Ruby slippers
| Ruby slippers | |
|---|---|
| The Wizard of Oz element | |
One of the pairs used in The Wizard of Oz (1939), on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History | |
| Publisher | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| First appearance |
|
| Created by | Gilbert Adrian (costume design) |
| Based on | Silver Shoes by Frank Baum |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Magical slippers |
| Owners | Wicked Witch of the East (formerly) Dorothy Gale
|
The ruby slippers are a pair of magical shoes worn by Dorothy Gale as played by Judy Garland in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film The Wizard of Oz. Because of their iconic stature, they are as of December 2024 the most valuable items of film memorabilia in the world. Several pairs were made for the film, though the exact number is unknown. Five pairs are known to have survived; one pair was stolen from a museum in 2005 and recovered in 2018.
In L. Frank Baum's original 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, on which the film is based, Dorothy wears Silver Shoes. However, the color of the shoes was changed to red to take advantage of the three-strip Technicolor film process used in certain big-budget and prestige Hollywood films of the era. Film screenwriter Noel Langley is credited with the idea.