The Wizard of Oz is having a moment, thanks in no small part to the recent release of the movie Wicked, an adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. But the success of the film is not the only Oz news this month.
Over the weekend, one of the most iconic props from the 1939 film (and, arguably, all of film history) sold for $28 million, setting a massive new record for a piece of entertainment memorabilia. The buyer, whose identity has not been made public, will ultimately pay $32.5 million, including taxes and fees. Can you guess what it was?
Yes, the world’s most valuable piece of movie memorabilia is now indisputably one of the four remaining pairs of ruby slippers worn by Dorothy Gale (played by Judy Garland) in the film. The sequinned shoes are pivotal to the story, most notably towards the end when Dorothy taps her heels together and repeats “There’s no place like home” to return to Kansas.
Yet there is more to the slippers’ story than their appearance in the Technicolor classic that premiered more than 85 years ago. Back in August 2005, the slippers were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (Garland’s birthplace) on loan from collector Michael Shaw when they were stolen. The museum's door and the display case where they had been kept were smashed, with just a single sequin left behind.
After extensive search efforts involving local and federal law enforcement, they were finally recovered by the FBI in 2018. Earlier this year, the thief was identified as Terry Jon Martin, then 76 years old and living in hospice care due to his declining health. Rather than taking them home or loaning them back to the museum, Shaw decided to sell the slippers via Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.
Although the Judy Garland Museum was also involved in the bidding, they fell short of the winning bid, which vastly exceeded all predictions. The museum has not given up hope of another loan, though this seems less likely given the astronomical price paid for the shoes.
There’s no place like home:
- The previous auction record for an entertainment item was $5.52 million, including fees, set in 2011 for the dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the subway scene in The Seven Year Itch.
- Though nothing came close to approaching the price paid for the ruby slippers, the recent Heritage Auctions event featured many other pieces of Wizard of Oz memorabilia, including the Wicked Witch of the West hat worn by Margaret Hamilton (nearly $3 million), a screen door from Dorothy’s house ($37,500) and a wig worn by Judy Garland at the start of filming ($30,000). Collectively, it was the most expensive entertainment auction in history.
- The Wizard of Oz had a budget of $2.8 million when it was made in 1938 and 1939. At the time, it was the most expensive production in MGM history.
- In L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which inspired the 1939 film, the magical shoes that Dorothy wears are sliver. However, they were changed to red for the movie, which was filmed in Technicolor, providing a striking visual contrast with the Yellow Brick Road.
