20. Over the Rainbow was almost cut from the film before its release
The Wizard of Oz was made to attract children, and the first edit of the film was a movie of about two hours. Mayer demanded that it be edited down to roughly 100 minutes. Louis B. Mayer wanted the song Over the Rainbow cut from the film, believing that young children wouldn’t understand its message and the song was too sad. Producers LeRoy and Freed saw a preview of the film with and without the song, and argued forcefully for its return in the final release.
It took LeRoy’s threat to withdraw from the entire project to sway Mayer and order the song to be included in the final version of the film. Ironically, catering the film to small children was one of the reasons it failed to make money during its first release in 1939. Children at the time were admitted to films at steeply discounted prices, reducing the take by theaters even when the film was shown in sold-out houses.