In 1938, Judy Garland was 16 and making ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Behind the cameras was a dark, horrific story

The article describes the troubled production of *The Wizard of Oz* and the exploitation Judy Garland allegedly endured as a young performer. It argues that her experiences reflected a wider culture in Hollywood that treated child actors as disposable, with consequences that continued to affect her life.

Garland was 16 when filming began in October 1938, and the shoot lasted nearly seven months. Her former husband Sid Luft later alleged that adult actors playing the Munchkins groped her; the article notes that some have contested his account, while Garland made suggestive remarks about the actors in a 1967 interview. It also recounts claims that her mother gave her stimulants and sleeping pills during childhood, and describes hazardous effects on set, including asbestos snow and serious make-up reactions.