You're listening to a morbid network podcast, Weirdos. Happy holidays.

And you guys, thank you so much for making us the most listened to show on Amazon music.

You guys fucking rule.

That was unreal.

Truly rule. And you know what? Growing up, one of our holiday traditions together was watching the wizard of Oz as a whole, fam. So we couldn't think of a more fitting way to spend today than to revisit the fan favorite episode 281, the dark side of the wizard of Oz. Take a trip with us over the actual rainbow and hear about its unsettling history and the actual peril that the actors went through to create one of history's greatest classic films.

Enjoy the holiday break, you guys, and we will be back on ho ho, mary Ashmas.

Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is growing your own luther. Totally kidding. It's actually morbid. It is. But I was just watching a TikTok about growing your own loofah, and I really want to grow my own loofah now. Ash got real invest. You know how some TikToks are 1 minute and some are like 45 minutes and a half? Yeah, I was on one of those ones. That's 45 and a half minutes. Not actually. I think it's like the Max is three, but I was going to say I think it's three, but it feels long just being hyperbolic. But anyways, I just saw one of those really long TikToks, and this guy was growing his own loofah. He grew a couple of them, and then he was, like, peeling it, which looked really satisfying. I was like, I want to do that. And then he took the whole thing out, and it was like, gigantic. I was like, you could cut that in half, put one in your kitchen sink, put one in your shower. And I was really thinking about that, but then I was like, kind of looks like it would hurt on your.

So when I say she had all of those thoughts and she had them all out loud, I can vouch for that. Most of my thoughts happen out loud when I metalina. It was a fun little process to watch. I always love someone having an argument with themselves and then coming to a conclusion with both sides of their brain. Like, both sides of the argument that happened in their brain come together. I don't know if I even came to a conclusion. You didn't come to a conclusion yet, but I believe in you. We had to start working. I'll come to a conclusion later today, and I guess I'll let you guys know next episode, if I'm going to grow my own loofah or not, because what we've come down to, I think, is that you are concerned it wasn't going to feel good. And then you said on my skin. No, I said on my body. On my body. I don't think it would feel good on my body. It looks rough. It looks like I'd be like. It looks almost like a pumice stone. It does. Which feels good on your foot, but you're not going to pumice stone your shoulder.

Exfoliation station is where we are. But these days, I guess you're not even supposed to exfoliate as much as I used to think. I feel like everything's stupid. Yeah, me as well. But anyways, I don't even know the climate in which you're supposed to grow aloofa. So I guess we can just move on. Yeah, we'll move on from this. We'll figure it out. Don't worry. We'll update you. Let you know if everybody loofahs. Are you on drugs right now? Already? I'm like, no, I'm on life. And the answer is no, we are not say no to drugs. But it's the holiday week. It's the holiday season. It's almost thanksgiving. I'm going to eat a lot of food. I'm excited. I'm going to be cooking today like crazy. Yeah, I'm hosting, doing thanksgiving. I'm doing thanksgiving. So it's going to be interesting. I'm particularly excited about your pumpkin and sage pasta. Are you making the pesto bread that I requested? Yes, I am because I got all the stuff to make it. Excited about that. And honestly, two more things. I'm also really excited about. The sausage stuffing. Oh yeah. And the streusel, the sweet potato street potato casserole.

Yeah, you're all invited. See you there. And you know what? I'll post some recipes because they're all recipes I found on like the interwebs. So I can rum delete some recipes in case anybody thinks any of that sounds good. It does. But yeah, I'm excited. I like cooking a turkey. I like doing a little herb butter rub underneath the skin all up in there. How do you feel? Like ripping up into the cavity. Oh, I mean, that's my job. It is, but how do you feel about it? The same I feel about my job. Oh, yeah, I thought you meant like it's your job because you're cooking. No, I mean, it literally is my job to go into cavities that no one else wants to go into. Yeah. Describe your job in a really weird way. You go first, I guess. There it is. I'll go first. I cut dead things off of people, so it's just kind of might as well. It's a turkey. It's easier, I think. Do you put, like, lemons or, like. Oh, yeah. Let me let you all know, in case you're wondering. You got to put a little citrus in there.

That's what I got to put. A little bouquet of herbs, maybe some thymes, rosemary, parsley. Yeah. You got to really get the aromatics in there. You also rub it in salt, right? Yeah. That's a brining process. Some people dry brine. Some people don't brine at all. Do you brine? It's really up to everybody. I've brined before. Do you even brine brine, bro? She doesn't even brine here. Did you even brine, bro? Yeah. And you want to put some, like, garlic and onion, pumpkin. Really get it going. Do you put a shallot in there? Yeah, we love a shallot. We love a gene shallot in there. And the really important thing is basting my dudes. Baste that gosh darn bird. That's important. Even if you cook like, a chicken. Yeah, baste the hell out of it. Based forever. It makes a difference. Even when I make, like, chicken breastices, I base them. You got to baste that shit. It works. But that's been thanksgiving with us loofahs and thanksgivings with Ash and Elena. So we're right on target here. I think we're right on crime, you know, loofahs and true crime and turkeys. But, yeah, today's also going to be kind of like a different episode a little bit.

It's like we're in the dark spookiness, but this is like a different one. I feel. We've never really done anything like this, particularly. I'm very excited. I'm pretty excited. So we'll start this off the proper way. Yeah. So I. Elena, that's you. That's me. I have been obsessed with the wizard of Oz since I was a little girl. I used to literally have to dress up like Dorothy every time I watched it. I had the ruby red slippers, had the outfit. My mom would braid my hair. I know every line of that movie I watched a hundred thousand times. It's adorable. So that was, like, my jam when I was little. And I was always wondering when I should allow the girls to get into it because I'm weird. And I watched a lot of shit that I was like, wow, I can't believe that didn't traumatize such as labyrinth, but maybe it did. I don't know. The girls have watched labyrinth and they love I. But wizard of know some people. I remember Drew was saying the flying monkeys freaked him out. And I remember John was like, no, the flying monkeys are, like, scary.

And I was like, I don't know, guys. Yeah. It's funny because I don't know men that they were. That's how I usually, um. I always thought that they were a little bit scary. But then in watching it with the girls, I realized I've only seen it once. That's wild. Yeah, that's really wild. I only watched it one time, and then. It's not that I didn't like it. I think I just didn't really get you vibe with it or you don't. Yeah, I think it's like one of those things. You watch it and you're either like, wow, this is my entire personality now. Or you're like, yeah, maybe I'll watch it again someday. Yeah, see, I watched Coyote ugly when I was little, and I felt like that was my entire personality. And I still do. That is. You're the wizard of Oz and I'm Coyote ugly. Yeah. I think those honestly describe us pretty. But, you know, I was worried. I didn't know. I was like, is five good? And then this past Halloween, a couple of people in their dance class and their school had Dorothy costumes. And I was like, oh. And they were like, what's that about?

People are watching wizard of Oz. But I was like, I don't know. And they came home one day, and we're like, I really liked that outfit. Yeah. Who's Dorothy? So I started explaining it to them, and this is how I usually introduce movies that I'm not quite sure if they're ready for yet. Like labyrinth. I did this, too. We talk about it a lot. Talk about the plot. We talk about it. We talk about the story. And then what I'll do is I'll show them little clips of it every now and see how they work at this fun clip of them in the scary forest with the winged monkeys. And I'm like, do you like that? And they're like, that's cool. And I was like, all right, we're here. So after a few days of that, I was like, let's do this. They were so excited. We sat down as a family. We watched the wizard of Oz. I was in my glory, like I was when we watched Labyrinth. Those are my favorite things about being a parent, is like showing them those things, because it's like you relive your childhood, like, the happiness and memories from your child.

You see it through their eyes. And so we sat down, we watched it. They adored it. They watched it. How many times since? Probably a hundred times. And it's only been like two weeks. I feel like a terrible aunt. But yesterday, one of them was like, titi, will you watch that with me? And I was like, oh, you want to watch like, anything else? Yeah. You're like, I literally can. Meanwhile, I'm like, let's watch it again. And of course, while we're watching it, I immediately was like, guys, who's your favorite? You got to have a favorite of the gang. I knew that my little feral middle child was going to love the cowardly lion because she herself is a lion. She loves lions. Not cowardly, but a lion, not cowardly. And she loves lions. Oldest. I knew she was going to dig the scarecrow. I just had a feeling. Yeah, kind of vibes. Yeah. She liked that whole leader he had, the leader of the pack, and they both love Dorothy. They think she's like, that just be his knee. And my littlest one just loved the whole thing. She didn't know what to. I.

We got in the discussion of, I was know when I was little, I was literally in love with the Tin man. Like, in love with the Tin man. My mom can tell you. I used to be like, can I marry the Tin man? And mom was like, you can't. But that's a nice thought. And I don't know what it is, and I've never really fully thought about it, and I think it's just now because before it was like, you're little and you're like, I love the Tin man. Whatever. You move on, you grow up. And all of a sudden, watching it with the girls again, I'm like, suddenly like, you don't move on or grow up. I didn't move on from that because I still think the Tin man's hot. What's that about? Like, I was watching it and I was like, no, I'm still really attracted to the Tin man. He's from our neck of the woods, you said, right? He is. A lot of them are from Boston. Hell, yeah. Like the wicked witch Margaret Hamilton. She was from Boston. Oh, shit. I didn't know that. Edit. Margaret Hamilton is not from Boston.

I just wanted her to be sorry about that. Ray Bolger the scarecrow, Boston. I actually think. I'm not sure if Burt. I think his name is lair. I'm not really sure. I'll get to it in a second. But the guy who played the cowardly lion, he might have been from around here, too. A lot of them are from here. And the Tin man you said was from Dorchester is from Dorchester. I love that. And he has, like, a thick Boston accent. And I think that's ingrained in my brain to just automatically connect to. That's the most attractive. When he says, like, the Tin man forgot to get the tin maker, forgot to give me a hat. And they both go, no hot. No hot. Just like, yes. You're like, swoon. And then I realized that not only do I love the Tin man, but I love Jack Haley, the man who played the Tin man. It was a big realization week for was. It was a journey. It was an eat, pray, love situation. I just had to go through it. God, that movie. I never saw that movie or read that book, but literally, it's a journey of sorts.

It's a journey watching the movie, because it's 42 years long. Yeah, this was my journey through. Why do I find the Tint man attractive? And I realized that I find Jack Haley attractive.

Listeners, we have a new show that we think you're gonna freaking love from Wondrian. Hosted by Laura Beal, the critically acclaimed Doctor Death is back with a new season. Dr. Death Bad Magic, a story of miraculous cures. Magic, and murder. When a charismatic hotshot doctor announced revolutionary treatments for cancer and hiv, it seemed like the world had been given a miracle cure. Medical experts rush to praise Dr. Sarhat Gumruku, a genius who is the co founder of a cutting edge biotech company. But when a team of private researchers dive into Serhot's background, they begin to suspect the brilliant doctor is hiding a shocking secret. And when a man is found dead in the snow with his wrist shackled and bullet casings spreading the snowbank, Sirhot would no longer be known for world changing treatments. He'd be known as a fraud and a key suspect in a grizzly murder. Follow Dr. Death bad magic on the wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Dr. Death bad magic early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus, what would you.

Do if you thought you had met the love of your life? But as things began to slowly unravel, it went beyond your capacity to help, ending with his untimely death. What would you do? I'm Whit miseldine. The creator of this is actually happening, a podcast that brings you extraordinary true stories of life changing events told by the people who live them. And I'm excited to share that we have hit 300 episodes. In honor of this, we've decided to revisit the first ever episode of the show entitled what if your boyfriend lit himself on fire? It's been about twelve years since I started the show with this interview, and both the storyteller and the show have evolved so much in that time. Our 300th episode is a deeper dive into the story and everything that has happened since then. To hear this story and so many more follow. This is actually happening on the wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts and you can listen to. This is actually happening ad free on wondery. Plus.

You should do one of those TikToks where it's like, show your childhood crush and then show who you married. Is there any resemblance? The ten man is pretty tall. He is. He's tall. He's kind. He has a hat. Kind eyes. He has no hat, but he has hat. Yeah. And he's got very expressive eyes. I wonder if he has a nice jaw. You love a nice. He has a great jaw. I definitely have a know for sure. We all know is this is what brought me this big long story that I just feel like you all needed to know because I also had a really fun conversation on Twitter with a bunch of listeners about this. And they were saying a ton of them were into the Tin man. And they were like, oh, my God, I thought it was alone. And then a lot of people were like, I was a scarecrow girl. So we got. Or like, I was a Scarecrow guy, and we got this big discussion of, like, why the hell do we find these? Yeah. And it was really fun. So thanks for getting into that discussion with me. And it made me think about the fact that, wait, I remember coming upon all these weird, dark, fucked up things that happened during the making of this movie, which is funny that we're also in love with those of us who are into this movie and find it beloved.

You can just be like, well, that was the 1930s. I don't know. But when you really look into it, you're like, damn. The making of this movie was like a harrowing adventure. Do you know what I feel like? It's not that I don't like the wizard of Oz, but I feel like. I feel that when I watch it, I feel darkness. Because I remember the darkness. Yeah. The first time I watched it. And I guess the only time until recently, I was just like, I didn't feel good about it. Yeah, see, I felt great about it. So I apparently am not intuitive to the darkness, but now I'm like, wow, it's a lot of dark shit, my empathetic ways. So what we're going to do today is we're going to go through all the fucked up, dark secrets behind the wizard of Oz, because some people have actually asked us to do this in the past. And recently, when I mentioned the girls were watching it, somebody was like, you got to do the weird stuff behind the wizard of Oz. It's like the man behind the curtain. And actually, I think it was Michael from the Spookies podcast.

I was like, you guys should cover that. And I was like, little do you know. Little do you know. Working on that now. So let's start. We're going to go through some of these things. I'm just going to go, like, list by list, but we're really going to get into them. Okay. So the first thing we're going to talk about, because it's the most important, is the Tin man makeup. Obviously, Jack Haley, there is a big, long, very long standing, like, legend, myth, rumor that is untrue, that John even thought was true, that the Tin man, the original Tin man who played him died because of the makeup they put on him. That's a big, long legend of this movie that people are like, well, the original Tin man died from the makeup, and they had to replace him. No, that didn't happen. In fact, John used it because when we were watching it, I mentioned how I was like, oh, my God, swoon, Tin man. And he was like, too bad. What happened to. Huh? Like, he made a joke like, that's too bad. And I was like, nothing happened to him. He was like, what do you mean?

I was like, let me tell you a story. Nothing happened. So something did happen to the original Tin man, but it's not what we think. So Jack Haley was not the original Tin Man. Buddy Epson was originally cast as actually not even the Tin man, the scarecrow. Oh, and Ray Bulger, who is the scarecrow in the movie, was originally cast as the Tin man. So, like, swippity swapity. So at some point, they decided to switch roles because I think Ray came out and he said that he really felt he was better suited for the role of Scarecrow, and he just really liked that part. And he thought when he played it better, he does. He does a great, like, it wouldn't have worked. Switched. No. So we have budy Epson, who is, like, in the beverly hillbillies. He was like a very well known comedic actor. All that good stuff. Everybody knew who he was at the time. He was cast as the Tin man. So Epson started rehearsals and the wardrobe fittings for his new role, and everything was going fine with wardrobe. Everything, he said. In fact, he said, quote, I was a guinea pig.

They didn't know how to simulate the Tin man's garments, so I found myself doing tests with clothes made of real tin and clothes made of silver paper and clothes made out of cardboard covered with silver cloth. The makeup was just as bad. Try this. Try that. In the end, they glued a cap on my head and covered it with. Glued on and covered it and glued on a rubber nose and a rubber chin, and then covered the whole thing with clown white makeup and then powdered aluminum dust onto my face and head. Yeah, everything's going fine. No problem. Totally fine. I don't see anything in there that could go awry. No. So everything was fine. He was covered with aluminum dust every day, and that was fine. He had recorded every line of the Tin man songs when they began filming, so he had all the songs recorded. Everything was ready to go. Things went well until October 13, 1938, which was only nine days after they started filming. Epson suddenly said, I'm feeling horrific. And he was having labored breathing. He was having chest pains. His arms and legs were cramping and just completely cringing up.

He could barely walk. He was, like, passing out. And he was quoted as saying, quote, one night after dinner, I took a breath and nothing happened. They got an ambulance and had me go down to good Samaritan for a couple of weeks. My lungs were coated with that aluminum dust they had been powdering on my face. Oh, my God. He was blue and barely breathing when he arrived. That's so scary. His lungs were coated with aluminum. He was put in an iron lung. Dude was in an iron lung and spent weeks in the hospital recovering. Then after that, he had to spend more than a month recovering at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego. Just lay in bed for weeks. Oh, God. Now this is what's nuts. Everyone at the MGM studio producing the film was just pissed. MGM got pissed about a lot of things back in the day that were actually their fault. Like, I'm sorry, what? They were furious that he was missing filming and literally demanded him back on set. That's cute. He was literally dying of respiratory failure in an iron lung, and they were calling the hospital saying, he needs to be back on set.

Yeah, well, he's in an iron lung right now. Yeah, he can't come to the phone right now. He's in an iron lung. Like, I'm sorry. Like, Taylor Swift remix. It's wild. And he was quoted as saying, it seemed they couldn't understand that an actor could get sick. They were furious. Mervyn Leroy kept. And he was like the head of the studio kept calling the hospital and saying, he can't be in bed. He's due on set. And Jack dawn called me to tell me I couldn't possibly be sick because he had used aluminum dust, pure aluminum dust on my face. So they're saying you can't. No, it's not. They're trying to cover their ass, too, but they don't want to get sick. No, it can't be the aluminum dust because it's pure. You're like, that's actually exactly why I'm so sick right now. Well, and that's what's crazy, is at the time, they did think pure aluminum dust was pretty fine. Wow. In fact, I found a paper published in the Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. You know it, right? Yeah, I read that at night. Yeah. It's a really good one to fall asleep.

There was a period of time between about 1943 and 1979 where people who worked in mine. In mines, I almost just said minors, but I thought you guys would confuse that and be, like, people under the age of what? Like mine workers, minors. You get it now? They were literally forced. This is wild to me. This is such a dark thing in history. They were literally forced to inhale aluminum dust as an experimental medical treatment and a preventative measure to stop a disease of the lungs called silicosis. So not only were they, like, breathing in the fumes from mining, mining, but also they were like, hey, can you sniff some of this? It's an experiment. Oh, wait until you hear how they did it. So silicosis is a lung disease that's caused by long term inhalation of crystalline silica dust, or the particles. And these are found in a lot of environmental structures like stone, rock, clay, things that miners are working with. Miners who were diagnosed with this would at first just find themselves having this nasty cough all the time. It's almost like black lungs kind of thing. And they would have shortness of breath.

And it really isn't diagnosed for, like, years usually. All I'm thinking of right now is Zoolander, right when he says, like, I think I've got the black lung pop. You just like, looks like, have you even did the fucking hand? You got it. Too bad. It's so good. It is duly. I tried not to like it when I was, but you can't. But it's funny. But it would be found on chest x rays, like years later. So what would happen was these employers would blow this finely powdered version of aluminum dust, called McIntyre powder into the changing rooms of the miners. And they did this through the fucking air systems. So they would just be in their changing area and there's aluminum dust particles being blown in through all the air ducts for experimental purposes. Now in this paper, in that journal, this paper is called trading one risk for another. Consequences of the unauthenticated treatment and prevention of silicosis. In Ontario. Miners in the McIntyre powder aluminum inhalation program. Me as well. And it's by Janice Martel and Lee L. Judadi. Sorry. Sorry, T. But, yeah, two really smart people. And I'll link this paper so you can go look at it because I'm sure you want to.

Yeah, I'm going to read it. In this, they talk about a guy named Jim Hobbes, and they said he was 37 years old for the first time that he tasted aluminum dust. It was March 1978. Whoa. And it was his first day going underground at Rio Algum's quirk two uranium mine. Now, after changing from street clothes into his mining gear, Hobbes followed the other miners into a tunnel like building that led to the cage that would transport them underground for their eight hour shift of drilling, mucking and blasting. The building, dubbed the gas chamber by those who entered, it was lined with benches, and Hobbes followed the routine of the others, taking a seat and waiting for the cage call. Before that call came and after the last man entered the building, the doors shut at both ends. The ventilation fans stop and the supervisor yelled what would become a familiar phase to a surreal phrase, in a surreal ritual that Hobbes would experience prior to every shift for the next year and a half. Oh, my God. Breathe deep, boys. That's what they would yell in 1978. Yep. The hiss of compressed airlines was quickly followed by a cloud of black dust filling the room, obscuring Hobbes's vision of all that surrounded him as he took his first breaths of very finely ground aluminum powder swirling rapidly from punctured canisters attached to the airlines.

His chest felt heavy. His exposed skin enclosed, were blackened. A metallic taste formed in his mouth, and he soon joined the choir of coughing and gasping arising from the others. Oh, my God. After ten minutes the doors opened and Hobbes and his shift partners were herded into the cage. His first industrial medical treatment was over, and he had to do that every day for a year and a half. What? Why were they trying this? What were they trying to stop? Silicosis? What? So, yeah, that's how little concerned they were by aluminum powder, which is why they called the hospital. And we're like, no, he needs to go back here. No, buddy, you're fine. It was pure aluminum dust. We're not worried about it. Thank you. And the doctors were like. And the doctors were like. And even the doctors were like, okay, we're not vibing with that aluminum dust thing. All of us kind of feel like it's probably going to become a problem in a few years. But if we're even ignoring that, if he's not just being poisoned by an iron lung, he's still having an allergic reaction to, like, something's happening back here.

And so, yeah, so they were like, yeah, no, he can't come back. Like, I'm sorry. That's not something that can happen now, buddy Epson, because, of course, you're like, sue the studio. That was absolutely my first thought. Well, budy Epson said he didn't sue the studio because it was a very different time and all of the studio execs were in each other's pockets, which I'm sure it's not that different than now. I was going to say, but if he had sued MGM, he would have been blacklisted by all other studios. Yeah, because you're a difficult actor at that point. He said, quote, you didn't just sue lightly. You didn't just lightly sue MGM because it was a power, and there was a certain cohesion between the moguls. They all used to play poker together on Saturday nights and decide who were the good actors and who were the bad. I mean, look at Jean Harlow. MGM showed up to her husband's death scene and was like, yeah, we don't need to call the police. We know what we are, the investigators here. Yeah. They were a power. Yeah, absolutely. So after a few weeks of trying to get him back from the brink of death to then paint poison on him again and have him do it again, that was their plan.

Let's just put you back in the makeup. They're like, we're making a fucking movie, guy. Yeah. So finally they gave up because they were like, we can't wait any longer. And he was really, really sick. So they were like, we can't wait for you. So the head of the studio, Mervyn Leroy, decided to just fire Epson, and he grabbed Jack Haley to take over as part of the Tin Man. I wrote in my notes, now, Jack Haley is a babe. Literally has nothing to do with anything else I'm saying. I literally just wrote it in my notes. And I just realized I love to write myself little notes that maybe I'll. That was for me. I'm giving it to you guys. I do that sometimes, too. And I wrote, I just need to clear that up for myself. I literally wrote that. So, whatever. He also had the weirdest contract. That wasn't very weird then, but sounds weird now. What is said, basically. And this was something that, like I said, wasn't weird then. A lot of actors and actresses had this. Basically, he could be forced to play any role in these studios because his contract basically put him on loan to them.

They could just call him and be like, we got a role for you. Get in here now. You have no say in it. Oh, wow. So they called him up and they didn't offer him the role. They called him and said, hey, you're the tin man. Get in here. You have no choice. Okay. So he had to. And he said, quote, the type of contract I had, I had to respond to their commands. I had no choice. I was under contract, and they could lend me to any studio. It was the most awful work, the most horrendous job in the world, with those cumbersome uniforms and the hours of makeup. But I had no choice. Wow. Like, you had no say in it. I love that. He was like. I fucking hated it. Yeah, he was like, this sucked. His costume was crazy heavy. Part of it was, like, really metal and probably so hot. So hot. He couldn't sit. So he would lean against this thing. It was like a board that was specifically made for actresses in huge gowns and corsets to lean against when they couldn't sit down. They would just lean against this to get any kind of relief.

Oh, my God. They had one there, and he would just lean on it. And actually, he would do this between shots a lot, like, just to get some relief, because he literally couldn't sit back. Must have been killing him. And it was funny because the guy who played the cowardly lion, Burt, he said that it pissed him off because his costume was so heavy. We'll get into his costume, don't worry. Because his costume has some dark shit, too. But he said it used to piss him off because he also was like, an insomniac in real life. So he said he would walk by Jack Haley just leaning against a board in full costume, out colds between shots. Like, he was like, that dude could fall asleep next to a board. And he's like, he used to piss me off. I was like, fuck that guy. Why can he sleep like that? I can't even sleep in my. Hilarious. I just like. I'll link the book I found on this. It's really interesting. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Yeah, I love. But. So he just stepped in. He wasn't told shit about why Buddy Epson was fired.

Like, in those days, you went in and people got fired all the time for anything, for gaining five pounds at Thelmatod. At Thelmatod. So you go in and you didn't ask questions. Right. You just, okay, this is mine, I guess. Luckily for him, they did change the way they did the makeup, which shows that they definitely knew it was a person in the first place. They made it into an aluminum paste instead of a dust so he wouldn't be inhaling the dust. But you're still inhaling aluminum to some degree. To some degree. I'm sure he never had any problems after it afterwards. But what they did was they painted white grease paint on him, like clown makeup, and then they used the paste that had aluminum dust in it to put that aluminum sheen over him so it wasn't dusted on with Ray. It was literally dusted on. So it was just like. Yeah, it makes me think of, like, translucent powder. That's exactly what it is. And you're just. Yeah, because it just gets, like, all over you. But unfortunately, this paste did get into his eye, and it caused a bad infection in his right eye, and he was gone for four days while they had to save his sight.

Oh, my God. He was going to lose sight. Did they discard all aluminum based products after this? No, they didn't. So while all this is going on, by the way, Ray Bolger, as the scarecrow, was also dealing with the horror of the makeup he had to wear every day, too. Because we're not in the Tom Savini kind of makeup here. We're not in the 2000s. We know what we're doing. We're in 1930s. They're doing what they can. Exactly. And when you actually look at the scarecrow makeup in that, you're like, that's pretty good. And the tin man makeup is like, tin man looks great. The scarecrow looks like a burlap sack is his head. But it was gnarly. It's not like now they have certain brushes and stuff that they use and substances that can take the makeup off really nicely and gently. They would just tear that shit off. Yeah. And what Ray Bolger, the scarecrow, said was, quote, I came home exhausted and had two bourbon old fashions. The drinks were therapeutic. I needed the alcohol to let me down. And they had enough sugar to kind of give me a lift so I could manage to eat my dinner and fall into bed.

Oh, man. That's how they felt at the end of these days. Now, he remembers nothing else about these months, he said, but, quote, going to bed and getting up and going to work, and half the time I don't even remember, like, they were just trucking through. And when you hear what they did to keep Dorothy on task. Oh, yeah, the filming days were insane. And they were in these. A lot of people think that Dorothy, Dorothy, Judy Garland had it easier in the costume sense, which she did in this sense. But she had it bad in a different way. Yeah. She had it like. But they real fucking bad. Yeah. They had these gnarly costumes that they were spending literally, like 13 hours days in. They couldn't take them off because they weren't willing to redo the makeup. So if you broke for lunch, you either tried to eat lunch in that makeup. If you couldn't, too bad. Oh, my God. The lion costume, I can't imagine being in that for, like, 13 hours a day. Oh, yeah. And what both Ray and Jack Haley said was, quote, the mask wasn't porous, so you couldn't sweat.

You couldn't breathe through your skin. You don't realize how much you breathe through your skin until you can't do it. We felt like we were suffocating. Oh, my God. Yeah. He also discovered after the last take of the film that the corners of his mouth and his chin were permanently lined from his. Like, they. He said it took months and months for them to even fade. The corners of his mouth had, like, lines like a joker makeup. Oh, my God. And I know it's insane. And Jack Haley said that his costume was, quote, no less awful. They pulled my hair back as flat as they could and put some sort of rubber skin over my head and glued it down behind my ears. They covered my face with cold cream. Then they took a white chalk, like, solve and painted my face white. The idea of the white stuff was to close my pores so the silver paste that made me look like I was made of tin wouldn't damage my skin. They painted my face silver and glued on a silver nose. They glued a strip of rubber that was supposed to be tin under my chin and glued each individual rubber ribbon onto my face.

Then they painted my lips black because painting my face silver made my mouth look too red. Oh, my God. Coloring my lips black made my gums and tongue duller. I couldn't breathe through my face. None of us could. And Burt Larr had it worst of all. And then think of God only knows what they were using for glue. Like, nowadays you use, like, liquid latex, like spirit gum. What was the thing that you used for prozaid? Prosaid, yeah, but this was glue on your skin. This felt like fucking like gorilla glue, probably. It's like, let me super glue this to your face and rip it off every day. Well, when Haley says that Bert lar had it worst of all, Bert lar played the cowardly lions. Yeah, that was real lion hide. Yeah, you told me that the other day, and I'm still not over it. The cowardly lions costume was made of real lion skin, real lion fur, real lion hide. It was 90 pounds. And it smelled. They said, ew. Of course it did. Yeah. And they said it literally smelled. And they were so heavy to walk around in. So heavy to move in.

They said that he would take it off at the end of the day and literally be dripping with sweat. Yeah. I couldn't even talk. I'm like, yeah. And then his face, he had a lot of prosthesis on his face. Like, he had a lot of the mouth area that's supposed to look like a cat. So they made it so his mouth couldn't open that wide, so he couldn't eat. And for 13 hours a day, he was literally. And they said he would literally have to drink only, like, a milkshake or soup or something. He could suck through a straw, too. And he said that because if he tried to chew, he would break the prosthesis and they didn't want to, and they'd be pissed. So he literally couldn't eat. And he would get pissed, I guess, at Jack and Ray for numbing in between shots whenever they could because he literally couldn't. And every once in a while, he would just get pissed and just grab a sandwich and just bust through his makeup. I don't blame him. Hangry is a real thing because these people, all of these actors, were literally starved on set.

They were not given food. If they were given food, they were told that they were fat, and it's insane. Well, and then think about, you're lugging around in 90 pound costume all day where you literally, your body can't even cool itself down. So you're sweating, you're super hot, and then you can't eat. I wonder how much weight that guy lost. Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm sure. And they said that they had to use a ton of arc lighting from different studios to get super effect of all of these sets. And so it is a billion degrees. And so they would literally, between shots, run over to the doors and open the doors and just get fresh air and breathe. All the main four actors would literally, they said, would just be, like, gasping for breath outside the door between shots, like, trying to get any kind of. What a great. This is literal torture. Yay. But, yeah. So the cowardly lion had a tough, pure. Just only based on the fact that he's wearing real lion fur. Yeah, fuck that. And then you can't eat. It's, like, insane. That's 90 pounds. Really wild, 13 hours a day.

Now let's get on to some of the other makeup issues and some of the accidents that happened on this set. Yeah. So the Wicked Witch of the west was played by Margaret Hamilton. She's phenomenal. She's amazing. We love her. Now let's talk about her makeup. Obviously, if you've seen the movie, she's green from head to toe. Yes. Green makeup back then was made with copper oxide. It was made with copper, which is toxic. Yeah. So the makeup people said that they had to be completely thorough when removing her makeup every night before she left, because if they left any, it could literally be fatal. Like, it could poison her. How did it not poison her throughout the 13 hours day? Don't know. So they said, quote, every night when I was taking this was like, a makeup person. Every night when I was taking off the witch's makeup, I would make sure that her face was thoroughly clean, spotlessly clean, because you don't take chances with Green. So when she was burned, spoiler alert. I remember that. I didn't want to take any chances. I knew that makeup had to be cleaned off. So we're going to talk about that burn situation right now and how they just said even when she was burned, we had to clean the makeup off.

Remember that? Oh, no, I don't want to talk about that. So in the scene where the Wicked Witch of the west leaves Munchkin land in, like, a puff of smoke in the beginning, and there's, like, fire and smoke, there was an accident. So it was December 23, 1938. They had put a false piece of yellow brick road where she had to exit. Okay, so she was to back up onto this, and it was rigged with an elevator to bring her down and out of the shot. While she was lowering down, the smoke and fire would come up and obscure her going down. Now, they practiced this a ton because she had to go backwards and hit the spot just right. Because if the elevator went down and only one of her feet was on it, she could break her legs. Yeah. So I guess the opening of that elevator shaft there was really narrow, too. So Margaret Hamilton was instructed and practiced a million times to bring her elbows in tight as soon as it started going down, because if she didn't, she would literally break her arms or her shoulders. And they weren't like, let's figure out a way to make that not happen.

They were just like, do your best. Hold your elbows in because if not, you're going to break both of your shoulders. They're like, wing it, bitch. Like, what? And there was also two guys waiting below in case she broke her legs coming down. They could carry her. Awesome. So those were the thoughtful guys. And weirdly, those are the concerns. They're worried about her breaking her arms or like her legs, but we have like whole ass fire going on. But weirdly, nothing like that happened. She didn't break a leg or an arm or anything. Legs and arms were fine. In fact, the first time they did this whole shot, it was perfect. Went off without a hitch. Victor Fleming, the director, was like, psyched. He was like, that was perfect. But he said, as always, we're going to do one more shot, just to have it in the can, just in case. Oh, no, that's when you know too. That's when you know. And this is when the shit hit the fan. So Margaret Hamilton actually recalled something that Billy Burke said. She's the one who plays Glinda. Billy Burke, okay. She actually said, quote, we were about 40ft away from the fire.

And Miss Burke shook her head and said, oh, I'm not going to stand here. And I said, why not, miss Burke? And she said, oh, my dear, it's much too hot. And I thought, you're 40ft away, but I'm going to be right in the middle of it. She was like, shit, like, what? So they had taken a break and when they came back to do this second shot, just the insurance shot, a bunch of mishaps happened. Nothing that got anybody hurt at first, but, like, warning signs. She wasn't hidden by the smoke. The fire happened too late. The fire didn't go off at all it was just like everything was signs from the universe saying, you already got your shot. Take that shot. We got the shot. We got the shot, Fleming. Let's just let it go now. She said, quote, and this is crazy that this is how Much Victor Fleming, the director, did not give a shit about these people. So she said, quote, and then we got the full tilt of Mr. Fleming's impatience and anxiety. In no uncertain language, he told us to pull ourselves together and get the shot done.

He said, there's no excuse for this. The minute she gets her foot on, I want. And I said, Mr. Fleming, I want to get both feet on. And he yes, yes, of course. But I want the shot done right and right. Uh huh. Well, it went wrong. The fire went way too early while Margaret Hamilton was not under the stage yet. So the broom caught fire. The broom that she was holding, and it caught her face on fire. She said, quote, I felt warmth on my face. That's all. It's still unbelievable. There was a whole lot of running and hullabaloo and shouting, and my hat and my broom were on fire, and I didn't even know it. She was literally in shock. Of course, she ended up with first degree burns on her face, mainly her chin, nose, cheek, and forehead. Her eyebrows and lashes were completely burned off. Oh, my God. She had second and almost third degree burns on her hands. That was the worst part. The skin on her right hand was completely gone. Goodbye. It was just raw flesh. Goodbye. Just raw flesh. Now, remember that makeup, the toxic green makeup thing?

Did it not, like, burn into her skeleton at that point? Well, when the flesh on her hands literally peeled off from the burns, they still had to remove the makeup. And the only way to do that was alcohol. No. So they had to use alcohol to scrub the toxic copper oxide filled green makeup off the hands of Margaret Hamilton after she burned the flesh clean off of them. And her face. You know how, like, when older people are, like, I used to have to walk backwards up a hill to school, everyone in the wizard of Oz has the right to sit. I did. They can. They're like, I had my hands cleaned with alcohol after suffering third degree burns and, like, peeling my skin back. She said it was the most horrific pain she's ever felt in her life. She was out for six weeks healing, and I bet they were pissed. Oh, they were on her ass. In fact, her doctor answered the phone once while they called her at home, and he was like, she's an idiot. If she doesn't sue your ass, she'll get back when she's good and ready. Like, fly good for him.

I love that. And they were probably like, yeah, watch her. They were like.

In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott from wondery. Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case covering every angle, in theory, walking through the forensic evidence and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the generation y podcast on the wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to generation y ad free right now by joining wondery. Plus.

She said the only reason she didn't sue is because she wanted to work again. She never would have if she was sued. So did they have to pause filming that? They did, yeah. And she did refuse to work with fire ever again in the movie. She was. I don't figure it out. I'm not working with fire now. In fact, when she got back to set, she was due to do that skyriding scene, that surrender Dorothy scene, which. There's a band called Surrender Dorothy. I remember, like, from high school. Yeah, great band name. Surrender Dorothy. So good. I want to call it. I can't, but good job, guys. Yeah, seriously. That was a good one. She was doing the close ups because there's close up shots of her on the broom, like, laughing, and there's smoke behind her and, like, yelling at doors. Yeah. Just screaming and screeching. But it required her to sit on a steel saddle on her broom, and it was raised up, and then smoke would pour out of the back from a pipe under the saddle. Oh, God. That's how they rigged this whole thing. I feel like I don't want to do that now.

She was told by everyone, no, this is completely safe. Don't worry about it. You're good. When have we ever put you in danger before? I feel like it was going to explode under my badonka donk. But they mentioned, if you'd like, we did make you a fireproof costume. And she was like, why? Why'd you make me a fireproof costume? If this is completely safe, and it's probably not even fire. I don't trust a single thing you say. So she was like, no. So she said she wouldn't do it with the smoke in the fire. She's like, no, she said she would do the close ups. She was like, do the close ups of my face. Add shit in afterwards. And she was like, I don't know what to tell you. With everything else, her stunt double, Betty Danko, said she would do the rest. Now, she was a young girl at this point, and she was probably trying to be, like, an upcoming actress. So she's like, I'll do anything. Oh, yeah. And she's a stunt girl. So she's done a few things like this, and she's like, oh, yeah, and you got to be down for anything.

But Margaret actually told her before she left set that day. She was like, I'm really worried for you. I don't want you to do it. Like, I'm worried something's going to happen. You're going to get hurt. And she I need the money. I don't want them to think I'm hard to work with. Well, turns out they did two good takes on the broomstick, and the third time, the pipe literally exploded under her. I knew you were going to say that. She said, quote, I felt as though my scalp was coming off. I guess that's because my hat and my black wig were literally torn loose. They found them days later at the top of the stage. Oh, my God. The explosion blew me off the Broomstick. I managed to grab it with both hands and throw my leg over it. I hung upside down while the men handling the wires lowered the broomstick to the floor and put me face down on the stage. She was completely burned, and her left leg had a giant hole in it where her dress had become fused because it was burned into this giant hole in her leg.

What the fuck? Want to hear what's even better? I don't quote. While I lay there on the floor waiting for the ambulance, the wardrobe woman came running in and she said, what did you do with the hat? I have to turn it in. You know, I'd be like, there's a motherfucking hole in my leg. And I suggest you get the fuck away from me. Unless you'd like a matching one. I was just lit a flame. What? I'd be like, you can take the hat when you find it and shove it right up your. Like, I am Bruni, the fire spirit from frozen two right now, and you are asking me where that hat is can. You're laying, first of all, face down, because I can't even have the nicety to put you on your back. And then she's like, I need to hand in that hat. I need to turn that in. You know, you're going to get in trouble today, okay? You're going to have some explaining. You know what? You should cite explosion for why you didn't turn that in. Person was exploded in the hat. I don't know. Hat literally exploded. She had permanent scars on her legs from it, I guess.

And I guess later at some kind of Hollywood thing. I don't know if it was like. It was like years later, she ran into Victor Fleming, and he tried to look under her skirt to see the scars because he said he felt so bad. What? He tried to see her leg scars because he wanted to see how bad it was. I'd be like, well, my leg exploded, so that's how bad it was. The fuck Victor? Yeah. I'd be like, Victor, get away from me, you bad news. Your bad news. Okay, now, Victor Fleming, speaking of him, I'll skip ahead to something with him, because. Please do. So. He actually wrote and admitted to this incident. He said, quote, when Judy Garland couldn't stop breaking into giggles at the pseudo menacing advance of Bert Larr's cowardly lion. So when they first meet the cowardly lion and he runs after Toto, and then she whacks him on the nose. Yeah. I guess she kept breaking into giggles because that's funny. And I guess Bert Lar was really funny because he was, like, just, like, coming at her. So she kept laughing. I was going to say she was literally young.

So he said, quote, he escorted her off the yellow brick road and said, now, darling, this is serious. Slapped her in the face, then ordered her, now go in there and work. And she said it. Yes. Happened. And everyone around the set said, I saw it happen. He literally slapped a 17 year old girl in the face and was like, get back to work and stop laughing. Wow. They weren't kidding when they said things were different back then. And then he, I guess, immediately felt bad. So he started going around to the crew and asking people in the crew to punch him in the face. Good. And so they were all like, no, because they're like, I'm going to lose my job. I don't know what. I can't. It's a really weird way to handle that situation, instead of just, like, going to her and saying, I feel really bad. And also, how many of the crew you know, he hadn't met any of the crew, so he's literally walking up to them and they're like, hi, I'm Joe. Mr. Fleming. Nice to meet you. No, I won't punch you right in the kisser. Please punch me.

And I guess Judy saw this happening because she immediately went back into the scene. The scene you see in the movie is exactly what happened right after she got slapped. The first take she did was the one in the movie. Oh, wow. So the one you see in the movie is right after she just got take girl slapped in the face by Victor fucking Fleming. She was so abused. Oh, it's horrific. She actually heard all this, like, that. He was walking around, like, asking crew members to punch himself. And I guess she overheard this, and she went over to him and said, because he was like, you should just punch me in the face to her. To which I would say, okie doke. And I guess she said, I won't do that, but I'll kiss your nose. And she did. Oh, what a. What? They did Judy so wrong. Yeah, they did her dirty. They did her so wrong. Yeah. I would have punched Victor Fleming straight, like, that's your time. But what a pure and wholesome human. What a strange. Who was led into such a shitty path of life. Oh, yeah. Watching Judy the muddy ruined me.

Yeah, it's ruined me. I mean, her real name is Francis Gum. Yeah. Now, speaking of Dorothy and the horrific things that were done to her, Judy Garland had the saddest life. At 14, she was working on her first real movie called Pigskin Parade. It was about, like, a football coach. Sounds horrible. Sure does. And the head of the studio, Louis Lewis B. Meyer. I don't know if it's Louis or Lewis, but get ready for the tweets about that. My guy, but he's a piece of shit, so I literally don't care what his real name is. Good. He would call her, quote, fat little pig in pigtails. Wow. So I don't care if it's Lewis or Louie. Yeah. No asshole said that about. And let me tell you, Mr. Glass House should have kept his rocks to himself. Go ahead and Google what he looks like. Name again? Excuse me? Glass house. Louis B. Mayer. I think it's Louie, but, yeah, like, go away, Mr. Glasshouse. We're loading. This is when she started. Exactly. Was there a mirror on set that day, sir? Like, please, turd. Now. This is when she started being placed on these crazy diets of only, like, soup and cigarettes and all that shit.

Seriously. Now for Oz, the studio execs focused heavily on her weight and basically made her feel like shit that she even had boobs because she was 17 at this point. She's, like, turning into that time when you're. Women have boobs now. Dorothy was supposed to be, like, a younger girl. I think in the book she's supposed to be like, twelve. But I think in the movie they have her more around, like, 15. So cast a 15 year old if that's what you want. Well, and so they were like, we want you to look younger than 17, so obviously she's not. So they were literally documenting her food intake for months leading up to shooting. Wow. Like, the execs. Studio execs are documenting a young girl's food intake for months. And that is, like. And obviously did, but will affect you for the rest of your life. Oh, 100% if you start eating like that. This stuff was the reason she died the way she did. And, like, developing that relationship with food is so dangerous. So dangerous. So sad. They also kept her on a steady pill schedule at this point as well. They would force her to take what they called pet pills to stay awake, aka meth and downers, to sleep and chill out.

So she would sleep for, like, 4 hours, and then they would just, like, shake her awake, force some pet pills down her throat, and make her work for, like, days straight before she would crash again. Oh, my God. Yeah. Now, during filming of Oz, she was on a diet of soup, dozens of cigarettes a day, and black coffee. That's it. Can you imagine her stomach? And on top of it, they made her wear crazy corsets under that dress and strapped down her chest as tight as they could to make it so she didn't look like she had a chest. Wow. And that's, like, against her will. And she's sitting there having to. And it's painful. And she's having to pretend to be this peppy. Yay. Just a young girl. I just can't imagine what condition her stomach was in with all those cigarettes, coffee on, like, an empty stomach. And then pills. Yeah. My God. Can you imagine how sick she felt all the time? No, because I've had to go on medicine before where I broke my pelvis and they had to put me on morphine and you couldn't eat. And I was the sickest I have ever been.

I can't imagine having to be in that state while doing a movie where I was also just being treated, like, all the time. Like, when I had whatever pain pill they gave me after my first c section I took one of them and I was, like, so ill, so sick. I was like, I've never taken that. Wow. I could not handle that because I have a pretty good pain tolerance. Like, a fairly good one. And so I usually can get, like, if something hurts, I'll take, like, an advil. And it's like, that usually is fine for me, but this, I was like, oh, I just got cut open. Maybe I should take this. Yeah. Oh, my God. Never again. I was like, no, this is not worth the sickness I feel. We had to go back to the doctors when I was like that, and we were like, yeah, I can't take this. They had me take a half and even a half. I was still like, horrible. See? I was like, they just gave me motrin afterwards and I was like, that's all I can do. Yeah. But on top of all of this with Judy Garland, some of the actors who played some of the characters in Munchkin land, they were, like, sexually assaulting her on set.

Good. Yeah. And her husband, one of her husbands later said, quote, they would make Judy's life miserable on set by putting their hands under her dress. The men were more than 40 years old at that point. And she's 17. She is just turning 17. Gross. And she's, like, made to look like a child in that, like, way younger. What the fuck? Yeah, it's just really messed up. And from what I read, though, I guess the three guys, like, the lion, tin man and scarecrow were, like, super protective of her. And they were all, like, good dudes, and none of them did anything like that. And they were, like, really tight as, like, a little unit. Like a squad. Yeah, I love that. So that's nice to know. At least she had. She had the comfort of some kind of protection there. But another thing that's really crazy about this is if you remember the poppy scene where the wicked witch of the west causes them to fall asleep in the poppies. Poppies. Well, lucky for them, Glinda casts a counter spell during that that causes snow to fall and they all wake up. Unfortunately, Glinda was, like, kind of the maybe she was the bad guy here because the snow that fell was 100% asbestos.

Oh, yeah. Now, this was the 1930s, and asbestos was actually used in Christmas decorations then, like, fake snow. What the fuck? But still, this is wild to know now. Yes. Especially when you watch it and you're just like, oh, that's just straight up asbestos. And it's all over their faces, all over everything. They're literally, like, in their mouths. It's just like, they're just, like, living in it. And it's funny because I read, one of the articles I read was on Atlas Obscura, and they put it best by saying the wizard of Oz quote literally douses its main characters in carcinogens. Correct. Literally what it does. And when you watch the scene, you're just sitting there being like poison. Yeah. All over your body. You're all being doused in poison. Wow. All of us. And a last little thing. Well, last big thing that I'll touch upon, which is like, kind of the saddest thing to me, but I'll leave you on, like. Well, no, I'm going to leave you on a sad note. I'm sorry. All right, but I'll give you a couple of things after this. But the woman who played Auntie M, Auntie M and Uncle Henry, you're just like, I love you.

Cute. I love you so much. Her name was Clara Blandick, and she was famous. She was, like, on Broadway and tons of movies. Yeah. This was actually one of her smallest roles, but she took it because she just loved the movie and they loved having her name on it. Now, she, after the wizard of Oz, was in failing health. It was like, through the 1950s, and she was going blind. She was the victim of severely painful arthritis all over her body. And they couldn't get it under control back then. Just real quick, too. This is like a suicide trigger. So this is going to be a minute where I'm going to talk about it. So. April 15, 1962, she returned to her home after church. She placed photos and letters and mementos from her career all around her. She surrounded herself with newspaper clippings of her career, her awards, movie credits. She got dressed in a royal blue gown. She did her hair, and she took sleeping pills. And she laid on the couch with a gold blanket over her and placed a plastic bag over her head. Oh, wow. She passed away that way.

And she left a note that said, quote, I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this in agonizing pain any longer. It's all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. Oh. Apparently, she is buried very close to Charlie Grapewin, who played Uncle Henry, her husband. Oh, my gosh. Like, yards away. Wow. Right next to each other. Is that just like a weird. I don't know if it was, like, meant to, but it's like a nice little, like, how sad is that? And she had this beautiful, amazing career can I say something weird? It's, like, beautifully sad the way that she did it. I'm glad that she was able to take control of the way she was in control of it. That was what she wanted to do. But how sad that she had no other option. It's such a bummer that medical stuff has kind of so far, and it hadn't come that far to relieve her of any of that pain. That is really sad because I can't imagine being in chronic pain and there's nothing. No, because nothing.

Arthritis. Just watching people go. I obviously have never gone through that, but watching people go through that, I can't imagine. Yeah, I really can't. And to have it all over your body. Yeah. I hope she did have a great adventure. Excuse me. I hope she's having. I hope she's still having that great adventure go off. She's over the rainbow having a blast. Oh, that one. Really? I know. Thanks. I know. I'm sorry. Do you have anything good? I guess this just shows you how close the three main characters, like the Ray Bulger and Bert Larr and Jack Haley were when I think Ray was the last one to pass away out of all of them. And when Jack Haley died, he gave a eulogy at his funeral and he said, jack, it's going to be very lonesome on the yellow brick road. Now, that's how close they were. And just to leave you on, not the saddest of notes, but more like, wow, Margaret Hamilton. Get it? Okay. The Wicked Witch's lines, most of them were cut, and a lot of her scenes were cut from the final film because execs and focus groups said the performance was way too terrifying.

They said kids literally couldn't handle it go off. So Margaret Hamilton just scared the shit. She was like, budy, that's what I was hired for. She's only on screen for like 15 minutes in the film, but she had tons more. Oh, that sucks. And it was all really scary. Like, she was terrified. I wish they had did a version where they could have released that version. I know. I'm like, can we have her deleted scenes? See her scary ass scenes for real? But I wonder if they could ever uncover them someday. I know. I wonder. I'd think that there's. Who knows? Have they? I'm not even sure I should look. I know. Let's find out. But that is some of the dark secrets I found about the yellow brick road, but about the wizard of Oz and how fucked up the filming was. Wow, that was really entertaining question. It definitely is cursed. I feel. I feel like it's a lot. I feel like I'm never going to watch that movie. The same with your children. You watch it again and you're like, you watch it with a different. You exploded. You had to go to the hospital.

You almost went blind. You did this. And for the second half of the film, I haven't looked to see this, but Margaret Hamilton's wearing green gloves instead of green makeup because even when she came back, it hadn't healed enough that she had makeup on, so she had to wear gloves on her hand. Oh, wow. And I want to look for it the next time. I do, too. Yeah. Because I guess she also said that Victor Fleming grabbed her hand when she came back and was like, it looks good. And she was like, no, that's like freshly healed skin. It looks pretty, but it's not thick enough to do anything. And that's how nasty Victor Fleming sounds, like the worst. And I wish that everybody he had asked to punch him in the face actually did punch him in the face. I know that would have been nice, but, yeah, that's the dark shit about the wizard of, like, because people might be wondering, because there's this big legend that one of the actors who played one of the Munchkins hung themselves in a tree on set. Yeah. See it in the original part of the film.

That is completely untrue. What people were seeing was a bird that they had on set that puts its wings up and kind of looks like it. And people have photoshopped, like, an actual hanging person in there. It's not true. It didn't happen. Or is that what they want you to think? Yeah, I mean, there's absolutely no evidence or no police. And I was going to say nothing. We know all the other horrific things about it would have leaked out, but it's still in a very enduring rumor because everything I was reading, every time I would peek over at comments of it, like, any little movies about it or books or anything, there was always a million people being like, well, someone hung themselves on the set. That is an enduring rumor. People really believe that. And I did. I did for a while. When that rumor first came out, I was young, and I remember trying to see it. I was like, what is. And you could see the bird. And I remember being like, is that. But it's not. Yeah, I remember definitely hearing that. I never looked for it, though. Yeah, that didn't happen, though.

At least not that you can find anywhere. Well, that's settling. That it didn't happen. Yeah, but everything else happened in this. Thanks for that. Yeah, it's a fucked up movie, but I thought it might be, you know, it's a holiday week. We're just going to give you this weird off episode that's still spooky but like, in a different way. Yeah. Humans are weird. They certainly are. I really enjoyed that. That was good. That was a cool episode. Yeah. I just want to do something a little different. Yeah, I like that. Hope you guys dug. It's your show go off? Yeah, it's my show, man. Well, we hope that you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird when that's the way that you decide to direct a movie and do any of the things that were done on this movie set. Thank you and good night. Bye. Follow the yellow brick road follow the yellow brick road. Or don't.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to morbid early and ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen ad free with wondery plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at slash survey.