The Cowardly Lion of Oz: Background and Research

Background
As many of you already know, I am the costumed character director (as well as the Scarecrow) for the Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival (the world's largest Oz event).  One of my duties in this position is to create and maintain our characters' costumes.  Due to the wear and tear that we put on these each year at the festival (such as walking in city streets, climbing on and off parade floats, roaming a public park, dancing, playing with children, etc.), not to mention publicity events, rehearsals, and stage productions, we have to repair and sometimes even remake the costumes on occasion.  Well, the time has come for the Lion to be "reborn."

Current Lion Costume: Not the best - Not the worst.

The last time we (My mother and I) made the costume was 2009.  We had essentially had the one we had been using pulled out from underneath us.  There was not time nor funds to really do the best possible job.  What we ended up with was passible, but we were never truly satisfied with it.  Now, as it has gotten some use (it has been through at least 5 actors, 4 publicity events, 3 Oz events, 2 movie showings, and a stage production) the acrylic fur we used (more like a fleece) is starting to become thread bare and even melt down in places.  So now is our chance to do it again and do it right.

Research

Note how Lion looks a light brown color here.

Yet here he appears to have a more yellow or auburn hue.

I always begin a costuming job with research...a ridiculous amount (even if it is something I know like OZ).  Now, the problem you run into with movies like The Wizard of Oz is that the film is quite old (72 years this month, to be exact).  At the time the movie was filmed, lighting was really tricky and costumes didn't always photograph consistently; and publicity materials were often hand-colored, albeit incorrectly.  There is always home video (thank God for Blu-Ray!), but restoration processes in the past have sometimes distorted aging color further (look at Glinda's dress in the 1999 DVD print! It is PINK!); and with Blu-Ray, we just run into the issues of inconsistent lighting.  While some costumes do still exist, we run into two major problems: 1. Time has not always been kind to them; they have faded or gotten nasty from improper storage. 2. Due to the technicolor process, the actual costumes had to be out of colors that are not what we expect in order to photograph the proper color.  For example, Judy's Dorothy dress was a dark blue and pink, and her Ruby Slippers were burgandy.

Depending on the pictures of the Lion you see, he can appear light brown, taupe, yellow, dark/burnt orange, auburn, or dark brown.  After very carefully reviewing the Blu-Ray, original 1939 test stills and Kodachrome portraits,  and photos of the surviving costume, I ultimately decided that he was more of a softer, camel color (see picture below).  This color is also more consistent with what color an actual Lion would be.  After all, the original film did use a real lion pelt in the creation of the costume.  Of course, that is not possible for us. Again, this is where the film's age intercedes - it's now illegal to sell or purchase endangered animal pelts (and I wouldn't do it anyway).

On the topic of accuracy, I recently had someone get on my case for our Oz costumes not being 100% film accurate.  My response to that is, well quite simply, we can't be.  This is for a few reasons.  First of all, MGM had an army of professional costumers working endless hours to create this...and the depth of Louis B. Mayer's pockets didn't hurt either! And another major factor we are working with is that our costumes have to be functional.  They must operate in a real-world setting, not just a soundstage.  The Witch can't have a trailing cape as it would get stepped on, extremely dirty, or frayed.  Glinda can't have quite as big of a hoop or a corset because it would hinder her ability to get to a child's level, and that is the last thing we want.  Also, our costumes have to travel.  The ones in the original film didn't have to travel any further than wardrobe to dressing room to set.

Up Next: Fabric Selection, Design, and Construction