MOVIES - June 1, 1989

There’s going to be a soft touch connected to picking up a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of “The Wizard of Oz” videocassette when it’s released in August. Through a sponsorship agreement between MGM/UA Home Video and Downy Fabric Softner, customers can get a $5 rebate coupon that will drop the suggested price of “Oz” from $24.95 to $19.95. The limited release of the video will be accompanied by an $8.5-million promotional campaign, including a 30-second TV spot showing a girl entering “Oz” where the citizens sing about Downy to the tune of “Merry Old Land of Oz.” There also will be a 90-second Downy message at the beginning of the cassette, where a girl rounds up neighborhood friends for a back-yard production of “The Wizard of Oz” and gathers the costumes from her family’s “Downy-fresh” laundry basket. Promotions aside, the 50th anniversary edition of “The Wizard of Oz” will contain 17 minutes of footage not seen in the film or in the previously released “Wizard of Oz” videocassette. The extra footage includes Ray Bolger’s scarecrow dance and a “jitterbug” dance rehearsal, both cut from the film, Buddy Ebsen performing “If I Only Had a Heart,” Judy Garland receiving her Oscar and the film’s original theatrical promotional trailer.