A dress used in the filming of The Wizard of Oz has been consigned to Profiles in History's July 28 Hollywood Auction.
 The present dress is different to the ones selected for the film, which were chosen as a better representation of a young girl from Kansas |
The dress was worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy during the first two weeks of filming, but never appeared in the finished version.
It is estimated at $80,000-120,000 - a modest sum compared to the $1.2m (estimate $60,000-80,000) made by a virtually identical Dorothy dress from the first two weeks of filming that sold from the Debbie Reynolds collection in 2011. The Debbie Reynolds-owned dress also failed to appear in the final version.
A screen-worn example sold for $480,000 at auction in 2012.
The present dress varies from the familiar blue gingham pinafore and white blouse outfit seen on-screen, featuring instead a solid blue pinafore with a polka dot trim and a puff-sleeved blouse.
This was the preferred choice of the film's original director Richard Thorpe, who was fired after just two weeks of shooting.
Thorpe had originally given Garland a blonde wig and baby doll-style makeup, and it wasn't until filmmaker George Cukor styled her brunette hair in pigtails and chose the gingham dress that the incarnation we know today took shape.
The dress has been owned by US collector Barry Barsamian for more than 30 years. It was created by hand by costume designer Adrian Greenberg, better known as Adrian, and still bears a label with Garland's name.
It will be sold complete with handwritten letters from the original owner, Wayne Martin, as well as a copy of the programme for the Smithsonian's Freedom Train exhibition, of which the outfit was part. Also accompanying will be a letter of provenance from Barsamian.
Paul Fraser Collectibles has a fantastic signed photograph of the young Judy Garland for sale.
