Kent Warner
Kent Phillip Warner (March 8, 1943 - April 25, 1984) was a costume designer, best known for acquiring the ruby slippers from the film The Wizard of Oz prior to the 1970 MGM Auction. He is known to have found four pairs used in the film, (of five pairs that have surfaced). One pair he sold to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw in 1970 for $2,500. These ruby slippers were later stolen from the Judy Garland Museum near Garland's birthplace in Grand Rapids, Minnesota sometime between August 27–28, 2005. Speculation persists that it was an inside job as the alarms did not sound. They have not been found [1]
Of the several pairs of ruby slippers Warner found on the MGM backlot while assisting to set up the wardrobe auction of May 1970, he later sold all but one of the pairs, keeping for himself the size 5B pair, believed to have been worn by Judy Garland for static and close up shots, which are in the best condition of the known pairs.
Another pair was offered at the auction and sold for $15,000. They were later donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1979. A second pair were privately sold by Warner to Michael Shaw for $2500 shortly after the auction, as mentioned above. Warner kept a third pair for himself, since dubbed the "Witch's Shoes." These were later sold at Christie's East in 1981 for $12,000. They were re-sold at Christie's in 1988 for $165,000 in a private sale, and again in 2012 by Profiles in History to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their forthcoming museum. Warner also found a 4th pair of slippers, a test pair not used in the film, known as the "Arabian" test pair. Warner sold these to Debbie Reynolds for $300, which she later resold in June, 2011.[2]
Kent Warner died in 1984 of complications of AIDS. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).