With Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching, many people will inevitably be revisiting their favorite holiday movies. Two television staples of the season that have stuck around longer than most are the 1939 Victor Fleming musical The Wizard of Oz and 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra. While The Wizard of Oz’s plot has no real connection to either holiday, the tradition of broadcasting it during the fall has made it just as popular with TV audiences around this time of year as Capra’s classic Christmas tale. Another thing the two films have in common is that one of the more iconic film comedians of that era was considered for roles in both.

When MGM started the casting process for The Wizard of Oz, one of their top choices for the titular Wizard was the inimitable

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