Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1536052
THE THE CASE CASE OF THE OF THE RUBY RUBY SLIPPERS SLIPPERS 40 SUMMER 2025 Despite the original novel's description in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, those shoes were not silver at all, but red. So iconic are those slippers now, very few would imagine them in any other color. Designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM's chief Costume Designer, Dorothy's silver shoes became red slippers to highlight the industry's new Technicolor technology. The petite size 5 pumps were covered with red fabric, encrusted with red sequins and three different sizes of rhinestones, and had the soles painted red, all by Shoemaker Joe Napoli at Western Costume Company. Several pairs were made for the movie, each playing its own role in production. All but two pairs of the shoes were first auctioned off in 1970 when MGM put up for sale several pieces from its movie costume and property archive. One pair was acquired by a group for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. One pair was given as a prize in 1940 to a young woman who confessed The Wizard of Oz was her favorite movie of 1939. One pair resides at the National Museum of American History. And a final pair, purchased by collector Michael Shaw for $2,000, was on loan to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It was this pair that, until recently, had been missing since 2005. For more than a decade, the Shaw Ruby Slippers were nowhere to be found. Early in the morning of August 28, 2005, Terry Jon Martin, a thief, broke the window of the museum's back door, entered the museum, broke the plexiglass display box, and stole Dorothy's slippers. He believed that the red rhinestones on the shoes were actual rubies and was looking to cash in on one final score. He left I C O N S By Andrea Napier no fingerprints or personal evidence, only a sole red sequin from the American treasure. Martin gave the shoes away when he discovered the rubies were merely cut glass and therefore worth nothing. For years, authorities searched high and low, going so far as to send divers to the bottom of a lake following up on a rumor that the shoes had been tossed in. Finally in 2017, 12 years after the theft, authorities had a lead. Mr. Shaw's insurance company—which, after a policy payout, now owned the shoes—was contacted by an individual claiming to have knowledge of the missing slippers. With the help of the FBI, a sting operation was set up and Dorothy's ruby slippers were found buried in the backyard of Terry Martin's associate, Jerry Hall Saliterman. After pleading guilty to the theft, Mr. Martin, 77 at the time, was charged and sentenced to one-year probation and time served, due to his failing health. Mr. Saliterman, also 77, was charged with theft of a major artwork, but he died before going to trial and the charges were dropped. In the end, Mr. Shaw obtained the right to buy back the recovered ruby slippers from his insurance company. In March of 2024, the FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department returned the shoes to Mr. Shaw at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. After a nine-month tour, Dorothy's ruby slippers were sold at auction to anonymous bidder #7508 for a mere $28 million! "There's no place like home," said Dorothy, as she clicked together the heels of those famous shoes. For those ruby red slippers, no truer words have been spoken. "Within a short time, she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow roadbed." —The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum, 1900