Video: 'The Wizard of Oz' trailer

(Tuesday, August 15, 1939, 8:30 p.m. PDT) — The Wizard of Oz, an American musical fantasy film about a Kansas farm girl who dreams herself into a magical land where she must fight a wicked witch to escape, premiered tonight at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The film had opened regionally in several U.S. cities, beginning Aug. 10, 1939, including in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the Orpheum Theatre, according to an advertisement in that day’s Green Bay Press-Gazette newspaper.

Video: 'The Wizard of Oz (1939) - Movie' (8 clips)

The New York City premiere, held at Loew’s Capitol Theatre on Aug. 17, 1939, was followed by a live performance with Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney, as they had begun a publicity tour in Eastern cities on Aug. 9, 1939.

Directed by Victor Fleming, the film starred Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton and Charley Grapewin.