16. The myth of L. Frank Baum’s frock coat being seen in the film
The story goes, its originator unknown, that either Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard and several other roles, or a costume artist from MGM, visited a local clothing consignment shop and purchased an old frock coat for Morgan to wear in his roles as the Wizard and Professor Marvel. After the filming was completed the coat was delivered to be cleaned, at which time a tag was discovered, some say in the lining, some in a pocket, which identified a prior owner as being L. Frank Baum.
Neither the Baum family nor actor Frank Morgan ever confirmed the story, and in fact, the Baum family flatly denied it in writing on more that one occasion. It is repeated often, with different sources, and with different versions, mostly because it is one of those stories which is just too good to go away. It was most likely started as the sort of on-set rumor which is often generated in Hollywood as a form of cheap, pre-release publicity for a film.