Bonanas for Bonanza - The Andy Daly Podcast Project Presents Extravaganza Octopod 1, Episode 6: Extravaganza: “With My Own Eyes: ‘The World Premiere of The Wizard of Oz'”

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

Guests: Margaret Dewps, Ben Alterman and Dutch SwansonSubstitute host Lawrence Ribbits presides over a lively reminiscence of the premiere of the 1939 American film classic, The Wizard of Oz. His guests were among the first people to see it... with their own eyes.Featuring: Lisa Gilroy, Mark McConville & Matt GourleySubscribe to The Andy Daly Podcast Project at Patreon.com/AndyDalyMerch: redbubble.com/people/ADPodProject/shopMail: PO Box 9407 Glendale, CA 91226Email: [e-mail]’s website: andydaly.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, this is Andy Daly with another episode of Bonus Nanza Extravaganza, which is a comedy podcast Grab Bag series that Matt Gourley and I have been doing exclusively on my Patreon for the past few years. Well, now I'm releasing an octopod of eight extravaganzas here every Saturday. These episodes were lovingly hand-selected by the Patreon subscribers for your enjoyment. And if you do enjoy them, we certainly hope you'll consider subscribing at patreon.com Andy Daily. With that, I give you the Andy Daily podcast project presents extravaganza Octopod 1, episode 6, extravaganza. With My Own Eyes, the world premiere

of the Wizard of Oz, featuring Lisa Gilroy and joy. Welcome to With My Own Eyes, a podcast brought to you by the American Historical Society, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and Dippendots. Jacqueline McDougal is on a mandatory leave of apps. for performance-enhancing drug policy violation, I'm your interim host, Lawrence Ribbitts. Each week, we talk to people who saw events in American history with their own eyes. With all of the excitement surrounding the release of the movie Wicked,

I'm honored to welcome three guests who were among the first people ever to see the film that inspired Wicked. My guests were in the audience at the Orphium Theater in Green Bay, Wisconsin on August 10, 1939, for the world premiere of the classic film The Wizard of Oz. Please welcome Margaret Doops, Ben Ultraman, and Dutch Swanson. Hello. Where's the regular girl? What happened to the regular girl? I am the regular girl.

I'm a regular girl. I'm Margaret, you're anything but a regular girl. I'm very strange. She'll be back, but she has to take some time off. Okay, all right. And tell us again who you are? My name is Lawrence Ribbitt. What makes you good enough to be here?

I don't like you. Listen to me, young man. We have very firm expectations of our day. Every day I wake up, I have a bowl of dry Cheerios and a piece of toast with jelly. And then I have my chair aerobics class. And then I take the shuttle to the mall. Now there's a, and I could go on.

The point is, we expected Jacqueline. I take my chair aerobics class underwater. Water aerobics in a chair. I like this new Margaret Gals. She's clasping up the giant. And then they have a girl come by. Pervert. And she, no, it's not like that.

She's ugly. And we do crafts in the afternoon. Everybody says she's ugly. I'm not the only one. What are we talking about? Does she say it about herself? Yes, she says, the only way I could possibly come here amongst all of these senior citizen men is if I was ugly. And we agree.

Nobody bothers her, you understand? This is my point. We all agree. I believe you. All right. Well, you're not going to come into any resistance here. Fine. If anything, you're being too kind. I know.

If you want even less resistance, try a chair underwater aerobics. Are you fully submerged? Fully. I wear a scuba mask three feet long with a tube that goes up. out of the water in the deep end. Oh, my galoshes. What sort of a chair is it? Chair made of cement so it sinks to the bottom.

Oh, good for you. We're here to discuss the Wizard of Oz and the first time it was ever seen by human eyes. Who are you again? What's your name again? My name is Lawrence Ribbitts. And you have a face? I work for the Smithsonian. Because you don't look like anybody.

Oh, is this the ugly girl that visits you? I wish. The only thing we know about this fella is he doesn't take steroids. That's the one qualification he has to be here talking to us about history. Looks like he could use him, though. I'm anemic. Oh, well, I'm a Gemini. And I'm, uh...

I'm bulimic. Still? After all these years. After all these years. Amazing. That's what you guys did intermittent fasting, but real quick. Only after I ride a roller coaster. Take us back to August 10th, 19.

Green Bay, Wisconsin. How the hell should I? Oh, I was in Wisconsin at that time. Yes, we all were, weren't we? I was. I was. I was. I was.

I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. That's right. But you would come and knock and come inside for Thanksgiving with all five of us working at the coffee shop downstairs.

Yeah. We all, hang on now. We lived, he and I in one apartment. And me and the other girls across the hall with the purple door. You were there with a bunch of other girls. Yes. And you had the foosball. table in your room and the reclining chair.

The first one ever. The prototype. Did we have another roommate, Dutch and I? Yes, the one who was an actor, right? Oh, I remember that son of a bitch. Yeah, it was a Barrymore of some kind, but not the one you know. No, no, no, he was an off-market Barrymore. Tribiani Barrymore. Who? Tribiani Barrymore.

And it was B-E-R-R-Y, if I recall. Yeah. Yes. We used to call him Barry Less. That's right. And he would get so mad. He really was a hothead. You know he went on to, he murdered someone. He did.

Yeah. He drowned in his boss in Lake Michigan. Drowning isn't murder. Oh, you don't think so? It's international water. The Lake Michigan is? Any water is international. If someone drowns in there, who did it?

Me or the water? The police can't say. The water did it. So he's a manslaughter at worst, you know, because the water did the murder. Water is the silent killer. That's the metaphor. That is the slogan for the water aerobics. It killed the witch.

I'll do your job for you. Get us back on track. Oh, good. My God, this guy. Yes. We all lived in an apartment building, and it was across the street from the Orpheum movie theater

where they played movies. Were you all patrons of the theater on the regular? We would go to that theater all the time. Whatever was playing, we'd say, you know, it was a funny time because, Three guys were always trying to get with those girls across the hall, as you can imagine. We would hang downstairs at Central Perk. They would flirt with us.

It was a riot. The place was called Central Perk. Yes. In Michigan. Central Perk, Wisconsin. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it was called. Near Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, there was a coffee shop called Central Perk.

This guy. Correct. Is this something wrong with you? He's dull. I'm just trying to get on the same page with everyone. It was a call. In those days, it was a car. a coffee shop and you'd go in there and you'd order a coffee.

But women weren't allowed. No. That's right. So the men would sneak us in under a trench coat. It was great fun. I'll say it was. I would knock on the door and I would see which one of the girls was there and I'd say, let's go to the pictures.

I just got paid. Let's go to the pictures. And we'd go across the way to the Orphium and we'd see whatever was on. So did you intend to see the Wizard of Oz specifically? Or did you just go because it was the movie of the day? It was 1939 and they were show. newsreels of Nazis invade in Poland and that's what

we went. We used to get our jellies. That's right. And those days you would just go to the theater any time of the day and it was in the middle of the movie, you didn't care. You stayed through for the newsreel and then the three stooges. And then we'd go and the movie would start up again and you'd say, well, this is where I came in.

Let's beat it. That's how you did a movie in those days. In those days. And so it was with the wisdom. visit. And so we come in and the broad is getting doused with water. That's the first thing I saw. I don't know if we all went in the same time. You're referring to the wicked witch of the West. I'm referring to the broad that gets doused with the water. For listeners who have not seen the Wizard of Oz, that is how it ends. It's also the plot of flash dance.

I remember the first time I saw Flash dance, I was terrified she was going to dissolve into a heap of smoke. Well, that's what inspired me to take chair aerobics. She sat on the chair and she was doused with water and I thought, well, that works good for my knees. And you went underwater because of it. You invented underwater aerobics? Yes. Oh, wow.

I'd like to invite you back for part two being at the first screening of flash dance. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. I do remember that. That was what 19, that was 45, I must have been. Who had to have been? I don't know. It's unbelievable.

Less historical significance of FlashDance screening than Wizard of Oz, the first movie widely in Technicolor. But just back on topic real quick, a nurse came by and said you've got the knees of a 50-year-old, didn't she? To me? Yes. Yes. My knees are only 50.

I can't stop. Look at him. She's got incredible knees. 25 and 25 those knees. I'm on my fourth set of knees. You've had a knee replacement? I've had four knee replacements, four times both knees, eight new knees. And it keeps all the old ones, as you can see.

Oh, my God. That's all the bumps down the shin. They can't, it costs a lot more money and part B with the donut. They don't cover it. You're smuggling two camels under each pant leg. Yeah, they won't cover a knee removal, but they'll cover a new knee. You know. You can slide the kneecaps around under the skin.

It's great fun. Shell game. It is fun. I can play them. I can play them like coconuts. Here, listen. I'm listening. How's that?

Very impressive. Thank you. Good. Tell me your first impressions of the film. Your memories of seeing the Wizard of Oz for the first time. Well, like I say, I came in. Did you guys, when did you come into the film? Well, I came in right on time and I went, this isn't in color.

I stayed for a good 10, 15 minutes, no color. And I left. Oh, and that was it for you. That's all I've ever seen. this dumb black and white television show. Oh, it's a full-length feature film, and it does change into a colorful, fully-color movie. It's one of the first films to use to-

What is wrong with you? I'll tell you this, though, if you get there and you see some of the, it's colored now, and then you see, and then you go, and you'll watch the newsreels and the shorts, maybe a cartoon, and then it starts over in black and white, and then it goes to color. The effect is not the same on you, I have to say.

It changes. It changes. That's a big thing. It goes from black and white to color. I didn't notice that. Oh, really? I'm realizing now I might have a problem with my eyes. Oh, no.

Do you see us in color now? No. Okay, that is my problem. We are in color. We are in color. How are going to be sure? I'm not so sure anymore. What do you mean?

Well, I've got a bit of an iron deficiency, so a lot of the color has gone out of my face and body. Oh, I'm not. only become more red over time. Let me look at you. See? I'll be damned you have. Do you see that, Margaret? You don't see the color?

Well, I can see that he's swollen up filled with blood all over. A nurse came in and she says, every day you get a little more red. I can see a puffy like a bloated corpse floating on the top of, say it with me, pool aerobics. Mount Rushmore. Every pool aerobics, one lady dies and floats to the top. How many of you are there each class?

Less and less. Fewer and fewer, I suppose. Aren't you concerned that soon is coming for you? No, there's a wait list after all, and new ladies fill up the class, and I'm the only one wearing a mask. Do you leave the cement chair at the bottom of the pool, or do you have to get it out of there? Oh, no, I leave it down there.

Everyone else has to B-Y-O-C, but not me. Well, the young people are very mad because it's a bit of a hazard when they dive into the, because it is, as you say, the deep end, and you dive in and you bang your head on these cement chairs that are down there. There's a sunken car down there, too. Is there? What sort of a car is it? It's an old Chevy Cavalier. Oh, beautiful.

That's where it went. Ah, that's right. I had some good times in that car, Steve. What's your name? Lawrence Ribbitts. Why did you drive your car into the pool at the YWCA? Well, that's a really. real tale, gather around. Oh boy, here we go. It's a no easy feat for me to gather around anything,

but I'll try. It was me, a young Maggie Thatcher, this Welshman, right? And we was driving, and we was just looking for a car hop dining service, see, so we pulls up to this place, and it turns out it's a takeout clinic. What's that mean? We didn't know, so we drove on. And what we did is we drove straight into the pool in the inside of the W-Y-C-WA. Now, they added a couple of letters and we never asked why because at that point we were drowning, see? And we had to get out, but then I find this three foot long scuba mask and I was fine. The other people

perished, not Maggie Thatcher, she went on to some renown. And then we got out, end of story. Isn't that a corker? Wow. It's a wonderful corker. I'd love to discuss the Wizard of Oz. You would? You have a one track, mine. Well, that's the topic of the podcast today. Well, go ahead and discuss

it. Who's stopping you? I'm asking the three of you who were at the first screening of a very influential film what your impressions of the film were. One of you didn't stay long enough to see it change from black and white to color. One of you came in at the very end. Yes.

And one of you can't see color at all. So, so do me. Did you enjoy the film, even though you couldn't enjoy the colorful, colorful images on the screen? I'm sorry, Lawrence Ribbitts. I have to ask you, is there anything you can't do?

Yeah, right. I'm sure there's plenty of things. Let's hear about it. Name one thing. I've never flown a helicopter. You can't. Oh, boo, embarrassment. Shut up.

That's how it feels when you tell me, oh, well, I'm colorblind, so my opinion of the movie doesn't matter. I asked you what your opinion of the movie. I'll tell you what. I walk in, it's black and white, a gal's lying in bed, dies in a tornado. Great movie. 20 minutes, what a piece of shit.

You made it all the way to the tornado. Sure I did. Wow, you were so close to seeing it in color, I have to tell you. I can't tell you how close you are. Why can't you tell me that's something you can't do? I guess I can tell you. You're mere seconds away from seeing it change to a color film. Oh, come on.

I'm not buying it. Oh, no, that's true. I got there in time to see the broad get douch with the water. And then everybody was happy. That was flash dance. Remember, we're talking Wizard of Oz. And then came, and then it started over. And I was very confused.

I didn't know. Is this part of the newsreels? because the newsreels in those days and we're in black and white, of course. And so now we've got, and there's a guy, and she's singing a song about a rainbow, and then you spend a long time at the circus, more than you remember,

with the guy in the cart, turns out later, huh, to be the wizard. I don't remember that. Exactly. No one remembers it. It's about a half an hour she spent, because she runs away from home, spends about a half an hour talking to a guy.

I'm serious. I haven't seen it since the day. Is that really in there? It's a long. Maybe they cut it out. You know what? I'll bet you they cut it out when they televise it anyways. Then you go and you have,

and they've found monkeys that can fly. What? And that's a big part of it. Once it goes color, these monkeys can fly. I watched a different movie, I think. What did you watch? Well, I remember it was quite short,

and there was a lion who roared a few times, and then I saw myself out. You just saw the opening sort of MGM lion roaring in a circle. Yes, there was. Circle. There was letters and there was a circle. Yes, I enjoyed it very much. That reminds me of a movie I saw the other day where there's this gal just standing in front of a big mountain

and a bunch of stars start circler. Does she holding a torch? Yeah, that's the one. I love that one. Gorgeous girl. Have you guys seen the one where there's just a big W and a B and those are my two favorite buddy cops? Oh, I love that.

Oh, how about the one with the drumming, the drumline, the drum-dum, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dum. I do love. Now that song is one I love. Yeah, the lollipop guild, the same notes from the lollipop guild, doing your job again. What is the lollipop? How do you know what the lollipop guild is? Oh, because I've read copious books about where... And you were a member for 15 years, were not?

I was hard carrying, sure, it was the first depression. I was the grand Poo-Bah of the Lollipop Guild for a little while. And I was the Grand Timon. And we used to say let's just Hakuna Matata ourselves down the street with all these lollipops and hand them out to whoever wants them. No worries for the rest of your life. That's right. Well, we're having some fun. Would you go and get us a little treat?

What? What? What would I like? Sure. Deviled ham. Oh, a deviled egg for me, please. Anything deviled for you over here? Can you devil some diabetic chocolates?

Oh, and can you devil a diet Coke as well? We just have a few more minutes of the interview. I'm not allowed to have sugar. Why? I can have anything deviled. That's a catch-all. That's it. That's a loophole.

I like it. I said to the doctor, what if I devil it? He's just do it if you want for Christ's sakes. Are they deviling anymore these days? I'm fuzzy on how you would devil most of these items. I'll show you, but it's going to be late at night and it's going to cost you a pretty penny. I've got a girl that comes by on Tuesdays

and she devils everything in the fridge. I just tell it, devil it. If past the expiration date, I don't give it a smell and then devil it. My doctor won't let me have anything undeveled at this point. As a Christian woman, you never met anyone more devilish than I. Oh, that's the thing. Oh, my God. The best day working still worse than the worst day deviled. Is that how it goes?

No. It's the best devil-devil-de-le is the never of a working day for a devilish man. That's the stuff. It's the best devil-dogs you can't get them on the west coast. I devil-dog dare you, the west coast devilish damn bay. Drake doesn't do them west of the Mississippi. Devil-dogs. There's no way these are sayings.

We've got the bumper stickers on. on our wagons outside. Mine's in my Chevy Cavalera at the bottom of Lake Moshegosch. That's what we call the pool in the YWCA. Is that so? Lake Moshego. Lake Moshegoch. It's heavily chlorinated.

You smell like bleach for a week. Do the three of you feel as if seeing the Wizard of Oz being some of the first people? I'd have to say no as well. Can I get a third? I'll hear him out. I'll hear him out. Go ahead. There's always a dissenter.

I forgot the question. No. And no. The critical reception for Wizard of Oz, of course, resulted in five Academy Award nominations. Good Lord. It was nominated for Best Picture. Uh-huh. It won for Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score.

And an Academy Juvenal Award was presented to Julie. Julie Garden? Julie Garden. Oh, Jesus Christ. They gave her a juvenile award. How old was she when she was in this? No one knows. Really?

Oh. She'd already been married five times, though. And she was the first baby on stilts to be an emotion picture. But nowadays, it's commonplace. But in those days, she was number one. She was number one. They never before put a baby on stilts, let alone ask her to walk along the top of a pig stye.

My daughter was a child actress, and she was born with stilts. Really gave her mother a little. award for. You imagine that? Coming out of the old. You know what I did. You know where they come from, don't you? I do, yes.

Okay. Julia. Over the Rainbow, won best song at the Academy Awards. Do you have any recollections of the song? Hearing that song for the first time. It's a very moving tune. Yeah. Under the rainbow.

Under the rainbow. Under the Rainbow. Yeah. Down by Lake Lekulamichugi. That's where you'll find me. me, my Julie Garden and me. Wow. I didn't like this song over the rainbow.

It's not good. I didn't care. Over the rainbow. It's not good. It's not good. It's not good. It's not a good song. Somewhere over the rainbow. The lyrics, the music, the performance, but just amateur hour. Yeah, I don't know why people responded to it so much as they did.

I didn't like it at all. I don't like rap music. It's definitively not a rap song. Yes. The part where she goes, someday I wish upon us, oh, too fast.

It's too fast. It's crass. It's crude. Yes. A song is slow. Rap is fast. This song is fairly slow. Listen to me.

Someday I'll wish upon us. Aw wake up on us. Is that sound slow to you? Well, I guess there is that segment that is a little faster. That's the rap part. That's Julie Garner featuring. The rapper on the track.

I can't remember his name. Run DMC. ThunderC. People want to tell you, oh, Debbie Harry invented rap with Rapsher. The day the day, I says, Judy, what about Judy Garland? And I grabbed real hard. He squeezed my arm. I grab real hard.

What about Judy Garland and the rainbows? And then it was a kind of pandemic that just swept through the Golden Age of Musicals. The music man, you know, right here in River City, he's rapping his way all through. Oh, sure. He's a music man. He's right of a, and he's a, jump, pump, and he's a big red. Run DMC of the 30s. Remember?

Remember depression music company? I don't remember. I'm 39. Oh, young buck. Where's many years from the 19, from it 30. No, well, 30. Well, I know what it is. 39 was the year.

1939. He says he's 39. Minus, what is it now? 2027 is got to be at least 100. I don't think it's 27 yet. I don't think it's 27. I got to renew my credit cards. I'm going to get an adding machine a slide rule in one of those see-through green

visors. Yeah, look at that. Beautiful. He's a real bean counter. Well, we've got a 39-year-old baby on stilts in our presence. Isn't he adorable? Are there films that you saw in the theater that were more important to you than the Wizard of Oz? Alien.

Yeah, Red Dawn. Abbott and Costello. Meet Abbott and Costello. They went to a mirror factory. That's an old joke. It was a good one. In those days, they were at the end of their career, and they didn't have a bull. budget for anybody else but them.

It was just the two of the meeting each other again and again. There was a good film. What's your name? Abbott. My name's Costello. What's your name? Costello. I'll tell you what I did.

I see a good movie the other day. Wicked. Have you heard of this movie? Well, yes. I mentioned it at the top of the show that this... Did you know? Wicked was inspired by this film, The Wizard of Oz. Well, I don't know if there was much to inspire it, but it did go to spite of that.

And have you seen it because I believe it's the other way around? I agree. I'm sorry? Wicked. you see, sets up the plot of the Wizard of Oz, therefore Wicked came first. Yep. That's exactly right. It hands over to it.

You watch it. It says, however, to be continued, what do they mean by that? The Wizard of Oz. Yes, at the end, the text on the screen reads, however, to be continued in parentheses, what do I mean by that, parentheses, the Wizard of Oz? Yes. And then there's the James Franco one, too. Excuse me?

Yeah, isn't there? There's a sequel? I'm not joking. Oh, the James Frankel one, right. Franko James? That must have been a pineapple express. No, no, no. That's a sequel to The Wizard of Oz.

Yes. There's a return to Oz, and there's another Oz with James Franco from about, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago. Oh, he's the great and powerful Oz or some shit. I don't know. Hey. I'd appreciate it if you didn't say the S-H-I-T word. What are you a rapper? For all of her steroids, Jacqueline never once subjected us to the S-word.

Not one child. My apologies. I believe that Wicked is a two-part film. The second part is the Wizard of Oz. Keep up. No, the second part is Wicked part two. Huh? We took the shuttle to the ball at 8 o'clock in the morning and went to see Wicked.

It was a special screening for those who wake up too early. They had orange juice. Of course. It was old people and mommy and me screening. It was just you and a bunch of babies milking. Yeah. A whole lot of news. noise being made. It was very noisy

in there. So I took out my hearing aids. I've got four of them. I took out all my hearing aids and I didn't get a word of it, but it was fine. It looked okay to me. There's a gal. They found a green actress. Did you see this? They found a green.

She was green? Oh, poor girl. You can't see color. Yeah, she's green. Is there a black and white part of that movie? No. No. interested. Okay. She thought that witch's hat was going to look good. She's surprised that people make fun of her in that witch's hat. That's part of the film. She had it coming. She did. What an idiot.

It's not her fault. She's green. It's her fault that she thought that witch's hat was going to be the hit of the party. That was dumb. I have a question about Wicked myself. What now? Okay. If Glinda the Good Witch knows that the wizard is powerless and just a human being pretending to be powerful, why would she send Dorothy down the yellow brick road to get help from a man who cannot help her? Oh, shit. I didn't make it that fond. This is a real sweatable, Lawrence. You've done it.

You've unraveled the entire thing, the entire enterprise. 40% of the United States economy is based on this film and you've destroyed it. Oh my God, we're going to crumble. We're heading into another depression. I can't do another one. I can't either. How did you survive the first depression? Soup out of a can.

I ate cardboard with salt if I could get it. The cardboard. I had plenty of salt. I lived in a salt mine. I raised freshwater fish in the bathtub to fish them out and fry them up. I ate my blankets. I ate my wife. I ate my wife's blankets.

I deviled it. I feel like you had to probably devil a blanket to eat it. Yeah. How else would you prepare it? Saute it. Margaret? Moments ago, you were acting that you didn't know what a devil diet Coke was, and now you propose you can double devil a blanket?

Well, you're just devil, it seems like everything all of you eat is deviled, so. We're old. I don't need to know how to do it. What do young people eat? Huh? Angel food cake? What are you? Made of whipped cream?

Yeah. You pansy ass. Did you ever fight in a war? I have not fought in a war. I do eat chopped salad, though. Chop salad and whipped cream. This generation eats nothing and is nothing. And they expect a trophy for it.

It's good you're not fighting in a war because we'd lose. Let's give you a participation trophy just for being here this morning. Would you like that? That's what they want the woke mom. You woke lot, come back to sleep with the rest of us. What are your pronouns? That's personal. Oh, my God.

Now you can't even ask that. Did you fight in a war? Yes. Before or after seeing 15 minutes of the Wizard of Oz? Before and after I was in WWI and WWI. And I was in Korea and I was in Vietnam, but that was just a vacation in the 70s. Oh, how was that? It was nice.

His pronouns are winner, chief, and boss. That's right. My pronoun is Sergeant. Then later, corporal I got demoted and then I got reinstated. Those are my pronouns. I'm a paid mercenary to this day. I'll go fighting any goddamn war you want me to. French Foreign Legion?

I did the French Foreign Legion for a number of years. Yes, I did. Is that where you fight with your tongue? I beg you pardon? This guy. Okay. It's one thing that you're not running this show, but then when you start making these lewd comments,

they start turning me on. I was at Abbot and Costello and meet the French foreign legion. Oh. And I was in the French Foreign Legion and the Croatian Special Forces. And I was in the Navy. I was in three different navies. And just last week, I was over in Ukraine. And they told me to go home, please.

And I says, nope. Why? I took out all four of my hearing aids. And I went to the front lines. And everybody else said it's so loud here. And I said, not to me. And now he works at Old Navy. I'm a greeter at Old Navy.

people come in the door, I say, welcome to Old Navy. Are you employed by Old Navy, sir? I said I'm a greeter at Old Navy. I don't know Old Navy to have greeters. They don't let him stand in the store, but just outside of it. I'm allowed to stand outside, and they have a sign saying, we're not affiliated with Ben Alterman. But the people don't know who Ben Alterman is, so it doesn't make a difference.

This sign is irrelevant, probably to most people. Did we get back to the Wizard of Oz, please? I'd love to talk about the Wizard of All. We were, you know, the three of us were the three of us were, the first people at the first screening ever of the Wizard of Eyes. That's right in 1939 in Wisconsin. We lived in two apartments next to each other. That's right.

We did. Yes. Yeah. We shared a laundry shoot. This is an interesting topic. We should talk about this. I would love to. Wouldn't you like to know?

Tell me your favorite characters in the film. Oh, look. I guess W. Starts it, you know. It does it? No, M starts it. GM. The wizard of all of you're right.

The one. you saw, yeah. Oh, you're talking about letters. Characters, letters, symbols. The scarecrow, the tin man, the cowardly lion, the wicked witch. That's not very nice to call a lion cowardly. That's the name of the character in the film. Oh, really?

First name cowardly, last name, lion? I've never heard of it. Are you out of your mind? What kind of mother lion would name her baby that? Cowardly? Brothers, ugly, stupid? No. Ugly deckling.

The lion's name was Cecil. And he roars from behind the MGM. Oh, yes. There's a second lion in the film. There couldn't be. There was a one lion per movie policy in the 30s because the lions was so expensive. That's true. That's Lion King's script was sitting around for decades.

And they couldn't make it. They couldn't make it because you called for more than one lion. That was the problem. The Wizard of Oz does have a human being dressed in a lion costume featured in the film. Do you know that the fellow that they put in the tin series? died from tin poisoning. Yeah, Buddy Ebson. Yep.

I believe he didn't die of that. He went on to Star and the Beverly Hillbillies. The gal and Goldfinger got painted gold and she suffocated. And died of gold poisoning. Yeah. Yep, it's true. And the gal and Wicked who was green, she died too. And the fellow that played this lion, you're talking about, died of lion poisoning.

And the one who played the scarecrow got eaten by a horse. Yeah. Eaten by a horse, you're saying? We was made of hay, wasn't he? Stuffed with all that hay. Yeah. Well, they fed him to the horses. They said, that's a wrap on the scarecrow.

And they fed them to the horses. And it was terrifying. I'm not sure any of this happened. We saw the movie. You didn't. I have seen the film. Okay, fine. But you didn't see it in 1939,

which was an interesting time to see a film because at the end, they would show the special features and the director's commentary and deleted scenes and all that. In 1939. Yes. And they'd do the TV trailers as opposed to the, the regular trailers. It was a guy.

And the actors would go on a show where they'd eat spicy chicken wings and talk about the movie. It was a wonderful time. Yeah, it was weird. I wonder how Bert Larr handles spice. I'd love to know. Didn't you watch the show where he ate spicy chicken wings? Yes. And he did it okay.

Who's Bert Lahr? He played the cowardly lion. I told you that was a real lion. second lion in the film. Yes, and it wasn't a man. He might have been the voice of the lion, but the lion was a proper lion, who they gave peanut butter to

so he would smack his mouth open and shut, and they had a man in the studio do the voice. That's right. That's how movies are made, baby on stilts. That lion... The lion died of peanut poisoning. The lion was allergic to peanuts, but it's the only way they could make them moves.

All lions are allergic to peanuts, and they know that, and they feed it to them anyway to get them to smack their lips. nothing else will do it. They've tried sunflower seed oil. They've tried ketchup and mustard. Of course they have.

Nothing gets a lion to smack his lips like peanut butter. Well, it's on my list to ask about, but this film has a very long opening scene when the film goes from black and white to color in Munchkin land, and it hired a lot of little. You can't say that. You can't say Munchkin land anymore. No.

You have to say Munchkin World. I've got a girl that comes by every Thursday and tells me what you can't say anymore. Oh, and maybe perhaps it's munchkin is the buzzword not land. Maybe I'm confused. I don't know. I don't put my hearing. I put in one of my hearing aids for her and two for the devil girl. What's the difference between a munchkin and an elf and a dwarf?

Because these were all in these movies at this time. And a hobbit and a child. Exactly. Yeah. What's the difference? What's the difference? What's the difference, Lawrence? Lawrence, what's the difference?

I was just going to mention that the actors who played the munchkins in Munchkin land were paid $125 a week. They deserved it. Good. That's more than you make it old Navy, isn't it? Yes, it is. I have one of them buckets from the Salvation Army, and I usually get about $60 a day. 60 bucks a day. Yeah, but that's nothing like 125 a week.

And if you adjust it for inflation, that's $2,700. week in today's dollars. Hey, that's not bad. That's not bad. I'd take that to walk around in a pair of pointy shoes and sing about lollipops. That's what you do outside of Old Navy, isn't it? That's what I do. I've got the little curled up shoes.

You all right? I just want to say something. All right. Here it comes. Oh, this is going to be a good thought. Here we go. One of your eyes is weeping. That munchkin that hanged himself.

I told you'd be a juicy one. Don't you know about him? Yeah, you can see him hanging in the background from a tree in the Wizard of Oz. And that's all true. Did you notice that during the first screening of the film? I did. I stood up and I said, They've got one of the munchkins hanging from a tree back there.

I did the same thing in three men and a baby. I said there's a cardboard gal outside the window. And this is all because, Lawrence, because it sinks up to Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon. Check it out. What does? Wizard of Edge. Yep.

And we knew that. We said that at the time. You said that. Yes, we love Pink Floyd. You said this syncs up to Pink Floyd's 1972s. Exactly. Are you familiar with Pink Floyd? The band.

And he goes, da dun, da dun, da dun da dun da dun da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. It sings up perfectly with the Wizard of Oz. That does. Yeah. Beedee.

Bidim. Bada, ba-da, bum, bum, that's from that movie, too. Pink Floyd. The band. The panther with a little bowtie. Oh, I think that's a different thing. It's pink, isn't it? It's surely is she.

And I'm colorblind. That's right. I mean, if she knows it, my God. Well, they legally can't call it a pink panther if it isn't pink. Exactly. Can't do it. See, pink panther's fine because it's not inherently insulting. Cowardly line, you can't do it.

but there's no name, no lion named, you can't name your kid Pink Panther if you're a Panther mom. Am I dreaming? Or a soccer mom. Am I dreaming? Yes. Okay.

Hold on. Wake up. Wake up. You fell asleep for a moment. You turned to me and you asked if you were dreaming. Oh, because is there a brand of home insulation called Pink Panther? Yes, there is.

Why? I don't, because it's pink and fluffy. It's what we used to eat in the Great Depression. Devil, of course. Develled home insulation. Yes. Mostly fiberglass. Good for you.

Very good. Looks like cotton candy. Tastes like cotton candy. Gives you your fiber. Keeps you regular. I mean, it keeps you shit in pink, but it keeps you right. You shouldn't be eating insulation. Okay.

Okay. Oh, we don't tell you what to do. Here we go. Here we go. The food police. You shouldn't do this. You shouldn't do that. Yeah.

You shouldn't eat pink food. My God. All I have is insulation in Peptoeiswell. The film has gone on to make millions and millions of dollars. It's on the, towards the top or if not at the top of many critical lists. Oh. Name one. Yeah.

AFI named it the second best film of all time. I don't believe in AIFIs. God created the world with humans on it and nothing else outside this planet. Here, here. They're going to take over. You know, they are the AIFI. No, they better not. You don't think so?

No, I see an object in the sky. I say that's a plane and nothing more. Oh, AFI has come complete with ALFs. AFI is the American Film Institute. Exactly. I'm going to go back in charge. The number six movie. Number six.

What's in front of it? No, let's guess what's in front of it. I'm not going to talk about any other movie. I just want to know the five in front of it. I don't have the list in front of me. I just have that it's on. Bring up the list and stop screaming at us. Let's see if we can guess what's first.

I'll have a guess first. These are critical lists? This is American Film Institute's 100 years, 100 American movies, the best 100 American movies, the best 100 American movies as determined by the American film. So number 100 is the shittiest one and number one is the best. Can I have a guess at number one?

Please. Hotel for dogs. It's must love dogs. No, hotel for dogs. It's the movie I'm thinking of. No, all dogs go to heaven. This film does not have a dog. Dog day morning.

Dog day afternoon. There's no dog in the title. Must love dogs. Am I dreaming? The dog father. I know what it is. Stairway to heaven. That's always number one.

That's a song. Is it Citizen Ruth? Close. Can't see. Cain Mutiny. No. Candy cane lane. You've literally said both words in the title.

Well, we can't get any farther then. We quit. Well, that one is followed by Casablanca. Oh, sure. The Godfather, gone with the wind, Lawrence of Arabia, and then Wizard of Oz. You're guessing too fast. Check those.

Are you right? I'm literally reading from the list. Oh, cheetah. Citizen Kane Chita chita Pumpkin eat It must be nice We've been eating insulation

Yeah You shouldn't be eating that Even if you devil it Guess what? What? Chicken butt One a piece fried in grease Ha ha ha

He got you there You son of a bitch It's in the walls The food is in the walls Have you ever deviled a pumpkin On Halloween? Oh boy You put mayonnaise in the guts

And you stir it up And add some paprika And when the kids go trick a treat You push them down the stairs You have been break through the walls and you pull out some cotton candy. Wake up, wake up. Their munchkin egged himself and he had it coming.

Oh, boy. It seems like you do have some fond memories of the film. Are there any quotable quotes from the film that you like to reminisce about? Oh, I love when she says, I'll get you, my pretty, and your shitty dog, too. Okay, I can't say the S word, but you can. She says it in the film. She's only quoting the film. There's this one really subtle.

part I just love where the tin man just goes, okay. Yes. God, that's good. God, that's good. I love it when Dorothy says, Kansas, we're not in a house now. It came into the wind. Kansas, we're not in a house now. It came in with the wind. You should have been an actress. Thank you. I did audition for the role.

Yeah. But I was too old to be a baby on stilts. Also up for the role was Shirley Temple. What? Shirley Temple was up for the role. auditioned to play d'Or. Now she represents the Guild of the Good Ship Lollipal, doesn't she? This gets confusing.

Very confusing. Lots of different. Could you imagine the film with Shirley Temple playing the lead role instead of Joey Garland? Do you know Temple? Shirley Temple. Here's what I'll do. I'll take a Johnny Walker Black. Here it comes. And I'll pour it into a Shirley Temple and I call it a Shirley Temple Black.

Now that's who she was married to for a time. Who? Shirley Temple. Was married to? A fella named Black. Here's what I'll do. I'll take an egg log. I'll put a bit of whiskey in it. And I'll have a whiskey and egg log.

Okay. Here's what I'll do. Just pour some of that turpentine. You've got in that jar over there. In fact, keeping the jar, I'll take it how it is. My God, I'm pickled. What was your question? Can I imagine the film of the jury of temples?

That was basically the question, yes. I can imagine almost anything, my friend. I can't imagine a thing at all. I've got memory blindness. And colorblindness? Yes, when I close my eyes, I see nothing. When I try to imagine anything, I see nothing. God, that sounds great.

Yeah, it does sound pretty good. Just the silence. I've got a couple of olives in my pocket, if you want me. Now, don't fall for this trick. Come on. Don't reach your hand in, I promise you that not olives. All right, I'll reach out in there. Okay, see what you feel?

Pretty mushy, huh? I'm warning you. We should call 911. No, no, no. There's this hole where the pimento goes. Try to put your little pinky on. Don't put your hand in the hole. Okay.

Oh, we're making martinis. Oh, boy. I really think we should get a medical expert in here. Hey, Lawrence, you're okay. I like you, kid. Thank you very much. You can keep those. They do come out.

He's got almost everybody with that because it's irresistible. It's irresistible. I love all of that. I know. There's olives in my pocket I can't resist. And to be fair, they smell like olives. They do. That's no accident.

Don't feel bad, Lawrence. We've all fallen for it. Now, hey, hey, Lawrence, would you like to touch a hairy coconut under my top? She keeps a hairy coconut under her top. Is that so? And I know I've got room for two, but I've only got one since my ex-wife. And I honeymooned in Aruba, and I think about coconuts quite a lot. I'd love to feel some, a hairy coconut.

Good, good. Put your hand under my blouse here, and you'll get the hairiest, hardest coconut of a lifetime. Oh, oh. Oh. My God. What do you think of that? Give it a knock.

Is it hollow or what? Oh, yeah. Look at that. It's like the king of the cacamora. This man will believe anything. Want him to have you to give. You want to have something to give this. Hey, you want a handful of pus?

Rips into my shoe. Wait, wait, that's not how it works. What? You're not supposed to say what the thing is. No, you don't understand my shoe is full of puss. No, I understand. But I'm saying you've made it too transparent to the boy. What I'm saying is they can't do anything about it.

No, I know. Generates an enormous amount of pus. I thought you just stepped on a Cineabon. Oh, my God. No. Jesus Christ. They can't do anything about us. I just, I have to have it drained off.

I got a girl that comes by every Friday and drains off the pus. Is this the same girl every day? I have no idea. She's from Trinidad. It's the same one that does the crafts with you. The pus is the white glue she uses for the popsicle ornaments. Oh, I hope you're right. Get some use out of us.

Yeah, yeah. It's stickier than ever, isn't it? He's not going into my shoe. What if we took your coconut, fill it with his pus and my olives? We'd really have something. Would you drink it? I dare you. I already am.

Oh, my God. He's one of us. Oh, God. Welcome. Welcome to the club. Well, I'd like to thank my guests for appearing on With My Own Eyes. What's stopping you? Yeah, who's your guests?

Go on. You are. Okay. You got one. Dutch Swanson. That's me. Ben Alterman and Margaret Doops. How does he know our name?

Good question. I'd like to thank you for being guests on With My Own Eyes. A podcast brought to you by the American Historical Society in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and Dippin' dots. It's funny because these are not my own eyes. Excuse me? Huh? He's had a transplant.

I'm blind. What's your name? What? What's your name? Ben and I has swapped eyes. We swapped tithes? We swapped tithes. I tithed to his church and he to mine.

It works out fine. What about this? Don't you understand? With My Own Eyes is brought to you by Andy Daly with Matt Goorley. It was mixed and edited by Mark McConville, and executive produced by Andy Daley and Matt Goorley.