“Over the Rainbow” was almost cut from the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz because MGM studio executives thought the song made the Kansas sequence too long, would be over the heads of children, and degraded Judy Garland by making her sing in a barnyard. Producer Mervyn LeRoy fought for its inclusion and it won the Academy Award for Best Song. In 2004, “Over the Rainbow” was ranked #1 by the American Film Institute on a list of the 100 Greatest Songs in American Films. Read more about the movie in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).
