Pay No Attention to The Man Behind the Curtain

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain refers to a memorable quote from The Wizard of Oz.

Online, the phrase can be encountered on a variation of image macros, GIFs and videos, related to the trope of maintaining an illusion.

via GIPHY

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” was first heard in The Wizard of Oz, which premiered in the United States on August 10^th, 1939.

In one of the scenes, Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) and her retinue are talking to the titular wizard, who appears to be a giant floating head.

It is here, that Toto points out that it’s just an illusion, projected by someone behind the drapes, to which the head replies “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”.

The line became an iconic phrase, associated with the film, appearing in a large variety of content online.

The “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” scene was first uploaded to YouTube as a separate clip on November 30^th, 2006 by GreyAlien7.

In the 2010’s, it was frequently associated with Orange Man Bad type of content, depicting Vladimir Putin operating a giant head, resembling Donald Trump, paired with the captions “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”.

• Shmoop.com – Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
• Mannerofspeaking.com – Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
• Forbes.com – ‘Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain’: Technology vs. Transparency