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Ruby slippers
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.
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 via a magic bubble 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."
The slippers were designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM's chief costume designer. Initially, two pairs were made in different styles. The so-called "Arabian test pair" was "a wildly jeweled, Arabian motif, with curling toes and heels." This pair was used in costume tests, but was rejected as unsuitable for Dorothy's farm girl image. The second design was approved with one modification. The red bugle beads used to simulate rubies proved too heavy, so they were mostly replaced with sequins, about 2,300 for each shoe.
At least six or seven pairs of the final design are believed to have been made. According to producer Mervyn LeRoy, "We must have had five or ten pairs of those shoes". 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. Rhys Thomas speculates that they were likely made by Joe Napoli of the Western Costume Company, and not all at once, but as the need arose. According to Rhys Thomas in his Los Angeles Times article, "all the ruby slippers are between Size 5 and 6, varying between B and D widths."
The four surviving pairs were made from white silk pumps from the Innes Shoe Company in Los Angeles. Many movie studios used plain white silk shoes at the time because they were inexpensive and easy to dye. It is likely that most of the shoes worn by female characters in The Wizard of Oz were plain Innes shoes with varying heel heights dyed to match each costume. There is an embossed gold or silver stamp or an embroidered cloth label bearing the name of the company inside each right shoe.
The shoes were dyed red, and burgundy sequined organza overlays were attached to each shoe's upper and heel. The three-strip Technicolor film process required the sequins to be darker than most modern red sequins; bright red sequins would have appeared as orange on screen. Two weeks before the start of shooting, Adrian added butterfly-shaped red strap leather bows. Each of the Art Deco-inspired bows had three large, rectangular, red-glass jewels with dark red bugle beads outlined in red glass rhinestones in silver settings. The stones and beads were sewn to the bows, then to the organza-covered shoe. Three pairs of the surviving slippers had orange felt glued to their soles to deaden the sound of Garland dancing on the Yellow Brick Road.
One pair, known as "the People's Shoes," is on display at the Smithsonian Institution. However, the shoes do not belong together; their actual mates are the mismatched pair (left sized 5C, right 5BC) stolen in 2005 and recovered in 2018.
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Ruby slippers
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.
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 via a magic bubble 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."
The slippers were designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM's chief costume designer. Initially, two pairs were made in different styles. The so-called "Arabian test pair" was "a wildly jeweled, Arabian motif, with curling toes and heels." This pair was used in costume tests, but was rejected as unsuitable for Dorothy's farm girl image. The second design was approved with one modification. The red bugle beads used to simulate rubies proved too heavy, so they were mostly replaced with sequins, about 2,300 for each shoe.
At least six or seven pairs of the final design are believed to have been made. According to producer Mervyn LeRoy, "We must have had five or ten pairs of those shoes". 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. Rhys Thomas speculates that they were likely made by Joe Napoli of the Western Costume Company, and not all at once, but as the need arose. According to Rhys Thomas in his Los Angeles Times article, "all the ruby slippers are between Size 5 and 6, varying between B and D widths."
The four surviving pairs were made from white silk pumps from the Innes Shoe Company in Los Angeles. Many movie studios used plain white silk shoes at the time because they were inexpensive and easy to dye. It is likely that most of the shoes worn by female characters in The Wizard of Oz were plain Innes shoes with varying heel heights dyed to match each costume. There is an embossed gold or silver stamp or an embroidered cloth label bearing the name of the company inside each right shoe.
The shoes were dyed red, and burgundy sequined organza overlays were attached to each shoe's upper and heel. The three-strip Technicolor film process required the sequins to be darker than most modern red sequins; bright red sequins would have appeared as orange on screen. Two weeks before the start of shooting, Adrian added butterfly-shaped red strap leather bows. Each of the Art Deco-inspired bows had three large, rectangular, red-glass jewels with dark red bugle beads outlined in red glass rhinestones in silver settings. The stones and beads were sewn to the bows, then to the organza-covered shoe. Three pairs of the surviving slippers had orange felt glued to their soles to deaden the sound of Garland dancing on the Yellow Brick Road.
One pair, known as "the People's Shoes," is on display at the Smithsonian Institution. However, the shoes do not belong together; their actual mates are the mismatched pair (left sized 5C, right 5BC) stolen in 2005 and recovered in 2018.