Want to delve into the history of “The Wizard of Oz”?
A collection of draft scripts for “The Wizard of Oz” and other material from the archives are going up for auction in Los Angeles from Dec. 11-14.
Profiles in History put an estimated sale value of $800,000 to $1.2 million on the archival material.
Langley, who died in 1980, was one of about a dozen screenwriters who worked on the big screen adaptation of the novel.
The collection includes Langley’s first three original drafts of the screenplay, a fourth draft written by Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, and a fifth draft, again written by Langley.
“It is the single most important manuscript in Hollywood history,” said Brian Chanes, head of consignment at Profiles in History.
Sixteen photos of special effects, including the tornado sequence that transports Garland’s Dorothy from Kansas to the magical land of Oz, will also be included in the single lot.
“The Wizard of Oz” was released in 1939 and won two Oscars for its music. It then went on to become one of the best-known musicals in Hollywood history.
In 1989, it was among the first to be preserved by the National Film Registry.