I think all of us discover something new when we watch our favorite classics over and over again. I found many surprising things while watching The Wizard of Oz for the first time with closed-captioning.

With a recent streaming release of The Wizard of Oz in high definition and improved sound, we were excited watched this classic once again on our big-screen TV.

The Discoveries

I used to watch the Wizard of Oz every year during the Holiday season. I am not sure when I stopped doing that.  I couldn’t believe I haven’t seen the Wizard of Oz since 1995, which is when I started enjoying closed-captioning.  But, it seems I didn’t.   When I did, these are the delightful discoveries I found:

-The mean lady riding the bike who wanted to take away Toto is named Mrs. Gulch.

-The dialog of Dorothy’s uncles while on the farm in Kansas was a real revelation.  I did not know they each talked about having brains, heart, and courage.  Of course, those conversations translated into their characters when Dorothy was in the land of Oz.  Charming!

-I did not know the munchkin ballet dancers and lollypop guys were from guilds. I thought they were singing “kids” all these years.

-Until the closed-captioning experience, the segment where the cowardly lion sings about being king used to bore me. But when I learned what the lyrics were, I found that segment adorable.  In fact, I never understood all the words of the lyrics to the many songs. After the closed-captioning experience, it was no wonder the movie won the Best Score for that year at the Academy Awards.

-The wicked witch telling the flying monkeys she’ll send the insects out ahead to get Dorothy and Toto.

The Insights

The revelation that was probably most impactful during this viewing was how not hearing everything in this movie since a child did not distract from my enjoyment of it.  I didn’t know any different, so it didn’t make any difference.  I appreciated how much I was able to glean just by watching the body language of these characters, their facial expressions, and their voice tonality.  Something I do to this day to help me comprehend what I am hearing.  Pretty remarkable.