10 Bizarre And Shocking Things That Happened On Film & TV Sets

In 1939, health and safety in the workplace was not always taken as seriously as it is today. The general attitude tended to be that you can’t make an omelette without setting fire to the Wicked Witch of the West and causing your Tin Man to ingest toxic chemicals. So many hazardous events occurred on the set on The Wizard of Oz that it’s surprising that any of the cast survived the experience.

In one scene, actress Margaret Hamilton is supposed to disappear in a puff of smoke. However, the pyrotechnics team started the fire before Hamilton had time to exit the stage. As a result, her face and hand were scalded and the eyelashes and eyebrow on one side of her face were completely burned off. Soon after, Hamilton's double Betty Danko filmed a similar scene and was set alight too, leading to an 11-day-long hospital stay.

Buddy Ebsen, who was originally cast as the Tin Man, also suffered health issues on set. For the role, he wore aluminium-based makeup, to which he had a severe reaction. He experienced extreme pain and infection, his skin turned blue and he was eventually placed in an oxygen tent due to respiratory failure. Instead of reacting with concern, the heads of MGM decided that he was faking the illness and eventually replaced him with Jack Haley.

Furthermore, according to a questionable urban legend, a Munchkin can be seen hanging during the Tin Woodsman sequence. The studio insisted that the footage is not of a Munchkin suicide but the shadow of a large bird. Still, the controversy surrounding the image prompted MGM to edit the scene in the film’s re-released version.