On 3 November 1956 āThe Wizard of Ozā was first shown on television. It was a great success and when it was broadcast again a year later, in December 1959, it gained an even larger television audience, becoming perhaps the most famous film to be shown regularly on U.S. television, and one of the most loved.
āThe Wizard of Ozā is a 1939 musical film about a young girl, Dorothy Gale, and her dog Toto who are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz. On their long journey toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, who might help them, they are joined by three unusual companions: a Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Tin Man who longs for a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who seeks courage. They face many trials on their quest, and Dorothy learns that to attain her goals, she must first believe in herself and be able to express her inner strength.
“Over the Rainbow” (often referred to as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”) was written for the film and sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy.
It won an Oscar in 1939 for Best Original Song and became Garland’s signature song. She performed it for the next thirty years, until her death in 1969, without altering it, singing exactly as she did for the movie.
The song appears early in the film, when Dorothy is longing to escape her dreary life and looking for a better place (the song is also a reflection of lyricist, Yip Harburgās social conscience and activism), Her frail and trembling voice embodied both the fragility of hope in dark times, and the yearning that something good will eventually happen.
Over the Rainbow
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow, why, then oh why can’t I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can’t I?
Il 3 novembre 1956 “Il mago di Oz” fu trasmesso per la prima volta in televisione. Fu un grande successo e quando tornĆ² in onda un anno dopo, nel dicembre 1959, guadagnĆ² un pubblico televisivo ancora piĆ¹ vasto, diventando forse il film piĆ¹ famoso trasmesso regolarmente dalla televisione statunitense, e uno dei piĆ¹ amati.
“Il mago di Oz” ĆØ un film musicale del 1939 che parla di una ragazzina, Dorothy Gale, e del suo cane Toto che vengono spazzati via da un tornado dalla loro fattoria del Kansas alla magica Terra di Oz. Nel loro lungo viaggio verso la CittĆ di Smeraldo per incontrare il Mago, che potrebbe aiutarli, vengono raggiunti da tre insoliti compagni: uno Spaventapasseri che vuole un cervello, un Uomo di latta che desidera un cuore e un Leone Codardo che cerca coraggio. Sono molte le prove che devono affrontare nella loro ricerca e Dorothy impara che per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi, deve prima credere in se stessa ed essere in grado di esprimere la sua forza interiore.
La canzone “Over the Rainbow” (spesso indicato come “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”) fu scritta appositamente per il film e cantata dall’attrice Judy Garland nel suo ruolo di protagonista. Vinse un Oscar nel 1939 per migliore canzone originale e diventĆ² il cavallo di battaglia della Garland. La eseguƬ per i successivi trent’anni, fino alla morte nel 1969, senza alterazioni, cantando esattamente come nel film,
La canzone appare all’inizio del musical, quando Dorothy desidera fuggire dalla sua squallida vita in cerca di un posto migliore (la canzone ĆØ anche una riflessione sociale del paroliere, Yip Harburg). La voce fragile e tremante della cantante incarnava sia la fragilitĆ della speranza in tempi bui, sia il desiderio che alla fine possa accadere qualcosa di buono.
Da qualche parte oltre l’arcobaleno, molto in alto
c’ĆØ una terra di cui ho sentito parlare, una volta, in una ninna nanna
Da qualche parte oltre l’arcobaleno, i cieli sono blu
e i sogni che osi fare si avverano davvero
Un giorno esprimerĆ² un desiderio su una stella cadente
e mi sveglierĆ² dove le nuvole sono lontane dietro di me
dove i problemi si sciolgono come caramelle al limone al di sopra dei comignoli.
Ć lƬ che mi troverai
Da qualche parte oltre l’arcobaleno, volano uccelli blu
e se li uccelli volano sopra l’arcobaleno, perchĆ©, allora perchĆ© non posso farlo io?
Se i felici uccellini blu volano oltre l’arcobaleno
PerchƩ, oh perchƩ non posso farlo io?
Bellissimo, un pezzo della mia infanzia š
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Un film che rimane sempre piacevole e una canzone davvero bella šš§āāļøš
Buona giornata, Alessandro
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Impossibile non cantare …
GRAZIE Luisa!
Tra l’altro da quando ho visto Australia, per me ĆØ come se esistesse solo la versione Nicole Kidman š
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Grazie, Claudia cara. L’ho appena trovata. Eccola
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Io mi sono innamorata di questo film.
Va detto che Buz Luhrmann mi piace moltissimo!
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š¹šš¹šš¹
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It’s still magic āØš
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Undeniably š¦š¶š¦š¶š¦
Thanks for your visit!
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Wonderful job, Luisa. I have seen other authors use that song as a metaphor in their books.
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I think it’s universal and timeless, and reflects something universally relatable.
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Absolutely. ššš
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It’s not really a movie I ever particularly thought significant, but by accident I recently saw a technical analysis of it, you know, broken down into building blocks, and it was far more complex than I ever imagined. Star Wars was another movie like that.
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I think the analysis you talk about is really interestingšļøšļøšļø
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Yes, fascinating. They would spoil the enjoyment of a movie, but probably allow us to construct another story, details different but the same overall formula.
This whole “meta” process which sits above the actual writing is so interesting.
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Thatās just what I was thinking.
Thank you for sharing this interesting information
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Funnily enough was just watching this at lunchtime, she briefly mentions WoO, but enough to see how it boils down into various subplots. This whole series is interesting.
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Thank you again ā£ļø
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The title rings a familiar bell.š
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Does it?!?
Thanks a lot, Eunice
Have a wonderful day ahead.
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Such a beautiful story and song. Eva Cassidy has recorded a wonderful version of Over The Rainbow. Self-belief is one of the themes in my novel āThree Days to Darknessā. Another great post, Luisa. Such a joy to read them daily.
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David, Iām very appreciative and grateful for your wonderful thoughts- thank you!
… and thank you so much for mentioning Eva Cassidy’s version
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I heard about this movie but I’ve never watched it. I really should since there’s a lot of references about the movie in the TV shows etc. And people quote it from time to time.
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Here’s for you the original trailer:
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Siiiiiiiiiiii che bello
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šš§āāļøš¶š
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Bellissimo il film e dolcissima la canzone. Hai ragione aluisa, ĆØ proprio una bella riflessione alla vita ĆØ alla speranza. Come sempre grazie delle tue chicche. Buon pimeriggio š„°
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Buon pomeriggio, e grazie per il messaggio
PS Stai facendo pulizie???
Qui mi dice “casalingasemprefelice.wordpress.com is no longer available.
The authors have deleted this site.”
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Si Luusa ho cambiato adesso sono nemesys, cambiato no e, avatar, colore del blog insomma, i ero stancata, adesso vediamo quanto durerĆ con questo, sono un pĆ² irrequieta š beh, con l’altro ho durato circa un anno e mezzo ĆØ andata bene, alla grande proprio!!!
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Ma che bello! Io ho una gran paura che, se mi metto a cambiare qualcosa, mi possa sparire tutto…. allora ĆØ da sei anni che resta tutto tale e quale
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Guarda dovessi dirti non ci capisco molto neppure io, dalla mia parte ho il dominio che non so come sono riuscita a trasferire l’intero blog su nemesys dovessi spiegarti come ho fatto non saprei, ieri sera ho scaricato tanto che alla fine ci sono riuscita!!!
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Io non ho nessun dominio, solo questo blog su WordPress, org
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Allora dovrebbe essere ancora piĆ¹ semplice dal pannello manager quello nero sulla destra alla voce aspetto accedi al sottomenĆ¹ personalizzato e da lƬ puoi cambiare le immagini, la disposizione delle pagine, il colore del template. Comunque se vuoi una di queste sere mi chiami sulla chat dell’altro eocial e cerco di guidarti senza che cambi nulla solo per comprendere come devi muiverti. Vedi tu io sono disponibile se riesco a darti una mano ben volentieri per quel poco che so. š
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Grazie di cuore!
Ti mando un forte abbraccio ššš
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Ascoltare questa canzone ĆØ come volare sulle ali della musica! Ci si sente trasportati lontano, forse nel luogo dove ognuno di noi vorrebbe andare! Grazie per questo bel sogno!!! š
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Che bel pensiero: il viaggio magico sulle ali di quella canzone non poteva essere descritto in modo piĆ¹ magistrale š¶šš¶šš¶
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An unforgettable movie. š¤ššš
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Couldnāt agree more š¹š¹š¹
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Un bellissimo film con una bravissima attrice come Judy Garland. š.
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Vero!
Buona serata š¹
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Altrettanto a te cara Luisa, š¤.
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I love how legendary that movie is! I always feel sad when I think about Judy Garland’s life though. I bet a lot of people do too
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Thatās exactly how I feel: her life was tragic
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Bellissimo post, un delle canzoni piĆ¹ belle in assoluto, buon pomeriggio š
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Grazie, Silvia cara… e buona serata ššš
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She should sing about bimetallism and monetary policy, as the novel was written about.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz?wprov=sfla1
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I appreciate your great help! šš¹š
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You are so right: some say it is the allegory of the eraās political conflict over bimetallism.
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Buona serata cara Luisa š
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ššš
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You’ve made me nostalgic for Judy Garland movies. She always shined on the big screen!
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I agree with you
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on that great actress, Priscilla
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Mi piace molto! šš
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Anche a me! Sempre bello da rivedere š¹š¹š¹
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I have always loved the fabulous lines spoken by the actors. The Scarecrow has some real classics!
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I fully endorse your opinion
Thank you very much for your lovely message
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Personally, at least for me, the theatrical “Wicked” by far surpassed the beauty and genius of its earlier predecessor. As a musical “Wicked” packs a far greater punch; the story of how the witch became a witch,,,, far more interesting than an old hag riding a bike as the famous expression and definition of “bitch”.
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fantastica!!!!! Indimenticabile ā¤
Buonanotte mia cara Luisa š
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Sempre molto bellaššš
Buona giornata a te
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A memorable movie and a song thats still sung and a favorite to this day š
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Many thanks, Daphny
I appreciate your reflection on the film and the song
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Questo film mi fa tornare alla mia infanzia, mia zia mi fece vedere questo film e me ne innamorai.
Grazie ā¤
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… ed ĆØ sempre piacevole da rivedere ā£ļøā£ļøā£ļø
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Bellissimo film e stupenda la canzone
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Grazie, Marisa, e buona serata
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ammetto: mai visto il mago di oz e mai sentito la canzone. Sono forse l’unico š
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Non l’unico, ma uno dei pochi šŗššŗ
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acc! speravo di essere l’unico š
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šššŗ
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I was talking about this film with my granddaughter just the other day. I was surprised that she had never seen it! (She’s ten.) I found it on Amazon, and our next “movie night” I’m going to enlighten her about that classic. š
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What a beautiful idea! I think she will like it very muchšŗšŗšŗ
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Ć buffo che i giovani non conoscano nĆ© il film nella canzone perchĆ© se qualcosa di bello hanno le programmazioni estive ĆØ proprio quella di trasmettere questi meravigliosi vecchi film.
Mia mamma era Stonata come una campana eppure ottima pianista suonava over the Rainbow.
Grazie luisa un abbraccio e buon fine settimanaā¤š»š¶
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Che bel ricordo: grazie per averlo condiviso con noi
Buon pomeriggio, Shera carissimaššššš
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ā¤š»š¶
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PS. Ho scritto “noi” non perchĆ© mi consideri cosƬ importante da poter usare il plurale maiestatis, ma perchĆ© alcuni amici leggono e interagiscono anche nei commenti –> allora qui da me siamo “noi” ā£ļøā£ļøā£ļøā£ļøā£ļø
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Mi era ovvio tra ‘ noi’ non credo ci siano questi fraintendimenti. Dolce notte Lu’ā£
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ššš
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Joseph Campbellās theory of the heroesā journey as a diagram for stories uses The Wizard of Oz as one example. It may be what one of your readers is referring to above. Campbellās work is used extensively in movies, books, scripts, and short stories.
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Really? I didn’t know Campbell also used this story as an example, but I have to say it fits perfectlyššš
Thank you so much for this precious comment
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I watched the first airing on TV in 1956. I remember the flying monkeys were terrifying. Five years ago in Italy, I put on the DVD to occupy a friend’s grandchildren. My friend (80 years old at the time) was drawn to the film even more than the kids. He remarked, “Madonna, scimmie che volano?” š
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You’re right, Allen. I watched that episode again and I confess it’s a bit disturbing
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“Lions, tigers and bears…”
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ššš
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[…] The Wizard of Oz š§āāļø […]
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Thank you so much šŗššŗ
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One of my very favorites – both the movie and the song. What a world, what a world…
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ā£ļøšš¹šš¹šā£ļø
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A parte avere un amore sconfinato per i musical, ma Il Mago di Oz trovo sia davvero un capolavoro. š¹
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Mi fa davvero piacere sapere che anche tu lo ami molto! āØāØāØ
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Hi Luisa. The wizard of oz is a big favorite and the hidden psychological interpretations and literary allegories are fascinating too.
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Thank you so much for your valued comment
Have a lovely weekend!
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[…] 1981.He was a song lyricist and librettist, most famous for his lyrics for āThe Wizard of Ozā (see here), including those of “Over the […]
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