Trivia

Judy Garland found it difficult to be afraid of Margaret Hamilton, because she was such a nice lady off-camera.

Many shots were trimmed down or edited out of the film because they were too intense for families and children. In particular, one deleted shot shows the tornado completely enveloping the farmhouse. Also, later in the film a lot of The Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought to be too frightening for audiences.

Margaret Hamilton, a lifelong fan of the "Oz" books, was ecstatic when she learned the producers were considering her for a part in the film. When she phoned her agent to find out what role she was up for, her agent simply replied, "The witch, who else?"

The iconic ruby slippers are now at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, and so popular that the carpet in front of them has had to be replaced numerous times due to wear and tear.

The horses in the Emerald City were colored with gelatin powder. The relevant scenes had to be shot quickly before they started to lick it off.