The Wizard of Oz in 4K

The magical world created by author L. Frank Baum is brought to the screen in Technicolor and with all the lavish resources of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in this gorgeous musical fantasy from MGM. Judy Garland is farm girl Dorothy, who finds herself transported to the magical land of Oz, where she confronts unimaginable dangers with the help of her unexpected new friends. The film received five Oscar nominations including Best Picture and won for Herbert Stothart’s orchestral score and the immortal ballad “Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg. The current rotation of the gallery Stories of Cinema: Identity features the ruby slippers worn by Garland; the slippers are part of the museum’s collection.

In John Cameron Mitchell’s screen adaptation of his stage musical, drag helps East German immigrant Hedwig Robinson craft a new identity after her gender reassignment surgery goes wrong. When her husband abandons her in a Kansas trailer park, she cheers herself up by trying on wigs. She embraces her star power in a costume made of platinum blonde hair decorated with rhinestones, with matching gloves and stiletto boots, currently on view in Stories of Cinema: Identity. Inspired by David Bowie and 1970s glam rock, the film found its audience once it was released on home video, inspiring a massive cult following that lives on today.

Based on the smash Broadway production, itself inspired by the memoirs of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, this earthy, dazzling musical features Natalie Wood as Louise Hovick, a timid, aspiring actress shoved into the spotlight and transformed into “Gypsy” by her brash stage mother, Rose (Rosalind Russell). Orry-Kelly designed elegant gowns for Wood’s shy character as she enters the world of burlesque under the stage name Gypsy Rose Lee. Long silhouettes and removable accessories emphasize her coy, ladylike presence. Like Lee’s performances in real life, striptease in the film involved relatively modest costumes, capitalizing on the power of suggestion. See one of Orry-Kelly’s creations in Stories of Cinema: Identity before seeing the film on the big screen.