Oh my god, no. No. There is so much incorrect information here that I don’t even know where to start. This is why you…

Oh my god, no. No. There is so much incorrect information here that I don’t even know where to start. This is why you should never learn history from an AI voice. Just…..no. The truth, a thread: 🧵

✅ Buddy Ebsen did develop respiratory issues due to the powder coating his lungs. However, he did recover. ❌ Ray Bolger didn’t develop scars on his face, he developed deep wrinkles from peeling off his prosthetic makeup after filming. It didn’t disfigure him, just aged him.

❌ Ray Bolger also didn’t get cancer from the fake snow, because it was made of gypsum, not asbestos. There are conflicting reports from crew members, but if they did use any asbestos, it was in very trace amounts. He developed bladder cancer at age 83, unrelated to the movie.

❌ Margaret Hamilton did not get sick from her makeup. It contained copper, so she had to be very careful when eating so as not to ingest the makeup, so she would bring her own meals from home. But it was not a liquid diet — her and Judy would often share tea and scones on set.

❌Margaret was also not burned by handling white phosphorous? While filming the scene where she disappears into a ball of fire, the trapdoor got stuck and didn’t open in time, so her arms and face were burned. Since her makeup was toxic, they had to clean her wounds with alcohol.

❌Judy wasn’t given growth suppressant pills, she was given stimulants to keep her awake and barbiturates to help her sleep. However she was put on a strict diet, wore binding undergarments for her chest, and was urged to smoke multiple packs of cigarettes to keep her weight low.

As your local Ozian oracle and Judy Garland devotee, I will gladly volunteer to answer any of your Wizard of Oz-related queries to help stop the spread of this epidemically mythical nonsensery.

Oh, also, I was so caught up in the wrongness being said out loud that I forgot to mention that Buddy Ebsen isn’t even in the video. That’s Jack Haley. This is Buddy Ebsen, before he was recast and the characters were redesigned again during George Cukor’s brief run as director.

I also just remembered this photo. Of Margaret Hamilton. In her makeup. Eating solid food.

Anyway, here are some cute clips of the cast taking publicity photos and goofing around on the set, from the home movie archives of the film’s composer, Harold Arlen.

For all those interested in learning more (both good and bad) about the film, here’s another thread I wrote correcting common myths and misconceptions:

Sarah McGonagall@gothspiderbitch · Aug 26, 2024

Yesterday was the 85th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz’s release and it has taken every morsel of self-restraint that I possess to not waste dozens of hours correcting the rampant misinformation in every comment section. I can’t. I won’t. I mustn’t. There’s just…..so much……..

Unsure why people seem to think that the purpose of correcting misinformation is to somehow justify the workplace negligence that objectively happened on this set. You shouldn’t only seek out the truth when it can make you feel better, you should seek it out because it’s true!

A lot of people who worked on this film and who have extensively studied it have done a lot of hard work to provide firsthand accounts and documentation that verify what really took place. We should honor them by making sure that their work isn’t erased by rumors or inaccuracies.