Margaret Hamilton - A Very Thoughtful "Wicked Witch"

Margaret Hamilton will forever be remembered as the Wicked Witch of the West, in the 1939 classic movie "The Wizard of Oz". She was in many other movies in the 1930s through the early 1950s, when she became regularly cast in many tv shows. In the 1970s she played "Cora" in a popular series of commercials for Maxwell House Coffee.

In 1980, I bought a portrait photo of Ms. Hamilton, and a scene still from "Wizard", from one of the shops in NYC which sold movie photos. The portrait was a bit dark and "muddy", probably from being copied down a few times from the original. I sent both to Ms. Hamilton for autographing to me.

Well, she, too, noticed the poor quality of the portrait, and wrote this note at the bottom of my letter: "Bill dear, I'm sorry you spent your money on this very bad picture. I'm sending you a better one - what it should really look like. If you remember where you bought this I would like very much to know because I don't like it being sold as it is a poor copy. Thank you for your letter. MH." She returned the "very bad" photo unsigned and enclosed this one which she did sign. And she signed the scene still too. Not such a "Wicked Witch" after all.