| EVEN MORE ON...Judy Garland's Ruby Slippers |
| "I wrote a letter to Metro Goldwyn Mayor in Culver City to ask them to confirm if I had an authentic pair of ruby slippers, becouse I had told the little children in all the schools all the time I had them that I was told, when I recieved them, when my teacher recieved them, that they had been worn by Judy Garland." Ms Bauman explains. M-G-M refused Roberta's letter, marking the envelope "Return to Sender", but the studio could not ignore the controversey, so they referred it to David Wice. The auctioneer was just as suprised as Mrs Bauman. In a letter to the anonymous buyer Wice said that their was only one pair of Garland red shoes in the M-G-M inventory, but that was not the whole truth. (although Mr. Wice was unaware of this) |
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| David Wice's letter to the anonymous buyer read as follows: "May 19th 1970 (buyer's address) Dear Mr Wonder, In our acquisition of the wardrobe from MGM there was only one pair of the Garland red shoes in the inventory. The wardrobe people who have been with the company for many years had the shoes set aside, well-protected, and assured us that they were the original pair worn in THE WIZARD OF OZ. Judy Garland's shoe size was an unusually small size. These shoes are a perfect 4 1/2" (the remainer of the letter was unreadable) |
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| Soon, what was common knowlage among Hollywood costumers became clear to Roberta Bauman, David Wice, and not insignificantly, the man who had paid fifteen thousand dollars at the M-G-M auction for what he thought, were the only ruby slippers. After the sale, Debbie Reynolds quietly told people she didn't bid on the shoes becouse she believed they belonged to Judy Garland's stand-in. "I tried them on, and I would have bid, but I knew they weren't the real pair so why would I bid?", she explained. What Reynolds didn't say was that she knew that there were other pairs of ruby slippers, and she knew who had them. His name was Kent Warner, and he alone knew the secret of the missing ruby slippers. |
| After the M-G-M auction, and Roberta Bauman's revolation, the mystery of the ruby slippers began to grow, people began to wonder how many pairs actually existed, only one man ever knew. His name was Kent Warner, he was a Hollywood costumer who was very bright and talented, with a keen understanding of movie history. Like Debbie Reynolds, Kent Warner witnessed the whole sale trashing of Hollywood's most important costumes and props during the 1960's and 70's. He watched the big studios throw everything away, and he did something about it. His friends called him "Lana Lift", but he became better known as Hollywood's Robin Hood, becouse of his clandestant actions, many Hollywood treasures were saved from destruction. Kent Warner came to Hollywood when he was twenty-one years old, a native of New York who loved movies, he wanted to work in show business. His first job was with a Hollywood rental company that specialized in movie wardrobe. It was 1964, that summer the rental house bought the RKO wardrobe collection. RKO, once home to Fred Astair and Ginger Rodgers, had been thoughally trashed by various owners since the 1950's. |
| By 64, it's physical assets where in disarray. Warner was sent to RKO by his boss to see what was there. He was shocked; some costumes where being used as kitchen rags, others were rotting on thier hangers. Beautiful garments, once worn by Hollywood's greatest stars, were falling apart. The rental house was only interested in wearable items, "Throw away the rest," Warner was told. The tragic scene made Kent wonder, how could so much history, so many beautiful things, be treated so badly? Very quickly, he sized up the situation. The studios, all of them, were systematically trashing important Hollywood artifacts. "He saw it being trashed, I saw it being trashed, I would drive every night off the lot, and they would be burning film clips over in trash cans. They threw all the original music, all the scores over when they were building the freeway, it's buried under the freeway." Ryenolds expained. Kent Warner agonized about this, things had to be saved, rescued, liberated. So instead of throwing away Ginger Rogers' famous gowns, kept them, for hismself. But Kent Warner took his work one step further, things like top hats where reusable, but he didn't turn in the ones marked with the name Fred Astair, and nobody missed them. Kent Warner understood the value of historic costumes, they were treasures, worth good money. Pretty soon Kent Warner was quietly selling wardrobe out of the trunk of his car. It was risky, but lucrative, and rewarding. Almost single-handedly he created a thriving underground market for historic Hollywood memorabilia. Between 1964 and 1972 Kent Warner worked this Robin Hood act at all the major studios. Because he was a costumer by trade he routinly went to all the studio wardrobe departments and rental houses in town. He got to know everyone, even the gate gaurds. He could drive his car anywhere on any lot, and carry out an armfull or rack of costumes. He also had a coinsure's eye. Warner recognized the important pieces, and went for them. He sought out cloths worn by Rudolph Valentino, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo. And not just run-of-the-mill items, but key pieces, like Bogart's trenchcoat from Casablanca, he went for the best. |
| Certian costumes had personal value to him, particularly those worn by Judy Garland. Kent Warner idolized Judy Garland. In 1965 he attended the Academy Awards and during the dinner he mugged behind the Hollywood siren. More than anything, Kent Warner hoped that one day he might be able to find and "save" Judy Garland's ruby slippers. The day came in 1970, when Kent Warner hired on at M-G-M to help prepare the costume inventory for auction and liquidation. "He worked there, he worked for free, they gave him costumes instead of money. They paid him a little bit of money, and then they let him pick what he wanted, he was smart enough to work there. I would've worked there for free.," Ms Reynolds explained. Kent Warner became the genius behind the scenes at the M-G-M auction. He was more knowlagable than anyone else, and he was driven, in part, by his desire to find, and "save", the ruby slippers. In the spring of 1970 Kent Warner quietly searched every inch of M-G-M for the ruby slippers. He had no idea what he might find. Finally, he came to a decrepit building where thousands of old costumes where stored. Precariously, he climped up into the loft. "It was hot, smelly, and dark," he later told friends, "then a ray of sunlight picked up the glimmer of a sequin, I walked over, I didn't touch them, I blew the dust from them, the red and the sequins appeared, and I knew they were the ruby slippers." Kent Warner found all them, he thought, including |
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| the Arabian Test pair, it was the most exciting moment of his life. But what he did next was most intriguing. Rather than hand them over to the auction, he took them home. One by one he studied each pair, each shoe, examining them carefully. Looking at the numbers stamped on the creamy kid leather lining. He looked at the writing in each, and he detirmined which were which, which were used for the dance numbers, which were used in medium and long shots, which were used for the close-ups, which were used by the stand-in. This mattered to Kent Warner, and to history. He also found something remarkable. Two pairs, one well worn, the other in perfect condition appear to be crossmatched in size and stock number. Infact, the right of one pair matched the left of the other, and vice versa. Because the shoes were slightly different in size, one 5C, the other 5BC, this discovery meant one of two things, either Judy Garland had one foot bigger than the other, or more likely that the shoes where mismatched in the sequining process, a classic example of how Hollywood works, often haphazardly. |
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