Dorothy Blue Gingham Pinafore Dress (Wizard of Oz)

A Kansas farm girl's dress, made in multiples

MGM's The Wizard of Oz, adapted from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel and directed mainly by Victor Fleming, went into production on October 13, 1938. The studio's costume department under Adrian had to dress more than 100 Munchkins alone. Dorothy's costume was simpler and far more demanding: a blue-and-white gingham pinafore with a fitted bodice and full skirt, over a short cream-colored cotton blouse with a high neck, worn day after day under Technicolor lights that could heat the set past 100 degrees.

So the costume was made more than once. Every surviving dress shares the same tells: "Judy Garland" written inside by hand, in a script specific to a single person who labeled all of them, and a secret pocket on the right side of the pinafore skirt for Dorothy's handkerchief. The blouse's thin material tended to tear when Garland took it off after filming, and a seamstress often repaired it before the next day's shoot.

How many were made and how many survive depends on whom you ask. The Guardian reported that as many as 10 were thought to have been made for Garland. Reports on the Catholic University dress describe it as one of six worn in the film, and as one of four blue-and-white pinafore dresses known to exist. In 2021 the university said five, not counting its own, had been verified as probably authentic. The auction specialist who sold the 2015 dress called it one of only two complete Dorothy costumes in existence, and only two pinafores are said to retain their original white blouse.

The film behind the dress

The production went through three directors before Fleming. Richard Thorpe shot for 11 days, during which Garland wore a blonde wig and heavy "baby-doll" makeup. George Cukor, advising briefly, changed Garland's makeup and costume and told her to "be herself," so the scenes shot under Thorpe were redone. Fleming took over on November 3, 1938, and King Vidor directed the final days, including the Kansas scenes and "Over the Rainbow." Principal photography ended March 16, 1939.

Garland, who later received an Academy Juvenile Award for the role, endured a punishing production. In the decades since, credible accounts have described the studio binding her chest and giving her pills to control her weight.

The film premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, 1939, and opened nationwide on August 25. It won Academy Awards for Best Original Song, "Over the Rainbow," and Best Original Score. Its 1956 television premiere on CBS reintroduced it to the public, and in 1989 it was among the first 25 films chosen for the National Film Registry.

The dress that sold for $1.565 million

The best-documented dress in the market first surfaced through Kent Warner, an MGM costumer who helped prepare the studio's landmark 1970 auction and consigned the dress for sale in 1981. It sold again at auction in Beverly Hills in November 2012. CNN reported the price as $480,000; The Guardian, which identified it as the same dress, put it at $490,000.

On November 23, 2015, it was offered at auction in New York in a sale of nearly 400 classic-film pieces. The pinafore had "Judy Garland" inscribed inside, and so did the blouse. Described as bearing sweat stains at the neck but otherwise in good condition, it was estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million. Three phone bidders competed, and it sold for $1,565,000 including the buyer's premium, often rounded to $1.56 million. The buyer was not named.

The specialist who handled the sale said afterward that the dress is considered a true and timeless icon of classic Hollywood.

The dress in the trash bag

In 1973 the actress Mercedes McCambridge, a friend of Garland's and the previous year's artist-in-residence at the Catholic University of America in Washington, gave a Dorothy dress to the Rev. Gilbert Hartke, the Dominican priest who founded and led the university's drama department. A campus newspaper article that year said it was meant to be "a source of hope, strength and courage" to students. How McCambridge got it is unknown.

After Father Hartke died in 1986, the dress vanished. Photos showed him holding it, but no one knew where it went. In June 2021, as renovation of the Hartke Theatre approached, drama lecturer Matt Ripa, who had searched archives and closets for years, noticed a white trash bag above the faculty mail slots. Inside was a shoe-size box, and inside the box was the dress. A note on the bag read: "I found this in my office." A Smithsonian expert on the museum's Oz holdings and two colleagues examined it and called the evidence strong. It still has its white blouse and has been matched to the scene in which Dorothy faces the Wicked Witch of the West in her castle.

The university planned to sell it in Los Angeles on May 24, 2022, estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, to fund a film acting program. Father Hartke's niece, Barbara Hartke, sued, claiming it belonged to his estate, and on May 23, 2022, the day before the sale, a federal judge in Manhattan blocked it. On December 11, 2023, the judge dismissed her claim, noting that Father Hartke had taken a vow of poverty in 1933 and that she lacked standing. On January 23, 2024, he denied her request to refile, and the university said the auction could proceed. The sources reviewed here do not report a later sale.

Why it matters

The Library of Congress has called The Wizard of Oz the most seen film in cinematic history, and Dorothy's gingham is its signature costume. The 2015 sale came a year after the film's Cowardly Lion costume sold at auction for almost $3.1 million.

The film itself shows how central the costume was. For the switch from sepia Kansas to Technicolor Oz, MGM painted the inside of the farmhouse sepia, and the figure who opens the door is not Garland but her stand-in, Bobbie Koshay, in a sepia-toned gingham dress. Garland steps back into frame in her bright blue one.

The numbers

Premiere

August 15, 1939, Grauman's Chinese Theatre; nationwide August 25, 1939

Budget

$2.77 million

Box office

$25.6 million

Academy Awards

Five nominations including Best Picture; won Best Original Song and Best Original Score; Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award

Filming

October 13, 1938, to March 16, 1939, plus reshoots into June

Timeline

1. Oct 13, 1938

   Production of The Wizard of Oz begins under director Richard Thorpe.

2. Nov 3, 1938

   Victor Fleming takes over as director after George Cukor revises Garland's look.

3. Mar 16, 1939

   Principal photography ends with the Kansas sequences.

4. Aug 15, 1939

   The film premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

5. 1956

   The film's CBS television premiere introduces it to a new audience.

6. 1970

   MGM holds its landmark studio auction, which costumer Kent Warner helped prepare.

7. 1973

   Mercedes McCambridge gives a Dorothy dress to the Rev. Gilbert Hartke at Catholic University.

8. 1981

   Kent Warner consigns the dress later sold in 2012 and 2015.

9. 1986

   Father Hartke dies; the university's dress disappears.

10. 1989

    The film is named to the first class of the National Film Registry.

11. Nov 2012

    A Dorothy dress sells at auction in Beverly Hills for $480,000.

12. Nov 23, 2015

    The same dress sells at auction in New York for $1,565,000.

13. Jun 2021

    The Catholic University dress is found in a trash bag above faculty mailboxes.

14. May 23, 2022

    A federal judge blocks the university's planned May 24 auction.

15. Dec 11, 2023

    The judge dismisses Barbara Hartke's ownership claim.

16. Jan 23, 2024

    The judge denies a refiling, and the university says the auction can proceed.

The world in 1939

• Apr 9, 1939

  Marian Anderson sings before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial.

• Apr 14, 1939

  John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is published.

• Apr 30, 1939

  The New York World's Fair opens.

• May 1, 1939

  Batman first appears, in Detective Comics #27.

• Jul 4, 1939

  Lou Gehrig gives his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium.

• Aug 2, 1939

  Albert Einstein signs the letter to President Roosevelt warning of a possible atomic bomb.

• Sep 5, 1939

  The United States declares neutrality as World War II begins in Europe.

• Oct 24, 1939

  Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Dorothy Blue Gingham Pinafore Dress (Wizard of Oz) is number 53 of 100 in the memorabilia entries of the FLOAT 100. 100 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (52 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Each authentic Dorothy dress has a hidden pocket on the right side of the skirt for Dorothy's handkerchief.
• The person who opens the farmhouse door into Oz is Garland's stand-in, Bobbie Koshay, in a sepia-tinted gingham dress.
• Garland's thin blouses tore so often when she took them off that a seamstress routinely mended them overnight.
• The Catholic University dress was found with a note on the bag that read: "I found this in my office."
• A judge's ruling in the dress lawsuit turned on a priest's 1933 vow of poverty.
• Garland first played Dorothy in a blonde wig and heavy makeup; those early scenes were reshot after George Cukor told her to "be herself."