US judge halts auction of Wizard Of Oz dress

NEW YORK • A federal judge on Monday blocked the Catholic University of America from auctioning off a memorable white-and-blue dress worn by late actress Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz (1939), after a woman filed a lawsuit claiming she was the rightful owner of the gingham pinafore garment donned by the character Dorothy.

Judge Paul Gardephe of United States District Court in Manhattan granted a preliminary injunction a day before the dress was scheduled to be auctioned in Los Angeles, where it had been expected to sell for more than US$1 million (S$1.38 million).

Catholic University had planned to use that money to endow a new faculty position in the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art.

Judge Gardephe ruled that the dress could not be sold by Catholic University until the lawsuit was resolved. Both sides are set to meet in court on June 9.

In her lawsuit, filed this month, Ms Barbara Ann Hartke claims the dress belonged to the estate of her uncle, Reverend Gilbert Hartke, who was once chairman of the university's drama department and received the dress as a gift in 1973 from Academy Award-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge, who was also an artiste in residency at the university.

Reverend Hartke died at age 79 in 1986, and Ms Hartke says she is his closest living heir.

The university has contended that the dress was a gift from Reverend Hartke and that it was his wish for it to be kept within the institution.

The fragile dress has become legend ever since Garland wore it in the Technicolor classic in 1939, complementing the plaid look with ruby-red slippers sought by the Wicked Witch.

Garland, who died at age 47 in 1969, wore several versions of the dress, but only one other is known to still exist.

It was sold in 2012 by Julien's Auctions for US$480,000. In 2015, it sold again for nearly US$1.6 million.

The location of the second dress had been a mystery until it was found by chance last year in a shoe box, inside a bag, sitting on top of faculty mailboxes.

Ms Hartke claims in her lawsuit that her family was never made aware of the discovery by the university. They had known a dress existed and were surprised to read headlines about preparations to auction it off "without any compensation to its rightful owners", the lawsuit states.

"There is no documentation demonstrating that" Reverend Hartke ever donated the dress to Catholic University, according to the lawsuit.

NYTIMES