# Wizard of Oz **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 25, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206 "2004-06-25T17:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/21 "2004-06-28T22:59:42Z")
Just remember: “Oz didn’t give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have.” ---
**Author:** ![tinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@tinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tinman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/22 "2004-06-29T00:13:00Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Just remember: > “Oz didn’t give nothing to the Tin Man > that he didn’t already have.” 10/4 on that last post! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/23 "2004-06-29T07:52:23Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > . > > B) In the _real_ script (and the movie), the Winkie Guards are not singing any real words at all. Like I said- in the Hollywood library they had someones copy of an original script, complete with things penciled in the margins, last minute changes and the like. There I read “Oh we love- no one” (and I don’t remember if it was printed or written in over the music). True- perhaps that was something that was deleted before filming or even added just before filming- I don’t know. In any case, if you sing those words along with the witch guard song, they match perfectly. Absent one of the cast or crew chiming in- that original document stands. I do not know if it was destroyed in the fire. Someone in LA can call or drive over and find out, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![tinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@tinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tinman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/24 "2004-06-29T14:05:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Like I said- in the Hollywood library they had someones copy of an original script, complete with things penciled in the margins, last minute changes and the like. There I read “Oh we love- no one” (and I don’t remember if it was printed or written in over the music). True- perhaps that was something that was deleted before filming or even added just before filming- I don’t know. In any case, if you sing those words along with the witch guard song, they match perfectly. > > Absent one of the cast or crew chiming in- that original document stands. I do not know if it was destroyed in the fire. Someone in LA can call or drive over and find out, maybe? Where were you on the night of the “fire”? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/25 "2004-06-29T14:42:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Like I said- in the Hollywood library they had someones copy of an original script, complete with things penciled in the margins, last minute changes and the like. There I read “Oh we love- no one” (and I don’t remember if it was printed or written in over the music). True- perhaps that was something that was deleted before filming or even added just before filming- I don’t know. In any case, if you sing those words along with the witch guard song, they match perfectly. > > Absent one of the cast or crew chiming in- that original document stands. I do not know if it was destroyed in the fire. Someone in LA can call or drive over and find out, maybe? Which was it? A script, or music? In any case, this can prove only that someone, at some time in the last 65 years, penciled in some words on one copy. It doesn’t change the fact that no-one from the production ever reported any such words, that no surviving copy of the script has any such words, nor the fact that the published screenplay says, “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” nor the fact that “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” is what can be plainly heard on the soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/26 "2004-06-30T07:22:31Z")
I hear “Oh we love no one” when I watch the film. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/27 "2004-06-30T08:14:58Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > . It doesn’t change the fact that no-one from the production ever reported any such words, that no surviving copy of the script has any such words, nor the fact that the published screenplay says, How many copies of the original script have you seen? And, so far, no one has posted a link to any screenplay that says anything about the words. Note- there are also different screenplays, and we’re talking only about the original screenplay for the 1939 film- not the 1925 film, or any of some 20 other versions- not counting stage versions. Tinmans link is not authoritive, just a question and an answer, without any cites or authorities. I have an authority- I saw the words myself- on something actually used during the filming of the 1939 film. Really truely used right there on the set. I don’t remember whose it was, I admit, that was a long time ago. Iadmit that it is possible that the owner wrote those words in himself- based upon what he thought they should sound like or did sound like. But still- no one has anything better. Incidentally- I looked it up becuase two of my freinds (one an OZ “expert”) insisted it was “oreo…” (like the cookie). I brought them a note signed by the Librarian saying that we had found that historical document, and that it said “oh we love- no one”. I lived in Hollywood at the time (70’s), and went to that Library a lot. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/28 "2004-06-30T13:45:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I hear “Oh we love no one” when I watch the film. Then that’s wishful thinking on your part. As anyone can hear at the link from [here](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6396/ozsounds.htm), the third and fifth syllables, though at tad rounded, are broad _a_ and the _y-_ glide at the beginning of the fourth syllable is unmistakable. > [@DrDeth](#): > > How many copies of the original script have you seen? None, myself, but I’m an active member of the International Wizard of Oz Club, and am personally acquainted with several people who have written entire books about the making of the 1939 movie (John Fricke being one), who have spent years trolling through archives and interviewing survivors. > [@DrDeth](#): > > And, so far, no one has posted a link to any screenplay that says anything about the words. Not surprising, since the screenplay is still copyright and has no business being on the web. However, it was published in book form in 1989, and, though no longer in print, it is still readily available. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Note- there are also different screenplays, and we’re talking only about the original screenplay for the 1939 film- not the 1925 film, or any of some 20 other versions- not counting stage versions. That is not entirely correct, as there have been stage productions that used the screenplay and score of the 1939 movie as their direct source. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Tinmans link is not authoritive, just a question and an answer, without any cites or authorities. I have an authority- I saw the words myself- on something actually used during the filming of the 1939 film. “Something” is indeed the word, given that you can’t even remember what it was. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/29 "2004-07-01T00:39:55Z")
So- I am not using the right technical terms. That certainly makes me incorrect. :rolleyes: Hey- all you have to do is make contact with the Hollywood branch Library. Ask if they had such a document, and if it is still extant. Then see if they’ll check that page for you. You- being such an OZ expert- will then recognize the persons name (which I can’t remember- it was some 30 years ago!). You might them be able to tell whether that was a guess on their part, or perhaps even something they changed (one way or the other) at the last minute. Such changes are common and don’t always make it into later published versions. I read it- the original document with “while it was being filmed” handwritten notes and all. You didn’t. I listened over & over to that snip. I agree that it could well be nonsense words. or- “oh we love no one” or even “oh we loath (the) old one” (but there is NO “the” for sure). It is possible that they aren’t all singing the exact same 'words" even though they are clearly using the same cadence. But I certainly don’t hear “yah” or even “ah”. Into nonsense I hear “oh we yeo - yeo woe” or perhaps the last is “um” or “one”. I admit that it thus sounds a bit more like “oh we owe- no one” if words had to be fit to it. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/30 "2004-07-01T03:28:56Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > Then that’s wishful thinking on your part. As anyone can hear at the link from [here](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6396/ozsounds.htm), the third and fifth syllables, though at tad rounded, are broad _a_ and the _y-_ glide at the beginning of the fourth syllable is unmistakable. I have to agree. Listening to that, I definitely here something VERY much like “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” If it was supposed to be “Oh we love no one”, then the sound editor changed it. Hmm…it just occurred to me that they may have changed it into nonsense words so that it could more easily be presented in foreign countries. If it was “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!”, no need to change it for a French audience. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/31 "2004-07-06T03:15:44Z")
I believe I read somewhere years ago that the chant is “All we owe, we owe to her,” meaning the wicked witch. Anyone know anything about this? It makes far more sense than the other options IMHO. - Crandolph ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/32 "2004-07-06T03:20:12Z")
… and come to think of it, there’s an ironic, sardonic double meaning in “All we owe, we owe to her” akin to the waiters singing that they’ll give Capt. Spaulding “what he deserves” at the beginning of Animal Crackers! - Crandolph ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206/33 "2004-07-06T14:19:40Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > I have to agree. Listening to that, I definitely here something VERY much like “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” If it was supposed to be “Oh we love no one”, then the sound editor changed it. Hmm…it just occurred to me that they may have changed it into nonsense words so that it could more easily be presented in foreign countries. If it was “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!”, no need to change it for a French audience. You forgot to mention the roles played by the Illuminati and the Trilateral Commission. If you play it backwards, you’ll plainly hear “Paul never went to the moon. Satan is groovy.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz/252206.md?page=1)