The Wizard of Oz premiered in Hollywood at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on this day, August 15, 1939.
Video | Judy Garland as Dorothy singing “Over the Rainbow”. It was composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and ranked first in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs and the Recording Industry Association of America's “365 Songs of the Century”.
► “Over the Rainbow” was nearly cut from the film; MGM felt that it made the Kansas sequence too long, as well as being too far over the heads of the children for whom it was intended. The studio also thought that it was degrading for Judy Garland to sing in a barnyard. A reprise of the song was cut: Dorothy sang it to remember Kansas while imprisoned in the Witch's castle. Garland began to cry, along with the crew, because the song was so sad.