'The Wizard of Oz': 10 facts about the classic movie

Writers Jay Scarfone and William Stillman look back at the making of the iconic 1939 film 'Wizard of Oz' in their book 'The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75th Anniversary Companion.' Here are some stories from the production.

7. Wartime morale

"Wizard" was released in California in August 1939 after being screened for previews in other areas. Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1 of that year and "Wizard" played an unexpected part in the conflict to come when it was discovered that the Australian Imperial Force sang "We're Off to See the Wizard" during the Battle of Bardia, among other conflicts. (The movie had been screened in Australia during the winter of 1939.)

7 of 10

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

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