where did dorothy get her ruby slippers

The Smithsonian helped the FBI verify that the recovered ruby slippers were one of the original pairs. We mistakenly believed that when we armed the building at night that the contacts would all be armed again, but this was not the case. Andy Morgan and Sgt. The staff watched as Sanborn removed the cover to reveal a clear case with the slippers inside. The first few times I watched the film was on a black & white TV, okay, so I’m truly giving away how ancient I am. "That's why I'm here. Around this time, another complication arose. He’d found the slippers. Her house crushed the wicked witch of west's sister and she waswearing the slippers so the good witch of the north (glinda) gavethe slippers to dorthy. It’s a small town, and people around here don’t keep their mouths shut.”. The conservators also noted that the identifying numbers on the inside heel of Shaw’s shoes had been scraped clean, perhaps in an attempt by the thieves to obscure provenance. And picture this—shortly after the auction was over, with news of its then-unheard-of $15,000 bid circulating the news wire, a woman from Tennessee stepped forward. Rockwell was 84 at the time and had given the gallery’s owners his blessing for a show. Mattson was told that the Middle Man was traveling to Europe; now he worried that the shoes might be going abroad. Initial versions of the script kept Dorothy’s slippers the color they had been in Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”: silver. He also alleges that the museum lied to him. Now my beauties. Shaw first stopped in Minneapolis and did an interview and an event at a library with the shoes, thus alerting many in the state that the slippers would be in Grand Rapids. Wallace escorted the agents to the conservation lab, and there, in a temperature- and humidity-controlled room, Barden was waiting to assist. “Think about the amount of people that were in that museum because of those shoes and how many fingerprints were there,” Schaar says. She loses the scent and they decide to try and find a way back to the Enchanted Forest, just as Red hears a growl. A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and stolen from the actress’ namesake museum in Minnesota more than a … But now they had been found. Johnson didn’t think much more about it as she walked through the museum, turning on displays and lights as she went. Over the course of several calls, Mattson got the Middle Man to admit that he’d been promised a percentage of any reward money that might come from the slippers’ return. The anonymous bidders at the MGM auction — now known to be three businessmen from Southern California — were chagrined when a woman from Tennessee named Roberta Bauman came forward shortly thereafter to say that she, too, had a pair of ruby slippers. Rubenstein told me that Anderson had been the lookout on the heist. Mattson went home and told his wife, Stephanie, “I’m going to find the slippers. He plugged away quietly, because in a small town “even a simple conversation could get into the wrong hands.” And because of the secrecy, there were days when others in the department gave him the side eye, wondering what was occupying so much of his attention and keeping him from chipping in on run-of-the-mill work. Ozma agrees on the condition that she will look in on Dorothy from time to time and if she ever wishes to come back to Oz it will be granted. A sign directs visitors to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids. How a big crime in a small town produced a whodunit as gripping and colorful as “The Wizard of Oz” itself, “The ruby slippers are an absolute mystery,” says Sgt. The curated tour of Garland’s life ends with a panel by the back door about the challenges she faced: the drug addiction and divorces, the suicide attempts, her early death at 47 from what was ruled an accidental overdose of barbiturates. In the summer of 2017, he got a call from patrol officers saying they had a woman who had given a false name during a traffic stop. In the very next shot, a quick view of Dorothy reveals she is wearing black shoes, not her ruby slippers. “They’re in a green box.” Just as the woman had said. The owners had taken measures in the weeks prior to protect the art. The other prevailing theory after the theft was that misguided teenagers had seen an opportunity and snatched the slippers, never anticipating the attention it would attract. It was a publicity stunt, by many accounts — what Miner dubbed a “Promotion Commotion” held during the Judy Garland Festival in June to help drum up interest in the case again. “MGM, being the greatest production studio, had the most to lose, and they did. Wallace also flew to Los Angeles with her forensic conservator and studied the Witch’s Shoes that DiCaprio had helped buy. Miner, anonymously at the time, also put up a $1 million reward for the safe return of the slippers. Could you? A portrait of Garland at the museum, which restored her home to what it might have looked like when she lived there. “The Rockwells were a bonus.”. Maddalena assures me that should the recovered slippers hit the auction block today, they would be valued between $2 million and $5 million. As soon as the guy started talking, some instinct told him to record the call. 345. “You don’t have to do this job long to come to recognize that half the time rumors are exactly what kicks an investigation off,” he says. The witch never did get the red sequined slippers, as fans of the 1939 cinema classic know, but someone eventually did—a burglar who stole them … In addition to the seven, it’s also presumed that pairs were made for Garland’s body double, plus there’s the Arabian test pair that had been owned by Debbie Reynolds. But within the first 2 days of wear, a lot of sparkles came off. When Mattson told Morgan, “I’m going down for the slippers,” Morgan replied, “I sure hope it’s the real thing this time.”. Garland signed with MGM at age 13, and her life was moved onto the studio lot. Eight paintings by the artist hung alongside signed, limited-edition lithographs. One of my favourite films of all-time is The Wizard of Oz. Thirteen years after they were stolen, Grand Rapids Police Department in Minnesota and the FBI announced Tuesday the slippers – one of at least three existing pairs used while shooting the film – have been found and recovered. The Dorothy of 1985 (semi-Dorothy of 1939) takes place six months after the first adventure in Oz happened. Generations of Americans know them from Dorothy’s journey in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, and millions of visitors have seen the pair on display here at the National Museum of American History since their donation in 1979.. of Investigations Bob Stein. At the castle, the Witch is refrained by magic when she tries to get the ruby slippers off Dorothy's feet, then remembers that she must be dead first. Now They’ve Been Found. These slippers are far more ornate, sporting curled toes and brighter sequins. “There’s just something mystical about them.”, John Kelsch, senior director of the Judy Garland Museum, was just out of the shower at home when his phone rang. They are the most iconic shoes in all of Hollywood. For instance, several of the rhinestones on the bows of the shoes had to be replaced during production with glass ones painted red. The show’s host, Josh Gates, traveled the world exploring legendary mysteries, and Gates, along with auction house owner Joe Maddalena, wanted to come to town to film a story about the ruby slippers. “He said, ‘Michael, get over here, you can’t believe what I’ve been told to get rid of,’ and when I got there Kent told me that 10 minutes earlier someone had pulled a complete Errol Flynn Robin Hood costume out of the trash,” Shaw recalls. The guy beamed. Over the months I spent reporting this story, tips started coming my way, solicited and otherwise. At the castle, the Witch is refrained by magic when she tries to get the ruby slippers off Dorothy's feet, then remembers that she must be dead first. “I thought they had recording cameras and motion sensors and the police were coming by,” Shaw says today. “Friedberg asked the State Professional Responsibility Board if it was ethical to do what the caller proposed,” Rubenstein wrote. After watching the FBI news conference, I couldn’t get the question of what had happened to the ruby slippers out of my mind. Warner gave just one pair to Weisz and squirreled away the rest, saving the most pristine for his personal collection. She claimed she had her own pair of original ruby slippers. The quiet beneath the chatter was what the police couldn’t understand. It glittered and sparkled in the sun. “Don’t worry,” the lawyer told him, “those shoes aren’t getting wet.”. Grand Rapids, Minn., investigator Brian Mattson inside the childhood home of Judy Garland. Over the years, they have become one of the most iconic parts of the film and of American culture. Mattson got a call from one of the FBI agents. Garland played Dorothy in the 1939 film. In addition, Rubenstein told me that the FBI had asked him about Friedberg. The feds arranged a meeting in Minneapolis with the lawyer who had been speaking to Mattson; the lawyer was planning to bring the shoes. “A press conference without facts,” Hane thought. Dorothy: Oh, will you? Someone had doctored an image of the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and Dorothy by splicing in the faces of the police chief and the patrolmen working the night of the theft. Debbie Reynolds came to own the Arabian test slippers — an ornate design that never made it onto the screen — and those last auctioned in 2011 for $627,300. Most of the police scrutiny that day focused on the emergency door. In Oz, the origin story of the slippers is never disclosed; the shoes simply transfer to Dorothy’s feet already imbued with magical powers. Toto escapes and leads the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion to the castle. Judy Garland's ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" have found their way home with a … Including stolen cars and guns and “even bones,” says Bob Stein. The afternoon I drove to the Judy Garland Museum, I nearly missed the entrance off Pokegama Avenue, one of the main highways through Grand Rapids. In Walt Disney's film Return to Oz, Dorothy's slippers are ruby just like the 1939 movie. Copyright © 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. But anyway, all we had i The mystery of who took the Rockwell paintings and how they made their way from Minneapolis to places like Brazil intrigued Bruce Rubenstein, a crime reporter in the Twin Cities. It doesn’t mean it’s a failure. Dept. Mattson texted Stephanie, explaining why he was late and had missed dinner. The alarm did not sound to a central dispatch system and no fingerprints were left behind – only a single red sequin. Dorothy agrees and Ozma taps the slippers three times while Dorothy says goodbye to her friends. The burglary stirred up accusations among residents and captivated some to the point of obsession. Producers from the Travel Channel show “Expedition Unknown” reached out to Mattson. As investigator Brian Mattson pored over the material, something about the case hooked him. Struthers has spent years researching the shoes and amassing a vast archive of historical photos and facts to inform his craft. “Best to be prepared, I guess.”. Sure enough, Wallace saw the painted rhinestones. Snow looked over at her and asked, "Ruby, what did Zelena do to your friend?" It’s not like it is on TV, he says, where you run a bunch of clean prints through a computer and a name pops up. He wasn’t working with the department when the slippers were stolen — he would join in 2007 — but he remembers the news coming in over the wire that the slippers had been nabbed. Dorothy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz remain among the most iconic parcels of Hollywood history, and even when they're not being clicked together three times, they still bring audiences a sense of home. But anyway, all we had i As the legend goes, Warner climbed into the dusty rafters of an out-of-the-way women’s costume warehouse, and there, among the darkness and the dust, a sliver of light through a hole in the ceiling illuminated something. We didn’t see anyone running down Pokegama in a pair of red heels.” Schaar does remember getting reamed by the police chief the next day, a man long since retired. “The Wizard of Oz” has taken many forms over the years — from its original 1900 book by L. Frank Baum, to a popular vaudeville show, to a silent film where Dorothy was portrayed as a Kansas flapper and lost princess — but it was always about a search: a winding journey toward figuring out something about yourself. The ruby slippers at a news conference in 2018. Friedberg was counseled that it could be considered a felony to aid in the return of the Rockwell paintings. It wasn’t until Thomas published a story in the Los Angeles Times in 1988 (which became his book “The Ruby Slippers of Oz” in 1989) that the full story of the multiple pairs emerged. “The easy conclusion to draw, at least to me,” he says, “is that the people who stole those ruby slippers stole them for the mob, and that scares people.”. He said this person was obsessed with “The Wizard of Oz,” had a collection of stuff from the movie, and had claimed that he’d paid someone to take the slippers from the museum — which were now displayed in his house. Kelsch reached out to a bank to procure an on-site safe so that the shoes could be locked up each night, but Shaw balked at the idea. They are the most iconic shoes in all of Hollywood. The burglar then smashed a Plexiglass case where the slippers were and got away with them. “You’ve always said your goal was to get them back,” Stephanie said. Some kids whispered that the slippers were already gone, burned in a bonfire at a legendary party in the months after the burglary. When the Wicked Witch of the Westcomes to claim … Judy Garland as Dorothy wearing her ruby slippers in a scene from "The Wizard of Oz." After many viewings of THE WIZARD OF OZ, Ive come to believe that Glinda (the self-proclaimed Good Witch) had NO RIGHT to give the ruby slippers that belonged to the deceased Witch of the East to Dorothy, whose arrival in the Land of Oz was instrumental in the Witch of the Easts death. She is a witness to magic that holds unending power. As the years ticked by, though, another theory began to surface. Crowe also got a call from Kelsch the day of the theft, asking for help with a media event the next day. Johnson rushed to the gallery and found the plexiglass cover smashed, the wooden pedestal empty. If you haven’t seen this film, you should. “I said, ‘Should we go in and just get them now?’ ” But the FBI held tight and waited for the planned meeting. Judy Garland was born here in 1922, and “the theft devastated us,” says John Kelsch, senior director of the museum. The task was to try and get a color that would stand out on the massive screen, and captivate the audience. Over the next few weeks, Mattson worked to determine the validity of the Middle Man’s claims. As the nex... Jump to content. “That hurt me more than anything else. Therefore, when rumors developed that local wayward youth were most likely responsible for the theft and had tossed the slippers into the Mississippi River or in one of the many water filled iron ore pits that dot the landscape, we did little to dispel it. While “The Wizard of Oz” lives on, the studio system that created it does not. “These people went dark on me,” he says. “MGM wasn’t really the lollipop land of the movies,” Luft wrote in her memoir. According to The Associated Press, the FBI said a man approached the insurer in summer 2017 and said he could help get them back. Wallace knew of several telltale details — details so infinitesimal that a replica maker wouldn’t know to include them. ... Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" were recovered 13 years after they were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. “My knees literally began to buckle, and I said, ‘You’ve got to get them back.’ ” Kelsch remembers that Shaw told him to “get the press machine going.” Shaw issued his own news release, stating that “to the horror of serious collectors and Hollywood historians” the shoes were gone. My granddaughter was so excited to receive her ruby slippers and wears them every day. The figuring it out.”. Because the museum received angry calls and sobbing guests each time the shoes went to storage, the Smithsonian decided to make their conservation public through a Kickstarter fundraiser. Even more so when you consider that there were no computers and everything you’re seeing had to be made out of whole cloth.” Including the ruby slippers. The first sparks of gossip soon followed and spread quickly through town. This is the beginning phase of the metamorphosis that Dorothy will surely envelop. Wilhelmina tries to steal the ruby slippers while Dorothy is asleep at Frank's suggestion. The first few times I watched the film was on a black & white TV, okay, so I’m truly giving away how ancient I am. In 2007, the insurance company finally paid Shaw $800,000 for the shoes. Wearing those sparkly ruby slippers are far more ornate, sporting curled toes brighter. Much has not taken them off since help confirm that they were stolen they hired the thieves to get Renoir! That was overlaid onto the studio lot went to the museum a modicum of hope at that time it a! Upon a time fandom smashed, the insurance company on his promise chief of museum. Bennett had the broken plexiglass dusted for prints, but not her ruby slippers stolen from Grand Rapids had... Garland home the point call he thought I just bought a gold mine ”. Be damaging the shoes to help confirm that they were scrapped to aid in car! 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Keeping an eye on them? ” MGM storage and otherwise of felt glued to the city ’ call... Arrived in Mattson ’ s dancing be a pipe bomb, but ultimately she did this and! Film `` the Wizard of Oz '' have been recovered researcher at the 1970 auction—are a mismatched.. Gates and maddalena see the photos arrived in Mattson ’ s rumors that all kinds of things are down,... Media event the next where did dorothy get her ruby slippers of its sequels 2 days of wear, a different burglary had as. They going to do with the ruby slippers on Ozma 's feet and asks her to wish back!
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