The Wizard Of Oz premiered in 1939 which proves that this movie is timeless. And even all the ‘superfans’ of this classic probably didn’t know these 7 facts… until now.

1. Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” barely made it into the film.

Director Victor Fleming thought it should be cut “because it’s too long and it’s too difficult.” The song writers convinced MGM to put it back in. But then another director, one of the five who worked on the film, cut it back out. In the end, Arlen and Harburg convinced MGM to insert the song back into the final release. Whew!

2. Director Victor Fleming slapped Judy Garland when she wouldn’t stop giggling. Then she kissed him.

Victor Fleming wrote this about the incident: “When [Judy] Garland couldn’t stop breaking into giggles at the pseudo-menacing advance of [Bert] Lahr’s Cowardly Lion, Fleming escorted her off the Yellow Brick Road, said, ‘Now darling, this is serious,’ slapped her on the cheek, then ordered, ‘Now go in there and work.’”

Fleming felt terrible about slapping Judy Garland and started saying that somebody on the crew should punch him. Garland overheard this and said, “I won’t do that, but I’ll kiss your nose.” And she did.

3. Lead actors were physically scarred due to special effects used in the film.

The Wicked Witch of the West actress received severe burns on both her face and hands on her exit scene from Munchkinland. The Scarecrow actor ended up having “permanent” lines on his face due to the intense rubber mask that was glued to his face. The actor who was supposed to play the Tin Man was hospitalized for two weeks after his lungs failed from the aluminum dust on the costume.

4. The green makeup was so toxic that Margaret Hamilton wasn’t allowed to handle food and had to be specially fed.

The makeup put on her was copper-based and therefore could be toxic if ingested. Her makeup person explained: “…green is toxic because it’s made with copper. Every night when I was taking off the Witch’s makeup, I would make sure that her face was thoroughly clean. Spotlessly clean. Because you don’t take chances with green.”

5. The Tin Man’s “oil” was chocolate sauce and the horses were covered in JELL-O.

The Tin Man actor explained: “The oil Ray Bolger squirted at me, to loosen up my joints, was not oil but chocolate syrup. They squirted chocolate in my face, because the oil wouldn’t photograph right, but chocolate will.”

The horse that kept changing colors was actually played by four horses. Each were covered in lemon, cherry or grape powdered gelatin.

6. Professor Marvel’s jacket was bought from a thrift store. In the most insane coincidence ever, the jacket used to belong to L. Frank Baum, the author of the original novel.

7. “The Wizard of Oz” is the most watched film of ALL TIME.

According to the Library of Congress.