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Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” go for $28 million at auction
A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” — and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago — fetched $28 million in an auction Saturday.
Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the Dallas-based auction house, told CBS News in an email that, with the buyer’s premium — a commission that the buyer pays — the slippers sold for a total of $32.5 million.
Heritage Auctions had estimated that the slippers would fetch $3 million or more. Online bidding opened last month and by Friday had reached $1.55 million, or $1.91 million including the buyer’s premium, Wilonsky said. Over 800 people were tracking the slippers, and the company’s web page for the auction had hit nearly 43,000 page views by Thursday, he said.
As Rhys Thomas, author of the book, “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” puts it, the sequined shoes from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”
They were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case.
Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. Martin admitted he used a small sledgehammer to break into the museum. He then used the tool to crack the case the slippers were in and take them. He said he didn’t hear any alarm. He took off in his car and kept them in a trailer adjacent to his home.
He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.
His attorney, Dane DeKrey, explained ahead of sentencing that Martin, who had a long history of burglary and receiving stolen property, was attempting to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value. But a fence — a person who buys stolen goods — later told him the rubies were just glass, DeKrey said. So Martin got rid of the slippers. The attorney didn’t specify how.
The alleged fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal, was indicted in March. He was also in a wheelchair and on oxygen when he made his first court appearance. He’s scheduled to go on trial in January and hasn’t entered a plea, though his attorney has said he’s not guilty.
The shoes were returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They were one of several pairs that Garland wore during the filming, but only four pairs are known to have survived. In the movie, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy had to click her heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”
Among those bidding was the Judy Garland Museum. The city of Grand Rapids raised money for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland festival to supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to help the museum purchase the slippers.
“The Wizard of Oz” story has gained new attention in recent weeks with the release of the movie “Wicked,” an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of sorts that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.
The auction also included other memorabilia from “The Wizard of Oz,” including a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the original Wicked Witch of the West.
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White House announces nearly $1 billion more in military assistance to Ukraine
The U.S. on Saturday announced a new $988 million military assistance package for Ukraine in its war with Russia as Washington races to provide aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Trump’s victory in the November election has cast doubt on the future of U.S. aid for Ukraine, providing a limited window for billions of dollars in already authorized assistance to be provided before he is sworn in next month.
The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The aid will be funded via the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, under which military equipment is procured from the defense industry or partners rather than drawn from American stocks, meaning it will not immediately arrive on the battlefield.
It follows a $725 million package announced on Monday that included a second tranche of landmines as well as anti-air and anti-armor weapons.
The outgoing Biden administration is working to get as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump — who has repeatedly criticized U.S. assistance for Kyiv — begins his second White House term in January.
It also comes on the same day that Trump held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron after he traveled to Paris to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral following its extensive renovation from the 2019 fire.
Details of what transpired in the meeting were not immediately known.
Trump’s comments have triggered fears in Kyiv and Europe about the future of U.S. aid and Ukraine’s ability to withstand Russian attacks in the absence of further American support.
The U.S. has spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly forging a coalition to back Kyiv after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and coordinating aid from dozens of countries.
Ukraine’s international supporters have since then provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons, ammunition, training and other security aid that has been key to helping Kyiv resist Russian forces.
Last month, President Biden lifted restrictions that allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, marking a significant U.S. policy shift in the war.
The Biden administration in November also began the process of supplying Ukraine with controversial anti-personnel mines that are designed to be used against people, not vehicles.
CBS News
Tyler Perry Studios president dies when plane he was piloting crashes in Florida
The president of Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios died Friday night when the small plane he was piloting crashed on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The studio confirmed on Saturday that Steve Mensch, its 62-year-old president and general manager, had died.
“We are incredibly saddened by the passing of our dear friend Steve Mensch,” the studio said in a statement. “Steve was a cherished member of our team for more than eight years and well-beloved in the community of Atlanta. It’s hard to imagine not seeing him smiling throughout the halls. We will miss him dearly. Our heart goes out to his family as we all send them our prayers.”
The crash happened in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Photos from the scene show the plane having come to rest upside down on a road. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
The single-engine Vans RV-12IS was registered to Mensch at his home address in the Atlanta suburb of Fayetteville, according to FAA records.
Mensch helped advocate for and maintain Georgia’s film tax credit of more than $1 billion a year. Those lavish subsidies have made Georgia one of the most active places in the United States for film and television production.
Mensch got into the movie business when he started working for Feature Systems, which provides equipment for the movie industry. He was hired by Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting to run its studio operations, later becoming director of strategic production partnerships. It was there that he began to lobby state government for more aid to movie and television production.
Ric Reitz, an actor who also helped create the tax credits, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Mensch helped market the state before the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and helped launch the Georgia Production Partnership, an entertainment industry lobbying group.
“He was trying to formulate the vision for the marketplace before the Olympics and wanted a think tank of people in the community to make Georgia competitive,” Reitz said. “He was an important figure in the our growth to become a strong film and TV market.”
After a year helping plan and build a giant studio in China and brief stint helping to open Third Rail Studios in suburban Atlanta. Perry hired Mensch to help create and run his namesake studio in 2016. The studio sprawls across 330 acres of a former Army base in southern Atlanta that Perry acquired in 2015.
Mensch died on the same day that Perry released “The Six Triple Eight,” a war drama about a mostly Black and all-female World War II battalion. The film was shot at the Atlanta studio.
Mensch is survived by his wife, Danila, and three children.