“These shoes are the holy grail of all Hollywood memorabilia,” said Rhys Thomas, the author of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” a book about the shoes used in the film. “There isn’t anything else that does more to evoke the power of belief,” said Mr. Thomas, who has tracked the case closely. In “The Wizard of Oz,” the shoes appear magically on the feet of Dorothy Gale, played by Ms. Garland, after the Wicked Witch of the East is killed. The dead witch’s sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, insists that they are rightfully hers and pursues Dorothy through the film to get them back. Dorothy ultimately learns that the shoes have the power to transport her back home to Kansas, if she clicks them together three times while repeating the phrase, “There’s no place like home.” In L. Frank Baum’s original book, the magic slippers are silver; M.G.M. changed them to ruby red for the movie to take greater advantage of its color cinematography, which was still rare in 1939. The movie shoes had a complicated history even before the 2005 theft. They were owned by a well-known collector, Michael Shaw, who bought them for $2,000 in 1970 from Kent Warner, a costumer who found them gathering dust in a studio warehouse when M.G.M. was preparing to auction off old costumes and props in 1970. Mr. Shaw’s collection also included Dorothy’s gingham dress, the Wicked Witch’s pointed hat and a Munchkin outfit. Mr. Shaw regularly lent the shoes to museums for a fee of several thousand dollars, and often donated the proceeds to children’s charities. The Judy Garland Museum put the shoes on display in 2005 during an annual festival celebrating the actress. Strictly speaking, they are not a pair; the left and right shoes are slightly different sizes, and are considered to be the mates of the left and right shoes housed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The Smithsonian took its shoes out of public display in 2017 and launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore them. The authorities said on Tuesday that the stolen shoes were recovered earlier this year, and that federal agents then took them to the Smithsonian for authentication. A conservator who has worked on the Smithsonian’s ruby slippers for the last two years concluded that the recovered shoes were authentic. At the news conference on Tuesday, the recovered shoes were displayed for reporters in a clear case, resting on a mound of blue velvet. An F.B.I. official reminded a camera operator elbowing in for a shot of the shoes, “This is valuable evidence, so if we could all maintain some decent distance. …”<doc-sep>Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers. Photo: Larry Marano/FilmMagic The ruby red slippers Judy Garland wore to tap herself home in the Wizard of Oz were stolen 13 years ago. They were taken out of the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in the late summer of 2005, and the thieves left nothing but a few shards of glass and a solitary red sequin. The FBI found the missing slippers, the agency announced in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. According to the Star Tribune, the slippers were found in Minneapolis in August, and the FBI discovered them after receiving a tip last year. The shoes were one of only four pairs used on the 1939 film, and are considered to be extremely valuable. At the time they went missing, they were insured for $1 million and on the ten-year anniversary of their disappearance, an additional $1 million reward was offered for their return. “France has the Mona Lisa. America has The Wizard of Oz,” John Kelsch, the executive director of the Judy Garland Museum, told the Star Tribune. “It’s our national masterpiece, so much a part of the American experience.” Newsweek originally reported the theft, and many at the time believed the slippers were stolen by an insider — security cameras and alarms were off at the time of the robbery. The FBI has not identified the thief and is asking the public to help with the investigation.<doc-sep>There's no place like home. A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers stolen from a Minnesota museum 13 years ago were displayed by the FBI on Tuesday after the agency announced it had recovered the sequined shoes during a sting operation over the summer. "Not only were these slippers stolen, but the memories of a lot Americans were stolen back in 2005," Jill Sanborn, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis Division of the FBI, told reporters. "We hope today that we give those memories back." The flashy footwear — which presumably adorned actress Judy Garland's feet when she followed the yellow brick road in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz" — were encased in a glass box during a news conference. Sanborn said the pair is one of four that still exists, including one housed in the Smithsonian where the stolen shoes were brought to be authenticated. Judy Garland as Dorothy wearing her ruby slippers in a scene from "The Wizard of Oz." Silver Screen Collection / Hulton Archive/Getty Images The recently retrieved shoes first vanished in August 2005 after a break-in at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota. An individual approached the museum last year, saying they had information on the slippers' whereabouts and how they could be returned. It was later determined that "those involved were in reality attempting to extort the owners of the slippers," Special Agent Christopher Dudley said in a statement. During an undercover operation that followed a nearly year-long investigation, the shoes were recovered by the FBI, authorities said. Multiple suspects have been identified, although Dudley said agents were working to ensure all of those involved with the initial theft and the extortion attempt have been located. Neither Sanborn nor Dudley named any suspects or said if charges had been filed. "So many people of all ages around the world have seen 'The Wizard of Oz' and in that way have some connection to the slippers," Dudley said. "That's one of the things that makes this case resonate with so many." Michael Shaw, who purchased the shoes for $2,000 in 1970, according to The New York Times, was overjoyed to learn they had been found after more than a decade. "It was really one of the most thrilling moments of my life when they said, 'We've got them,'" Shaw said, holding back tears. The person who ran off with the shoes after Shaw lent them to the museum smashed the window on an emergency exit door before hauling them away, authorities said. The news that the sparkly pair was stolen was crushing. "I felt literally my knees buckle from underneath," Shaw said. "I had had them and took care of them for over 35 years." Rhys Thomas, author of "The Ruby Slippers of Oz," said the shoes are valued in the millions. Thomas said the last pair of shoes to sell at a private action went for $2 million. "The ruby slippers are the holy grail of all Hollywood memorabilia," he added. Shaw said his insurance company now owns the shoes after paying out a sum of $800,000, according to The Times. However, Shaw said he gets first dibs at buying them back.<doc-sep>"I literally felt like I was hit in the stomach when I got the call," Mr Shaw told Newsweek in 2015. "My knees buckled, and I went right down on the floor. I had taken care of those shoes for 35 years!"<doc-sep>
This journey took a lot longer than the one traveled on the yellow brick road, but the famed red slippers Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” are finally going back home. The FBI announced Tuesday that a pair of the iconic ruby slippers stolen from a museum 13 years ago have been recovered. The shoes are one of four pairs Garland wore as Dorothy in the 1939 classic. They were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The shoes had belonged to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw and were on loan to the museum, which is housed in Garland's birthplace. “I felt literally my knees buckle from underneath,” Shaw told TODAY about the moment he learned about the theft. “I had them and took care of them for over 35 years.” Dorothy and her ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz." Getty Images Another pair of the slippers had been available for public viewing at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History until 2017, when the Washington, D.C., institution took them off display for restoration, launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the effort. Those shoes will return to display there on October 19. We're excited that the pair of Ruby Slippers that was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005 has been recovered. Our pair returns to display on October 19. Yes, Dorothy had more than one pair: https://t.co/YJADfIbAqb https://t.co/WwVzYIV6W2 — National Museum of American History (@amhistorymuseum) September 4, 2018 “The ruby slippers are the holy grail of all Hollywood memorabilia,” said Rhys Thomas, author of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz," who has tracked the case closely for years. He estimated the value of the last pair of them sold in a private exchange was about $2 million. An insurance company now owns the formerly missing slippers after paying Shaw $800,000 for the loss, according to The New York Times. The FBI plans to reveal more details about the recovery at a news conference later in the day.