Here’s a piece I did about the making of The Wizard of Oz. It’s many production disasters and rewrites. The shutdown of production while the entire look of the film was reworked and partially recast. The production was hemorrhaging money. Five directors were hired and fired. And yet ... from all that panic and chaos a work of near perfection emerged. Each scene, every song, every performance seems preordained and yet spontaneous. The whole film feels as if it magically materialized before the cameras fully formed and without a hair out of place. It wasn’t until the studio previewed the film that they understood that a miracle had occurred. Yet madness still gripped the process. The head of the studio repeatedly demanded that the song “Over the Rainbow” be cut from the film. He said it slowed the movie down. That nobody wants to see Judy Garland sing in a barnyard. But the producer melvyn LeRoy simply ignored his boss. He never let them touch one frame of the song. And the greatest popular song in movie history was saved. Imagine if we’d never heard Dorothy wonder to her dog what was over that rainbow? If we had never heard Judy Garland’s extraordinary voice express the gentle longing and poignant hope that there must be a place where there wasn’t any trouble. How different our way of thinking and feeling would be if that song had never been there to help us understand the courage and loneliness of wanting, needing, hoping for more. Hurray for Oz! and Munchkins! and the lollipop guild! and cowardly lions who pull their tails! And even Wicked Witches who melt so conveniently! And friends who do believe in spooks yet stick by you! And hurray for wondering what’s over the rainbow!! Happy Monday everyone. . . . #hopes #dreams #overtherainbow #thewizardofoz #drawingoftheday #illustratorsoninstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B8qxQ04lyJB/?igshid=1ew5ptblner0h