The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-08-11
. HARRISON IN
HOLLYWOOD
ny PAU. HARRisoN

husbands near~eiAssies Producer
Mervyn Leroy asked what she
expected Of the picture "oh. !
suppose there1i he q Wizard In
IL. and . sesreercw and TN
woodmsn. and maybe a Lion and
= character named Dorothy. she
said tsrtly. But that's all | ex-
poet, young man. You see. I've
lived In Hollywood since 1911"
In spite of her well-founded
eynicism, Mrs Baum 10 due for .
surprise SIX OF eight months ago.
Hollywood didn't expect very
much Of the picture. either. be-
cause double-troubls had been en-
oountered Of every turn In trying
TO bring fantasy into reality. and
living players into fsiry-tsie erea-
lures. and scores Of film tricks
into Teohnieolor
There were false starts and
heated conferences and a general
tearing Of hair On the part of
technicians. Actors swssted,
swore and suffered in grotssque
makeups which were discarded.
time after time, following tests.
Songs were written, rehesrsed.
shot and thrown out. The story
was jiggled around 10 add adult
appeal and juGgled back 10 please
the kids. Dlstraught business ex.
ecutives watched costs mount until
II was clear that the production.
good or bad. was going 10 set back
Metro at least 81 SOC, 900.
ALL WORKS
OUT WELL
And then, almost suddenly, the
troubles cleared away like q movie
mist whipped by wind machines.
Mskeups were perfected which
didn't obscure the personalities Of
the players Technicians solved
most OF their problems In magic
And the story was brought into
focus by putting all the oz ad-
ventures into . dream by Dorothy
after she had been boppcd on the
head during the cyclone. The
principal or characters resemble
people she knew In Kansas; =
mean neighbor woman becomes
the Wicked witch. = medicine
show faker the Wizard. farm hands
the Woodman, soareerow and
cowardly Lion.
The only compromise With color
difficulties Ia that the initial Sc
quences in Kansas are IN mono
tone. This was done because II
simply wasn't possible 10 make
process shots In color of houses.
people and animals being blown
through the air In the required
comic attitudes. But the later
change 10 full color works out
very well because II hightens the
fairyiand effect.
The tricks in or mostly we're
accomplished by elaborate msehan-
zeal and electrical deyIsss. such
as the swesome hocus- pocus In
the wizards throne room with
lightning flashes. eolorsd smoke,
sheets Of flame. and an unesrihly
voice booming from nowhere.
Wizard Frank Morgan spoke with
perfectly natural voice into q
mierophone, but before II emerged
from hidden loundspeskers II had
been deepened. enormously smpIi'
fled and distorted ny being
bounced through q ausrtsr.uiis
tunnel which runs under the
studio.
TECHNICAL THIGHS
WIN OUT
Midgets from ali over tina coun-
try. abou, q hundred OF them. be-
came citizens Of hunehkibisnd.
and some were winged monkeys.
Their natural voices were lowered
10 bass tones from recordings In
tn, sound laboratory. The songs
Of birds In or are merely the
notes Of ordinary birds on sound
tracks which were run backward.
The winged monkeys ny on
wfrss. when they must And the
wicked witch. ysnqvlshsd ~hsn
Dorothy douses hsr with water,
"dissoiyss" through q trap door
In the stage All such stunts
would have neen simple sith the
masked doubIs exposures ana rssr-
projection backgrounds OF ths
blaek-sno-~hits screen, bsit studio
experts couldn't even fake q rain
bow for ths characters 10 vslk on
They finally had 70 build one.
Only instance Of successful doU-
bic exposure IL bubble that
comes bouncing along over Munich
ktulaud CLEANSING color and ffOS-