The classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz used asbestos as fake snow. The Judy Garland-starring movie instils creativity to this day. Using the toxic mineral asbestos as snow was more than a little hazardous to the cast and crew. In the early to mid-1900s Chrysotile, which is white asbestos, was commonly used as fake snow for Christmas decorations. And upon inhaling the asbestos dust, the mineral fibres can become permanently trapped in the body which can cause lung inflammation, scarring, and even genetic damage. The Wizard of Oz, “literally dous[es] its main characters in carcinogens”, according to Atlas Obscura.
It is not to blame:
Mesothelioma, which is a rare cancer type, is almost exclusively linked to asbestos exposure, along with other types of cancer and lung disease. However it has not been officially confirmed that anybody from the set of The Wizard of Oz passed away from the use of asbestos in the film. Once the viewers learned that the fake snow in the poppy scene was 100% asbestos, it became legendary over the years. Engineered by Glinda, the Good Witch, Dorothy woke up in a snow-covered poppy field in The Wizard of Oz.
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What really happened:
In spite of The Wizard of Oz being the most beloved movie, its production had some troubling aspects. Along with the fake snow, Ray Bolger’s Scarecrow costume was also sprayed with a flame-proofing material made from asbestos due of his several run-ins with fire in the movie. Even the burning broom used by Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West) was made of asbestos to avoid it from actually burning. However, she also got burned during one of the smoke-filled disappearing stunts, and that took her six weeks to recover. Buddy Ebsen, originally the Tin Man, was hospitalized for two weeks due to the use of aluminum in his makeup that poisoned him by seeping into his body. He was replaced with Jack Haley Jr.
