Tag Archives: The Wizard of Oz

Wicked Witch’s Hat

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Wicked Witch of the West's Hat

Wicked Witch of the West’s Hat

Actress Margaret Hamilton (1902-1985) wore this infamous black hat as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. With her signature scowl, green skin, and ominous cackle, Hamilton created an enduring image of the modern witch. Adrian Adolph Greenberg (1903-1959), widely known as just Adrian, created the costumes for the film, including this villainous black hat and Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

We waited to view this hat, while a young woman took a selfie. She posed so that it looked like she was wearing the hat. She was also trying to look scary serious. Carl commented that “Margaret Hamilton never smiled.” This brought a smile to her face. The Wicked Witch wouldn’t have survived five minutes in Seattle today, because with all of the rain she would soon be singing her old song, “I’m melting, I’m melting, all my beautiful wickedness.”

That TV Guy

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Transported to a surreal landscape,
a young girl kills the first person she meets,
and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

That TV Guy, also-know-as Rick Polito, is the author of this one-sentence summation of the movie classic, The Wizard of Oz. Written circa 1998, this is arguably the funniest one-line synopsis of a movie. Dogmomster first clued me into his humor, when she reposted on Facebook, a George Takei repost. I enjoyed it when she introduced me to it and then some time passed. Last weekend, I happened upon Pacific Standard’s article on the same subject, “The Wizard of Oz in One Sentence“. This article gave me Mr. Polito’s name and with a little googling, I found both his Facebook page and website. I won’t plagiarise any of his many other movie summaries, so check them out for yourselves.

I love The Wizard of Oz. This wasn’t always the case. As a child I would gleefully sit before our family’s TV and even though with our set, more than just the first ten minutes of the movie was in black and white, I marveled at its magic. That is until the monkeys showed up. At about this time, I would scurry to my bedroom, but I could still here the movie’s soundtrack, as the rest of my family enjoyed this classic film. Somehow I always found my courage or maybe the lion’s and caught the movie’s climax, when the wicked witch became undone. 

You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting! melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?

I always enjoyed Judy Garland’s rendition of the opus song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, with her beautiful contralto voice. Ashleigh Grace has posted on Soundcloud a great cover. You can play it below. Check it out.