The Traveling Shoes: Heritage Auctions Sells Storied Ruby Slippers
In conversation with Brian Chanes,
Senior Director, Hollywood and Entertainment, Beverly Hills
Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions
by CHAD KENNERK
If you haven’t read the thrillifying book The Ruby Slippers of Oz by Rhys Thomas, then you’re missing out on one of Hollywood’s most engaging mysteries. The book dives into the creation of the underground movie memorabilia scene as Thomas recounts his journey to uncovering just what happened to the iconic ruby slippers. How many were made for the film? How many still exist? Did MGM throw them in the incinerator, as Warner Bros. was doing with so many costumes and props in the late 60s? Or were they literally buried like unfortunate costumes from RKO? Thanks to careful storage, one existing pair of slippers is a darker burgundy colour than any other known pair.
Owner Michael Shaw toured his pair of ruby slippers around the country, leading author Rhys Thomas to dub them the ‘Traveling Shoes.’ And travel they have. On August 28th, 2005, while on display at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Shaw's pair of ruby slippers was stolen. The mystery remained for 13 years: Who stole Judy Garland's ruby slippers? Then in July of 2018, the FBI acted on a tip and miraculously, recovered them.
That very pair of legendary screen matched Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz, has been with Heritage Auctions for safekeeping since their return to Shaw earlier this year at the Judy Garland Museum, the very place where they were stolen. Now, the storied shoes are headed toward the auction block on the 7th of Dec. I spoke with Brian about Heritage’s partnership with Shaw and how it’s felt for Brian and Heritage to facilitate the sale of perhaps the most historic piece of movie memorabilia ever.
Film Review (FR): We owe a debt to Rhys Thomas for doing so much of the research on the mysteries surrounding the pairs of ruby slippers made for the production of The Wizard of Oz.
Brian Chanes (BC): That book is phenomenal because it's not just about the ruby slippers. It sets the scene of what memorabilia collecting was like back then – when the studio systems were crumbling and people like Kent Warner were out there salvaging this stuff. It's a really good, well-written book. He is a friend of ours and we had him write that long intro, A Tale of Two Slippers, for the catalog. It sets the scene and what happened with Michael's pair being mismatched with the Smithsonian pair. It's a bit complicated, but very, very interesting.
(FR): Brian, you were at the press event that reunited Michael Shaw with his pair of stolen slippers. He expressed his gratitude to you and to Heritage auction house. What was that moment like for you personally?
(BC): I've known Michael for probably 20 plus years. In almost every conversation, if the conversation were long enough, he would bring up the time that they were stolen. Not only did he lose his pride and joy, but then people were accusing him of stuff, just gossip, and they had absolutely zero basis. This is a vindication. The whole story – that this guy, this mafioso, stole them back in 2005 because he thought they were real rubies. I mean, this literally could be a movie. They should make it a movie. It was phenomenal seeing him repatriating those shoes, returned to him by the FBI, and watching him see them for the first time since they were stolen in 2005. It came full circle and really tied it with a bow. It was thrilling. I was really pleased and honoured to be there for that meeting.
(FR): There's arguably no greater cinematic treasure. It's often considered and pitched as the holy grail of entertainment memorabilia.
(BC): Absolutely, it is. First of all, The Wizard of Oz is very rare air. It's really one of a kind in that sense, because it’s just one of those films that transcends time and fashion. It seems to always be evergreen. Also, the ruby slippers were the key plot-driving device of the entire film. All that rolled into one, not to mention the mystique of poor Judy Garland too, is like lightning in a bottle. We're just so thrilled to be handling this pair. It's really, really special.
(FR): What has it been like being the safe keeper of these storied slippers and overseeing their sale?
(BC): It's such an honor. It really is. There are only four known pairs. One pair is in the Smithsonian. We were instrumental in getting another pair to the Academy Museum. Those happen to be the ‘Witch's Pair’ (what Rhys Thomas coined them in his book.) Those were Kent Warner’s personal pair that we sold to the Academy and they're in the Academy Museum right now. Then there's Roberta Bauman’s pair, which she won back in 1940 for guessing the ten best movies of 1939. Then there is the Debbie Reynolds’ Arabian-style test pair that we sold back probably 13-14 years ago. Those were not screen used, because they were a test Arabian style with pointy toes. And then there is this pair that we're selling. In my career, to have handled three ruby slipper pairs, it's quite special.
(FR): That's got to be a record. True to this pair's nickname, ‘The Traveling Shoes’ did go on one last tour before the auction.
(BC): Michael ended up going to Tokyo with [Heritage’s] Joe Maddalena. The second stop is our Park Avenue location in Manhattan. They're there now and then after that, they're going to be going to London.
(FR): Was there ever any discussion over the years between Shaw and the Smithsonian of swapping the pairs back?
(BC): No, there never was. First of all, it just adds a little bit to the lore about the mismatched pair. The left shoe of the Smithsonian’s pair goes with Michael’s right, and vice versa. When you look at them right off the bat, you can't see that there's a difference. The bows are kind of the telling point, each bow is different from one another. Even if they were a matched pair, the bows are different. And so that's why the FBI consulted the Smithsonian. They had to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that these were the stolen pair once they got into the FBI’s hands. They were used as key evidence against the fellow who stole them. They ended up involving the Smithsonian, who were able to screen match both of Michael's shoes to the film, due to the uniqueness of each bow. But no one really wanted to switch them back at that point, because the Smithsonian pair were donated, not to mention Michael's pair, believe it or not, are the richest, deepest burgundy colour of all of them. I think simply because they were well maintained over half a century. The Smithsonian pair, perhaps because they were exposed to light over, over the decades, are a different colour. The colour would be a little bit different. We did get images in the catalog. They were shot at the Smithsonian and you can see them side by side.
(FR): Beyond the slippers, there's lots of other Oz and Judy Garland related treasures in the sale. I think one of the things that stood out for me is the parlour door from the farm house.
(BC): You know, it's so interesting. I've found in my career, sometimes there's a weird idiosyncrasy that happens, or serendipity, whatever you want to call it, where similar items end up finding us around the same time. The universe is conspiring, because, for instance, this time, a lady called me and said, “My dad was a carpenter at MGM. He bought this from another person who worked in the wood-making department at MGM who took this from the studio and had it installed in his home in Culver City.” This thing was actually used over the decades, since 1939 basically. It's just really crazy to have it in this sale. She could have called me six months later and would have missed it. Or she could have called me six months earlier, and I probably would have sold it in July. It just hit it perfectly, it’s really quite special.
(FR): There's also some other really iconic costume pieces in the sale, the hat worn by Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch for example.
(BC): Michael actually got the hat with the slippers from Ken Warner originally. Then we ended up selling that piece years ago, and now we have it with the slippers once again.
(FR): You don't get much better provenance with these kinds of pieces too. I mean, it's only been one or two owners since they left the studio lot.
(BC): It screen matches to a very key point in the film too, when the Wicked Witch arrives in Munchkinland. You can see the bend in the cone at the top of the hat. There was a crease in there because it has a wire that goes around it within the material.
(FR): The unveiling of a villain and one of cinema’s most iconic moments. The other big costume piece from the film are the gloves that Bert Lahr wore underneath the Cowardly Lion costume.
(BC): Believe it or not, Bert Lahr did wear real lion pelts and these gloves were worn under the pelted paws of the costume. Imagine how hot they must have been under the old studio lights.
(FR): Especially for Technicolor, they needed even brighter, hotter lamps. Then there is the Mervyn LeRoy Oz script.
(BC): There are some shooting and effects schedules going along with it. What's interesting is that they made a little pouch and they dismantled one of the early edition Oz books. They cut them out and pasted them on the script. I've never seen a production script compiled like that before. They wanted to get the look, because this is an art department book. This was script number one, and it was Mervyn LeRoy’s, not to mention that another Oz book came with it, with Mervyn LeRoy's personal bookplate. I've never seen anything like it in such a nice, concise package like that. We did have Noel Langley’s handwritten [Wizard of Oz] manuscript, a whole archive that we sold years ago for over a million dollars. But this one from a script perspective, it's the finest of its kind that I've seen. It's really quite special. And again, having that with the ruby slippers and the screen door, it's like things kind of tended to gravitate to this sale, without sounding too mystical.
(FR): There’s also the sheet music for “The Man That Got Away”, another very iconic Judy Garland performance. Gershwin made a last minute change to the lyrics on it.
(BC): Yes, he did make that change in the lyrics, swapping rougher and tougher. Then Ira initialled it with a lowercase ‘i.’ So that's really a special piece, because that's one of her absolute iconic song performances. It’s a career-defining song, really.
(FR): The artefacts from Oz are not the only rare items in the auction. The things that jumped out for me were the golden ticket from Willy Wonka, Mario Puzo's hand-annotated production notebook for The Godfather, Humphrey Bogart's Best Actor Award for The African Queen, and the screen-matched ‘Concentration Gas Bombs’ container from King Kong.
(BC): We also have things like the primary close-up filming game board from Jumanji, not to mention a screen-matched ‘Wilson’ from the scene escaping the island sequence in Castaway. We also have Marty McFly’s flying hoverboard with the aircraft wire and his harness that he used when he was suspended from a crane boom for those visual effects sequences in the ‘2015’ version of Hill Valley, skimming across the water. It was before CGI, so they were all ‘in-camera’ effects. This is the only screen-used wooden flying hoverboard in existence. It comes with a letter from Bob Gale, Back to the Future’s co-writer, co-producer, and co-creator. 50% of the proceeds are being generously donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research. It comes from Charlie Croughwell, who was Michael J. Fox’s stuntman in the film. So that's another really neat thing from this sale.
(FR): There are so many things in this sale that define moments in time or changed our culture.
(BC): Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Yes, because film, like it or not, is popular culture. It's a lens that you can look through at society. It has a big impact through the decades, as you march backward in time. So many of these things — you mentioned The Godfather, for example. These are handwritten notes by Mario Puzo on that adaptation bible that was crafted by Francis Ford Coppola. That's really an interesting lens to look at the creation of the one of the greatest films of the 20th century. It's great to have all these things together.
BRIAN CHANES always had a passion for film, and shortly after relocating to California, he embarked on a 30-year career dealing in entertainment memorabilia and historical autographs working for Joe Maddalena at Profiles in History. During that time period, Brian handled many of the world’s most iconic props, costumes and related memorabilia consigned by private collectors, film studios and institutions spanning the globe. Brian joined the Heritage team in early 2021 and aspires to bring the finest available artifacts to market.
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