All three were vaudeville vets, and they infuse their roles with both theatrical shtick and warmth. Putty-limbed Ray Bolger ('Some people without brains do and AWFUL lot of talking, don't they?'), over-the-top Bert Lahr (I haven't any courage at all, I even scare myself!'), and boyishly charming Jack Haley ('Now I know I have a heart, 'cause it's breaking.') are pitch-perfect in their respective roles as the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man.

I just want to yell at the screen, 'no! Forget boring old Kansas, stay in Oz!' Not only is 'The Wizard of Oz' a charming, addictive classic, but it's one of the best-cast films ever. I still cry when Dorothy bids her friends farewell (Jack Haley in particular breaks my heart). I'm still overjoyed when Dorothy makes another odd yet loyal friend along her journey (hmmm, a nice message of tolerance, too!). I still get excited when Dorothy steps out her sepia-toned world of Kansas into the Technicolor Munchkinland, even though I learned ages ago how the trick was done.

There is something so comforting about the familiar story of farm girl Dorothy's journey through the strange but wonderful land of Oz, and yet it remains a wonder to behold. Like hot chocolate or Mickey Mouse T-shirts, 'The Wizard of Oz' is something you never have to worry about being too old for. Not to gush, but it's really a testimonial to 'Oz''s legacy that it can appeal to every generation, to every age. Never in my life had I seen a more eclectic audience: there were families with little children, adults who came alone (one woman was dressed as Glinda), teens and college students, even couples who had to have been in their '90s. In the fall of 2006, my husband and I saw a screening 'The Wizard of Oz' that had a full orchestra providing the soundtrack.

Network airings in the 1990s were uncut and not time-compressed the film aired in a 2-hour, 10-minute time period. CBS, which had shown the uncut version of the film in 1956, and again from the films first telecast until 1968, finally started to show it uncut again beginning in 1985, by time-compressing it. By the 1980s, the other excised shots included: the film's dedication in the opening credits, continuity shots of Dorothy and Toto running from the farm, establishing shots of the cyclone, the aforementioned tracking sequence in Munchkin Land, the establishing shot of the poppy field, and tiny bits and pieces of the trip to the Wicked Witch's castle. Also according to Fricke, more wholesale cutting of the film took place when CBS regained the TV rights in 1975. According to film historian John Fricke, these cuts started with solely a long tracking shot of Munchkin Land after Dorothy arrives there. As the amount of commercial time on network television gradually increased, more scenes were cut. From 1968 to 1984, on NBC-TV and CBS-TV airings of the film, the film was edited to sell more commercial time.

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