Wicked and the Ruby Slippers.

 

Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West creates a backstory for Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and explores the world of The Wizard of Oz from her perspective. Elphaba is modeled after Margaret Hamilton's portrayal in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz: green-skinned, clad entirely in black and wearing a tall, peaked hat. 

The novel Wicked explains that the ruby slippers a pair of magical shoes which play a pivotal role in The Wizard of Oz, were given to Nessarose, the future Wicked Witch of the East, by her father. In the musical Wicked, it is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who enchants the shoes, giving her crippled sister Nessarose the ability to walk.

The ruby slippers worn by Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz have achieved iconic stature and are among the most valuable items of film memorabilia.

In L. Frank Baum's original 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy wears silver shoes but the color of the shoes was changed to take advantage of the introduction of Technicolor to the movies.

The wardrobe woman who worked on the film claimed "six identical pairs" had been made. Four pairs used in the movie have been accounted for.  Is it possible that the other two pair are tucked away in someone’s garage or attic?

Let’s look at the big four:

One pair is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

Another pair was initially owned by one Roberta Bauman who won them in a contest.  In 1988, these shoes were sold at auction to Anthony Landini for $150,000. Landini auctioned this pair of slippers, at Christie's auction house in 2000, for $666,000. They now belong to a collector who owns memorabilia shops in Hollywood.

A third pair were the highlight of the 2011 “Icons of Hollywood auction”.  They were offered with a starting reserve price of two million dollars, but did not sell.  Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, and other benefactors made it possible for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to acquire the pair for an undisclosed price in February 2012 for the Academy’s new Museum in Los Angeles.

Michael Shaw acquired the fourth pair in 1970. These were stolen from an exhibit at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in August, 2005.  On September 4, 2018, the FBI announced the stolen pair had been recovered after 13 years.  Five year later, one Terry Martin was indicted for the crime and pleaded guilty, saying that he thought the slippers were made from real rubies because they were insured for one million dollars.

Another iconic piece of Oz memorabilia, the Wicked Witch’s hat from the 1939 movie, has recently come up for auction with a whopping price tag of $140,000.