Today in History
November 03, 1956
Over the Rainbow and Into Your Living Room
On this day, between 9:00 and 11:00 PM EST, The Wizard of Oz plays in American living rooms for the first time. Executive vice-president of CBS Robert Weitman who had been denied the television broadcast rights to Gone With the Wind, instead pursued rights to The Wizard of Oz, striking a deal that allows CBS to air the movie twice at $225,000 per broadcast. The movie is always broadcast in color; many American homes still use black and white sets, however, and it will be the 1960s before the annual screenings of the Technicolor film become a rare exception to the preponderance of black and white programs that dominate the airwaves. The Wizard of Oz—which lost money in its original theatrical release—becomes a cash cow for MGM and a cultural touchstone through annual broadcasts on television. The movie becomes so ingrained in the public consciousness that the Marin Independent Journal is able to offer the following riff on the classic storyline in their TV listing for the film: "Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again."
November 2009
Today's Feature History Article
Frank Baum, the Man Behind the Curtain
The author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, traveled many paths before he found his Yellow Brick Road
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