WICKED Brews at Broward Center-Respects to Margaret Hamilton

As WICKED is about to bubble, bubble, toil and trouble over South Florida, it seems appropriate to reflect on some sources that led WICKED to become a 21^st Century phenomenon.

The novel, WICKED by Gregory Maguire and its sequel, SON OF A WITCH, would likely not exist were it not for the 1939 M.G.M. film musical THE WIZARD OF OZ. Of course, the classic Judy Garland film was based on the writings of L. Frank Baum. However, it is a certainty that it is not any of Mr. Baum's books that keep Oz in the hearts and minds of generations of us mere earthlings. It is the 1939 film. That film is as much a part of our lives as Thanksgiving Dinner and death and taxes. The 1939 film, for millions of us, gives us our first true taste of a fantasy world and a frightening world. A world where we can find good vs. evil.

The WIZARD film has had millions of words written about it and dozens of books detailing its genesis. If memory serves me correctly, at least 3 directors worked on THE WIZARD OF OZ. George Cukor, perhaps one of the five greatest directors of film the world has known, was the one to remind Judy Garland that she was always to play the part as an innocent Kansas farm girl. He also threw away footage of Dorothy with blonde hair and allowed more of Judy Garland's real look to become the image of Dorothy Gale. Victor Fleming is credited as director for the film and in fact won the Best Director Oscar for 1939. Not for THE WIZARD OF OZ, however. Mr. Fleming won his directing Oscar that year for GONE WITH THE WIND. After Mr. Fleming left the Oz soundstage (things were done oddly in those days, weren't they?) I believe it was the director King Vidor who finished the directorial chores, including filming the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sequence.

Judy Garland received a special juvenile Oscar for THE WIZARD OF OZ. Unlike many of Ms. Garland's possessions, that Oscar still survives in her family. Her daughter Lorna Luft, has her mother's Oscar securely locked away in a safe. The ruby slippers may have been sold out from under the legendary Garland's feet. But, it is nice to know that her Oscar is with her family.

WICKED is a descendant of the film THE WIZARD OF OZ and the producers are keenly aware of that, based on their advertising campaign for the musical. As the movie tells us, "Wizard" is a story for the young and the young at heart. The film is a part of the fabric of life in America. So is the performance of Judy Garland as Dorothy (not to mention the wonderful screen gems given us by Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Frank Morgan.) Then again, so is the performance of Margaret Hamilton as Miss Gulch and as The Wicked Witch of the West.

In 1939, the Oscar for best supporting actress went to Hattie McDaniel for GONE WITH THE WIND (the first ever black person to win an Oscar.) For millions of us, Margaret Hamilton in THE WIZARD OF OZ defined, forever, how a wicked witch looks and how she behaves. Her performance in the film is etched in our souls as surely as there are presidents etched on Mt. Rushmore.

WICKED owes special thanks, perhaps its very being, to Ms. Hamilton. Wouldn't it have been marvelous if Idina Menzel had thanked Margaret Hamilton when Menzel won her Tony for playing the Wicked Witch? It would have been a touching and very appropriate thing to do.

Margaret Hamilton made her Broadway debut in ANOTHER LANGUAGE in 1932. Her final Broadway stint was in a revival of OUR TOWN in 1969. She made dozens of films, hundreds of television appearances and appeared in Maxwellhouse coffee commercials for many years. But, it is the witch, the Wicked Witch of the West, that will for always and forever belong to Margaret Hamilton.

Margaret Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, the youngest of four children and obtained her teaching certificate in 1923 from the Wheelock Kindergarten Training School in Boston.

On June 13, 1931, Margaret Hamilton married Paul Boynton Meserve, a landscape architect. Together they had one son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve. The marriage ended in divorce in 1938 and Margaret raised her son alone in California.

For nearly fifteen years, Margaret Hamilton lived in Los Angeles, California before establishing permanent residence in New York City in 1951. Wherever her home was, she regularly traveled back and forth between coasts to perform in both movies and the theatre and later in television.

Among her other accomplishments, Margaret Hamilton was an honorary trustee of the Cleveland PlayHouse and was the recipient in 1977 of the Governor's Award of the State of Ohio. She was also a member of the Veterans Hospital Radio and TV Guild. She would visit hospitals to work with disabled veterans interested in the theatre and broadcasting.

Margaret Hamilton's performances included some seventy-five movies, at least as many stage plays, countless radio and television dramas, and commercials.

Margaret Hamilton had already played in some twenty-five films before she accepted the role of Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz". Margaret Hamilton once said this about her role as the Wicked Witch, "I don't look on it as any great shakes of acting," she explained to Al Cohn in an interview for Newsday (March 19, 1978). "It's not subtle or restrained. It isn't any of the things you like to think might apply to your acting."

Some other memorable films that Margaret Hamilton appeared in after "The Wizard of Oz" included: "My Little Chickadee", "The Oxbow Incident", "Guest in the House","George White's Scandals", "State of the Union", "The Red Pony", "The Beautiful Blonde", "Bashful Bend", "13 Ghosts" and "Brewster McCloud."

One of Margaret Hamilton's assets as a character actress has been her distinctive nose, whose bump she inherited from her father.

Margaret Hamilton once told Robert C. Roman in an interview for After Dark Magazine that The Wizard of Oz keeps coming back every year "because it's such a beautiful film. I don't think any of us knew how lovely it was at first. But, after a while, we all began to feel it coming together--and knew we had something. I can watch it again and again and remember wonderful Judy, Bert, Ray, Jack, Billie, Frank and how wonderful they all were. The scene that always gets to me, though, and I think it's one of the most appealing scenes I've ever seen, is the one where the Wizard gives the gifts to them at the end. Frank [Morgan] was just like that as a person. And every time I see him do it, the tears come to my eyes. I listen to the words. I think of Frank, and I know how much he meant what he said, and how much the words themselves mean."

Margaret Hamilton's role as the Wicked Witch of the West is loved by millions of Oz fans. As a result, she was frequently called upon to reflect on her experiences in MGM's classic film. Two such examples are introductions that Margaret wrote for the following books: "The Wizard of Oz" by L.Frank Baum, beautifully illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt, published by The Unicorn Publishing House in 1985 just before her death. And, the 1977 edition of "The Making of The Wizard of Oz" by Aljean Harmetz.

Margaret Hamilton's enormous stage and screen presence far outweighed her physical stature as she stood only five feet tall and weighed only 115 pounds.

Margaret Hamilton died May 16, 1985 from a heart attack in a nursing home in Salisbury, Connecticut.