Over the years there have been many stories of iconic pieces of film history being discovered in the most unlikely places after thought to have been lost. However, the story of Judy Garland’s dress worn inThe Wizard of Ozbeing discovered in a trash bag at a Washington DC University is probably one that will certainly be remembered among the most unbelievable. Judy Garland played Dorothy Gale in the groundbreaking 1939 movie, which is constantly seen near the top of popular greatest movie lists, and it is the gingham dress worn by the character in the movie that was found in the most unexpected place.
The story published in Smithsonian Magazine details the discovery by a lecturer at Catholic University, who unearthed the costume in a bag of rubbish in an office of the drama department. The dress was originally donated to the University in the 1970s by Mercedes McCambridge, an actress who was a friend ofJudy Garlandand best known for giving the devil a voice inThe Exorcist, but sometime afterwards it was lost and had not been seen in years. It was only when the building was being cleaned out for renovation in June this year that the discovery was made of a shoebox, that was inside of a bag, on top of the faculty mail slots, and inside the box was the lost dress. The item, which is unmistakable in appearance, also has the actress' name written in pen on a tag along the neckline.
Matt Ripa, Lecturer and Operations Coordinator at the Drama Department, was interviewed by the University’s library as the person who made the discovery. He said, “I had looked in our archives, storage closets, etc. to no avail. I assumed it was a tall tale (of which many exist for Father Hartke). Our building is in the process of renovations and upgrades, so I was cleaning out my office to prepare. I noticed on top of the faculty mailboxes a trash bag and asked my co-worker to hand it to me. On the trash bag was a note for our former chair stating that he had found ‘this’ in his office and that he must have moved it when he moved out of the chair’s office. I was curious what was inside and opened the trash bag and inside was a shoebox and inside the shoebox was the dress!! I couldn’t believe it. My co-worker and I quickly grabbed some gloves and looked at the dress and took some pictures before putting it back in the box and heading over to the archives.”
The iconic garment was actually made up of two separate parts, a cotton blouse and a pinafore dress that was worn over the top. The simple costume would become one of the most recognizable in cinema history and to think that it was lost for years is almost incomprehensible. The dress itself is thought to be one of six that were used in the production, with the other five all residing with private collectors. CUA curators are now hoping to have official authentication done on the item and display it to the public on their campus. This news comes to us fromWashington Post.
