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.