With its big budget, and with overseas markets closed due to the beginning of World War II, The Wizard of Oz , amazingly, was not a financial success during its initial theatrical run in 1939. Over the years, however, it became both a film classic and a perennial moneymaker for MGM, especially after the arrival of television and annual network broadcasts that attracted a new generation of young fans. Yet there had never been a real original soundtrack album. (Decca Records had put together what it confusingly called an ...
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With its big budget, and with overseas markets closed due to the beginning of World War II, The Wizard of Oz , amazingly, was not a financial success during its initial theatrical run in 1939. Over the years, however, it became both a film classic and a perennial moneymaker for MGM, especially after the arrival of television and annual network broadcasts that attracted a new generation of young fans. Yet there had never been a real original soundtrack album. (Decca Records had put together what it confusingly called an "original cast album" in 1940, using two Judy Garland studio recordings and other versions of the songs sung by a chorus.) In 1956, MGM Records finally assembled an LP, which was simply an edited version of the actual film soundtrack. The picture ran 101 minutes, and the album cut that down to 40, including the major songs "Over the Rainbow," "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead," "We're Off to See the Wizard," "If I Only Had a Brain" (or "a heart" or "the nerve"), and "If I Were King of the Forest." Lots of Herbert Stothart's Academy Award-winning score was heard accompanying the dialogue by Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, and others, including such timeless lines as "Toto, I have feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"; "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"; and, finally, "There's no place like home." The LP had several reissues, the last one by MCA Classics in 1985. By 1989, with the ownership of the MGM film catalog in flux, CBS Records (soon to become Sony Music Entertainment) briefly acquired the rights and put out this expanded reissue, re-edited for the CD era and taking the recording up from 40 minutes to 75. That also included the cut song "The Jitterbug," which featured departed cast member Buddy Ebsen. [Turner later acquired the MGM catalog, and subsequent reissues, again re-configured, were issued on Rhino Records.] ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
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Seller's Description:
Good. Good condition. audioCD. Disc slightly scratched. Case Good. Case cracked/scuffed. Quality guaranteed! In original artwork/packaging unless otherwise noted.
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