Billie Silvey
It was 1939, before Frank or I were even
born, that MGM made a movie based on the
1900 novel by L. Frank Baum. That movie
was The Wizard of Oz.
It starred Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray
Bolger as the scarecrow, Jack Haley as the tin
man and Bert Lahr as the cowardly lion. Billie
Burke, my namesake, played Glinda the Good
Witch.
The film, which was black-and-white when set
in Kansas, switched to Technicolor in Oz. It
was made at the studio at the end of the street
where we live today.
The little people who played the Munchkins
stayed at the Culver Hotel just down the street.
And a new attraction now can be seen
towering over the studio (now owned by Sony
Pictures). A 94-foot-tall rainbow
commemorates what may be the best known
film made on the lot.
born, that MGM made a movie based on the
1900 novel by L. Frank Baum. That movie
was The Wizard of Oz.
It starred Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray
Bolger as the scarecrow, Jack Haley as the tin
man and Bert Lahr as the cowardly lion. Billie
Burke, my namesake, played Glinda the Good
Witch.
The film, which was black-and-white when set
in Kansas, switched to Technicolor in Oz. It
was made at the studio at the end of the street
where we live today.
The little people who played the Munchkins
stayed at the Culver Hotel just down the street.
And a new attraction now can be seen
towering over the studio (now owned by Sony
Pictures). A 94-foot-tall rainbow
commemorates what may be the best known
film made on the lot.
Judy Garland, with dog Toto, singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the MGM film The Wizard of Oz.
| Over the Rainbow |
Billie Burke and Judy Garland in an Oz scene from The Wizard of Oz.
The former MGM studios, now owned by Sony.
The new rainbow sculpture towering over the walls and trees of Sony Studios draws people to a site where
imaginations have been stoked since the filming of the Wizard of Oz almost 75 years ago. (Photo by Katyana Hall).
imaginations have been stoked since the filming of the Wizard of Oz almost 75 years ago. (Photo by Katyana Hall).
July 2013