The Wizard of Oz (1939): The Deleted Scene That Explains the Witch's Strangest Line

Late in The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch sends her winged monkeys after Dorothy, and tells them she has sent "a little insect on ahead, to take the fight out of them." No insect ever arrives. The line belongs to a musical number called The Jitterbug: five weeks to rehearse and film, about eighty thousand dollars, and cut after a single preview. This is the story of that film in 20 parts: the silver shoes that became ruby slippers, the blonde Dorothy of the first two weeks, the Tin Man who was put in hospital by his makeup, the Witch who caught fire, the Lion's costume made of real lion skins, the truth about the "asbestos" snow, the tornado made of muslin, the "hanging Munchkin" that is a bird, the pair of slippers stolen in 2005, the song that was nearly thrown away, and the scenes the previews took out. 00:00 The Witch's line that makes no sense 00:37 20 — The ruby slippers were silver 01:29 19 — The studio thought about Shirley Temple 02:37 18 — Dorothy began the film as a blonde 03:35 17 — The first Tin Man 04:28 16 — The Witch caught fire 05:24 15 — The Lion wore a real lion 06:09 14 — Was the snow really asbestos? 06:59 13 — The horse of a different color 07:30 12 — The tornado was a stocking 08:13 11 — The door from sepia to color 08:58 10 — Toto was paid more than the Munchkins 09:46 09 — The Wizard's coat 10:34 08 — The "hanging Munchkin" is a bird 11:21 07 — It lost money 12:17 06 — The stolen ruby slippers 13:19 05 — Over the Rainbow was nearly cut 14:10 04 — What the previews took out 15:12 03 — In the book, it was not a dream 16:06 02 — Why Dorothy will miss the Scarecrow most 17:35 01 — The Jitterbug 19:14 Should it have stayed? Every fact in this video was checked against the film's historians, the studio's own records, the trade press of the time and the film itself before it was recorded. Ask in the comments if you want a source. #TheWizardOfOz #WizardOfOz #JudyGarland #DeletedScenes #ClassicHollywood #BehindTheScenes