The “Snowstorm” in The Wizard of Oz Was Actually Asbestos
Everyone remembers the famous scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy falls asleep in a field of poppies and wakes up in the middle of a snowstorm—but they might not have known the “snow” was actually asbestos. Until the late 1920s, filmmakers used cotton batting to create snow effects. It was later pointed out by a firefighter that cotton could be a fire hazard on set. He suggested asbestos as an alternative. For the next twenty years, the toxic material was a staple on sets across America.