Just wanted to share what I thought was a really neat old advertisement for The Wizard of Oz that I spotted today while listing issues of The American Magazine. This full-page color ad appeared on page 9 of the September 1939 issue of the American –
Following is the text from the ad:
Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Oz
Music to make you sing … laughter to make you happier than you have been in years … the story beloved by the young-in-heart of all ages now comes to the screens of the world, peopled with the brightest stars of stage and screen. It’s M-G-M’s most magnificent achievement, requiring 9200 actors, nearly all of the 29 sound stages, 65 sets and the brain and brawn of 165 separate arts and crafts … to bring you 100 minutes of scintillating entertainment.
Whirl from the workaday world on a rushing tornado with Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto! Speed to the land of Oz! Revel in Munchkin-land, greet the beloved White Witch (Billie Burke)–don magic red slippers for adventure and laughter!
Join the scarecrow (Ray Bolger) who seeks a brain, the Tin Man (Jack Haley) who begs for a heart, the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) who needs courage. Emerald City and the Wizard (Frank Morgan) are just beyond!
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Production
The Wizard of Oz
In Glorious Technicolor
I do recall having seen this ad before, so it’s not unique to the American, though it may be unique to the September 1939 time period. In this case the price of the magazine is already driven up by the presence of a Nero Wolfe story by Rex Stout, but I was still pleasantly surprised to turn the page and have the blazing colors of this Wizard of Oz ad greet me!
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