Lot 43
A rare pre-production draft of Noel Langley's screenplay for The Wizard of Oz
25 November 2013, 13:00 EST
Los AngelesSold for US$10,000 inc. premium
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A rare pre-production draft of Noel Langley's screenplay for The Wizard of Oz
Mimeograph Manuscript, 102 pp, dated May 4, 1938 (with 5 and 6 added in pencil below), in blue M-G-M wraps stamped "temporary / complete" and "file copy" to upper cover, MGM library slip laid in, very mild toning and wear, otherwise a fine copy. In custom full blue morocco slipcase.
Provenance: Serendipity Books (receipt laid in); the Richard Manney Collection.
A rare pre-production draft of the screenplay for one of the greatest movie musicals of all time. The success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs convinced MGM that a successful movie could be made from a children's classic, and thus producer Mervyn Le Roy dared to take on L. Frank Baum's beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The first screenwriter to take a crack at the story was Herman Mankiewicz; Le Roy was unsatisfied with Mank's draft, however, which split the film's time nearly evenly between Kansas and Oz. Playwright Noel Langley was brought in next, and the four drafts that Langley delivered between April and August of 1938 introduced the conceit that the farmhands and Miss Gulch characters are mirrored in Oz as well as the transition of the slippers from silver to ruby. This draft does not contain any lyrics, and in fact has only passing references to song placement. Professor Marvel has not yet been introduced in Kansas, and the characters Sylvia, Kanelm (the human version of the Cowardly Lion) and Bulbo have important storylines, all of which were later deleted. This is likely Langley's third draft (his second is dated April 28, 1938 and his fourth May 14, 1938). Other writers were brought in concurrently with Langley during 1938; he shares final credit with Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allen Woolf.
The Margaret Herrick library at AMPAS has a photocopy of a draft bearing the May 4-6 date, but their copy is 150 pp.
Provenance: Serendipity Books (receipt laid in); the Richard Manney Collection.
A rare pre-production draft of the screenplay for one of the greatest movie musicals of all time. The success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs convinced MGM that a successful movie could be made from a children's classic, and thus producer Mervyn Le Roy dared to take on L. Frank Baum's beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The first screenwriter to take a crack at the story was Herman Mankiewicz; Le Roy was unsatisfied with Mank's draft, however, which split the film's time nearly evenly between Kansas and Oz. Playwright Noel Langley was brought in next, and the four drafts that Langley delivered between April and August of 1938 introduced the conceit that the farmhands and Miss Gulch characters are mirrored in Oz as well as the transition of the slippers from silver to ruby. This draft does not contain any lyrics, and in fact has only passing references to song placement. Professor Marvel has not yet been introduced in Kansas, and the characters Sylvia, Kanelm (the human version of the Cowardly Lion) and Bulbo have important storylines, all of which were later deleted. This is likely Langley's third draft (his second is dated April 28, 1938 and his fourth May 14, 1938). Other writers were brought in concurrently with Langley during 1938; he shares final credit with Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allen Woolf.
The Margaret Herrick library at AMPAS has a photocopy of a draft bearing the May 4-6 date, but their copy is 150 pp.
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