The Wizard of Oz was produced in 1939, on the eve of WW2, by the Hollywood film production company, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). MGM was founded in 1924 by Marcus Loew of the production company Metro Pictures who bought out both the Goldwyn Company and the business of Luis B. Mayer. Despite the inclusion of his name Samuel Goldwyn was never a member of MGM. The anomaly of Goldwyn's inclusion in the MGM acronym has been a subject of analysis by conspiracy theorists, connected to broader suspicions that the Hollywood film industry had close connections with certain occult groups, such as the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) and with the U.S. military. In 1994 MGM released the science fiction film, Stargate, containing themes of a military-occult nature. One year later the CIA decommissioned and partially declassified the last official U.S. Army remote viewing program, Stargate (1991-1995).

Since 1922 Goldwyn maintained an independent studio and sound facility in Hollywood.