On this day – August 15th

Hollywood premiere for Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Widely considered to be one of the greatest films in cinema history, it is the best-known and most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The Hollywood premiere was on August 15, 1939, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Characterized by its legendary use of Technicolor (although not being the first to use it), fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, the film has become an icon of American popular culture.

Ruby slippers

Because of their iconic stature, the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the film are now among the most treasured and valuable film memorabilia in movie history. Dorothy actually wore Silver Shoes in the book series, but the colour was changed to ruby to take advantage of the new Technicolor process. There are five known pairs of the ruby slippers in existence – a differently styled pair unused in the film was sold at auction in 2011 for over half a million dollars.

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