Rhode Center for the Arts

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“The Wizard of Oz” premiered 15 August 1939 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, later premiered in New York, and opened across the country on August 25th. But the GATEWAY Theatre in Kenosha premiered it before them all.

The Wizard of Oz was tested on 11 August 1939 in Cape Cod and Kenosha, and on 12 August in Oconomowoc. The venue in Kenosha was the Gateway Theatre (later the Lake and the Rhode). So, yes, Kenoshans did indeed see the movie before just about everyone else on the planet and it tested well enough in its three markets to be released, but did not do well in general release. It wasn’t decisively a flop and was critically acclaimed, but lost over a million dollars after box office takings didn’t come close to paying for the huge production costs. It was even re-released into theatres in 1949 to try to recoup costs.

War was on the horizon in Europe - literally days away - and attentions were elsewhere. In 1939 “The Wizard of Oz” had been filmed six times previously and most people remembered those mediocre earlier versions. Perhaps this version would have been forgotten if it weren’t for competitiveness among early color TV networks.

In 1955, NBC made a home run by broadcasting a live color Broadway adaptation of “Peter Pan” featuring Mary Martin, and repeated it in 1956. In response, CBS sought to air a color, family-oriented fantasy and settled on “The Wizard of Oz” including interviews with Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion), a young L. Frank Baum expert, and a ten-year-old Liza Minnelli.

The audience share of 53% led CBS to repeat the special each year with a different panel until 1968 when TWOZ was acquired by NBC. Yearly uncut showings would continue on one major network or another until 1998.

So now you can wow your friends with a little knowledge of Kenosha history and The Wizard of Oz. And if you have friends in Oconomowoc, where they are wont to say their test screening was the world premiere, you can rub it in their faces that they were third in line.