used as part of the Wizard's costume, a whole rack of old coats was purchased from a nearby second-hand shop. One day when Frank Morgan was on set wearing the chosen coat, he idly went through its many pockets, and found to his astonishment, a label which indicated that the coat had once belonged to the author of the book, L. Frank Baum himself.

This was later verified by Baum's widow.

Answer: The yellow brick road

In the film, a red brick road can also be seen briefly at the beginning of the yellow brick road, but it goes off in another direction. It was there to emphasise that Dorothy had to definitely follow the yellow brick road and not the red brick one to arrive at her destination.

A three pronged fork can also be seen in the yellow brick road after Dorothy has met the scarecrow, but fortunately, the correct one is chosen and the pair continue on their way to find their other companions.

Answer: Ray Bolger who played the Scarecrow

Bert Lahr passed away in 1967, Judy Garland in 1969, Jack Haley in 1979 and Ray Bolger in 1987. Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard, died in 1949. He was the only one of the film's major stars who didn't live long enough to witness the extraordinary reputation this film achieved.

This little piece of information will bring a tear to your eye I think: When Ray Bolger died in 1987, he was portrayed, in an editorial cartoon that went world wide, as the scarecrow running along the yellow brick road to catch up with Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion - and then they all dance off into the setting sun together.