The ruby slippers are the shoes worn by Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) in the 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. Because of their iconic stature, they are now among the most treasured and valuable of film memorabilia. As was customary for important props, a number of pairs were made for the film, though no one knows exactly how many. Five pairs are known to have survived; one pair was stolen in 2005 and has never been recovered.
In L. Frank Baum's original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy wore Silver Shoes. The movie's creators changed them to ruby to take advantage of the new Technicolor film process.
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Famous quotes containing the words ruby and/or slippers:
“Its quick silver bell beating, beating
And down the dark one ruby flare
Pulsing out red light like an artery,”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“The conservative assumes sickness as a necessity, and his social frame is a hospital, his total legislation is for the present distress, a universe in slippers and flannels, with bib and papspoon, swallowing pills and herb-tea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)