Question for 'Wizard Of Oz' Historians- Page 2

[artscallion]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 8:21am

Another question for the Ozmaniacs. I don't know if I actually remember hearing this or if I'm confusing it with something else. But I think I heard, a long time ago, that the ruby slippers were actually made with sequins made out of dyed fish scales. Apparently, back then, before modern plastics, that's how sequins were made. Can anyone confirm or refute this?

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 8:45am

I'm not sure about the fish scales, Art. Here's a site about all the pairs of shoes.

http://users.deltacomm.com/rainbowz/rubyslipperfanclub/authenticslippers.html
Updated On: 6/23/08 at 08:45 AM

[artscallion]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:18am

Thanks, SOMM. That's a fun site! Love the fan who made the miniature replica of Munchkinland in his living room.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:23am

arts-
I think that's one of those crazy rumors, like the guy who commited suicide. Sequins have been around for a while, and I'm pretty sure my great-grandmother would not have had them on her wedding gown :/

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:26am

I grew up with "The Land of Oz Park" in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. I saw my first pair of authentic shoes there, before seeing the pair at the Smithsonian. They have a room at the visitors center in Boone with memorablilia from the park. I was there this past April when I went back to Appalachian State University.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:35am

SOMM-
I've always watned to go to that park, or at least see more of it. All I've seen are the publictiy stills in The Wizard of Oz Collectors Treasury.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:39am

I always wanted to go to that park as a kid, too! That's very cool, SOMMS.

[Mamie]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:45am

artscallion - I've never heard of sequins being made from fish scales. (Earliest sequins were made from metal.) I have heard of fish scales being used by dressmakers to give fabric an opalescent look. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:48am

It was a magical place! My sister and I would spend the entire day skipping hand in hand down the yellow brick road.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:55am

As far as the sequins, I don't know what they were made of either, but they were hand-dyed to get the right "dark ruby" color. They had to do a lot of camera tests, because real red sequins photographed orange, especially on the Yellow Brick Road with the light reflecting up onto them. So they had to be a dark ruby (almost burgundy) color, so that they looked right under the hot lights needed for Technicolor filming back then.