Amanda LePore – The WOW Report

wizard of oz

August 15, 1939– The Wizard Of Oz premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, a cinematic event that changed many lives and altered pop culture forever.

8 15

Little Stevie Rutledge:

“Mommy, Mommy…please let me stay up and watch The Wizard Of Oz, please, please! I promise to be good!”

From 1956 to 1998 The Wizard Of Oz was an annual television viewing tradition at my house and for families all over the USA. Because of these broadcasts, it has become one of the most famous films ever made. The Library Of Congress names The Wizard Of Oz as the most-watched film in history. It often ranks among the Top 10 Films in most critics’ lists and in popular polls. It certainly is in mine.

The Wizard Of Oz has provided enduring quotes for our popular cultural consciousness. Its signature song, Over The Rainbow, as sung by young Judy Garland, has been voted the Greatest Movie Song Of All Time by the American Film Institute.

The film resonates profoundly for gay people. At the very least, it brought us the term “Friend Of Dorothy”, codified slang for a gay guy that goes back to WW I. Plus, the screenplay by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf provided so many other catchphrases that have entered our lexicon:

“Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!”

“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!”

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”

“You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you, too!”

Do gay people identify with young Dorothy, or is it with young Garland in her most iconic role? Do we think of ourselves as the self-proclaimed sissy The Cowardly Lion, The Tin Man in need of a heart, or The Scarecrow- the ultimate twink, or maybe even Toto?

If you are a gay person, you probably have spent a significant time in the closet, showing yourself to society as straight before seeking the opportunity to be your true self. Most of us needed to escape the lonely, authoritarian, oppressive, heteronormative, black and white world of Uncle Henry and Auntie Em’s farm, a stand-in for our hometowns. We get over that rainbow to the Technicolor Land Of Oz where we could be free to perform song and dance numbers, encounter fantastical creatures, enjoy narcotic poppies, and experience excitement and transgression. We even chose the rainbow as our symbol of pride!

But, it is also a terrifying journey, with a green-skinned Witch and deviant freaky flying monkeys. Permissive Oz might even be a bad drug trip. Even a singing, dancing chorus of small people might be an analogy for doing too much coke in the Emerald City’s hottest club. On her return to the monochrome, but safer Kansas, Dorothy says:

“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard.”

Much of the story was always confusing to me. What is so essentially evil about a wicked witch wanting those damn ruby slippers? Why, when water will kill her, does The Wicked Witch Of The West live in a place with a moat and leave buckets of water around? Residents of Oz are tough; Glinda The Good, played by Billie Burke, has no problem with murder and apparently neither does Dorothy.

All the witches seem rather lesbian to me. MGM cast Margaret Hamilton as The Wicked Witch Of The West, an actor with a history of spinster roles, when first choice Gale Sondergaard refused to play an ugly green witch. “Spinster” was often a Hollywood cover for lesbian. Obviously, Almira Gulch, without a husband, is a stand-in for a dyke. Glinda is single also, but she is pretty and her costume is positively bridal. The Wicked Witch’s crime is that she’s unfuckable, and yet, even that doesn’t hold her back. She is even sexually predatory to the young femme Dorothy, stating:

“It’s so kind of you to want to visit me in my loneliness.”

It is all rather gay to me. Even as a child I picked-up that vibe.

Nothing about putting together the film version of The Wizard Of Oz came easily to producer Mervyn LeRoy and musical producer Arthur Freed. There were many rewrites. During filming, directors continued to add and cut scenes. Jack Haley and Bert Lahr wrote some of their own dialogue for the Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion. Because the screenwriters weren’t getting it, lyricist Yip Harburg (Harold Arlen wrote the music) wrote all the dialogue that setup the songs including the part where they give out the heart, the brains and the nerve. He was the final script editor, giving the film some cohesiveness.

Shirley Temple was originally attached to play Dorothy and W.C. Fields had been tapped to play The Wizard. Ray Bolger was originally cast as The Tin Man and Buddy Ebsen (most famous as Jed Clampett on the 1960s television series The Beverly Hillbillies) was to play The Scarecrow, but before filming commenced they convinced LeRoy to let them switch roles. Ten days in to filming, Ebsen had a severe reaction to the aluminum powder makeup he wore and it coated his lungs. Ebsen was hospitalized in critical condition. He was replaced by Haley. MGM neglected to tell Haley about the makeup, he thought Ebsen had been fired.

The original director, Norman Taurog, was replaced by Richard Thorpe who was replaced by George Cukor who didn’t actually shoot any scenes, but took on major artistic decisions and really set the tone for the film that we know. Cukor left to direct Gone With The Wind and Victor Fleming took over. Then Fleming left to take over Cukor’s work on Gone With TheWind and King Vidor became the fifth director of The Wizard Of Oz. Vidor shot the black and white Kansas scenes, including Garland’s singing of Over The Rainbow and the tornado.

Filming of the massive musical film was long, wild, difficult and dangerous. Half of the cast was either injured or nearly died during filming. Producers had to find and screen test hundreds of little actors. MGM designer Adrian had to design over 100 costumes for the Munchkin sequences. Then he had to photograph and catalog each small actor in costume so that the clothing and makeup would have continuity each day of production. Margaret Hamilton was severely burned making her entrance in Munchkinland and she spent six weeks in the hospital before returning to the set. The Flying Monkeys were nearly strangled by the wires used to keep them aloft.

For a month after the film opened on this day in 1939, Garland and her pal and MGM star Mickey Rooney would perform a live act for the audience, quite the deal for 25 cents a ticket (Toto also made more per week than most Americans did in the 1930s).

The Wizard Of Oz received enthusiastic reviews when opened, but it lost money in its initial release. It grossed about three million dollars (25 million was spent on advertising for the film’s re-release in 2013). It didn’t show a profit until it was re-released a decade later. Now it is recognized as a landmark achievement. It is also a bit of a mess: Dorothy’s hair changes lengths from scene to scene, props change or disappear, lighting necessary to shoot in Technicolor reflects back on the shiny sets. But, as the mayor of Munchkinland announces to Dorothy:

“From now on you’ll be history!”

An important film for queer people, The Wizard Of Oz should be seen by everyone on the planet at least once. Dorothy says it perfectly like this:

“Someplace where there isn’t any trouble? Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train; it’s far, far away, behind the moon, beyond the rain…”

Emmys voting has begun!

It’s that time of the year again! Last month, we found out RuPaul’s Drag Race was nominated for SEVEN Emmys with another for Untucked, we couldn’t even believe it.

Yesterday, voting opened on the Emmy nominations and may we suggest voting for us in all of our categories? Sure, we’re pretty biased, but if you want a second opinion, you could read Billboard‘s ‘9 Reasons Why RuPaul’s Drag Race Deserves To Snatch All The Emmys’.

If you’re a member of the Television Academy and are eligible to vote, head on over and sign in, and vote for US! (Or whomever you want, but seriously, please consider voting for our shows!)

Just in case you’re not convinced, here’s some posts from Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, & MORE!

OMG, yas @RuPaulLEGO! Send through your recreations, kittens! We wanna show the world/@TheEmmys how iconic #DragRace is! #EmmysForDragRace https://t.co/L1Ojo28Mzb

— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) August 15, 2017

Photograph from T.E. Lawrence Society

August 16, 1888– T.E. Lawrence:

“I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars…”

It is rather astounding to consider the films I have missed, even as a lifelong film fan, even after four years of university Film History and Film Theory classes, even after sharing more than half my life with someone who possibly loves movies more than me. I have somehow never seen Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) where today’s #BornThisDay subject was played by an improbably beautiful young Peter O’Toole. I have caught scenes from the Academy Award winning film, and I can recognize the theme from the score, but I have never been to a screening, or even seen a television broadcast. A decade ago, Lawrence Of Arabia was playing for two nights at a Portland revival house in a brand new 70mm print. I had a date with The Husband to finally experience it, when it was pulled from the lineup because of the startup of the Iraq War. Ironic. This is what I do know:

Thomas Edward Lawrence was a good-looking, diminutive (5’5’’), Oxford educated British man, with a keen interest in Archaeology. As a youth, he rode his bicycle from England to The Holy Land to study the castles of the Crusades. He walked 1100 miles around the Middle East, learning all that he could about the cultures and languages. He was mugged and badly beaten on his first day in Syria (even then, a top vacation spot), a fact that he kept hidden from his mother.

“Lawrence As A Cadet At Newporth Beach Near Falmouth” by gay painter Henry Scott Tuke

At Oxford, Lawrence was curiously close to his male companion, Vyvyan Richards, who was significantly older than Lawrence. Their parents and their pals worried about the closeness of this friendship. Lawrence’s parents were especially concerned about Richard’s motives. They thwarted his plan to set up a printing press business with Richards. Instead, Lawrence accepted an offer to be part an archaeological dig sponsored by the British Museum in what is now called Iraq.

Soon after he arrived, Lawrence met a boy, Selim Ahmed, commonly called Dahoum, meaning “the little dark one”. Initially, their friendship was based on a desire to learn each other’s language, Lawrence attempting Arabic colloquialisms with Dahoum learning the basics of English. The pair became closer than just friends. They lived and traveled together. Their relationship caused a scandal among the British archaeologists, not just the homosexuality, but the mixing of races.

When WW I broke out, British Intelligence sought out Arab experts (Turkey and Germany were allies at the time). Lawrence left Dahoum in charge of the local workers at their dig and he returned to England.

After training with the British Army, Lawrence’s Arabic skills and knowledge of the Middle East brought him to a post in Cairo making maps and gathering intelligence. He devised a plan to assist the Arabs in their uprising against the Turks, allowing the British forces to execute an attack on the highly prized Suez Canal. His kinship with the Arabs was noted and he quickly became the key to the operation, acting as a vital go-between for both armies. A deal over who would get what land after the rebellion was struck and soon the rebel forces began to prepare for battle.

At around this time, American journalist Lowell Thomas arrived in Cairo searching for a story of heroic proportions to boost the USA’s involvement in a war that was none of our business. He was instantly captivated by the story of the British officer in traditional Arab dress. Thomas chose Lawrence to be his subject for his stay in Cairo.

The rebellion began in June 1916 with an attack on the Turkish railway. The raid was a success. Other attacks were planned and carried out. But, Lawrence was discovered and taken prisoner by the Turks. He was brutally tortured and raped. He suffered daily beatings. A guard sympathetic to the Arab cause gave Lawrence a short significant shot at escape. Lawrence took it and he walked hundreds of miles across the desert to safety.

Lawrence was deeply damaged by his capture. He attempted to resign from the service, but the British refused. He somehow found the energy to take on his trademark Arabic robes, pick up his gun and head for the front against charging rebel armies. Lawrence survived another year of fighting before the rebels took Damascus in 1918 and began to set up an all-Arab Government. We all know how that worked out. It was there that Lawrence found that his beloved Dahoum had died.

Of course, the British Government did not fulfill the promises of land for the Arabs that had been made before the rebellion, the beginnings of the mess that we are now in.

Lawrence commenced a campaign for the Arab cause against the British government. Lawrence also began writing a book. Drawing on his experience in the Middle East, Lawrence wrote The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, an autobiographical look at life in seven major Arab cities. After many months of challenging work, Lawrence lost the manuscript forever when his briefcase was stolen at a London train station.

Lowell Thomas had returned from the war with a mission to make Lawrence a war hero. He traveled with a slide presentation, telling the tale of the misfit officer who had become the leader of an Arab army. Lawrence became a media star and he was granted an audience with the King George V. Yet, Lawrence didn’t take well to being celebrated, saying that his role had been blown way out of proportion. He even used the opportunity to announce that he would refuse to accept any official honors for his actions.

Desperate to escape the attention in Britain and furious with Thomas for thrusting fame upon him, Lawrence convinced the RAF to take him under a fake name. Lawrence settled down to a military life and began rewriting of his famous book. The first edition was finally published in 1927.

Lawrence by gay painter Augustus John (1919)

After his retirement from the RAF in 1935, Lawrence took a small cottage in the English countryside in hopes of living quietly and anonymously. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle around the back roads. Once on a drive, he swerved to avoid a pair of boys on their bicycles. Lawrence crashed his motorcycle and died. He was just 46-years-old.

He called himself “an ordinary man”, but Lawrence lived an extraordinary life. Among the mourners at his funeral were E.M. Forster and Winston Churchill.

The tale of Lawrence’s life was presented in David Lean’s Oscar winning film, confirming his place in history as an icon of WW I. The filmmakers left out the gay part, of course.

I am looking at my copy of The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, thumbed through to ready myself for this post. I purchased it at a Seattle used book store in the early 1980s, thinking it was some sort of self-help book. I attempted to read it anyway, but gave up after a few chapters. My information about the life of Lawrence was gleaned from the very readable Hero: The Life And Legand Of Lawrence Of Arabia by Michael Korda, purchased for just $10 at Powell’s City Of Books in Portland, soon after the Husband and I moved in 2001, just as our country readied itself for a war, allowing history to repeat itself.