Ruby slippers
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The ruby slippers are the shoes worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz which give her the power of returning home any time she wishes. She acquired the shoes after her house fell on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and liberating the Munchkins. The slippers protected Dorothy from the evil magic of the Wicked Witch of the West. In the original novel by L. Frank Baum, they were silver slippers, but this was changed for the movie to take advantage of the movie being in colour.
Dorothy knew that the slippers were powerful, but was unaware of their powers. It was only at the end of the film that she learned the formula: click your heels together three times, and repeat "There's no place like home."
The slippers were designed by Salvatore Ferragamo, and several pairs of slippers were constructed for the film. One pair is on permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, the others are owned by private collectors. They were made for size 4 1/2 (Judy Garland's foot size in 1938). At a 1970 MGM auction, a pair sold for $10,000. On May 24 2000, a pair of ruby slippers was auctioned for $666,000 (including a $66,000 commission). A pair was originally shown at The Great Movie Ride in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but has since disappeared.
Software engineers sometimes refer to the ruby slippers effect whereby a program provides a valuable feature overlooked by its user.
External link
- Jim's Ruby Slippers Page (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6396/rubyslip.htm)
| The world of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Wicked (The books | The musical)
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