Catholic University to auction Wizard of Oz ‘Dorothy’ dress

The Catholic University of America will auction a million-dollar dress that Judy Garland wore as Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” The university says that the proceeds will go toward educating drama students.

Apr 22, 2022

Fr Gilbert Hatke holds a dress gifted to him that Judy Garland wore as Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz’. (CNA photo/The Catholic University of America)


By Katie Yoder
The Catholic University of America will auction a million-dollar dress that Judy Garland wore as Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” The university says that the proceeds will go toward educating drama students.

“Even though we love the dress, it has never been displayed or shared broadly over the past 50 years,” Jackie Leary-Warsaw, dean of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art, said in a statement. “It was given to inspire and support the arts at Catholic University — and we hope others can enjoy the dress while this gift also supports the next generations of highly talented actors, like Judy Garland or Mercedes McCambridge.”

McCambridge, an Oscar-winning actress and artist-in-residence at Catholic University in 1973, gifted the dress, now valued at an estimated $800,000 — $1.2 million (RM3.4 million - RM5.2 million), to Fr Gilbert Hartke, the founder and head of Catholic University’s drama school.

Then, in the late 1980s, the dress went missing and the costume became the subject of rumour.
More than 30 years passed when Matt Ripa, a lecturer and operations coordinator for the drama department, happened upon a bag atop faculty mailboxes in 2021, according to Catholic University.

“I was curious about what was inside and opened the bag. Inside was a shoebox, and inside the shoebox was the dress! I couldn’t believe it,” Ripa said at the time.

The dress will be auctioned on May 24 in Los Angeles, with the proceeds going toward a new film acting programme at The Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art. Bonhams, an international auctioneer, will feature the dress in its “Bonhams Classic Hollywood: Film and Television” sale.

According to Catholic University, documentation indicates that the dress was gifted to Hartke with the intention it be used to support the drama department. The auction proceeds will endow a faculty chair, a position that will support the current bachelor of fine arts degree in acting for theatre, film, and television, as well as the development of a new formal film acting programme. --CNA

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