Ding Dong

The next film in our collection is The Wizard of Oz. I have recently seen this movie as I prepared to see Oz in theaters. But this classic will never get old. Now that it is 2013 I of course watched this film along with finding fun facts on the internet. Let me fill you in on a couple of them. 

1. In the scene where Dorthy is opening the door to see Oz for the first time, the film is already being shot in full color, not the sepia and white that was featured in the first part of the film. So the inside of the house, the walls and door, as well as Dorthy were painted/dressed in the sepia and white colors so they appeared to be that sepia color while the rest of the scene was in actual color as she looked out at Oz.

2. The scene in the forest with the urban myth that one of the cast members hangs himself in the trees. Well in fact the part in the film that looks like that is actually the wings of a large bird flying away from the camera. That is one of those stories out there anyway. Apparently there were lots of large birds on set to help with the "real life" atmosphere of the forest and such. 

3. I was surprised that I had not heard before that Buddy Ebson (my favorite Hillbilly) was originally set to play the Tin Man but had a severe allergic reaction to the aluminum paint dust that they painted him in to become the Tin Man. 

Like most children I was understandably terrified of this movie when it was on TV. I hated the monkeys, the witch and the tornado. In my life I have developed quite the fear of severe weather and spent many of my childhood storms in the basement waiting for the roof to fly off of the house. When I was thinking of RA programs to theme around this movie the first thing I thought of was to review severe weather with students. I have come to find in my time that they would rather run to the highest level of the building or straight outside to see the action. In my mind I picture the building roof flying off, laptops and underwear swirling through the air, and then having to deal with the aftermath for all the now displaced students. If only they could see the disaster I see. 

I also thought I would share the first of many "Yes, This Is Your Life" stories. One time at a College there was a woman who worked to help plan programs for students. The weather was quite unpredictable that day but she had a one fund approval for a Drive In Movie to be broadcast in a campus parking lot. After securing all the proper permissions and buying the movie rights, all that was left was to meet the vendors that set up the screen and broadcast the movie over a radio frequency. The vendors rolled up in their SUV that had an inflatable screen and all the other necessary equipment and two twenty something men. Just then in the half sunny/half green sky there were some ominous clouds matched with a tornado siren coming from town. This girl, being the Hall Director that she is said to the SUV "Hello fellas. It is so nice to see you, I am terrified of tornadoes and I am about to go into this building and get into the nearest bathroom for safety. Please feel free to join me." Then this RHD and her two new friends spent the next 20 minutes in the women's locker room to avoid certain peril. As this RHD was calling her RAs to be sure they were shuttling her residents to safety she realized, "yes, this is your life." 

The amazing end to that story is that said gentlemen set up the screen and we watched a drive in movie from our cars despite the previous weather until it became unsafe outside once again and they had to finish the film in the basement of a residence hall.  Just another adventure in student affairs.