THE MAGNIFICENT SCRIPT OF ‘OZ’

An early script of “The Wizard of Oz”--considered by film historians as a Hollywood Holy Grail--has been found buried in the MGM script vaults and it is being donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in D.C.

Officials of the institution say that the script will be displayed next to a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the classic 1939 film.

The script by Noel Langley, dated May 4, 1938, was uncovered last October by Rhys Thomas, a local TV writer-producer, in the basement vault of the Thalberg Building at MGM. He had gone there with a camera crew from “Hollywood Closeup” to videotape the dismantling of Hollywood’s oldest script library. Some 60,000 manuscripts--covering more than 60 years worth of movie literature--were waiting to be removed from the shelves where they had been chronologically filed since 1924.

Among the treasures: “Ben-Hur” (the original 1926 version), an original story by William Faulkner titled “Manservant” and a tattered script for “The Women” (1938), on whose pages were the penciled notes and signature of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Plus the screenplay for “Oz.”

Thomas contacted the Smithsonian to inquire about the value of the “Oz” script. Curators could not give a dollar price, but asked if Turner Entertainment might donate it. Thomas put Turner and Smithsonian officials in contact. After eight months of negotiations, the script was delivered.

Unproduced works in the library, such as “Manservant,” went to Kirk Kerkorian as part of the deal in which he retained the MGM name and Leo the Lion logo. The produced scripts remained with Turner Entertainment, which bought MGM, then sold everything but the film library.

By January, the scripts had been packed into cardboard boxes and shipped to the new Turner headquarters on Venice Blvd.