Cursed Films

What have you heard about the legends

surrounding the making of "The Wizard of Oz"?

Um...

- I mean, there's just so many rumors in general

about "The Wizard of Oz".

- Oh, we could talk about that all day.

I mean, I've researched this stuff

since the time I was a little kid,

I'll get you, my pretty.

- Definitely heard about the burning of Margaret Hamilton.

Yeah. Oof.

- You know, she caught fire once unintentionally.

- I definitely know of the makeup situation

that happened with the Tin Man.

- Heard about the Munchkin hanging.

- I've heard that a small person hung themselves on set.

- The list goes on and on and on and on and on.

I think it's a part of the legacy...

I think that when some people look at films

that are super beloved

and they hear stories about the difficulties

or the tragedies that happen on set,

they then go on to ascribe that production as "cursed",

because it's hard to hear these stories of tragedy.

And you want to believe that at least someone

or something is in charge

because the reality is no one's in charge

and the universe doesn't care about you,

but that is too crushing

to encompass with our minds.

So, we come up with ideas like that production is cursed,

'cause it makes us feel a little bit better

about the terrible things that might have happened on the set.

When I was five,

I sat down and watched "Wizard of Oz".

Everybody had a great night,

but I had the life changing experience.

The characters and the fantasy and the songs,

but I just kind of bought into all of it.

You don't choose these things, they choose you.

And that's a statement that I think anybody watching this

who has any kind of passion for anything can...

can comprehend.

What "The Wizard of Oz" is about

is not a question I have actually considered.

And that's amazing to me.

There are lots of theories.

People thought that the Yellow Brick Road

was something to do with the gold standard.

Society had been through some really difficult times

with the depression

and then the war.

People were forced to move all over the place.

And then we still had lots of first-generation immigrants

who'd come in in the 1910s and 20s.

They had to leave their homes

and knew they would never be able to go back.

Here was Judy.

She was disrupted.

She was off in a whole 'nother world,

just like the population of the country.

And the whole tension was "she couldn't go home".

Close your eyes

and tap your heels together, three times.

But suddenly through magic,

she is able to go home

and she is sort of like a surrogate

for the American population.

There's no place like home.

They went out of the movie

with some sense of redemption.

At least Judy got home.

I think it's about the way

in which human beings trust each other

to lead each other through the world.

Yeah.

'Cause the Wizard's not inherently a bad guy,

but he has a lot of power.

And power corrupts.

That's absolutely true.

It was made in 1938

and it opened in August 17th, 1939,

and America was at the cusp of a World War.

Go, fly! Fly!

Fly! Fly! Fly!

And that dark energy,

it was part of the air they were breathing at that time.

That beat of war was going on in the background.

I mean, and they so much made it real

with the Winkies marching like Nazis.

"The Wizard of Oz"

was a hopeful outcome of that dark energy

because the witch is dead.

Dorothy gets back to Kansas.

The objects themselves associated with the production

still have that power over people

and an object like the Ruby slippers

is a perfect example of that.

I've seen people just break down in tears,

coming into this room

and seeing the ruby slippers in real life.

You know, Dorothy Gale is a stand-in for anybody

who's ever thought about wanting more out of their life

or being unhappy with their circumstances,

seeking something over the rainbow.

Having an object in front of you

that represents that,

it's actually very powerful.

"Wizard of Oz" was a very difficult shoot.

There were conflicts and re-castings

and accidents and script problems.

- They wanted to make a realistic film

that was a fantasy.

All of the characters suffered through the costumes.

Dad had to eat every meal through a straw.

The lighting was so intense.

They were dying under those costumes.

There was a fire marshal on the set at all times

with a light meter going around to make sure

the set wasn't going to catch on fire

from the heat of the lights.

There were 14 writers and five directors

and three choreographers

and a potentially fatal accident,

a potentially fatal reaction to makeup.

I would imagine you'd have to ask

any number of the cast members

who worked on "The Wizard of Oz"

if "The Wizard of Oz" was cursed or not.

And if you asked Buddy Ebsen,

he might tell you, yes.

His participation was cursed.

Originally Buddy Ebsen was cast to play the Tin Man.

And he was a very popular film actor of the time

known as the song and dance man.

And he would've been a perfect fit for the film.

The makeup was pretty basic.

They used clown white

and then they dusted it with ground up aluminum.

He found that he was starting to have cramps

in his fingers, or in his feet.

And then one night it spread to his arms

and his legs and he could not breathe.

- They were putting silver paint on him

and they didn't realize it, you know,

he was being poisoned.

He had been inhaling the aluminum particles,

you know, that floated around.

They had coated his lungs.

- He went home one night. Couldn't breathe.

Ended up in the hospital

with pneumonia in an oxygen tent.

Unfortunately, his participation in the film

was cut short.

And it ended up being a film

that kind of scarred him in a way too.

Um, literally scarred his lungs

uh, because he had a tendency toward bronchitis

for the rest of his life.

In the early 2000's

I had a show called "MythBusters"

and we were doing a story we called "The Goldfinger Myth".

And it's about the actress, Shirley Eaton,

who got painted gold in the James Bond film,

supposedly got suffocated by the paint.

Which she didn't.

But as part of the research for that myth,

we came across the famous story from "The Wizard of Oz"

that Buddy Ebsen was originally slated to play the Tin Man.

And couldn't because he was poisoned

by the silver paint that they put on him

to play the Tin Man.

When we first started to look at doing a story

about "The Wizard of Oz",

there are a few avenues to that negative affect

and one is poison.

So, if Buddy Ebsen was poisoned by lead in the paint,

we-we can't test that on ourselves.

But the other main reason given

for the difficulty with the paint

was that it cut off the oxygen

that you breathe through your skin.

And if you paint your whole body

um, you will somehow suffocate.

That is testable by us.

The suffocation is something that we can creep up on.

We have an EMT on set.

We can make sure our pulse oxygen levels are up to snuff.

And that is the aspect of the story that we tested.

- This is the exact stuff that they were using on the Tin Man.

Which was just pure aluminum powder.

Now, why are you guys feeding her oxygen?

Her heart rate's gone up.

When most humans think about being Buddy Ebsen

in that moment, oh, you get to play a Tin Man.

So, they're gonna build this elaborate costume around you.

And then they're gonna paint you silver.

These are all the activities of like,

the best day ever for a 10-year-old.

And I think every one of us intersects with that of like,