According to the Judy Garland Museum, there’s no place like home for the legendary ruby red slippers that the actress wore in The Wizard of Oz.
So, the museum - located in Garland’s pretty little childhood home in Grand Rapids, Minnesota - is endeavouring to raise money to buy the famous shoes at auction later this year.
If the campaign is successful, it would be a homecoming for the dazzling slippers, which were on display at the museum until 2005, when a burglar broke in and stole the shoes.
In 2018, an elderly Minnesota man has confessed to stealing the slippers and thereby avoided jail by striking a plea deal. Terry Martin claimed an old mob associate persuaded him to commit the heist for "one last score". Martin originally planned to sell the gems from the slippers, but got rid of them after discovering the rubies were actually made of glass.
Happily, the FBI eventually recovered the slippers and returned them to their rightful owner, Michael Shaw, a collector who had loaned them to the museum before the robbery. Heritage Auctions will sell the slippers on Shaw’s behalf in December. These particular slippers are one of four known surviving pairs that Garland wore in the 1939 film.
The magical slippers, which bring Garland's movie character - Dorothy Gale - back home to Kansas after her adventure in Oz with three magical heel clicks, have become one of Hollywood’s most recognizable symbols. Now, the Judy Garland Museum wants them as part of their permanent collection.
“They could sell for $1 million; they could sell for $10 million,” says Joe Maddalena of Heritage Auctions. “They’re priceless.” So, the museum is hedging its bets and trying to raise $3.5 million - drumming up support as the shoes go on tour through Tokyo, New York, London and Dallas.
“It would be a Hollywood happy ending to this ruby slippers saga,” says Janie Heitz, executive director of the museum. “This would be a good final home for them, which is what Dorothy was searching for in The Wizard of Oz, so it’s a full-circle story for the slippers.”
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