Help The Ruby Slippers

[TruthBTold]

The ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz need our help. They have been a symbol for the gay community, actually for the country for a very long time. Currenty they are housed in the Smithsonian Institution but have degraded over time. A Kickstart account has been set up ("Keep Them Ruby") with a goal of $300,000 for both the slippers and a new display case. A goal has been set of Nov. 16, 2016. Thanks.

 

[+ Gar1eth]

I read this. And for $300,000, I think they ought to start all over with a new pair of white shoes, dye, and sequins.

 

Gman

[MsGuy]

I thought there were supposed to be several different pairs of ruby slippers.

[+ sync]

Was this account set up by a Nigerian prince?

[MsGuy]

WIKI's version of who owns what (as one would expect, the Smithsonian appears to do its own restoration work on the pair it has possession of):

 

For many years, movie studios were careless with old props, costumes, scripts, and other materials, unaware of their increasing value as memorabilia.[14] Often, workers would just keep props as souvenirs without permission, aware that their employers did not particularly care.[14] One of the more notorious of these was costumer Kent Warner, who amassed a large private collection and supplemented his income with sales. It was he who found the slippers in February or March 1970 while helping to set up a mammoth auction of MGM props and wardrobe.[8] They had been stored and forgotten in the basement of MGM's wardrobe department. One pair became the centerpiece of the auction. Warner kept the best pair for himself, size 5B,[12] and apparently sold the rest.

An original pair on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

 

The slippers in the MGM auction (size 5C) were bought for $15,000 by a lawyer acting for an unidentified client.[9] This is believed to be the pair on permanent exhibition in the Popular Culture wing of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.,[7] though the donor insisted on anonymity.[8] Dr. Brent Glass, the director of the museum, appeared on the January 23, 2008 The Oprah Winfrey Show with the slippers and informed Oprah Winfrey that "they were worn by Judy Garland during her dance routines on the Yellow Brick Road because there's felt on the bottom of these slippers".[15] However, according to Rhys Thomas, all but one pair had orange felt on the soles.[8]

 

Another pair was originally owned by a Tennessee woman named Roberta Bauman who got them by placing second in a National Four Star Club "Name the Best Movies of 1939" contest.[8] In 1988, auction house Christie's sold them for $150,000 plus $15,000 buyer's premium to Anthony Landini. Landini worked with the Disney Company to start showing them at the Disney/MGM Studios' Florida Theme Park in the queue for the Great Movie Ride, whose facade and queue area are themed after Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. They were visible at the ride's debut in 1989. Landini auctioned his pair of slippers, again at Christie's East, on May 24, 2000, for $666,000 (including the buyer's premium). They were sold to David Elkouby and his partners, who own memorabilia shops in Hollywood. Elkouby and Co. has yet to display the shoes.

 

The pair Warner kept, the "Witch's Shoes", was in the best condition. Warner sold the shoes in 1981 to an unknown buyer through Christie's East for $12,000. Two weeks after Landini bought his slippers, this pair resurfaced and was offered privately through Christie's to the under-bidder of the Bauman shoes, Philip Samuels of St. Louis, Missouri. Samuels bought them for the same price that Landini had paid, $165,000. He has used his shoes for fund raising for children's charities, as well as lending them to the Smithsonian when their slippers are cleaned, repaired or (previously) on tour. Auction house Profiles in History announced that this pair would be the highlight of its December 15–17, 2011 Icons of Hollywood auction.[11] In an interview, Joe Maddalena, head of Profiles in History, estimated that they would go for two to three million dollars.[16] They were offered with a starting reserve price of two million dollars on December 16, 2011, but did not sell.[13] Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and other benefactors, including director Steven Spielberg, made it possible for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to acquire the pair for an undisclosed price in February 2012 for their forthcoming museum.[17][18]

 

Kent Warner sold one pair, size 5 1⁄2B,[2] to Michael Shaw in 1970.[12] These were stolen from an exhibit at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota on the night of August 27–28, 2005.[2] In 2015, the Associated Press reported that an anonymous donor has offered a $1 million reward for information about the stolen slippers.[19]

 

The very elaborate curled-toe "Arabian" pair was owned by actress and memorabilia preservationist Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds acknowledged she got them from Kent Warner.[12] Reynolds' slippers were sold for $510,000 (not including the buyer's premium) as part of the June 2011 auction of part of the actress's collection.[16][20]:

[+ WilliamM]

I believe it's more important to keep the 1961 album "Judy at Carnegie Hall" in print, especially the complete version.

[jjkrkwood]

SORRY, but all my money is going to buy ME a pair of Ruby heels..... Fuck Dorothy !

 

http://ccrrents.com/images/Custom-BQUEEN-bridal-shoes-waterproof-ultra-high-heel-shoes-diamond-wedding-shoes-D118.jpg

[+ bigjoey]

Was this account set up by a Nigerian prince?

 

You forget this is Washington where a former President gets more than that amount for about an hour's speech or a former Secretary of State can get almost that amount for a lunch speech. You need to keep Washington labor rates in mind

[+ WilliamM]

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kujwyxldCK1qa5ff2o1_500.jpg

You forget this is Washington where a former President gets more than that amount for about an hour's speech or a former Secretary of State can get almost that amount for a lunch speech. You need to keep Washington labor rates in mind

 

LOL Judy Garland sang for every sitting president during her career, starting with Franklin Roosevelt. But, she died five months into Nixon's first term.

 

Never one to forget a grudge, Nixon surely remember that she sang for both Kennedy and Johnson.

[+ sync]

You forget this is Washington where a former President gets more than that amount for about an hour's speech or a former Secretary of State can get almost that amount for a lunch speech. You need to keep Washington labor rates in mind

 

True, but would any of them pay 300 grand for a pair of shoes and a space to keep them?

 

Maybe they would if it's OPM.

[+ WilliamM]

True, but would any of them pay 300 grand for a pair of shoes and a space to keep them?

 

Judy Garland never knew how to handle money throughout her life (not unusual for child stars). Near the end of her life she depended on her daughter, Liza, and Liza's friends for a place to sleep. Frank Sinatra, Harold Arlen and Liza helped out, but she existed from day to day.