Walking the yellow brick road after 70 years
The most famous line from The Wizard of Oz is a permanent part of the decor at the AMC Hoffman Center in Alexandria, VA. Photo by Alex Thompson
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, MGM Studios, in conjunction with Fathom Entertainment, celebrated the 70th anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" by showing the film in theaters across the country for a one-night only special engagement. While Dorothy's quote has become part of the American lexicon, it holds different meaning now, as the movie-going experience has changed dramatically since 1939.
According to a behind-the-scenes feature, "Oz, The Making of a Classic," 15,000 people waited in a line stretching down Broadway, at Loew's Capitol Theater in New York City on Aug. 17, 1939 (the film opened nationally on Aug. 25, 1939) .
For Wednesday's showing at AMC Hoffman Center in Alexandria, VA, there was no line, no giant billboards or art designs. The lobby was empty, and the three ticket sellers on hand weren't even close to being busy, yet the 285-seat event was sold out.
Although it invokes the history of cinema, the AMC theater in Alexandria is much different than the theaters that originally showed The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Photo by Alex Thompson Theater manager, Shane Jones, generally leaves the theater at 10:45 p.m. When he leaves the night before the show, there are still plenty of tickets, even though he expected they would sell out before the 7:00 p.m. showing. The next day, though, as the theater began to fill with smiling adults and noisy children, lines filed behind each of the theater's six automated ticket machines. Credit cards were swiped and tickets were spat out as every person bypassed the concession stand and spread into the theater.
During its first release in theaters, and even a subsequent release in 1998, tickets still needed to be purchased at the theater, so that people waited in line, hoping to avoid a sellout before they could get to the ticket seller. But now, tickets can be sold before people even arrive at the theater. On Wednesday, those who arrived two hours before showtime hoping to purchase tickets were turned away; however, many anticipated the rush, simply because of the joy the film.
Although the movie has stayed the same, ticket kiosks prove the cinematic experience has evolved. Photo by Alex Thompson "I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be in HD. I've never seen it on a big screen, and I have a feeling it's going to be really great to see it on the big screen," said Nancy Thomas, 60. Nancy has seen the film several times, even a live version performed at Wolf Trap in Vienna Virginia. She doesn't feel that AMC Hoffman treating this as just another movie release, will dampen the excitement in the theater. She and her granddaughter, Crasillia Margarita Canterera, 10, arrived an hour before showtime with smiles on their faces, anxious to see their favorite scenes, which interestingly enough, illustrated another generational gap as far as the film is concerned.
Thomas, having experienced the early days of the film, watching it every Easter as a child on television, loves the climax, when the Wicked Witch of the West gets doused with water. On the other hand, Canterera's favorite scene is Dorothy's entrance to Oz, where she crushes the Wicked Witch of the East with her house. Thomas, much like Dorothy, wonders how this new experience will differ from her past, questioning if there will be a difference between watching the movie on the big screen and watching it on her television. In 1939, she wouldn't even have had a choice.
There is something else that has changed about the movie experience in 70 years: audience participation. Yes, audiences still laugh, clap, scream and cry, but there is also a lot of talking. According to Richard Butsch of Rider University, audiences of the 1930's didn't speak, as the introduction of sound in movies, silenced them. Today, it's hard to imagine a time of silent movies, as the "talkies" have been taken for granted. But Wednesday night, there was silence. The audience cheered when the movie began, laughed at the comedic elements, sang along to the songs, and clapped when the movie ended. But in the meantime, nobody's cell phone rang, nobody talked to the screen, and even the little children were well-behaved. Although 70 years have passed and technology has progressed, one thing will never change: The "classics" will always be classic, and they will always garner respect.
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