Question 1

True or false: In The Wizard of Oz, the actor originally cast as the Tin Man had to be hospitalized from the aluminum dust makeup.

Accepted Answer

True. Buddy Ebsen, originally cast as the Tin Man, suffered a severe allergic reaction to the aluminum powder in his makeup, requiring hospitalization and forcing his replacement by Jack Haley.

Question 2

True or false: The tornado in the film was created using a full-scale spinning funnel of real wind and debris.

Accepted Answer

False. The tornado was a 35-foot muslin stocking twirled by a crane, with dust and wind added in post-production.

Question 3

True or false: The Cowardly Lion's costume in The Wizard of Oz was made from real lion fur.

Accepted Answer

True. The costume department used real lion pelts for the Cowardly Lion's outfit, making it heavy and extremely hot for actor Bert Lahr during filming.

Question 4

True or false: The ruby slippers were silver in the original book by L. Frank Baum.

Accepted Answer

True. Baum's book had silver shoes; the movie changed them to ruby red to show off Technicolor.

Question 5

True or false: Judy Garland was paid more than the Munchkin actors for her role as Dorothy.

Accepted Answer

True. Judy Garland earned roughly $500 per week, whereas Munchkin actors generally received $50–$100 per week.

Question 6

True or false: The Wicked Witch of the West was originally written as a sympathetic character.

Accepted Answer

False. Baum's witch is purely evil; the sympathetic backstory was invented for the 1995 novel 'Wicked.'

Question 7

True or false: The horses in the Emerald City scenes were actually painted with a colored gelatin dye.

Accepted Answer

True. To achieve the horse-of-a-different-color effect, the crew dyed the horses with harmless Jell-O-like powder.

Question 8

True or false: The film originally had a scene where the Scarecrow sings a song about his brain.

Accepted Answer

True. The Scarecrow does sing 'If I Only Had a Brain' in the 1939 film, and the scene is included in the final release.

The Wizard of Oz Trivia Questions