# The Wizard of Oz on television in the late 60s/early 70s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524 "2018-11-14T21:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/21 "2018-11-15T13:41:34Z")
I don’t remember it being on two nights in a row. What I remember was that it was always shown on either Easter Sunday or Thanksgiving day. I remember specifically that our extended family would gather at somebody’s house for a party, and all us kids would be rounded up and “allowed” to watch Wizard of Oz on the TV in a back bedroom. And I didn’t realize until years later that this was just an excuse to get us kids occupied for several hours while the adults kicked back and got good & drunk! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/22 "2018-11-15T14:21:57Z")
I used to watch The Wizard of Oz on TV in the early 1960s (Not only was it the only time you could see it – it was one of the movies they showed in _color_. We had to go over my aun’t house to see it in color). I don’t recall it EVER being shown spread out over two nights. It ain’t long enough, not even when you have host segments at the commercials (with Dick van Dyke or Danny Kaye). Movies I do remember being split in two were: \*\*The Guns of Navarone The Great Escape Spartacus\*\* I don’t remember _West Side Story_ being in two parts – I’m pretty sure that ran in one night. and I don’t recall _The Ten Commamdnents_ ever being shown over two nights, despite its length. In fact, when I first saw Ten Commandments circa 1970 I had to go see it in a movie theater – it hadn’t been released to TV yet. That didn’t happen until the late 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/23 "2018-11-15T14:37:07Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I watched faithfully every year thru most of the 60’s (63-69, I suspect) but don’t recall it being split into two nights at any time during that era or any other. I probably watched it a time or two in the early 70’s but was certainly missing years here and there in that decade. I get the feeling you’re about my age, and if you grew up in WI then that about settles it. Wonder how my wife’s and my memories got scrambled. Maybe in the Berenstein Universe, it was split (and longer). > [@RTFirefly](#): > > My family didn’t watch much TV when I was growing up, and I don’t think we had a color TV until I was 16 or maybe older - maybe not until after I went off to college. > > So Oz was in B&W for us, just like Kansas was. Had no idea that Oz was in color, and Kansas wasn’t, until much later. My family didn’t have COLOR TV until after I moved out, but contrary to most, I thought the entire movie was in color. Why wouldn’t I? Everything else that was in color was all color. The opening credits said “Color by TECHNICOLOR”. I was more surprised that the Kansas scenes weren’t. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/24 "2018-11-15T15:12:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Movies I do remember being split in two were: > > \*\*The Guns of Navarone > > The Great Escape > > Spartacus\*\* > > I don’t recall _The Ten Commamdnents_ ever being shown over two nights, despite its length. I do. To the list, I’d also add _ **Cleopatra** _ and _ **Ben-Hur** _. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/25 "2018-11-15T15:28:25Z")
We watched it every year. It was a big event. I don’t recall what time of year it was. I remember it being hosted by an announcer. I don’t recall it ever being split over two nights. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/26 "2018-11-15T16:25:23Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#): > > Reminds me of seeing it in college in 1971. Just about everyone in the audience had taken some mind-altering substance or other, and their screams of terror at the tornado and witch, or oohs and aahs over the color, etc, were almost more entertaining than the movie. Imagine what if the movie were accompanied by Pink Floyd’s _Dark Side of the Moon_? ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/27 "2018-11-15T19:22:50Z")
Also shown over 2 nights: **Gone with the Wind The Godfather Superman** ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/28 "2018-11-15T20:02:27Z")
Huh, from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ten_Commandments_(1956_film)#Television_broadcast) it looks like _The Ten Commandments_ usually aired on a single evening. > [@](#): > > With the exception of 1999,[84] The Ten Commandments has been broadcast annually on the ABC network since 1973, traditionally during the Passover and Easter holidays. Since 2006 the network has typically aired The Ten Commandments on the Saturday night prior to Easter, with the broadcast starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones and 6:00 p.m. Central and Mountain. The film is the only pre-scheduled ABC Saturday Movie of the Week of the year. > > Unlike many lengthy films of the day, which were usually broken up into separate airings over at least two nights, ABC elected to show The Ten Commandments in one night and has done so every year it has carried the film, with one exception; in 1997, ABC elected to split the movie in two and aired half of it in its normal Easter Sunday slot… Also note that ABC started airing it in 1973. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/29 "2018-11-15T20:10:23Z")
Never on 2 nights, and always around Easter. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/30 "2018-11-15T20:14:40Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I don’t know about _TWoO_ being shown over two nights. That said, I remember \*Oz \*being shown around Thanksgiving, while some people swear it was shown around Easter. > > (Easter, personally, I always associate with \*The Ten Commandments, \* ecclesiastical dichotomies notwithstanding…) Had to be TG, because the only thing I liked about The Wiz was that the Rankin Bass specials were not far behind. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/31 "2018-11-15T20:50:47Z")
From the earliest airings through the 1960s, “Oz” played on CBS, originally sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and later around Easter. CBS often tried these lame wrap-arounds featuring some of their CBS stars. For a while there it was Dick Van Dyke and some kids, and then later Danny Kaye, who had a variety show on CBS at the time. NBC aquired the rights in the 1970s for a few years, and committed pure heresy by cutting the movie here and there, as someone mentioned. The cuts I remember were the prologue in the beginning (after the credits and before we see Dorothy and Toto running home), the Professor Marvel segment, at which a commercial always was aired after Marvel says “Poor little kid I hope she gets home all right.” They cut it before that, when Dorothy shouts “Goodbye Professor Marvel, and thanks.” What did they save there, about 15 seconds? Then right when she arrives in Munchkinland, and there’s a long pan shot, they cut about half of that and picked up when she says the line about not being in Kansas anymore. To make these cuts was stupid, as anyone who’d seen the film year after year saw them immediately and was pissed off, but I did think that they were made by someone who was probably ordered to do so, and who made them carefully. When CBS reaquired the rights, they put it back together just as it had been, and thankfully, dispensed with the lame wrap-arounds and just showed the movie. I never saw “Oz” in color until me and my girlfriend (also an Oz fan) went to see it at a local movie theatre, in what was called an “MGM Kids Matinee.” The funny thing is, the adults in the audience far outnumbered the kids! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/32 "2018-11-16T02:03:07Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > We didn’t get color until 1973 or so. Up to that time, the point where she opens the house door in Munchkinland was not so amazing. 😃 I think it must have been between 1970 and 1973. I know in 1969 the whole extended family went to my great aunt’s house for the moon landing because she was the one with a color TV. And in 1973 I graduated from high school, and I know we had one before then. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/33 "2018-11-16T17:19:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Another question about WoO. > > When I was a wee lad, in the days before VHS, we could only watch The Wizard of Oz once a year. > > I distinctly remember that in one, maybe two, years the movie was spread over two nights. I remember specifically, because I remember when it was shown on one night the next year. > > Considering it’s not even a two hour movie, I don’t know why it would be spread out. but, both my wife and I remember that happening, > > Interestingly Wikipedia has an article [dedicated just to TV show times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_on_television). It does not mention any two-day showings. > > Is this another case of the Bearnstein Bears alternate ending to Big, or is Wikipedia wrong (or incomplete)? Does anyone else remember split showings in the late 60s to early 70s? Your answer was always with you even though in all the adventure you didn’t remember it: TV guide. I have been looking on ebay for old tv guides for my region for awhile, and having some success. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/34 "2018-11-16T17:37:33Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Your answer was always with you even though in all the adventure you didn’t remember it: TV guide. > > I have been looking on ebay for old tv guides for my region for awhile, and having some success. I, unlike Homer Simpson, did not save all my old TV Guides. I wish I had. I’ve collected some over the years, but no where near enough. Because I have a second question about run time (UFO) that is probably equally hard to answer. But without a WI edition TV guide(s) from fall 1970, I don’t think I can answer. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/35 "2018-11-16T20:36:09Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I, unlike Homer Simpson, did not save all my old TV Guides. I wish I had. I’ve collected some over the years, but no where near enough. > > Because I have a second question about run time (UFO) that is probably equally hard to answer. But without a WI edition TV guide(s) from fall 1970, I don’t think I can answer. I didn’t save any either. You had only one wisconsin edition til 1973. I found a 1967 F troop cover for $23 just now. Wisc. is going to be harder, but you just have to watch. You can learn a lot from them including run times some times. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/36 "2018-11-16T20:48:53Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Also shown over 2 nights: > > **Gone with the Wind > The Godfather > Superman** A few others I remember being divided up (at least in their initial broadcast network airing): **Lawrence of Arabia Dr. Zhivago The Greatest Story Ever Told Giant Bridge on the River Kwai A Bridge Too Far** ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524/37 "2018-11-16T23:08:30Z")
Add Ben Hur, Spartacus and Cleopatra to the list. I would sometimes skip the first night of Bridge on the River Kwai, but never the second night since that’s where all the action occurred. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wizard-of-oz-on-television-in-the-late-60s-early-70s/824524.md?page=1)