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The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Widely considered to be one of the greatest films in cinema history,[5] it is the best-known and most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[6] Directed primarily by Victor Fleming (who left production to take over the troubled production of Gone with the Wind), the film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale alongside Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton with Charley Grapewin, Pat Walshe, Clara Blandick, Terry (billed as Toto) and Singer's Midgets as the Munchkins.[7]
Legendary for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score and memorable characters, the film has become an icon of American popular culture. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind. It did win in two other categories: Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart. While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939, it failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget, not including promotional costs, which made it MGM's most expensive production at that time.[3][8][9]
The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the public; watching it became an annual tradition and, according to the Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in movie history.[6][10] It was among the first 25 films that inaugurated the National Film Registry list in 1989.[11] It is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.[12] The film is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.
The Wizard of Oz is the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but uncredited contributions were made by others. The songs were written by Edgar "Yip" Harburg (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music). The musical score and the incidental music were composed by Stothart.
Plot

Dorothy Gale lives with her Cairn Terrier dog Toto on the Kansas farm of her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Toto bites witchy neighbor Miss Almira Gulch, who then obtains an order for Toto to be euthanized. She takes Toto away on her bicycle, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy, who decides to run away from home to save her dog.
They meet Professor Marvel, a kindly fortune teller who uses his crystal ball to make Dorothy believe that Aunt Em may be dying of a broken heart. Dorothy races home, arriving just as a powerful tornado strikes. Locked out of the farm's storm cellar, she seeks shelter in her bedroom. Wind-blown debris knocks her unconscious and the house is sent spinning in the air. She awakens to see various figures fly by, including Miss Gulch, who transforms into a witch on a broomstick.

The house lands in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz. Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins welcome her as a heroine, as the falling house has killed the Wicked Witch of the East; only the witch's legs and the ruby slippers on her feet are visible. Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, arrives to claim the slippers, but Glinda transports them onto Dorothy's feet first. The Wicked Witch of the West swears revenge on Dorothy for her sister's death, then vanishes. Glinda tells Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, where she can ask the Wizard of Oz to help her get back home.
On her journey, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain, the Tin Woodman, who desires a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, who needs courage. Dorothy invites them to accompany her to the Emerald City, where they can ask the Wizard to help them too. Despite the Witch sending her winged monkeys to capture Dorothy and Toto, they reach the Emerald City and are eventually permitted to see the Wizard, who appears as a large ghostly head surrounded by fire and smoke. He agrees to grant their wishes if they prove their worth by bringing him the Witch's broomstick.
As the four (plus Toto) make their way to the Witch's castle, the Witch realizes that Dorothy must be dead before the ruby slippers can be removed. Toto escapes and leads her three friends to the castle. They ambush three guards, don the guards' uniforms and march inside to locate Dorothy. The Witch and her guards chase them through the castle and surround them. When the Witch sets fire to the Scarecrow, Dorothy tosses a bucket of water at him and it also splashes the Witch, who melts away. The guards rejoice and give Dorothy the broomstick.

Back in the Emerald City, as the Wizard stalls in fulfilling his promises Toto pulls back a curtain and exposes the "Wizard" as a middle-aged man speaking through a microphone. He denies Dorothy's accusation that he is a bad man but admits to being a humbug. He then gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal and the Tin Man a ticking heart-shaped watch, helping them see that the attributes they sought (brains, heart, courage) were already within them. He then offers to take Dorothy and Toto home in his hot air balloon.
As Dorothy and the Wizard prepare to depart, Toto jumps off and Dorothy goes to catch him so the balloon leaves with only the Wizard. Glinda appears and tells Dorothy the Ruby Slippers will take her home. Following Glinda's instructions, Dorothy taps her heels together three times and repeats, "There's no place like home".
Dorothy wakes up in Kansas surrounded by her family and friends. Everyone dismisses her adventure as a dream but Dorothy insists it was real and says she has learned there is no place like home.
Cast

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale
Frank Morgan as Professor Marvel/The Wizard of Oz/the Doorman/the Cabby/The Guard
Ray Bolger as "Hunk" / Scarecrow
Jack Haley as "Hickory" / Tin Man
Bert Lahr as "Zeke" / the Cowardly Lion
Billie Burke as Glinda
Margaret Hamilton as Miss Almira Gulch / The Wicked Witch of the West
Clara Blandick as Auntie Em
Charley Grapewin as Uncle Henry
Pat Walshe as the Winged Monkey King
Terry as Toto
Mitchell Lewis as the Winkie Guard Captain (credited only in the IMAX version)
Adriana Caselotti as the voice of Juliet in the Tinman's song "If I only had a heart" (uncredited)[13]

Production
Development

Production on the film began when Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) showed that films adapted from popular children's stories and fairytale folklore could still be successful.[14][15] In January 1938, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to L. Frank Baum’s hugely popular novel from Samuel Goldwyn, who had toyed with the idea of making the film as a vehicle for Eddie Cantor who was under contract to the Goldwyn studios and whom Goldwyn wanted to cast as the Scarecrow.[15]
The script went through a number of writers and revisions before the final shooting.[16] Mervyn LeRoy's assistant William H. Cannon had submitted a brief four-page outline.[16] Because recent fantasy films had not fared well, he recommended that the magical elements of the story be toned down or eliminated. In his outline, the Scarecrow was a man so stupid that the only employment open to him was literally scaring crows from cornfields and the Tin Woodman was a criminal so heartless he was sentenced to be placed in a tin suit for eternity; this torture softened him into somebody gentler and kinder.[16] His vision was similar to Larry Semon's 1925 film adaptation of the story in which the magical elements are absent.
Afterwards, LeRoy hired screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who soon delivered a 17-page draft of the Kansas scenes and a few weeks later, a further 56 pages. Noel Langley and poet Ogden Nash were also hired to write separate versions of the story. None of these three knew about the others, and this was not an uncommon procedure. Nash delivered a four-page outline, Langley turned in a 43-page treatment and a full film script. He turned in three more, this time incorporating the songs that had been written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf submitted a script and were brought on board to touch up the writing. They would be responsible for making sure the story stayed true to the Baum book. However, producer Arthur Freed was unhappy with their work and reassigned it to Langley.[17] During filming, Victor Fleming and John Lee Mahin revised the script further, adding and cutting some scenes. In addition, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr are known to have written some of their own dialogue for the Kansas sequence.
The final draft of the script was completed on October 8, 1938, following numerous rewrites.[18] All in all, it was a mish-mash of many creative minds, but Langley, Ryerson, and Woolf got the film credits. Along with the contributors already mentioned, others who assisted with the adaptation without receiving credit include: Irving Brecher, Herbert Fields, Arthur Freed, Yip Harburg, Samuel Hoffenstein, Jack Mintz, Sid Silvers, Richard Thorpe, Cukor and Vidor.[15]
In addition, songwriter Harburg's son (and biographer) Ernie Harburg reported:[19]

“So anyhow, Yip also wrote all the dialogue in that time and the setup to the songs and he also wrote the part where they give out the heart, the brains, and the nerve, because he was the final script editor. And he – there was eleven screenwriters on that – and he pulled the whole thing together, wrote his own lines and gave the thing a coherence and unity which made it a work of art. But he doesn't get credit for that. He gets lyrics by E. Y. Harburg, you see. But nevertheless, he put his influence on the thing.”
The original producers thought that a 1939 audience was too sophisticated to accept Oz as a straight-ahead fantasy; therefore, it was reconceived as a lengthy, elaborate dream sequence. Because of a perceived need to attract a youthful audience through appealing to modern fads and styles, the score had featured a song called "The Jitterbug", and the script had featured a scene with a series of musical contests. A spoiled, selfish princess in Oz had outlawed all forms of music except classical and operetta, and went up against Dorothy in a singing contest in which her swing style enchanted listeners and won the grand prize. This part was initially written for Betty Jaynes.[20] The plan was later dropped.
Another scene, which was removed before final script approval and never filmed, was a concluding scene back in Kansas after Dorothy's return. Hunk (the Kansan counterpart to the Scarecrow) is leaving for agricultural college and extracts a promise from Dorothy to write to him. The implication of the scene is that romance will eventually develop between the two, which also may have been intended as an explanation for Dorothy's partiality for the Scarecrow over her other two companions. This plot idea was never totally dropped, but is especially noticeable in the final script when Dorothy, just before she is to leave Oz, tells the Scarecrow, "I think I'll miss you most of all."[21]
In his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum describes Kansas as being "in shades of gray". Further, Dorothy lived inside a farmhouse which had its paint blistered and washed away by the weather, giving it an air of grayness. The house and property were situated in the middle of a sweeping prairie where the grass was burnt gray by harsh sun. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry were "gray with age". Effectively, the use of monochrome sepia tones for the Kansas sequences was a stylistic choice that evoked the dull and gray countryside. Much attention was given to the use of color in the production, with the MGM production crew favoring some hues over others. Consequently, it took the studio's art department almost a week to settle on the final shade of yellow used for the yellow brick road.[22]
Casting

LeRoy had always insisted that he wanted to cast Judy Garland to play Dorothy from the start; however, evidence suggests that negotiations occurred early in pre-production for Shirley Temple to be cast as Dorothy on loan from 20th Century Fox. A persistent rumor also existed that Fox in turn was promised Clark Gable and Jean Harlow as a loan from MGM. The tale is almost certainly untrue, as Harlow died in 1937, before MGM had even purchased the rights to the story. Despite this, the story appears in many film biographies (including Temple's own autobiography). The documentary The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic states that Mervyn LeRoy was under pressure to cast Temple, then the most popular child star, but at an unofficial audition MGM musical mainstay Roger Edens listened to her sing and felt that an actress with a different style was needed; a 50th anniversary documentary for the film suggested that Temple, then 10-years-old, was slightly too young for the part. Newsreel footage is included in which Temple wisecracks, "There's no place like home", suggesting that she was being considered for the part at that time.[23] A possibility is that this consideration did indeed take place, but that Gable and Harlow were not part of the proposed deal.
Actress Deanna Durbin, who was under contract to Universal Pictures, was also considered for the part of Dorothy. Durbin, at the time, far exceeded Garland in film experience and fan base and both had co-starred in a 1936 two-reeler titled Every Sunday. The film was most notable for exhibiting Durbin's operatic style of singing against Garland's jazzier style. Durbin was possibly passed over once it was decided to bring on Jaynes, also an operatic singer, to rival Garland's jazz in the aforementioned discarded subplot of the film.

Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Man and Buddy Ebsen was to play the Scarecrow.[18] Bolger, however, longed to play the Scarecrow, as his childhood idol Fred Stone had done on stage in 1902; with that very performance, Stone had inspired him to become a vaudevillian in the first place. Now unhappy with his role as the Tin Man (reportedly claiming, "I'm not a tin performer; I'm fluid"), Bolger convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him in the part he so desired.[24] Ebsen did not object; after going over the basics of the Scarecrow's distinctive gait with Bolger (as a professional dancer, Ebsen had been cast because the studio was confident he would be up to the task of replicating the famous "wobbly-walk" of Stone's Scarecrow), he recorded all of his songs, went through all the rehearsals as the Tin Man and began filming with the rest of the cast.[25]
Bert Lahr was signed for the Cowardly Lion on July 25, 1938; the next month, Charles Grapewin was cast as Uncle Henry on August 12.
W. C. Fields was originally chosen for the title role of the Wizard, a role turned down by Ed Wynn as he thought the part was too small, but the studio ran out of patience after protracted haggling over Fields' fee. Wallace Beery lobbied for the role, but the studio refused to spare him during the long shooting schedule. Instead, another contract player, Frank Morgan, was cast on September 22.
An extensive talent search produced over a hundred little people to play Munchkins; this meant that most of the film's Oz sequences would have to already be shot before work on the Munchkinland sequence could begin. According to Munchkin actor Jerry Maren, the little people were each paid over $125 a week (equivalent to $2,200 today). Meinhardt Raabe, who played the coroner, revealed in the 1990 documentary The Making of the Wizard of Oz that the MGM costume and wardrobe department, under the direction of designer Adrian, had to design over 100 costumes for the Munchkin sequences. They then had to photograph and catalog each Munchkin in his or her costume so that they could correctly apply the same costume and makeup each day of production.
Gale Sondergaard was originally cast as the Wicked Witch. She became unhappy when the witch's persona shifted from sly and glamorous (thought to emulate the wicked queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) into the familiar "ugly hag". She turned down the role and was replaced on October 10, 1938, just three days before filming started, by MGM contract player Margaret Hamilton. Sondergaard said in an interview for a bonus feature on the DVD that she had no regrets about turning down the part, and would go on to play a glamorous villain in Fox's version of Maurice Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird in 1940; Margaret Hamilton played a role remarkably similar to the Wicked Witch in the Judy Garland film Babes in Arms (1939).
According to Aljean Harmetz, the "gone-to-seed" coat worn by Morgan as the wizard was selected from a rack of coats purchased from a second-hand shop. According to legend, Morgan later discovered a label in the coat indicating it had once belonged to Baum, that Baum's widow confirmed this, and that the coat was eventually presented to her. But Baum biographer Michael Patrick Hearn says the Baum family denies ever seeing the coat or knowing of the story; Hamilton considered it a concocted studio rumor.[26]
Filming
Richard Thorpe as director
Filming commenced October 13, 1938 on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot in Culver City, California under the direction of Richard Thorpe (replacing original director Norman Taurog, who filmed only a few early Technicolor tests and was then reassigned). Thorpe initially shot about two weeks of footage (nine days in total) involving Dorothy's first encounter with the Scarecrow, as well as a number of sequences in the Wicked Witch's castle such as Dorothy's rescue (which though unreleased comprises the only footage of Ebsen's Tin Man).
Ebsen replaced by Haley
According to most sources, ten days into the shoot Ebsen suffered a reaction to the aluminum powder makeup he wore though he did recall taking a breath one night without suffering any immediate effect. He was hospitalized in critical condition and subsequently was forced to leave the project; in a later interview (included on the 2005 DVD release of The Wizard of Oz), he recalled the studio heads appreciated the seriousness of his illness only after seeing him in the hospital. Filming halted while a replacement for him was found. No full footage of him as the Tin Man has ever been released–only photographs taken during filming and makeup test photos. His replacement Jack Haley simply assumed he had been fired.[27] Author and screen-writer George MacDonald Fraser offers an alternative story, told to him by Burt Lancaster's producing partner, Jim Hill, that Ebsen had refused to be painted silver and was fired.[28]
George Cukor's brief stint
LeRoy, after reviewing the footage and feeling Thorpe was rushing the production, adversely affecting the actors' performances, had Thorpe replaced. During reorganization on the production, George Cukor temporarily took over under LeRoy's guidance. Initially, the studio had made Garland wear a blond wig and heavy "baby-doll" makeup, and she played Dorothy in an exaggerated fashion; now, Cukor changed Garland's and Hamilton's makeup and costumes, and told Garland to "be herself". This meant that all the scenes Garland and Hamilton had already completed had to be discarded and reshot. Cukor also suggested that the studio cast Jack Haley, on loan from Fox, as the Tin Man. To keep down on production costs, Haley only rerecorded "If I Only Had a Heart" and solo lines during "The Jitterbug" and "If I Only Had the Nerve"; as such, Ebsen's voice can still be heard in the remaining songs featuring the Tin Man in group vocals. The makeup used for Haley was quietly changed to an aluminum paste, with a layer of clown white greasepaint underneath to protect his skin; although it did not have the same dire effect on Haley, he did at one point suffer an eye infection from it.
In addition, Bolger's original recording of "If I Only Had a Brain" had been far more sedate compared to the version heard in the film; during this time, Cukor and LeRoy decided that a more energetic rendition would better suit Dorothy's initial meeting with the Scarecrow (initially, it was to contrast with his lively manner in Thorpe's footage), and was rerecorded as such. At first thought to be lost for over seven decades, a recording of this original version was rediscovered in 2009.[29]
Victor Fleming, the main director

Cukor did not actually shoot any scenes for the film, merely acting as something of a "creative advisor" to the troubled production and because of his prior commitment to direct Gone with the Wind, he left on November 3, 1938 when Victor Fleming assumed directorial responsibility. As director, Fleming chose not to shift the film from Cukor's creative realignment, as producer LeRoy had already pronounced his satisfaction with the new course the film was taking.
Production on the bulk of the Technicolor sequences was a long and exhausting process that ran for over six months, from October 1938 to March 1939. Most of the cast worked six days a week and had to arrive as early as 4:00a.m. to be fitted with makeup and costumes, and often did not leave until 7 pm or later. Cumbersome makeup and costumes were made even more uncomfortable by the daylight-bright lighting the early Technicolor process required, which could heat the set to over 100°F (38°C). Bolger later said that the frightening nature of the costumes prevented most of the Oz principals from eating in the studio commissary;[30] the toxicity of Hamilton's copper-based makeup forced her to eat a liquid diet on shoot days.[31] It took as many as twelve takes to have Toto run alongside the actors as they skipped down the yellow brick road.
All of the Oz sequences were filmed in three-strip Technicolor.[15][16] The opening and closing credits, as well as the Kansas sequences, were filmed in black and white and colored in a sepia-tone process.[15] Sepia-toned film was also used in the scene where Aunt Em appears in the Wicked Witch's crystal ball.
In Hamilton's exit from Munchkinland, a concealed elevator was arranged to lower her below stage as fire and smoke erupted to dramatize and conceal her exit. The first take ran well, but in the second take the burst of fire came too soon. The flames set fire to her green, copper-based face paint, causing third-degree burns on her hands and face. She spent three months healing before returning to work.[32]
King Vidor's finishing work as director
On February 12, 1939, Fleming hastily replaced Cukor in directing Gone with the Wind; the next day, King Vidor was assigned as director by the studio to finish the filming of The Wizard of Oz (mainly the sepia-toned Kansas sequences, including Garland's singing of "Over the Rainbow" and the tornado). In later years, when the film became firmly established as a classic, Vidor chose not to take public credit for his contribution until after the death of his friend Fleming in 1949.
Post-production
Principal photography concluded with the Kansas sequences on March 16, 1939; nonetheless, reshoots and pick-up shots were filmed throughout April and May and into June, under the direction of producer LeRoy. After the deletion of the "Over the Rainbow" reprise during subsequent test screenings in early June, Garland had to be brought back one more time to reshoot the "Auntie Em, I'm frightened!" scene without the song; the footage of Blandick's Aunt Em, as shot by Vidor, had already been set aside for rear-projection work, and was simply reused.
After Hamilton's torturous experience with the Munchkinland elevator, she refused to do the pick-ups for the scene in which she flies on a broomstick that billows smoke, so LeRoy chose to have stand-in Betty Danko perform the scene, instead; as a result, Danko was severely injured doing the scene due to a malfunction in the smoke mechanism.[33]
At this point, the film began a long arduous post-production. Herbert Stothart had to compose the film's background score, while A. Arnold Gillespie had to perfect the various special effects that the film required, including many of the rear projection shots. The MGM art department also had to create the various matte paintings for the background of many of the scenes.
One significant innovation planned for the film was the use of stencil printing for the transition to Technicolor. Each frame was to be hand-tinted to maintain the sepia tone; however, because this was too expensive and labor-intensive, it was abandoned and MGM used a simpler and less expensive variation of the process. During the reshoots in May, the inside of the farm house was painted sepia, and when Dorothy opens the door, it is not Garland, but her stand-in, Bobbie Koshay, wearing a sepia gingham dress, who then backs out of frame; once the camera moves through the door, Garland steps back into frame in her bright blue gingham dress (as noted in DVD extras), and the sepia-painted door briefly tints her with the same color before she emerges from the house's shadow, into the bright glare of the Technicolor lighting. This also meant that the reshoots provided the first proper shot of Munchkinland; if one looks carefully, the brief cut to Dorothy looking around outside the house bisects a single long shot, from the inside of the doorway to the pan-around that finally ends in a reverse-angle as the ruins of the house are seen behind Dorothy as she comes to a stop at the foot of the small bridge.
Test screenings of the film began on June 5, 1939.[34] Oz initially ran nearly two hours long. LeRoy and Fleming knew that at least 15 minutes needed to be deleted to get the film down to a manageable running time; the average film in 1939 ran for just about 90 minutes. Three sneak previews in Santa Barbara, Pomona and San Luis Obispo, California, helped guide LeRoy and Fleming in the cutting. Among the many cuts were "The Jitterbug" number, the Scarecrow's elaborate dance sequence following "If I Only Had a Brain", reprises of "Over the Rainbow" and "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead", and a number of smaller dialogue sequences. This left the final, mostly serious portion of the film with no songs, only the dramatic underscoring.
One song that was almost deleted was "Over the Rainbow". MGM had felt that it made the Kansas sequence too long, as well as being far over the heads of the target audience of children. The studio also thought that it was degrading for Garland to sing in a barnyard. LeRoy, uncredited associate producer Arthur Freed and director Fleming fought to keep it in, and they all eventually won. The song went on to win the Academy Award for Best Song of the Year, and came to be identified so strongly with Garland herself that she made it her theme song.
After the preview in San Luis Obispo in early July, the film was officially released in August 1939 at its current 101-minute running time.
Special effects, makeup and costumes
Arnold Gillespie was the special effects director for the film. The tornado scene was especially costly. Gillespie used muslin cloth to make the tornado flexible after a previous attempt with rubber failed. He hung the 35 feet of muslin to a steel gantry and connected the bottom to a rod. By moving the gantry and rod, he was able to create the illusion of a tornado moving across the stage. Fuller's Earth was sprayed from both the top and bottom using compressed air hoses to complete the effect.[35]
The Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow masks were made of foam latex makeup made by makeup artist Jack Dawn, who was one of the first makeup artists to use this technique.[36][37] The actor who played Scarecrow was left with permanent lines around his mouth and chin from his mask. It took an hour each day to slowly peel the glued-on mask from Bolger's face.[38] Margaret Hamilton received severe burns on her hands and face when there was an accident with the fire while filming her exit from Munchkinland. Hamilton was wearing her green makeup at the time, which was usually removed with acetone due to the toxicity of its copper content. In this case, due to Hamilton's burns, makeup artist Jack Young removed the makeup with alcohol instead to prevent infection.[38] The Tin Man's costume was made of leather-covered buckram and the oil used to grease his joints was made from chocolate syrup.[39] The Cowardly Lion's costume was made from real lion skin and fur.[40] For the "horse of a different color" scene, Jell-O powder was used to color the white horses.[41] Asbestos was used to achieve some of the special effects like the witch's burning broomstick and the fake snow that covers Dorothy as she sleeps in the field of poppies.[42][43]
Music

The film is widely noted for its musical selections and soundtrack. The music was composed by Harold Arlen, and the lyrics were written by Yip Harburg, both of whom won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow". The song was ranked first in two lists: the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs and the Recording Industry Association of America's "365 Songs of the Century".
MGM composer Herbert Stothart, a well-known Hollywood composer and songwriter, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in recognition of his original score.
Georgie Stoll was associate conductor and screen credit was given to George Bassman, Murray Cutter, Ken Darby and Paul Marquardt for orchestral and vocal arrangements (as usual, Roger Edens was also heavily involved as an unbilled musical associate to Freed.)
The songs were recorded in the studio's scoring stage before filming. Several of the recordings were completed while Ebsen was still with the cast. Therefore, while he had to be dropped from the cast due to illness from the aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice remained in the soundtrack (as noted in the notes for the CD Deluxe Edition). In the group vocals of "We're Off to See the Wizard", his voice can be heard. Haley spoke with a distinct Boston accent, thus did not pronounce the r in wizard. By contrast, Ebsen was a Midwesterner, like Garland, and pronounced it. Haley rerecorded Ebsen's solo parts later.
Deleted songs

Some musical pieces filmed were deleted in the editing process.
The song "The Jitterbug", written in a swing style, was intended for the sequence in which the group is journeying to the Witch's castle. Due to time constraints, the song was cut from the final theatrical version. The film footage for the song has been lost, although silent home film footage of rehearsals for the number has survived. The sound recording for the song, however, is intact and was included in the two-CD Rhino Records deluxe edition of the film soundtrack, as well as on the VHS and DVD editions of the film. A reference to "The Jitterbug" remains in the film: the Witch remarks to her flying monkeys that they should have no trouble apprehending Dorothy and her friends because "I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them."
Another musical number cut before release occurred right after the Wicked Witch of the West was melted and before Dorothy and her friends returned to the Wizard. This was a reprise of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" (blended with "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "The Merry Old Land of Oz") with the lyrics altered to "Hail! Hail! The Witch is Dead!" This started with the Witch's guard saying "Hail to Dorothy! The Wicked Witch is dead!" and dissolved to a huge celebration of the citizens of the Emerald City singing the song as they accompany Dorothy and her friends to see the Wizard. Today, the film of this scene is also lost and only a few stills survive, along with a few seconds of footage used on several reissue trailers. The entire audio still exists and is included on the two-CD Rhino Record deluxe edition of the film soundtrack.[44]
In addition, a brief reprise of "Over the Rainbow" was intended to be sung by Garland while Dorothy is trapped in the Witch's castle, but it was cut because it was considered too emotionally intense. The original soundtrack recording still exists, however, and was included as an extra in all home media releases from 1993-onwards.[45]

Song list
"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale
Munchkinland Sequence:
"Come Out..." – Billie Burke as Glinda, and the Munchkins
"It Really Was No Miracle" – Judy Garland as Dorothy, Billy Bletcher and the Munchkins
"We Thank You Very Sweetly" – Frank Cucksey and Joseph Koziel
"Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" – Billie Burke as Glinda (speaking) and the Munchkins
"As Mayor of the Munchkin City"
"As Coroner, I Must Aver"
"Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" (Reprise) – The Munchkins
"The Lullaby League"
"The Lollipop Guild"
"We Welcome You to Munchkinland" – The Munchkins
"Follow the Yellow Brick Road/You're Off to See the Wizard" – Judy Garland as Dorothy, and the Munchkins
"If I Only Had a Brain" – Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, and Judy Garland as Dorothy
"We're Off to See the Wizard" – Judy Garland as Dorothy, and Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow
"If I Only Had a Heart" – Jack Haley as the Tin Man
"If I Only Had a Heart" (original recording)  – Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man
"We're Off to See the Wizard" (Reprise 1) – Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, and Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man
"If I Only Had the Nerve" – Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, and Judy Garland as Dorothy
"We're Off to See the Wizard" (Reprise 2) – Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man, and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion
"Optimistic Voices" – MGM Studio Chorus
"The Merry Old Land of Oz" – Frank Morgan as Cabby, Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion and the Emerald City townspeople
"If I Were King of the Forest" – Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and Jack Haley as the Tin Man
"The Jitterbug" – Although this song was removed from the final film, it is still available on some extended edition CDs.[46]
Underscoring
Extensive edits in the film's final cut removed vocals from the last portion of the film. However, the film was fully underscored, with instrumental snippets from the film's various leitmotifs throughout. There was also some recognizable popular music, including:
Excerpts from Schumann's "The Happy Farmer", at several points early in the film, including the opening scene when Dorothy and Toto are hurrying home after their encounter with Miss Gulch, when Toto escapes from her, and when the house is "riding" the tornado.
An excerpt of Mendelssohn's "Opus 16, #2", when Toto escapes from the Witch's castle.
An excerpt of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain", when Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion are trying to escape from the Witch's castle.
"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree", when Dorothy and the Scarecrow discover the anthropomorphic apple trees.
"Gaudeamus Igitur" during the Wizard's presentation of awards to the group.
"Home! Sweet Home!", in part of the underscore of the closing scene, at Dorothy's house in Kansas.
(The above list is excerpted from the liner notes on the Rhino Records collection.)
Release

The film's first sneak preview was held in San Bernardino, California.[47]
The film was previewed in three test markets: on August 11, 1939, at Kenosha, Wisconsin and Cape Cod, Massachusetts,[48][49] and at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on August 12.[50]
The Hollywood premiere was on August 15, 1939,[49] at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[51] The New York City premiere, held at Loew's Capitol Theatre on August 17, 1939, was followed by a live performance with Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney. They continued to perform there after each screening for a week, extended in Rooney's case for a second week and in Garland's to three (with Oz co-stars Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr replacing Rooney for the third and final week). The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939.

Re-releases

Although the 1949 reissue used sepia tone, as in the original release, beginning with the 1955 re-issue, and continuing until the film's 50th anniversary VHS release in 1989, the opening Kansas sequences were shown in black and white instead of the sepia tone as originally printed. (This includes television showings.)[52]
The MGM "Children's Matinees" series rereleased the film twice, in both 1970 and 1971.[53] It was for this release that the film received a G rating from the MPAA.
For the film's then-upcoming 60th anniversary, Warner Bros. Pictures released a "Special Edition" on November 6, 1998, digitally restored with remastered audio.
In 2002, the film had a very limited re-release in U.S. theaters, earning only $139,905.[54]
On September 23, 2009, the film was rereleased in select theaters for a one-night-only event in honor of its 70th anniversary and as a promotion for various new disc releases later in the month. An encore of this event was released in theaters on November 17, 2009.[55]
An IMAX 3D theatrical re-release played at 300 theaters in North America for one week only beginning September 20, 2013, as part of the film's 75th anniversary.[56] Warner Bros. spent $25 million on advertising. The studio hosted a premiere of the film's first IMAX 3D release on September 15, 2013, from the newly remodeled TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the site of the film's Hollywood premiere) in Hollywood. It was the first to play at the new theater and served as the grand opening of Hollywood's first 3D IMAX screen. It was also shown as a special presentation at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.[57] This re-release grossed $5.6 million at the North American box office.[58]
In 2013, in preparation for its IMAX 3D release, the film was submitted again to the MPAA for re-classification. According to MPAA rules, a film that has been altered in any way from its original version must be submitted for re-classification, as the 3-D conversion fell within that guideline. Surprisingly, the 3D version received a PG rating for "Some scary moments", although no change was made to the film's original story content. The 2D version still retains its G rating.[59]
The film was rereleased on January 11 and 14, 2015, as part of the "TCM Presents" series by Turner Classic Movies.[60]
Television

The film was first shown on television on November 3, 1956, by CBS, as the last installment of the Ford Star Jubilee.[61]
Home media
The film was released multiple times for the home-video commercial market (on a limited scale) on Super 8 film (8 mm format) during the 1970s. These releases include an edited English version (roughly 10 minutes, and roughly 20 minutes), as well as edited Spanish versions of the classic. Also, a full commercial release of it was made on Super 8 (on multiple reels) that came out in the 1970s, as well, for the commercial market.[62]
The film was among the first videocassettes (on both VHS and Betamax format for the 1980 release) by MGM/CBS Home Video in 1980;[63] all current home video releases are by Warner Home Video (via current rights holder Turner Entertainment). The first LaserDisc release of it was in 1982, with two versions of a second (one from Turner and one from The Criterion Collection with a commentary track) for the 50th anniversary release in 1989, a third in 1991, a fourth in 1993, a fifth in 1995 and a sixth and final LaserDisc release on September 11, 1996.[64]
In addition to VHS (and later, LaserDisc), the film has been released multiple times during the 1980s on the Betamax format, beginning in 1980 simultaneously with the VHS release.[65]
The film was released for the first and only time on the CED format in 1982 by MGM/UA Home Video.[66]
Outside of the North American and European markets, the film has also been released multiple times on the Video CD format since the 1990s in Asia.[67]
The first DVD release was on March 26, 1997, by MGM/Turner and contained no special features or supplements. It was re-released by Warner Bros. for its 60th anniversary on October 19, 1999, with its soundtrack presented in a new 5.1 surround sound mix. The DVD also contained a behind-the-scenes documentary, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic, produced in 1990 and hosted by Angela Lansbury, which was originally shown on television immediately following the 1990 telecast of the film; it had been featured in the 1993 "Ultimate Oz" LaserDisc release. Outtakes, the deleted "Jitterbug" musical number, clips of pre-1939 Oz adaptations, trailers, newsreels, and a portrait gallery were also included, as well as two radio programs of the era publicizing the film.
In 2005, two DVD editions were released, both featuring a newly restored version of the film with an audio commentary and an isolated music and effects track. One of the two DVD releases was a "Two-Disc Special Edition", featuring production documentaries, trailers, various outtakes, newsreels, radio shows and still galleries. The other set, a "Three-Disc Collector's Edition", included these features, as well as the digitally restored 80th-anniversary edition of the 1925 feature-length silent film version of The Wizard of Oz, other silent Oz adaptations and a 1933 animated short version.
The film was released on Blu-ray on September 29, 2009, for its 70th anniversary in a four-disc "Ultimate Collector's Edition", including all the bonus features from the 2005 Collector's Edition DVD, new bonus features about Victor Fleming and the surviving Munchkins, the telefilm The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story, and the miniseries MGM: When the Lion Roars. For this edition, Warner Bros. commissioned a new transfer at 8K resolution from the original negatives. The restoration job was given to Prime Focus World.[68] This restored version also features a lossless 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track.[69]
On December 1, 2009, three Blu-ray discs of the Ultimate Collector's Edition were repackaged as a less expensive "Emerald Edition", with an Emerald Edition four-disc DVD arriving the following week. A single-disc Blu-ray, containing the restored movie and all the extra features of the two-disc Special Edition DVD, also became available on March 16, 2010.
In 2013, the film was re-released on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and UltraViolet for the 90th anniversary of Warner Bros. and as part of its 75th anniversary.[56][70]
Also, multiple special editions were released in celebration of the film's the 75th anniversary in 2013, exclusively by both Best Buy (a SteelBook of the 3D Blu-ray) and another version that came with a keepsake lunch bag released by Target stores.[71][72]
Reception
The film received much acclaim upon its release. Frank Nugent considered the film a "delightful piece of wonder-working which had the youngsters' eyes shining and brought a quietly amused gleam to the wiser ones of the oldsters. Not since Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has anything quite so fantastic succeeded half so well."[73] Nugent had issues with some of the film's special effects, writing, "with the best of will and ingenuity, they cannot make a Munchkin or a Flying Monkey that will not still suggest, however vaguely, a Singer's Midget in a Jack Dawn masquerade. Nor can they, without a few betraying jolts and split-screen overlappings, bring down from the sky the great soap bubble in which Glinda rides and roll it smoothly into place." According to Nugent, "Judy Garland's Dorothy is a pert and fresh-faced miss with the wonder-lit eyes of a believer in fairy tales, but the Baum fantasy is at its best when the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion are on the move."[73]
Writing in Variety, John C. Flinn predicted that the film was "likely to perform some record-breaking feats of box-office magic," noting, "Some of the scenic passages are so beautiful in design and composition as to stir audiences by their sheer unfoldment." He also called Garland "an appealing figure" and the musical numbers "gay and bright."[74]
Harrison's Reports wrote, "Even though some persons are not interested in pictures of this type, it is possible that they will be eager to see this picture just for its technical treatment. The performances are good, and the incidental music is of considerable aid. Pictures of this caliber bring credit to the industry."[75]
Film Daily wrote: Leo the Lion is privileged to herald this one with his deepest roar—the one that comes from way down—for seldom if indeed ever has the screen been so successful in its approach to fantasy and extravaganza through flesh-and-blood... handsomely mounted fairy story in Technicolor, with its wealth of humor and homespun philosophy, its stimulus to the imagination, its procession of unforgettable settings, its studding of merry tunes should click solidly at the box-office.[76]

Not all reviews were positive. Some moviegoers felt that the 16-year-old Garland was slightly too old to play the little girl who Baum originally intended his Dorothy to be. Russell Maloney of The New Yorker wrote that the film displayed "no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity" and declared it "a stinkeroo,"[77] while Otis Ferguson of The New Republic wrote, "It has dwarfs, music, Technicolor, freak characters, and Judy Garland. It can't be expected to have a sense of humor, as well – and as for the light touch of fantasy, it weighs like a pound of fruitcake soaking wet."[78] Still, the film placed seventh on Film Daily's year-end nationwide poll of 542 critics naming the best films of 1939.[79]
Legacy
Roger Ebert chose it as one of his Great Films, writing that "The Wizard of Oz has a wonderful surface of comedy and music, special effects and excitement, but we still watch it six decades later because its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them."[80]

Writer Salman Rushdie acknowledged "The Wizard of Oz was my very first literary influence" in his 2002 musings about the film.[81] He has written: "When I first saw The Wizard of Oz, it made a writer of me."[82] His first short story, written at the age of 10, was titled "Over the Rainbow".[82]
In a 2009 retrospective article about the film, San Francisco Chronicle film critic and author Mick LaSalle declared that the film's "entire Munchkinland sequence, from Dorothy's arrival in Oz to her departure on the yellow brick road, has to be one of the greatest in cinema history – a masterpiece of set design, costuming, choreography, music, lyrics, storytelling, and sheer imagination."[83]
On the film critic aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 111 reviews, with an average score of 9.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "An absolute masterpiece whose groundbreaking visuals and deft storytelling are still every bit as resonant, The Wizard of Oz is a must-see film for young and old."[84] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film received the maximum score of 100 out of 100, based on 4 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim",[85] which, as of August 2017, is matched only by five other films.
Box office
According to MGM records, during the film's initial release, it earned $2,048,000 in the US and Canada and $969,000 in other countries throughout the world, resulting in total earnings of $3,017,000. While these were considerable earnings, the high production cost, in association with various distribution and other costs, meant the movie initially recorded a loss of $1,145,000 for the studio.[3] It did not show what MGM considered a profit until a 1949 re-release earned an additional $1.5 million (about $16 million today). However, for all the risks and cost that MGM undertook to produce the film, it was considered at least more successful than anyone thought it would be. According to Christopher Finch, author of the Judy Garland biography Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland, "Fantasy is always a risk at the box office. The film had been enormously successful as a book, and it had also been a major stage hit, but previous attempts to bring it to the screen had been dismal failures." Finch also writes that after the success of the film, Garland signed a new contract with MGM giving her a substantial increase in salary, making her one of the top-ten box office stars in the United States.[86]
Awards and honors
Academy Awards

American Film Institute lists
The American Film Institute (AFI) has compiled various lists which include this film or elements thereof.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – No. 6
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 43
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
Wicked Witch of the West – No. 4 villain
AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
"Over the Rainbow" – No. 1
"Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" – No. 82
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." (Dorothy Gale) – No. 4
"There's no place like home." (Dorothy) – No. 23
"I'll get you, my pretty – and your little dog, too!" (Wicked Witch of the West) – No. 99
AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – No. 3
AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – No. 26
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 10
AFI's 10 Top 10 – No. 1 Fantasy film[88]
Other honors
1999: Rolling Stone's 100 Maverick Movies – No. 20.[89]
1999: Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Films – No. 32.[90]
2000: The Village Voice's 100 Best Films of the 20th Century – No. 14.[91]
2002: Sight & Sound's Greatest Film Poll of Directors – No. 41.[92]
2005: Total Film's 100 Greatest Films – No. 83.[93]
2005: ranked among the top ten of the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.[94]
2007: Total Film's 23 Weirdest Films – No. 1.[95]
2007: The Observer ranked the film's songs and music at the top of its list of 50 greatest film soundtracks.[96]
Differences from the novel
Roughly 40 identifiable major differences exist between the original book and the MGM interpretation.[97][98]
Sequels and reinterpretations

The film was dramatized as a one-hour radio play on Lux Radio Theatre, which was broadcast on December 25, 1950, with Garland reprising her earlier role. In 1964, a one-hour animated cartoon called Return to Oz was shown as an afternoon weekend special on NBC. An official 1972 sequel, the animated Journey Back to Oz starring Liza Minnelli, daughter of Garland, was produced to commemorate the original film's 35th anniversary.[99]
In 1975, the stage show The Wiz premiered on Broadway. It was an African American version of The Wizard of Oz reworked for the stage. It starred Stephanie Mills and other Broadway stars and earned a number of Tony Awards. Its financing was handled by actor Geoffrey Holder. Its inspired revivals after it left the stage and an unsuccessful motion picture made in 1978, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.
In 1985, Walt Disney Productions released the live-action fantasy film Return to Oz, which starred (and introduced) Fairuza Balk as a young Dorothy Gale.[100] Based loosely on The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and Ozma of Oz (1907), it fared rather poorly with critics who were unfamiliar with the Oz books and was not successful at the box office, although it has since become a popular cult film, with many considering it a more loyal and faithful adaptation of what L. Frank Baum envisioned.[101][102]
In 1995, Gregory Maguire published the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which was adapted into the wildly successful Broadway musical Wicked. The story describes the life of the Wicked Witch of the West and other events prior to Dorothy's arrival.
For the film's 56th anniversary, a 1995 stage show also titled The Wizard of Oz was based upon it and the book by L. Frank Baum. It toured from 1995 to 2012, except for 2004.
In 2005, The Muppets Studio produced The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, a television film for ABC, starring Ashanti as Dorothy, Jeffrey Tambor as the Wizard, David Alan Grier as Uncle Henry, and Queen Latifah as Aunt Em. Kermit the Frog portrayed the Scarecrow, Gonzo portrayed the Tin Thing (Tin Man), Fozzie Bear portrayed the Lion and Miss Piggy portrayed all the Witches of the West, East, North and South.
In 2007, The Sci-Fi Channel released the three-part miniseries Tin Man, a science fiction continuation starring Zooey Deschanel as DG.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote a stage musical of the same name, which opened in 2011 at the West End's London Palladium. It features all of the songs from the film plus new songs written by Lloyd Webber and Rice. Lloyd Webber also found Danielle Hope to play Dorothy on the reality show, Over the Rainbow. Another production opened in December 2012 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.[103] A reality TV show, also titled Over the Rainbow, found a Canadian girl, Danielle Wade, to play  Dorothy.[104][105] The Canadian production then began a North American tour in September 2013.[106] An Australian tour will begin at the Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre in November 2017, followed by a season at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney beginning December 2017.[107]
An animated film called Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz was released in 2011 by Warner Home Video, incorporating Tom and Jerry into the story as Dorothy's "protectors".[108] A sequel titled Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz was released on DVD on June 21, 2016.[109]
In 2013, Walt Disney Pictures released a spiritual prequel titled Oz the Great and Powerful. It was directed by Sam Raimi, and starred James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. It was the second film based on Baum's Oz series to be produced by Disney, after Return to Oz. It was a commercial success and received a mixed critical reception.[110][111]
In 2014, now-defunct independent film company Clarius Entertainment released a big-budget animated musical film, Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return,[112] which follows Dorothy's second trip to Oz. The film was a box office bomb and was received negatively by critics largely for its plot and unmemorable musical numbers.
Cultural impact
Regarding the original Baum storybook, it has been said that "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is America's greatest and best-loved home grown fairytale. The first totally American fantasy for children, it is one of the most-read children's books... and despite its many particularly American attributes, including a wizard from Omaha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has universal appeal."[113]
The film was one inductee of a group of 25 films that inaugurated in 1989 the National Film Registry list,[11][114] based on at least it being declared by the Library of Congress as the most viewed film on television syndication.[10] In June 2007, the film was listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.[115] The film placed at number 86 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[116] In 1977, Aljean Harmetz wrote The Making of The Wizard of Oz, a detailed description of the creation of the film based on interviews and research; it was updated in 1989.[117]
Ruby slippers

Because of their iconic stature,[118] the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the film are now among the most treasured and valuable film memorabilia in movie history.[119] The silver slippers that Dorothy wore in the book series were changed to ruby to take advantage of the new Technicolor process. Adrian, MGM's chief costume designer, was responsible for the final design. There are five known pairs of the ruby slippers in existence.[120]
After filming, the slippers were stored among the studio's extensive collection of costumes and faded from attention. They were found in the basement of MGM's wardrobe department during preparations for a mammoth auction in 1970. One pair was the highlight of the auction, going for a then unheard of $15,000 to an anonymous buyer, who apparently donated them to the Smithsonian Institution in 1979. Of the four other pairs, one sold for $666,000 at auction in 2000, and another pair was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.[121] On September 4, 2018, the FBI announced that the slippers have been found in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[122]
Another, differently styled pair unused in the film was sold at auction with the rest of her collections by owner actress Debbie Reynolds for $510,000 (not including the buyer's premium) in June 2011.[123]
Impact upon LGBT culture

See also
List of films considered the best
Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Wizard of Oz festival
Dark Side of the Rainbow
The Wizard of Oz, the 2011 stage musical

Notes

Bibliography
Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road by Meinhardt Raabe and Daniel Kinske (Back Stage Books, 2005), ISBN0-8230-9193-7
The Ruby Slippers of Oz by Rhys Thomas (Tale Weaver, 1989), ISBN0-942139-09-7, ISBN978-0-942139-09-9
The Wizardry of Oz: The Artistry And Magic of the 1939 MGM Classic – Revised and Expanded by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman (Applause Books, 2004), ISBN0-517-20333-2, ISBN978-0-517-20333-0
The Munchkins of Oz by Stephen Cox (Cumberland House, 1996) ISBN1-58182-269-3, ISBN978-1-58182-269-4
"Did these stories really happen?" by Michelle Bernier (Createspace, 2010) ISBN1-4505-8536-1

No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
 on IMDb
 at the TCM Movie Database
 at AllMovie
 at the American Film Institute Catalog
 at Box Office Mojo
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Finding aid author: John N. Gillespie(2013)."". Prepared for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Provo, UT. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
 on Lux Radio Theater: December 25, 1950
, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

When did the movie The Wizard of Oz come out?


Frederik Willem de Klerk  (Afrikaans pronunciation:[ˈfrɪədərək ˈvələm də ˈklɛrk]; born 18 March 1936) is a South African politician who served as State President of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as Deputy President from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa's last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party from 1989 to 1997.
Born in Johannesburg, British Dominion of South Africa, to an influential Afrikaner family, de Klerk studied at Potchefstroom University before pursuing a legal career. Joining the National Party, to which he had family ties, he was elected to parliament and sat in the white-minority government of P. W. Botha, holding a succession of ministerial posts. As a minister, he supported and enforced apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged white South Africans. After Botha succumbed to ill health, in 1989 de Klerk replaced him, first as leader of the National Party and then as State President. Although observers expected him to continue Botha's defence of apartheid, de Klerk decided to end the policy. He was aware that growing ethnic animosity and violence was leading South Africa into a racial civil war. Amid this violence, the state security forces committed widespread human rights abuses and encouraged violence between Xhosa and Zulu, although de Klerk later denied sanctioning such actions. He permitted anti-apartheid marches to take place, legalised a range of previously banned anti-apartheid political parties, and freed imprisoned anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela. He also dismantled South Africa's nuclear weapons program.
De Klerk negotiated with Mandela to fully dismantle apartheid and establish a transition to universal suffrage. In 1993, he publicly apologised for apartheid's harmful effects, although not for apartheid itself. He oversaw the 1994 multi-racial election in which Mandela led the African National Congress (ANC) to victory; the National Party took second place with 20% of the vote. After the election, de Klerk became a Deputy President in Mandela's ANC-led coalition, the Government of National Unity. In this position, he supported the government's liberal economic policies. De Klerk had desired a total amnesty for political crimes committed under apartheid and opposed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up to investigate past human rights abuses by both pro and anti-apartheid groups. His working relationship with Mandela was strained, although he later spoke fondly of him. In May 1996, after the National Party objected to the new constitution, de Klerk withdrew it from the coalition government; the party disbanded the following year and reformed as the New National Party. In 1997, he retired from active politics and since then has lectured internationally.
De Klerk is a controversial figure. The recipient of a wide range of awards—including the Nobel Peace Prize—he was widely praised for dismantling apartheid and bringing universal suffrage to South Africa. Conversely, anti-apartheid activists criticised him for offering only a qualified apology for apartheid and for ignoring the human rights abuses carried out by his state security forces, while South Africa's white right-wing claimed that by abandoning apartheid he had betrayed the interests of the country's white minority.
Early life and education
Childhood: 1936–1954
F. W. de Klerk was born on 18 March 1936 in Mayfair, a suburb of Johannesburg.[1] His parents were Johannes "Jan" de Klerk and Hendrina Cornelia Coetzer – "her forefather was a Kutzer who stems from Austria".[2][3] He was his parents' second son, having a brother, Willem, who was eight years his senior.[1] De Klerk's first language is Afrikaans and the earliest of his distant ancestor to arrive in what is now South Africa did so in the late 1680s.[4]
De Klerk's family had played a leading role in Afrikaner society;[5] they had longstanding affiliations with South Africa's National Party.[6] His paternal great-grandfather, Jan van Rooy, had been a senator, while his paternal grandfather, Willem, had been a clergyman who fought in the Anglo-Boer War[4] and who stood twice, unsuccessfully, as a National Party candidate.[7] His paternal aunt's husband was J. G. Strijdom, a former Prime Minister.[8] His own father, Jan de Klerk, was also a Senator, having served as the secretary of the National Party in Transvaal, president of the senate for seven years, and a member of the country's cabinet for fifteen years under three Prime Ministers.[9] In this environment, de Klerk was exposed to politics from childhood.[10] He and family members would be encouraged to hold family debates; his more conservative opinions would be challenged by his brother Willem, who was sympathetic to the more liberal, "enlightened" faction of the National Party.[1] Willem became a political analyst and later split from the National Party to found the liberal Democratic Party.[11]
The name "de Klerk" is derived from Le Clerc, Le Clercq and De Clercq, and is of French Huguenot origin[12] (meaning "clergyman" or "literate" in old French). De Klerk noted that he is also of Dutch descent,[13][14] with an Indian ancestor from the late 1600s or early 1700s.[15] He is also said to be descended from the Khoi interpreter known as Krotoa or Eva.[16]
De Klerk's upbringing was secure and comfortable.[17]
When de Klerk was twelve years old, the apartheid system was officially institutionalised by the South African government;[18] his father had been one of its originators.[19] He therefore was, according to his brother, "one of a generation that grew up with the concept of apartheid".[18] He was inculturated in the norms and values of Afrikaner society, including festivals like Kruger Day, loyalty to the Afrikaner nation, and stories of the "age of injustice" that the Afrikaner faced under the British.[5] He was brought up in the Gereformeerde Kerk, the smallest and most socially conservative of South Africa's three Dutch Reformed Churches.[20]
The de Klerk family moved around South Africa during his childhood, and he changed schools seven times over seven years.[1] He eventually became a boarder at the Monument High School in Krugersdorp, where he graduated with a first-class pass in 1953.[1] He was nevertheless disappointed not to get the four distinctions he was hoping for.[1]
University and legal career
Between 1954 and 1958, de Klerk studied at Potchefstroom University, graduating with both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law.[21][11] He later noted that during this legal training, he "became accustomed to thinking in terms of legal principles".[22] While studying there, he became editor of the student newspaper, vice-chair of the student council, and a member of the Afrikaanse Studentebond's national executive council.[21] At university, he was initiated into the Broederbond, a secret society for the Afrikaner social elite.[23]  As a student, he played both tennis and hockey and was known as "something of a ladies' man".[21] At the university, he began a relationship with Marike Willemse, the daughter of a professor at the University of Pretoria.[24] The couple married in 1959, when de Klerk was 23 and his wife 22.[25]
After university, de Klerk pursued a legal career, becoming an articled clerk with the firm Pelser in Klerksdorp.[21] Relocating to Pretoria, he became an articled clerk for another law firm, Mac-Robert.[26]
In 1962, he set up his own law partnership in Vereeniging, Transvaal, which he built into a successful business over ten years.[26]
During this period, he involved himself in a range of other activities. He was the national chair of the Junior Rapportryers for two years, and chair of the Law Society of Vaal Triangle.[26] He was also on the council of the local technikon, on the council of his church, and on a local school board.[26]
Early political career
In 1972, his alma mater offered him a chair in its law faculty, which he accepted.[27] Within a matter of days he was also approached by members of the National Party, who requested that he stand for the party at Vereeniging. De Klerk's candidature was successful and in November he was elected to the House of Assembly.[26] There, he established a reputation as a formidable debater.[26] He took on a number of roles in the party and government. He became the information officer of the Transvaal National Party, responsible for its propaganda output,[28] and helped to establish a new National Party youth movement.[28] He joined various party parliamentary study groups, including those on the Bantustans, labour, justice, and home affairs.[28] As a member of various parliamentary groups, de Klerk went on several foreign visits, to Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, and United States.[28] It was in the latter in 1976 that he observed what he later described as the pervasive racism of U.S. society, later noting that he "saw more racial incidents in one month there than in South Africa in a year".[29] In South Africa, de Klerk also played a senior role in two select committees, one formulating a policy on opening hotels to non-whites and the other formulating a new censorship law that was less strict than the one that had preceded it.[28]
In 1975, Prime Minister John Vorster predicted that de Klerk would one day become leader of South Africa.[30] Vorster planned to promote de Klerk to the position of a deputy minister in January 1976, but instead the job went to Andries Treurnicht.[30]
In April 1978, de Klerk was promoted to the position of Minister of Social Welfare and Pensions.[30] In this role, he restored full autonomy to sporting control bodies which had for a time been under the jurisdiction of the government.[30] As minister of Post and Telecommunications he finalised contracts that oversaw the electrification of that sector.[30] As Minister of Mining he formalised a policy on coal exports and the structuring of Eskom and the Atomic Energy Corporation.[30] He then became Minister of the Interior, he oversaw the repeal of the Mixed Marriages Act.[30]
In 1981, de Klerk was awarded the Decoration for Meritorious Service for his work in the government.[31]
As education minister between 1984 and 1989 he upheld the apartheid system in South Africa's schools,[23] and extended the department to cover all racial groups.[30]
For most of his career, de Klerk had a very conservative reputation,[32] and was seen as someone who would obstruct change in South Africa.[33] He had been a forceful proponent of apartheid's system of racial segregation and was perceived as an advocate of the white minority's interests.[34]
While serving under P. W. Botha's government, de Klerk was never part of Botha's inner circle.[31]
State President
P. W. Botha resigned as leader of the National Party after an apparent stroke, and de Klerk defeated Botha's preferred successor, finance minister Barend du Plessis, in the race to succeed him. On 2 February 1989, he was elected leader of the National Party.[35] He defeated main rival Barend du Plessis to the position by a slim majority of eight votes, 69-61.[36] Soon after, he called for the introduction of a new South African constitution, hinting that it would need to provide greater concession to non-white racial groups.[23] After becoming party leader, de Klerk extended his foreign contacts.[37] He travelled to London, where he met with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Although she opposed the anti-apartheid movement's calls for economic sanctions against South Africa, at the meeting she urged de Klerk to release the imprisoned anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.[38] He also expressed a desire to meet with representatives of the U.S. government in Washington D.C., although American Secretary of State James Baker informed him that the U.S. government considered it inopportune to have de Klerk meet with President George H. W. Bush.[38]
Becoming State President

Botha resigned on 14 August, and de Klerk was named acting state president until 20 September, when he was elected to a full five-year term as state president. [23] After he became acting president, ANC leaders spoke out against him, believing that he would be no different from his predecessors;[23] he was widely regarded as a staunch supporter of apartheid.[39] The prominent anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu shared this assessment, stating: "I don't think we've got to even begin to pretend that there is any reason for thinking that we are entering a new phase. It's just musical chairs".[40] Tutu and Allan Boesak had been planning a protest march in Cape Town, which the security chiefs wanted to prevent. De Klerk nevertheless turned down their proposal to ban it, agreeing to let the march proceed and stating that "the door to a new South Africa is open, it is not necessary to batter it down".[41] The march took place and was attended by approximately 30,000 people.[42] Further protest marches followed in Grahamstown, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban.[43] De Klerk later noted that his security forces could not have prevented the marchers from gathering: "The choice, therefore, was between breaking up an illegal march with all of the attendant risks of violence and negative publicity, or of allowing the march to continue, subject to conditions that could help to avoid violence and ensure good public order."[44] This decision marked a clear departure from the approach of the Botha era.[44]
As President, he authorised the continuation of secret talks in Geneva between his National Intelligence Service and two exiled ANC leaders, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.[44] In October, he personally agreed to meet with Tutu, Boesak, and Frank Chikane in a private meeting in Pretoria.[45] That month, he also released a number of elderly anti-apartheid activists then imprisoned, including Walter Sisulu.[46] He also ordered the closure of the National Security Management System.[23]
In December he visited Mandela in prison, speaking with him for three hours about the idea of transitioning away from white-minority rule.[23] The collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the Soviet Union meant that he no longer feared that Marxists would manipulate the ANC.[47] As he later related, the collapse of "the Marxist economic system in Eastern Europe... serves as a warning to those who insist on persisting with it in Africa. Those who seek to force this failure of a system on South Africa should engage in a total revision of their point of view. It should be clear to all that it is not the answer here either."[48]

History has placed a tremendous responsibility on the shoulders of this country's leadership, namely the responsibility of moving our country away from the current course of conflict and confrontation... The hope of millions of South Africans is fixed on us. The future of southern Africa depends on us. We dare not waver or fail.
— De Klerk's speech to Parliament, February 1990[23]

On 2 February 1990 he gave an address to the country's parliament in which he announced plans for sweeping reforms of the political system.[49] He announced that a number of banned political parties, including the ANC and Communist Party of South Africa, would be legalised,[50] although stipulated that this did not constitute an endorsement of their socialist economic policies nor of violent actions carried out by their members.[51] He also announced that the Separate Amenities Act of 1953, which governed the segregation of public facilities, would be lifted.[52] His speech revealed that all of those who were imprisoned solely for belonging to a banned organisation would be freed.[53] He declared that Mandela would be released from prison unconditionally;[54] the latter was released a week later.[55] The vision set forth in de Klerk's address was for South Africa to become a Western-style liberal democracy;[56] it envisioned a market-oriented economy which privileged private enterprise and restricted the government's role in economics.[57]
De Klerk later related that "that speech was mainly aimed at breaking our stalemate in Africa and the West. Internationally we were teetering on the edge of the abyss."[58] Throughout South Africa and across the world, there was astonishment at de Klerk's move.[23] Foreign press coverage was largely positive and de Klerk received messages of support from other governments.[59] Tutu said that "It's incredible... Give him credit. Give him credit, I do."[23] Some black radicals regarded it as a gimmick and that it would prove to be without substance.[60] It was also received negatively by some on the white right-wing, including in the Conservative Party, who believed that de Klerk was betraying the white population.[61] De Klerk believed that the sudden growth of the Conservatives and other white right-wing groups was a passing phase reflecting anxiety and insecurity.[5] These white right-wing groups were aware that they would not get what they wanted through the forthcoming negotiations, and so increasingly tried to derail the negotiations using revolutionary violence.[62] The white-dominated liberal Democratic Party found itself in limbo, as de Klerk embraced much of the platform it had espoused, leaving it without a clear purpose.[63]
Further reforms followed; membership of the National Party was opened up to non-whites.[55] In June, parliament approved new legislation that repealed the Natives Land Act, 1913 and Native Trust and Land Act, 1936.[55] The Population Registration Act, which established the racial classificatory guidelines for South Africa, was rescinded.[55]
In legislative terms, he enabled the gradual end of apartheid. De Klerk also opened the way for the negotiations of the government with the anti-apartheid-opposition about a new constitution for the country. Nevertheless, he was accused by Anthony Sampson of complicity in the violence among the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and elements of the security forces. In Mandela: The Authorised Biography, Sampson accuses de Klerk of permitting his ministers to build their own criminal empires.[64]
Negotiations toward universal suffrage

I believe the new political order will and must contain the following elements: a democratic constitution, universal suffrage, no domination, equality before an independent judiciary, the protection of minorities and individual rights, freedom of religion, a healthy economy based on proven economic principles and private initiative, and a dynamic programme for better education, health services, housing and social conditions for all... I am not talking of a rosy and tranquil future, but I believe the broad mainstream of South Africans will gradually build up South Africa into a society that will be worth living and working in.
— De Klerk on a post-apartheid society[65]

His presidency was dominated by the negotiation process, mainly between his NP government and the ANC, which led to the democratization of South Africa. Throughout the negotiations, de Klerk primarily sought to prevent majority rule to preserve power for the white South African minority. His efforts, however, were thwarted when the Boipatong massacre caused a resurgence of international pressure against South Africa, leading to a weaker position at the negotiation tables for the National party.[66] In 1992, de Klerk held a whites-only referendum on ending apartheid, with the result being an overwhelming "yes" vote to continue negotiations to end apartheid. Nelson Mandela was distrustful of the role played by de Klerk in the negotiations, particularly as he believed that de Klerk was knowledgeable about 'third force' attempts to foment violence in the country and destabilize the negotiations.[67]
In 1990, de Klerk gave orders to end South Africa's nuclear weapons programme; the process of nuclear disarmament was essentially completed in 1991. The existence of the programme was not officially acknowledged before 1993.[68][69]
In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in ending apartheid. The awarding of the prize to de Klerk was controversial, especially in the light of de Klerk's reported admission that he ordered a massacre of supposed Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army fighters, including teenagers, shortly before going to Oslo in 1993.[70] It appears that this massacre may form part of the basis for criminal charges that the Anti-Racism Action Forum laid against de Klerk in early 2016.[71] Further, de Klerk's role in the destabilization of the country during the negotiation process through the operation of a 'third force' came to the attention of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and was never ultimately clarified.[72][73]
After the first universal elections in 1994, de Klerk became deputy president in the government of national unity under Nelson Mandela, a post he kept until 1996. In 1997 he resigned the leadership of the National Party and retired from politics.
In 1993, de Klerk issued an apology for the actions of the apartheid government, stating that: "It was not our intention to deprive people of their rights and to cause misery, but eventually apartheid led to just that. Insofar as that occurred we deeply regret it... Yes we are sorry".[74] Tutu urged for people to accept the apology, stating that "saying sorry is not an easy thing to do... We should be magnanimous and accept it as a magnanimous act", although was privately frustrated that de Klerk's apology had been qualified and had not gone so far as to call apartheid an intrinsically evil policy.[74]
Vice Presidency
De Klerk had been unhappy that changes had been made to the inauguration ceremony, rendering it multi-religious rather than reflecting the newly elected leader's particular denomination.[75] When he was being sworn in, and the chief justice said "So help me God", de Klerk did not repeat this, instead stating, in Afrikaans: "So help me the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit".[76]
Mandela reappointed de Klerk's finance minister, Derek Keys, and retained Chris Stals, a former member of the Broederbond, as the head of the Central Bank.[77]
De Klerk supported the coalition's economic policies, stating that it "accepted a broad framework of responsible economic policies".[78]
De Klerk's working relationship with Mandela was often strained, with the former finding it difficult adjusting to the fact that he was no longer president.[79] De Klerk also felt that Mandela deliberately humiliated him, while Mandela found de Klerk to be needlessly provocative in cabinet.[79] One dispute occurred in September 1995, after Mandela gave a Johannesburg speech criticising the National Party. Angered, de Klerk avoided Mandela until the latter requested they meet; when they ran into each other, they publicly argued in the street. Mandela later expressed regret for their disagreement but did not apologise for his original comments.[79]
De Klerk was also having problems from within his own party, some of whose members claimed that he was neglecting the party while in the government.[79]
Many in the National Party—including many members of its executive committee—were unhappy with the other parties agreed upon a new constitution in May 1996.[79] The party had wanted the constitution to guarantee that it would be represented in the government until 2004, although it did not do this.
On 9 May, de Klerk announced that the National Party would withdraw from the coalition government.[79] The decision shocked several of his six fellow Afrikaner cabinet colleagues; Pik Botha, for example, was left without a job as a result.[80] Roelf Meyer reported feeling betrayed by de Klerk's act, while Leon Wessels thought that de Klerk had not tried hard enough to make the coalition work.[81] De Klerk announced that he would lead the National Party in vigorous opposition to Mandela's government, stating that he wanted to ensure "a proper multi-party democracy, without which there may be a danger of South Africa lapsing into the African pattern of one-party states".[81]
Truth and Reconciliation Commission

In de Klerk's view, his greatest defeat in the negotiations with Mandela had been his inability to secure a blanket amnesty for all those working for the government or state during the apartheid period.[82]
De Klerk was unhappy with the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).[82] He had hoped that the TRC would be made up of an equal number of individuals from both the old and new governments, as there had been in the Chilean human rights commission. Instead, the TRC was designed to broadly reflect the wider diversity of South African society, and contained only two members who had explicitly supported apartheid, one a member of a right-wing group that had opposed de Klerk's National Party.[83] De Klerk did not object to Tutu being selected as the TRC's chair for he regarded him as politically independent of Mandela's government, but he was upset that Alex Boraine had been selected as its deputy chair, later saying of Boraine: "beneath an urbane and deceptively affable exterior beat the heart of a zealot and an inquisitor."[84]
De Klerk appeared before the TRC hearing to testify for Vlakplaas commanders who were accused of having committed human rights abuses during the apartheid era. He acknowledged that security forces had resorted to "unconventional strategies" in dealing with anti-apartheid revolutionaries, but that "within my knowledge and experience, they never included the authorisation of assassination, murder, torture, rape, assault or the like".[84] After further evidence of said abuses was produced by the commission, de Klerk stated that he found the revelations to be "as shocking and as abhorrent as anybody else" but insisted that he and other senior party members were not willing to accept responsibility for the "criminal actions of a handful of operatives", stating that their behaviour was "not authorised [and] not intended" by his government.[84] Given the widespread and systemic nature of the abuses that had taken place, as well as statements by security officers that their actions had been sanctioned by higher ranking figures, Tutu questioned how de Klerk and other government figures could not have been aware of them.[85] Tutu had hoped that de Klerk or another senior white political figure from the apartheid era would openly accept responsibility for the human rights abuses, thereby allowing South Africa to move on; this was something that de Klerk would not do.[86]
The TRC found de Klerk guilty of being an accessory to gross violations of human rights on the basis that as State President he had been told that P. W. Botha had authorised the bombing of Khotso House but had not revealed this information to the Committee.[86] De Klerk challenged the TRC on this point, and it backed down.[86] When the final TRC report was released 2002, it made a more limited accusation: that de Klerk had failed to give full disclosure about events that took place during his Presidency and that in view of his knowledge about the Khotso House bombing, his statement that none of his colleagues had authorised gross human rights abuses was "indefensible".[86]
In his later autobiography, de Klerk acknowledged that the TRC did significant damage to his public image.[87]
Later life
In 1996, de Klerk was offered the Harper Fellowship at Yale Law School. He declined, citing protests at the university.[88] De Klerk did, however, speak at Central Connecticut State University the day before his fellowship would have begun.

In 1998, de Klerk and his wife of 38 years, Marike de Klerk, were divorced following the discovery of his affair with Elita Georgiades,[89] then the wife of Tony Georgiades, a Greek shipping tycoon who had allegedly given de Klerk and the NP financial support.[90] Soon after his divorce, de Klerk and Georgiades were married. His divorce and remarriage scandalised conservative South African opinion, especially among the Calvinist Afrikaners. In 1999, his autobiography, The Last Trek – A New Beginning, was published. In 2001, following the murder of his former wife, the manuscript of her own autobiography, A Place Where the Sun Shines Again, was submitted to de Klerk, who urged the publishers to suppress a chapter dealing with his infidelity.[91]
In 1999, de Klerk established the pro-peace FW de Klerk Foundation of which he is the chairman. De Klerk is also chairman of the Global Leadership Foundation, headquartered in London, which he set up in 2004, an organisation which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today's national leaders. It is a not-for-profit organisation composed of former heads of government and senior governmental and international organisation officials who work closely with heads of government on governance-related issues of concern to them.
On 3 December 2001, Marike de Klerk was found stabbed and strangled to death in her Cape Town flat. De Klerk, who was on a brief visit to Stockholm, Sweden, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Nobel Prize foundation, announced he would immediately return to mourn his dead ex-wife. The atrocity was reportedly condemned strongly by South African president Thabo Mbeki and Winnie Mandela, among others, who openly spoke in favour of Marike de Klerk. On 6 December, 21-year-old security guard Luyanda Mboniswa was arrested for the murder. On 15 May 2003, he received two life sentences for murder, as well as three years for breaking into Marike de Klerk's apartment.[92]
In 2004, de Klerk announced that he was quitting the New National Party and seeking a new political home after it was announced that the NNP would merge with the ruling ANC. That same year, while giving an interview to US journalist Richard Stengel, de Klerk was asked whether South Africa had turned out the way he envisioned it back in 1990. His response was:
There are a number of imperfections in the new South Africa where I would have hoped that things would be better, but on balance I think we have basically achieved what we set out to achieve. And if I were to draw balance sheets on where South Africa stands now, I would say that the positive outweighs the negative by far. There is a tendency by commentators across the world to focus on the few negatives which are quite negative, like how are we handling AIDS, like our role vis-à-vis Zimbabwe. But the positives – the stability in South Africa, the adherence to well-balanced economic policies, fighting inflation, doing all the right things in order to lay the basis and the foundation for sustained economic growth – are in place.[93]

In 2008, he repeated in a speech that "despite all the negatives facing South Africa, he is very positive about the country".[94]
In 2006, he underwent surgery for a malignant tumour in his colon, discovered after an examination on 3 June. His condition deteriorated sharply, and he underwent a second operation after developing respiratory problems. On 13 June, it was announced that he was to undergo a tracheotomy.[95][96][97] He recovered and on 11 September 2006 gave a speech at Kent State University Stark Campus.[98][99]
In January 2007, de Klerk was a speaker promoting peace and democracy in the world at the "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies" event in Taipei, Taiwan, along with other dignitaries including Poland's Lech Wałęsa and Taiwan's then president Chen Shui-Bian.[100]

De Klerk is an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, and Honorary Chairman of the Prague Society for International Cooperation.[99] He has also received the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse from the College Historical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, for his contribution to ending apartheid.
De Klerk is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Panel Foundation[101] based in Berlin, Copenhagen, New York, Prague, Sydney and Toronto – founded by the Dutch entrepreneur Bas Spuybroek in 1988, with the support of Dutch billionaire Frans Lurvink and former Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek. The Global Panel Foundation is known for its behind-the-scenes work in public policy and the annual presentation of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award with the Prague Society for International Cooperation.
After the inauguration of Jacob Zuma as South Africa's president in May 2009, de Klerk said he is optimistic that Zuma and his government can "confound the prophets of doom".[102]
In a BBC interview broadcast in April 2012, he said he lived in an all-white neighbourhood. He had five servants, three coloured and two black: "We are one great big family together; we have the best of relationships." About Nelson Mandela, he said, "When Mandela goes it will be a moment when all South Africans put away their political differences, will take hands, and will together honour maybe the biggest known South African that has ever lived."[103]
Upon hearing of the death of Mandela, de Klerk said: "He was a great unifier and a very, very special man in this regard beyond everything else he did. This emphasis on reconciliation was his biggest legacy."[104]
In 2015, de Klerk wrote to The Times newspaper in the UK criticising moves to remove a statue to Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford.[105] He was subsequently criticized by some activists who described it as "ironic" that the last apartheid President should be defending a statue of a man labelled by critics as the "architect of apartheid".[106] The Economic Freedom Fighters called for him to be stripped of his Nobel Peace Prize.[107]
Ideology

De Klerk was widely regarded as a politically conservative figure in South Africa.[32] At the same time, he was flexible rather than dogmatic in his approach to political issues.[32]
He often hedged his bets and sought to accommodate divergent perspectives,[36] favouring compromise over confrontation.[108]
Within the National Party, he continually strove for unity, coming to be regarded—according to his brother—as "a party man, a veritable Mr National Party".[32] To stem defections from the right-wing end of the National Party, he made "ultra-conservative noises".[36] This general approach led to the perception that he was "trying to be all things to all men".[108]
De Klerk stated that within the party, he "never formed part of a political school of thought, and I deliberately kept out of the cliques and foments of the enlightened and conservative factions in the party. If the policy I propounded was ultra-conservative, then that was the policy; it was not necessarily I who was ultra-conservative. I saw my role in the party as that of an interpreter of the party's real median policy at any stage."[109]
De Klerk stated that "The silver thread throughout my career was my advocacy of National Party policy in all its various formulations. I refrained from adjusting that policy or adapting it to my own liking or convictions. I analysed it as it was formulated, to the letter."[109]
For much of his career, de Klerk believed in apartheid and its system of racial segregation.[34]
According to his brother, de Klerk underwent a "political conversion" that took him from supporting apartheid to facilitating its demolition. This change was not "a dramatic event" however, but "was built... on pragmatism - it evolved as a process."[110]
He did not believe that South Africa would become a "non-racial society", but rather sought to build a "non-racist society" in which ethnic divisions remained; in his view "I do not believe in the existence of anything like a non-racial society in the literal sense of the word", citing the example of the United States and United Kingdom where there was no legal racial segregation but that distinct racial groups continued to exist.[111]
De Klerk accepted the principle of freedom of religion, although still believed that the state should promote Christianity.[112]
Personality and personal life
Glad and Blanton stated that de Klerk's "political choices were undergirded by self-confidence and commitment to the common good."[113] His brother Willem stated that de Klerk's demeanour was marked by "soberness, humility and calm",[114] that he was an honest, intelligent, and open minded individual,[115] and that he had a "natural cordiality" and a "solid sense of courtesy and good manners".[116] He felt that de Klerk's "charisma" came not from an "exceptionally strong individualism" but from "his rationality, logic and balance".[117] He was, according to de Klerk, "a man of compromise rather than a political innovator or entrepreneur".[118]
Willem stated that "he keeps an ear to the ground and is sensitive to the slightest tremors", and that it was this which made him "a superb politician".[119] Willem also stated that his brother was "a team-man who consults others, takes them into his confidence, honestly shares information with his colleagues, and has a knack of making people feel importance and at peace".[116]
His former wife Marike described de Klerk as being "extremely sensitive to beautiful things", exhibiting something akin to an artistic temperament.[11]
Willem also noted that "in the most profound sense", de Klerk was driven by his concern for Afrikanerdom and "the survival of his own people in their fatherland".[5] De Klerk was deeply upset that many Afrikaners did not realise that his reforms to dismantle apartheid were carried out with the intention of preserving a future for the Afrikaner people in South Africa.[120]
With Marike, de Klerk had three children: Jan, who became a farmer in Western Transvaal, Willem, who went into public relations, and Susan, who became a teacher.[121] Willem stated that de Klerk had a close relationship with his children,[25] and that he was "a loving man who hugs and cuddles".[122]
De Klerk was a chain smoker and also enjoyed a glass of whisky or wine while relaxing.[123] In adult life, he enjoyed playing golf and hunting, as well as going for brisk walks.[123]
Reception and legacy
Glad and Blanton stated that de Klerk, along with Mandela, "accomplished the rare feat of bringing about systemic revolution through peaceful means."[124] His brother noted that de Klerk's role in South African history was "to dismantle more than three centuries of white supremacy", and that in doing so his was "not a role of white surrender, but a role of white conversion to a new role" in society.[125]
In September 1990, Potchefstroom University awarded de Klerk with an honorary doctorate.[31]
South Africa's Conservative Party came to regard him as its most hated adversary.[36]

Bibliography

Further reading
"", article by de Klerk in, in the special edition for the (17 October 2012)

 &  of his visit to the College Historical Society in March 2008
DePauw University (includes video, audio and photos)
 Extensive Interview in the Huffington Post

 on C-SPAN

Who was the leader of South Africa when Apartheid ended?