Courtesy of Smithsonian/Merle Banta, Fred Carr, and Stephen Hinchliffe
The 1939 American film classic “The Wizard of Oz” continues to remain a cherished movie favorite. Produced on a high budget of $2.8 million, the movie amassed $2.7 million in its opening week. The movie has always been considered a financial success. No one knew then how one pair of simple (but special) $15 props would rise to the description the “Holy Grail of Hollywood.” Ruby slippers stolen from the Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Judy Garland Museum August 27, 2005, among many adjectives have been called: frumpy, magical, secret, cursed, and remarkable. The stolen ruby slippers did meet a true holy grail status, securing a place in arts and entertainment Americana history by scoring an astonishing $28 million ($32.5 million with auction house fees) sale price on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at Heritage Auction House in Dallas.
Courtesy of Pam Dowell
The fast-paced action was as edge of the seat exciting for online watchers as in-house bidders on location. Mike Sadler, the auctioneer was colorfully animated with each rising bid. Closing to an astonishingly record-breaking price the room broke into applause. Lucky bidder #7508 (unknown) is the new owner of the most revered pair of ruby slippers—the ones that were underground, both figuratively and literally, after an unimaginable theft for the times. The stolen ruby slippers have found a new home.
Present at the live auction were the Seth Gordon Production Team of Los Angeles, who have been working faithfully in a relationship with shoe owner Michael Shaw to bring the story of his pair of ruby slippers, along with the tale of the great theft, to a future documentary film.
Courtesy of Pam Dowell
Seth Gordon’s name may be familiar to Netflix fans. His new adventure film “Back in Action” starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx opens on the network, streaming in January 2025. Gordon, hailing from Evanston, Illinois, is an acclaimed and highly regarded film director, producer and screenwriter who has previously worked with PBS and with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Seth’s team consists of his talented co-director/producer Nikki Calabrese who teamed with Gordon for a Fox Sports Film documentary, “Finding Home,” and the Apple Series, “The Long Game.” Gordon’s cinematographer Craig Atkinson is an award-winning filmmaker in his own right, winning both Tribeca Film Festival and Denver Film Festival awards for his documentary, “Do Not Resist.” Calabrese and Atkinson are also Midwest natives, Illinois, and Michigan, respectively.
The team has spent time in the friendly hometown of Judy Garland and with the management team of the Judy Garland Museum, co-founder John Kelsch and executive director Janie Heitz. Kelsch and Heitz were on a fundraising mission to bring the stolen ruby slippers back to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The museum received a $100,000 grant from the state of Minnesota, through the Legacy Finance Bill that was signed and approved by Governor Tim Walz on May 17, 2024. The museum raised and received plentiful donations that had them hoping they could be in the running for the estimated $3.5 million the slippers were expecting to fetch at auction. As the auction amounts swiftly climbed past the estimated market price, the museum team saw their bid would not be successful.
Courtesy of Pam Dowell
Calabrese described the experience at the live auction as “once in a lifetime.” The well-traveled and seasoned producer said, “This was something like I have never seen—the energy was off the charts incredible.” Watching from their own electronics were retired Grand Rapids Police Department lead investigator, Robert “Bob” Stein, and current investigator Brian Mattson. Both men actively worked the stolen slipper theft case and feel a personal connection to this multi-faceted case. “It’s one I will never forget,” Stein said. Both men were in awe of the closing auction bid.
Courtesy of Pam Dowell
Police Chief Andy Morgan said that even at the estimate market value of $3.5 million, the ruby slippers were the highest price recovery item for GRPD record. Morgan laughed when asked if he thought the GRPD may recover $28 million items anymore. He said the stolen ruby slipper case has been a long complicated case with more twists at every corner. He looks forward to the day the story is fully closed. “I appreciate our partnership with the FBI, and I think they too look forward to a day of closure,” Morgan said. All officers agreed this is one story for the books.
On recap, Minnesota native and actress Judy Garland (1922-1969), born Frances Ethel Gumm, lived in Grand Rapids from her birth to 1926. Her starring role in “The Wizard of Oz” as Dorothy Gale—a farm girl from Kansas who lands in a place of imagination and is awarded a pair of red ruby slippers by a good witch, hunted by a bad witch, and eventually finds her power with learning “there is no place like home”—is as iconic as the powerful shoes tapped three times by Garland in the film.
The spool-heeled shoes were purchased from Innes Shoe Co. in Hollywood for $15/pair and bedazzled with sequins, beads, and baubles that would sparkle and shine in Technicolor. Only four known ruby slipper sets remain. One pair held by the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences, one pair held by The Smithsonian Museum, and one pair held by a private collector. The fourth pair—the “shopping mall shoes” also referred to as the “traveling shoes”—were on the road via an exhibit called “Hollywood on Tour” with owner, collector, and MGM child actor, Michael Shaw, for over three decades prior to the theft that made international news in late August 2005.
Shaw purchased the shoes and a gingham dress from former MGM film costumer Kent Warner for approximately $2,500 dollars in 1969.
In August 2005, Michael Shaw’s pair of ruby slippers were on their fourth visit to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids. The evening of August 27, what has been described as a “crash and grab” burglary happened at the museum. Stolen: one pair of ruby slippers, insured for $1 million.
Fingers were pointed early on at the shoe owner and the museum charge. False leads, rumors, and the case went dead. Shaw, after what he would call being “put under a microscope” received an $800k dollar payout. John Kelsch lived under great stress and suspicion, trying his best to assure donors that the museum was safe. A private investigator was hired. A local businessman and co-founder of the museum, Jon Miner, offered a $1 million reward leading to the return of the treasured ruby slippers. The reward spurred on added interest and new leads.
In 2017, the investigation stepped up when the newly assigned GRPD investigator Brian Mattson reached out to the FBI seeking additional support. A new tip, a new lead from a retired secret service agent and an inquiry about the expired reward surfaced. More twists and turns developed in 2018 when the shoes were recovered from a well-known Minnesota criminal defense attorney in an FBI sting. The public remain mystified as there were claims of extortion, but no arrests made. The ruby slippers remained in FBI custody.
On Oct. 13, 2023, Grand Rapids local Terry Jon Martin, 77, was charged with a felony federal crime on one count of theft of a major artwork. Few details were released, and the court ruled that confidential informants would not be named. By sentencing in early 2024, Martin was the lone culprit minus a probable side “associate” or two.
Courtesy of Pam Dowell
In March 2024, Michael Shaw had repaid Merkel Insurance for the first right to buy back his shoes. The FBI presented Shaw with the slippers at the Judy Garland Museum. Shaw was thrilled. He and Kelsch reconciled. The reunion was short-lived as an agreement was made with Heritage Auction House in Dallas for an international tour with the slippers concluding at the auction block.
To coincide with the shoes being returned to Shaw, another man was indicted for the theft of the ruby slippers. Terry Martin’s good friend, referred to as an “associate,” Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged additionally with witness tampering, as a provocative tale of threatening an informant through exposure of a porn tape became known. Saliterman is alleged to have kept the stolen ruby slippers sealed in a container and buried underground at his home. He awaits a federal trial slated for January 2025.
The stolen ruby slippers, now valued at $28 million, and the theft that drove that value higher will forever be the talk of Judy Garland’s hometown, where there is “No Place Like Home.”
Stay tuned for Part II after the January 2025 trial!
Read Tim Gihring’s “Who Stole the Ruby Slippers?” story from February 2009.
 at Heritage Auction House in Dallas, securing their place in Americana history.){kind=link}