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Guess Who? With Kevin

Inspired by Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story, Kevin has crafted a captivating series of “guess who” articles, which he’s generously sharing with our readers!

Can you guess the ending?

The motion picture The Wizard of Oz has stood the test of time.

Even today, many years after its release, if a television station inadvertently cuts a minute or two of the movie, that station may receive hundreds of protesting telephone calls.

When asked to identify the cast, the real names of the actors most folks can name at least five: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr and the Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton.

But there is another actor who receives top billing in the printed credits, right after Judy Garland’s name. He is Frank Morgan.

Ten years after his participation in that most significant event, Frank Morgan died in his sleep. Many of his obituaries failed to mention The Wizard of Oz even though Frank Morgan took three prominent roles in the movie; Professor Marvel, the Emerald City Coachman, and the Wizard himself!

This seems almost unbelievable but has been confirmed from the surviving members of MGM’s staff.

It was early in the shooting of The Wizard of Oz, during the black-and-white sequences on Dorothy’s Kansas farm. Upcoming was the sequence where Dorothy was to run away from home and to meet Professor Marvel, the travelling sideshow man played by Frank Morgan.

The role of Professor Marvel required he wear a particular kind of coat: a garment which reflected a sort of shabby gentility. A “grandeur gone to seed”. So, MGM’s Wardrobe Department was notified, and staff members were sent to an old second-hand shop in L.A. and they brought back no fewer than fifty coats to choose from.

Actor Frank Morgan and director Victor Fleming met to select a coat from the rack. The one they decided upon was a Prince Albert coat flared at the waist; it was made of black broadcloth and had a nap-worn velvet collar. It certainly looked “ratty with age”.

On the days of the shooting, it was particularly warm, and Frank Morgan was sweating profusely in the “ratty” Prince Albert coat. So, what he did was to turn the sweat soaked coat pockets inside out to give them – and him – some air.

That’s when he glanced down at the lining of one of the pockets to see the name of the tailor, written in indelible ink . . . followed by the name of the original owner, the man for whom the coat was made.

Skeptical MGM executives wired the tailor in Chicago. In a few days they received a notarized letter of confirmation.

After the picture was completed, Professor Marvel’s coat was presented to an elderly woman, the widow of the former owner. Yes, she said, the coat did belong to her husband.

The tattered garment had been selected because it was right for the part, and because it fit Frank Morgan perfectly.

But through what can only be described as a remarkable coincidence – and perhaps a touch of magic – Professor Marvel, before the cameras, wore a coat which had been made for the original Wizard himself!

The author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum.

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