The ruby slippers are a pair of magical shoes worn by Dorothy Gale as played by Judy Garland in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film The Wizard of Oz. Because of their iconic stature, they are as of December 2024 the most valuable items of film memorabilia in the world. Several pairs were made for the film, though the exact number is unknown. Five pairs are known to have survived; one pair was stolen from a museum in 2005 and recovered in 2018.
In L. Frank Baum's original 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, on which the film is based, Dorothy wears Silver Shoes. However, the color of the shoes was changed to red to take advantage of the three-strip Technicolor film process used in some big-budget prestigious Hollywood films of the era. Screenwriter Noel Langley is credited with the idea.
The slippers
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
In the MGM film, an adolescent farm girl named Dorothy Gale (played by Judy Garland), her dog Toto, and their Kansas farmhouse are swept into the air by a tornado and transported to the Land of Oz. The house falls on and kills the Wicked Witch of the East, freeing the Munchkins from her tyranny. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North arrives and shows Dorothy the dead woman's feet sticking out from under the house with the ruby slippers on them. When the Wicked Witch of the West comes to claim her dead sister's shoes, Glinda magically transfers them to Dorothy's feet. Glinda tells Dorothy never to take them off, as the slippers must be very powerful, or the Wicked Witch would not want them so badly. Throughout the rest of the film, the Wicked Witch schemes to obtain the shoes. She tries to take the slippers when she captures Dorothy, but receives a painful shock. She then realizes that the slippers will only come off if the wearer is dead, so she decides to kill Dorothy. Before she does, however, Dorothy accidentally splashes her with a bucket of water, causing her to melt away. In the end, Glinda reveals that Dorothy can return home by simply closing her eyes, clicking the slippers' heels together three times, and repeating the sentence, "There's no place like home."
thumb|right|The "Arabian" ruby slippers on display at the auction of the collection of [[Debbie Reynolds in Beverly Hills on June 18, 2011]]
The slippers were designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM's chief costume designer. The wardrobe woman who worked on the film claimed "six identical pairs" had been made.
Another pair, the close-up or insert shoes, which is in the best shape of all, appears to be better made, has no orange felt on the soles, and has "#7 Judy Garland" written in the lining. According to the Library of Congress, "it is widely believed that they were used primarily for close-ups and possibly the climactic scene where Dorothy taps her heels together." Circular scuff marks on the soles support the theory that they were the ones Garland had on when she clicked her heels together (though according to some accounts it actually was one of her doubles, either Bobbie Koshay or Caren Marsh Doll, who clicked her heels in the scene). hence their nickname: the "Witch's Shoes". This is most likely the size 6B pair (owned first by Roberta Bauman, then Anthony Landini, and currently by David Elkouby) whose lining says "Double" instead of "Judy Garland". However, some believe this pair may have been the second pair created, therefore explaining the "Double" in the lining, but still worn by Garland and Koshay. Several pairs of Garland's own shoes are size 6. Garland can be seen wearing this pair in publicity photos taken after the film's primary shooting was finished in 1939.
In the film sequence where trees pelt the Scarecrow with their apples, Garland can be briefly glimpsed wearing black shoes instead of the slippers. She reportedly found the slippers so uncomfortable that she wore them only when her feet were on camera.
Subsequent history
For many years, movie studios were careless with old props, costumes, scripts, and other materials, unaware of or indifferent to their increasing value as memorabilia. Often, workers would keep them as souvenirs without permission, aware that their employers did not particularly care. However, according to Rhys Thomas, all but one pair had an orange felt on the soles.
Another pair was initially owned by a Tennessee woman named Roberta Bauman (1922–2009), who got them by placing second in a National Four Star Club "Name the Best Movies of 1939" contest. In 1988, auction house Christie's sold them for $150,000 plus $15,000 buyer's premium to Anthony Landini. Landini worked with The Walt Disney Company to start showing them at the Disney/MGM Studios' Florida Theme Park in the queue for The Great Movie Ride, whose facade and queue area are themed after Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. They were visible at the ride's debut in 1989. Landini auctioned his pair of slippers, again at Christie's East, on May 24, 2000, for $666,000 (including the buyer's premium). They were sold to David Elkouby and his partners, who own memorabilia shops in Hollywood. Elkouby and Co. has yet to display the shoes.
The pair Warner kept, the "Witch's Shoes," was in the best condition. Warner sold the shoes in 1981 to an unknown buyer through Christie's East for $12,000. Two weeks after Landini bought his slippers, this pair resurfaced and was offered privately through Christie's to the under-bidder of the Bauman shoes, Philip Samuels of St. Louis, Missouri. Samuels bought them for the same price Landini had paid, $165,000. He has used his shoes to fund children's charities, and has lent them to the Smithsonian when their slippers are cleaned, repaired, or (previously) on tour. Auction house Profiles in History announced this pair would highlight its December 15–17, 2011 Icons of Hollywood auction.
Kent Warner sold one pair to Michael Shaw in 1970. In 2015, the Associated Press reported that an anonymous donor had offered a $1 million reward for information about the stolen slippers. On September 4, 2018, the FBI announced the stolen pair had been recovered after a 13-year search. On March 16, 2023, a federal grand jury indicted a Minnesota man on one count of theft. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served in January 2024. On December 7, 2024, this pair was sold at auction for $28 million by Heritage Auctions (ultimately $32.5 million after auction house's fees are included), making it the most "valuable movie memorabilia ever sold at auction," according to Heritage Auctions. Over 800 people bid on the item, including the Judy Garland Museum, attempting to buy the slippers back from Shaw, who had regained the pair after it had been recovered by the FBI.
The very elaborate curled-toe "Arabian" pair was owned by actress and memorabilia preservationist Debbie Reynolds. She acknowledged she got them from Kent Warner. These slippers were sold for $510,000 (not including the buyer's premium) in the June 2011 auction as part of the actress's collection.
Reproductions
Return to Oz
The ruby slippers play an integral role in the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures film Return to Oz, for which Disney had to obtain rights from MGM to use reproductions in the film. Unlike the originals, the hand-made British French-heeled shoes for Return to Oz were covered in hundreds of dark red crystals.
Other film reproductions
Super Mario Bros. is a 1993 science-fiction/adventure homage to The Wizard of Oz featuring red-accented 'Thwomp "Air" Stompers' that allow the wearer to fly upon clicking the heels together. An imitation pair of ruby slippers appeared in the 2002 movie The Master of Disguise. Another pair appeared in an Oz sequence in the cult comedy Kentucky Fried Movie. Reproductions were also featured in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, in which character Kahmunrah tosses them away after discovering the rubies are fake.
Tribute versions
In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, the Harry Winston jewelry company created a size-four pair of slippers using "about 25 carats of diamonds and 1,500 carats of rubies". Valued at $3 million, they were reportedly the most expensive pair of shoes in the world at the time.
During the fall 2008 New York Fashion Week, the Swarovski company held a charity contest to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the film, with nineteen designers redesigning the ruby slippers, including Gwen Stefani, Diane von Fürstenberg, and Moschino. The "Arabian" design was displayed with the designer entries.
In 2019, Ikon Design Studio released an officially licensed pair of ruby slippers. The replica slippers came in Judy Garland's size of 5B and had her name written inside the shoe. The production was limited to 250 numbered pairs worldwide, including an acrylic display case and a numbered plaque.
In 2023, a limited edition of 1500 replica pairs were created by Paragon FX Group for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment currently hold the copyright to the 1939 film.
Television
In the 1990–1991 animated TV series The Wizard of Oz (produced by DiC Animation City), the ruby slippers' powers are significantly enhanced. Not only do they retain their movie-inspired ability to repel the Wicked Witch of the West's touch, as well as the capability to teleport their user (and an unspecified number of companions) to any location desired, but they also demonstrate numerous other attributes and capabilities as well. Among them are the ability to:
- cloud/block the view of the Witch's crystal ball, but only as long as they remain glowing
- negate, dispel, or reverse hexes or magical energy used against their wearer by the Witch
- levitate an object and control its trajectory through the air
- immediately adjust their size/shape to fit their wearer
In this series, Dorothy remains inexperienced and unfamiliar with the shoes' magic, calling upon their power only as a last resort, often resulting in a deus ex machina scenario. The Cowardly Lion and Truckle, the Wicked Witch of the West's chief Flying Monkey, also briefly wear them.
In the 2002 Charmed season 5 episode "Happily Ever After", Piper returns home using the ruby slippers after going to the Fairytale Castle to vanquish the Wicked Witch.
The slippers briefly appear in the 2012 season 4 episode "Fractures" of Warehouse 13 in the Dark Vault, seemingly having a life of their own, accompanied by a witch's cackle and a few notes of "Over the Rainbow". They are supposedly an "Artifact" – a potentially dangerous and malicious object that grants the wearer dangerous powers – since many artifacts are based on works of fact and fiction.
The season 9 episode "Slumber Party" of the series Supernatural features Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Here portrayed as a hard-as-nails fighter, Dorothy realizes the shoes are the only thing that can kill the seemingly invincible witch. At one point, she admits she never really wore the iconic shoes, having considered it "tacky" to wear the shoes of a dead witch. Near the end of the episode, Charlie Bradbury uses the shoes to kill the Wicked Witch and foil her plot to bring her armies to Earth and take over the world.
Books
The Ruby Slippers of Oz (Tale Weaver Publishing, 1989) by Rhys Thomas is a history of the famous shoes and Kent Warner's part in it.
In "At The Auction of the Ruby Slippers", a short story in Salman Rushdie's 1994 anthology East, West, various members of a destitute world attend an auction to bid for the ruby slippers of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, in the hope their transformative powers will help them achieve personal and political ends.
According to the revisionist version of the Oz history chronicled in Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the slippers were given to Nessarose, the future Wicked Witch of the East, by her father. They were constructed with handmade glass beads and reflected many different colors in the lighting, giving them an almost chameleon effect. After being enchanted by Elphaba's old best friend and roommate, Glinda (the Good Witch of the North), they become items of power that allow the armless and handicapped Nessarose to magically stand and walk independently without any additional support. In the musical adaptation Wicked, it is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who enchants the shoes, giving crippled Nessarose the ability to walk without a wheelchair.
Music
The progressive band Electric Light Orchestra used a frame from the 1939 film on the cover of their fourth studio album, Eldorado, released in 1974. The cover, designed by John Kehe, is a mirrored still frame of Dorothy's ruby slippers. This still was also used for the picture sleeve of "Can't Get It Out of My Head", the single release from the Eldorado album.
The American singer-songwriter Addison Rae wore similar ruby slippers in the music video for her single "High Fashion", which also makes other visual references to the 1939 film.
Video games
In Wizard101, the slippers are a wearable item given after completing the sidequest "Not in Kansas Anymore". Once worn, they give +1 resistance to damage from Death spells.
In World of Warcraft, they are a pair of level 70 epic cloth shoes dropped by the Wizard of Oz-themed "opera event" in the Karazhan raid instance. The shoes function similarly to the hearthstone that all characters start with, allowing them to teleport from their current location to the inn where the hearthstone is set. The caption under the statistic lines is "There's no place like home."
The slippers are part of the twelve "Foundation Elements" in the 2015 toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions.
See also
- List of most valuable celebrity memorabilia
- List of film memorabilia
References
Bibliography
External links
- Ruby Slippers at the National Museum of American History