Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Spooktober: Mister Rogers meets Margaret Hamilton (1975)

By the time this episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired in May 1975, special guest Margaret Hamilton might've actually been better known for shilling for Maxwell House coffee than her signature role of the Wicked Witch of The West in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz".

In the interview, the only portion of the episode we have, Margaret explains the witch's motivations, among other things.

Edit, 9/14/2020: The video was deleted. All we have now is a screencap acquired from Me-TV:

6 comments:

magicdog said...

That was pretty awesome!

I wonder how many viewers remembered her as the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz? I wonder if that really was the costume she wore in the film?

hobbyfan said...

Not able to answer either question, but what I'm wondering is how often Fred Rogers had celebrity guests on his show. I have his crossover appearance on Sesame Street up elsewhere on this blog.

Chris Sobieniak said...

In those days, the movie itself had been an annual classic on TV for a number of years, so it wasn't uncommon for people not to have seen the film, though I suppose if they forgot who played the witch, at least they'll get their answer here.

I don't recall guests stars being too prominent on Mister Rogers' program, though it was sparingly done like when he visited Bill Bixby on the set of his TV show (The Incredible Hulk).

hobbyfan said...

Have to find that one with Bixby (and maybe Lou Ferrigno, too?).

Chris Sobieniak said...

Yeah they were both on the same show.

hobbyfan said...

It was a two-parter, but only portions of part 2 are available on YouTube.