Q & A
Q: Why are the skins of witches in kids’ stories supposedly green? Why not pink or yellow?
—Sam A., age 11, Oregon
A: The first witch shown with vibrant green skin is also the most famous: the Wicked Witch of the West from. The movie, that is. In L. Frank Baum’s book, her skin isn’t any special color. But the filmmakers added color to a lot of things that didn’t pop as brightly in the original story: Dorothy’s silver shoes became ruby slippers; horses in the Emerald City gained the ability to change color on a whim; and, of course, the Wicked Witch took on her green hue. All the better to highlight the difference between drab, black-and-white Kansas and fantastical Oz ( filmed with a new technology called Technicolor) on the movie screen.
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