Because of this, the original soundtrack album has never been out of print. The showing of The Wizard of Oz on televison was an immediate success, and continues to this day. This type of album did not become widespread until the 1970's and 1980's, when the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series also released 'Story of' albums that contained music and dialogue. This was one of the first times that a person could play the record, and hear the story of the film, and it was edited in such a way that you didn't have to have seen the film to enjoy the record. Not only did it contain all of the songs, but it also contained passages of dialogue with musical underscore, exactly as heard in the film. Before this album, there had been many records made of songs from the movie, even some with the original cast, but this was the first time people could own an album of the 'original soundtrack'. Songs fromĪlthough the MGM movie version of The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, this soundtrack album wasn't released until 1956, to coincide with its first showing on television.
The Wizard of Oz (soundtrack) album cover.