Movie Jewels: Oz the Great and Powerful

     A return to Oz calls for a look at the movie's jewelry like the emerald above, worn by Evanora (Rachel Weisz).  After all, Oz the Great and Powerful, set 20 years before The Wizard of Oz, takes us back to the Emerald City.

It's appropriate that one of the witch sisters should don a striking emerald necklace.

Glinda the Good Witch, played by Michelle Williams, returns wearing a sparkling crown.

And the third witch, Theodora, played by Mila Kunis, is seen wearing a beautiful double strand of pearls.

     But a look back at Oz would not be complete without remembering Dorothy's ruby slippers from the original movie.  Three clicks of their heels returned Dorothy to Kansas.  Have you ever wondered what happened to them?

     The magical shoes were changed from the silver slippers in L. Frank Baum's novel to ruby slippers mainly because they would show up better on the yellow brick road.  For the movie, the shoes were covered in burgundy sequins, not rubies.  Several pairs of slippers were made for the movie, a common practice with movie props.  One pair lives in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.  The slippers, icons of American film history, were donated to the museum in 1979 and remain one of the most popular artifacts.
     What about the other pairs of slippers?  Four other pairs are known to exist and one of these was purchased last year by a group of benefactors, led by actor Leonard DiCaprio, for future display in the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.