The world of memes has become synonymous with the internet culture of today. Memes have the ability to entertain, connect and convey messages in a way that is simple yet impactful. One particular meme that has gained popularity over the years is the "It's Magic" meme. The "It's Magic" meme originated from a popular video clip featuring the magician David Blaine. In the video, Blaine performs a card trick, and when asked how he did it, he simply responds, "It's magic". This nonchalant and humorous response has been widely circulated and turned into a meme.

The Heart-Melting Magic of The Wizard of Oz

Frank L. Baum’s book, published in 1900, was a smash, generating scores of sequels and a traveling show. In 1910 the first movie version of the story appeared, and another in 1925. Stage adaptations have included The Wiz, a black-cast Broadway musical, filmed in 1978 with Diana Ross as Dorothy, and Wicked, a revisionist tribute to the Wicked Witch of the West that has been enthralling audiences for a decade.

Yet when most people hear The Wizard of Oz, their minds and hearts leap directly to the 1939 MGM film starring Judy Garland. Multiple generations, from toddler to centenarian, know the film’s dialogue by heart. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore;” “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too;” and “There’s no place like home” were all included on the American Film Institute’s list of Top 100 movie quotes. Harold Arlen and E.Y. (Yip) Harburg’s songs have permanently nestled in every fan’s internal juke box. We all sing “Over the Rainbow” to ourselves, but also: In England, when former prime minister Margaret Thatcher died in April 2013, her political detractors waged a campaign to propel “Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead” to No. 2 on the British music charts.

In its day The Wizard of Oz was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two, for Original Score and Original Song (yes, “Over the Rainbow.”) But what film needs Oscars when its award shelf keeps filling decades after its original release. For instance: a People magazine poll of the century’s favorite movies rated The Wizard of Oz as No. 1, tied with The Godfather.

Dorothy may never escape Kansas, but moviegoers can always return to Oz. Of all the estimable movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, it is the one that has never gone out of fashion. Modern viewers, whose main complaints about old movies are that they are too dark and too slow, needn’t adjust their eyes and clocks to The Wizard of Oz. Once Dorothy alights in Munchkinland, the film bursts into riotous color and zips along like a Pixar cartoon epic—but with the very best songs. Timeless then, it is timeless now. Ask yourself: Who isn’t eager, at any moment, to soar with Dorothy over the rainbow and into the merry land of Oz. —from an essay by Richard Corliss. in LIFE’s special edition on The Wizard of Oz

Cover image from MGM/Photofest

LIFE’s special issue on The Wizard of Oz takes a long walk down the yellow brick road, with inside stories about the making the casting and making of an iconic movie, the magical film year of 1939, and the many other adaptations of Frank L. Baum’s beloved book, including the not-so-beloved 1925 film shown below.

One of the earlier screen adaptations of Frank L. Baum’s book was this 1925 silent version in which Larry Semon (above right) directed, wrote and played the role of the Scarecrow— and gave himself top billing over both Dorothy (left, played by Dorothy Dwan) and Oliver Hardy’s Tin Man. The film, with its silly slapstick and racial stereotyping, is unwatchable today, and it left plenty of room for someone else to make a better version.

The music is of course as invaluable to the appeal of the Wizard of Oz as any other element, with “Over the Rainbow” being an undisputed high point of American cinematic song. Here Bert Lahr ((far right), Ray Bolger (back row, right), Judy Garland (1922—1969) (sitting, right), composer Harold Arlen (1905—1986) (sitting left), and various MGM and music publishing executives sing songs from the film in the NBC radio studio.

While it is now impossible to imagine any other actors in the film’s iconic roles, the casting process had its twists and turns. For instance, the movie began shooting with Buddy Ebsen playing the Tin Man, but he had to be replaced after he was hospitalized for two weeks because a severe allergic reaction to the aluminum dust in the Tin Man’s makeup. While Ebsen recovered and earned enduring fame as Jed Clampett on TV’s The Beverly Hillbillies, Jack Haley took over as the Tin Man. The role of the Wicked Witch of the West was originally offered to Gale Sondergaard (above). But Sondergaard, who won an Oscar for her film debut performance in 1936’s Anthony Adverse, backed out after she saw herself in the makeup, fearing that the hideousness would derail her career. Sondergaard’s did earn another Oscar nomination for Anna and The King of Siam in 1946. Meanwhile, Margaret Hamilton donned the black pointed hat and green makeup, and she rode that broomstick to pop-culture immortality.

Other casting options included W.C. Fields, who was offered the role of The Wizard but asked for too much money, so MGM turned to contract player Frank Morgan. For Dorothy, some at MGM preferred Shirley Temple to Judy Garland. Ray Bolger was an original candidate for the Tin Man, but asked to be switched to the Scarecrow, stating, “I’m not a tin performer, I’m fluid.” Right he was. The Lion endured no uncertainty: that was Bert Lahr, then and forever.

The movie’s opening scenes took place in black-and-white, but before long Dorothy went over the rainbow into the technicolor dazzle—the yellow brick road, the ruby red slippers, the ghastly green face of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Once in Oz, it was time for Dorothy to get her team together. For Garland, Jack Haley was a familiar face, as they had both appeared in the 1936 movie Pigskin Parade. The Tin Man makeup that felled Ebsen did cause Haley an eye infection that sidelined him for part of the shoot. Years later, when it was suggested that playing the Tin Man must have been great fun, Haley responded “Like hell it was. It was hard work.”

Silver Screen Collection/Shutterstock

At the Emerald City, Dorothy and friends encounter the Gatekeeper, one of the many roles played by Frank Morgan. The MGM contract player was also the coachman in the carriage drawn by the horse of a different color and the guard at the entrance to the Wizard’s hall, and well as Professor Marvel in the Kansas scenes of course the Wizard himself.

I'm Melting! - The Wizard of Oz Movie CLIP (1939) HD

Your Majesty,if you were King,you wouldn't be afraid.

Yeah,it's sad,believe me,missy
When you're born to be a sissy
Without the vim and verve

But I could show my prowess
Be a lion not a mouse
If I only had the nerve

I'm afraid there's no denyin'
I'm just a dandelion
A fate I don't deserve

I'd be brave as a blizzard
I'd be gentle as a lizard
I'd be clever as a gizzard
If the Wizard is a wizard who will serve

Then I'm sure to get a brain
A heart
A home
The nerve

We're off to see the Wizard
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
We hear he is a whiz of a Wiz
If ever a Wiz there was
If ever,oh ever,a Wiz there was
The Wizard of Oz is one because
Because,because,because,because,because
Because of the wonderful things he does
We're off to see the Wizard
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then,oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why then,oh why can't I?

Why does water make the Wicked Witch of the West melt?

This nonchalant and humorous response has been widely circulated and turned into a meme. The "It's Magic" meme has found its way into various contexts and scenarios on the internet. It is often used to express situations where something seemingly irrational or unexplainable happens.

A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD

Dear Straight Dope: I’ve never understood why The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West melts when Dorothy splashes water onto her face. I’ve only seen the MGM movie and have never read the books, so I might be missing some essential tidbit of info, or maybe I’m just an underread fool who can’t pinpoint the tiniest bit of symbolism or metaphor, but so what? Could you please fill me in? C.M.M, Ithaca, New York

I was going to tell you to go read the book, you ignoramus, but then I realized the book isn’t clear either. By “the book," of course, we mean The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, published in 1900 and a children’s favorite ever since.

Probably everyone in the western world knows the story through the movie, although the book still has a huge audience of new and repeat readers each year. Dorothy confronts the Wicked Witch of the West, throws a bucket of water on her, and the Witch melts into a puddle of scum. Note that it’s not just “splashing some water on her face," she gets doused with a whole bucket, in both book and movie. But still, why should water affect her so?

The book provides a few hints:

(1) When Dorothy first arrives in Oz, her house falls on and kills the Wicked Witch of the East. After Dorothy has some conversation with the Munchkins and the good Witch of the North, they noticed that “the feet of the dead Witch had disappeared entirely and nothing was left but the silver shoes.” The Witch of the North explains that “She was so old that she dried up quickly in the sun.”

We note the reference to being “dried up.” (As an aside, the silver shoes in the book became ruby slippers in the movie. Margaret Hamilton, who played both Wicked Witches, was a fan of the Baum books and asked the producer Mervyn Le Roy why the shoes had been changed to red. She reported that Le Roy said that in Technicolor red stood out better against the Yellow Brick Road than did silver.)

(2) When the Wicked Witch of the West has captured Dorothy and her friends, she enslaves Dorothy for a time, so the reader has a chance to observe the witch’s behavior. (The movie alters this scenario.) The Witch lusts after the silver shoes but "was too much afraid of the dark to dare go in Dorothy’s room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of water was greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near when Dorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, nor ever let water touch her in any way.”

This doesn’t tell us why water is so potent against the Witch, but it set the stage, and lets us know the Witch is aware of water’s power over her. We also note that the Wicked Witch is afraid of the dark, an amusing reversal of expectations.

(3) “Once the Witch struck Toto a blow with her umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her leg, in return. The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she was so wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before.”

First, note that the WWW carries an umbrella, instead of the more traditional broom. This ties in neatly with her fear of water. (The movie, sadly, reverts to the traditional image of a broom.)

Second, note that the Wicked Witch of the West was, like her sister the Witch of the East, “dried up.”

(4) After Dorothy throws the bucket of water on her:

. . . the Witch began to shrink and fall away. See what you have done! she screamed. In a minute I shall melt away. I am very sorry, indeed,” said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to see the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her eyes. Didn’t you know water would be the end of me? asked the Witch, in a wailing, despairing voice. Of course not, answered Dorothy; how should I?

How should she, indeed? The obvious response, it seems to me, is that the Witch was was so “dried up” that the contact with water disintegrated or dissolved her, much as a dried up parchment would crumble to ash if hit with a stream of water.

Going one step further, Dr. Douglas A. Rossman, writing “On the Liquidation of Witches” in the Baum Bugle, Spring 1969, suggests that the melting of the Wicked Witch is a chemical process. Normally, the molecules of a substance (or Witch) stick to each other, a phenomenon called adhesion. However, adhesion may be broken down by water or by some other powerful force (such as a house falling from the sky). The Witch has no blood or other bodily fluid; little is holding her molecules together. The water breaks down the weak adhesion of her body so that she melts away. Son of Dex says this is similar to the way sugar dissolves in water. Similarly, the impact of Dorothy’s house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East breaks down the adhesion of her molecules, so she crumbles to dust.

On a more symbolic level, there’s a long tradition of water being antithetical to witches. A commonly prescribed trial for an accused witch was the ordeal by water: the suspect was tied up and tossed into a river. If she floated, she was guilty, and would be burned at the stake (hence, the water-and-fire making a neat little symbolism). If she sank and drowned, shucks, guess she wasn’t a witch after all. Water is associated with baptism, and thus the water of the river rejects the witch as satanic. This type of trial was carried out as late as the 1690s.

Robert Burns, writing a note to his poem “Tam O’Shanter” in 1790 says: “It is a well known fact that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any farther than the middle of the next running stream.” So the association of water as hostile to witches is a long-standing tradition that Baum possibly drew from.

Taking a different tack, Celia Anderson, in “The Comedians of Oz” (Studies in American Humor, Winter 1986-87), notes gleefully that the Wicked Witch “is justly destroyed by that emblem of household drudgery, a bucketful of water.” This is more amusing since, in the book, the Witch enslaves Dorothy and forces her to perform menial household chores.

Henry Littlefield, in “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism” (American Quarterly, Spring 1964), posits that the Witch symbolizes malign Nature. (Cecil cited this article in his column about Oz symbolism.) She “uses natural forces to achieve her ends," including wolves, crows, and bees, all of which tormented American settlers of the late 1800s. Water represents the most precious commodity to the drought-ridden farmers on the great plains. Thus, water brings an end to hostile or malign nature. Baum himself lived in Aberdeen, South Dakota, from 1888 to 1893, and so was well aware of the Great Plains symbolism.

Tying this all together, we can say that water represents life, while witches are the apotheosis of death and decay. Light chases away darkness, good triumphs over evil (eventually, one hopes), and water melts witches. QED.

Please, any wiccans reading this, we DON’T need any mail about how wiccans are maligned or stereotyped by Baum’s story. Notwithstanding the movie, Baum’s Wicked Witch is quite different from the fairy-tale wicked witch, although it draws heavily on that tradition. Baum’s Wicked Witch of the West is petty, afraid of the dark, selfish, and mean–a spoiled child, in many ways, and very much Baum’s own creation. We’re also aware that wiccans aren’t really melted by water, thanks very much.

If you enjoyed the Oz book(s) and movie, you might also like Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, a “biography” of the Wicked Witch of the West from childhood to Dorothy.

The Annotated Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, edited and with notes by Michael Patrick Hearn, W.W. Norton Company, New York, 2000.

Send questions to Cecil via [email protected].

STAFF REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, CECIL'S ONLINE AUXILIARY. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS ARE EDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.

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