I think that the good witch should have looked and dressed the same as the wicked witch and should have been played by the same actress as the wicked witch in a dual role. What do you think?
shareOnly bad witches are ugly...
shareIt was unnecessary since The Wicked Witch already had a counterpart in Miss Gulch.
shareYou know, Glinda was the one major character who didn't have an equivalent back in Kansas.
You'd think that Dorothy would want to stay in Oz, just to have a good fairy figure in her life?
Lol! I read somewhere that initially Glinda was supposed to be Aunt Em's Oz counterpart. I don't remember why they abandoned that idea.
share The movie script went through so many changes.
I have a book about the making of the film and there were a number of script proposals and changes. For instance, in one of the early scripts, the Wicked Witch had a son in the film.
One of the original ideas was to have the beautiful Gale Sondergaard play the Wicked Witch all "glammed up". But it was too hard to make her look ugly enough.
In a strange way, I really think Margaret Hamilton as the witch had an odd beauty about her. Crazy I guess. But I never really thought she looked ugly, green yes, but not ugly. I thought her face had an arresting and interesting quality about it.
What's the title of the book? It sounds interesting.
shareIt's a book I bought a long time ago, 'The Making of the Wizard of Oz' by Aljean Harmetz. Great book, it has lots of pictures in it, all black and white though! Margaret Hamilton wrote the intro to the book.
I bought my copy on ebay. I checked and there are still some inexpensive copies of it on ebay. A lot of different covers though. I have the one with the green cover.
Regarding Gale Sondergaard, they were going to put her in a tight black sequined dress with heavy make-up that would imply evil. But they decided she had to look ugly because that's what children would expect.
She said, "In those days, I was not about to make myself ugly for any motion picture."
I can see why they decided on an ugly witch - what's the point of a beautiful witch when she's got nobody to seduce with her beauty? And one of the reasons TWoO works as a film is that in the last act, the witch is scary and Dorothy is terrified, and suddenly it's not a kiddie party film any more, there's genuine feeling. A glam witch either been less scary, or the threat would have seemed sexual and out of place in a kiddie film.
So yeah, the basic idea was that Margaret Hamilton represented everything Dorothy was afraid of, and she wasn't afraid of glamorous women. Why would she be, she'd never seen one?
Which BTW is why Glinda isn't played by the same actress that plays Auntie Em. Glinda is everything Auntie Em isn't, and can't be, and that's what she represents to Dorothy.
Thanks! :) I'll see if I can get a copy from the library.
shareIn a strange way, I really think Margaret Hamilton as the witch had an odd beauty about her. Crazy I guess.
Okay, maybe I should've used a different adjective! How about oddly compelling? I just watched Oz again over Thanksgiving and I realized that she was my favorite character. I love the movie, but the Wicked Witch keeps it from being too syrupy sweet. I can't take my eyes off her when she's onscreen.
Margaret Hamilton was not good looking, I agree.She was aware of it and carved out a career as a character actress. But something about her as the witch, I don't know what, those sharp pointed features. I just think she has an interesting face. Not that I'd want to look like her! But she was hard to overlook.
Yes. That is definitely crazy. Margaret Hamilton was never attractive a day in her life, not even as an unconventional beauty and certainly not as the witch. I think you meant to use a different adjective.
They might've scrapped the idea because it would've made the fact that Oz was all a dream too obvious. The thing about the farm hands is that they're so slathered in makeup that you can accept that they're characters in their own right and that everything that's happening to Dorothy is real. With Glinda, there was no way the movie could've made her up enough to not disguise that she was Auntie Em or made you feel that it was a completely different character.
shareAs an aside, I understand that Margaret Hamilton, who loved children in real life (she was a kindergarten teacher at one time) got upset when kids would come up to her and ask her why she was so mean to Dorothy.
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Oh, this is a great thread. Thank you very much to everyone who posted.
But especially, thank you for that lovely bit about Margaret Hamilton. I think that Judy Garland was a young girl who needed kindness in her life, & isn't it ironic that the woman who portrayed the most Evil Villainess of Cinema Ever, provided her that?
Actors worth their craft love to take challenging roles, often playing counter to their real life personalities since it takes experience to know the opposite approach.
shareShe made a special appearance on Mr. Rogers where she put on the costume just to show kids that she was acting a role.
shareI don't think that would have worked, though Glinda was much less glamorous-looking in the book illustrations compared to the movie.
shareYou don't mess with a classic.
shareA good idea!
shareYou need to make that movie then.
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