RED SLIPPERS SOLD FOR US$28M AT AUCTION

DALLAS. – A pair of ruby red slippers worn by actress Judy Garland in the classic movie The Wizard of Oz have been sold for US$28m at a US-based auction on Saturday.

One of four surviving pairs used in the film, the famed sequined pumps were once stolen from a Minnesota museum.

Online bidding started a month ago, with the slippers expected to fetch as much as US$3m at auction, according to Heritage Auctions – an under-estimate by US$25m.

The auctioneers called the slippers the “Holy Grail of Hollywood memorabilia” and said their selling price made them the most valuable movie memorabilia ever sold at auction.

The winning bid prompted applause in the auction room in Dallas, with the sale coinciding with a renewed interest in the musical following the recent release of the prequel movie Wicked.

Garland was only 16 when she played Dorothy in the classic 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz. Media outlet Variety ranked it second in its inaugural list of “100 Greatest Movies of All Time”.

The film is a musical adaptation of L Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. While in the book, the magical slippers are silver, the producers for the film changed them to red to take advantage of the new Technicolor technology.

In the film, as in the book, a pivotal moment occurs when Dorothy must click her heels three times as she repeats “There’s no place like home” in order to leave the magical land of Oz and return to Kansas and her Auntie Em. – BBC