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* Casting problems, costs and other problems plagued `The Wizard of Oz.'
Imagine Shirley Temple as Dorothy, Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Woodsman, W.C. Fields as the Wizard. Would "The Wizard of Oz" still have become an enduring classic?
Nobody knows, because those early castings did not pan out. Somehow MGM came up with the perfect ingredients to create one of the most beloved movies of all time.
Most Americans have enjoyed "The Wizard of Oz" only on television, where it has appeared almost annually since 1956. Now they will be able to view it as it was meant to be seen: on big screens in theaters - well bigger screens, anyway.
Warner Bros., which acquired the film with its purchase of Ted Turner's MGM library, is betting that millions will want to experience the film on the big screen. A restored, enhanced version opened in 1,800 theaters on Friday. That's an amazing figure for a 59-year-old movie.
Oddly enough, "The Wizard of Oz" didn't seem to have much of a future when it was released in August 1939. It had cost $2.8 million - a whopping amount in Depression years.
According to Aljean Harmetz's well-researched book, "The Making of `The Wizard of Oz,' " MGM suffered a million-dollar loss in the movie's first release. It didn't show a profit until it began appearing on television, more than 15 years later.
The history of "The Wizard of Oz" goes back to 1899, when an actor, playwright and former chicken farmer named L. (for Lyman) Frank Baum wrote a children's fantasy called "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." It proved an immediate success, and he turned it into a Broadway musical.
Film versions appeared in 1910 and...