Saturday, September 8, 2018

Judy Garland Letter From Home - Ruby Slippers and Festival!


JUDY GARLAND LETTER FROM HOME

Hello Friends:

Summer in northern Minnesota began with lots of heat and rain almost every week. Since then we’ve had a dry spell. Now it’s relatively cool here. We suspect fall will be upon us before long, so it’s time to tell you about our wonderful summer before it’s gone.

Regards!

- Ruby Slippers FOUND!
- 2018 Wizard of Oz Festival Report
- Future Festival Plans
- Gift Shop Finds
- The Sawmill Site
- Changes at the Children’s Discover Center


The Ruby Slippers Found!

As most of you know by now, thanks to the diligent work of the Grand Rapids Police Department and the FBI, the Ruby Slippers stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in August of 2005 have been found
On Labor Day, we received a call from NBC for use permission of a photo. The girl calling told us she had no idea what it was for; she though it was a retrospective on the Slippers scheduled for the morning show! 

Early the next morning, John Kelsch received a text from two people saying the Ruby Slippers “are back.” Thinking it was a joke --- like many of the false leads up to now --- he did not respond until a few minutes later when a Judy Garland Board Member called to say it was real and there’s be a news conference at 1.

In the meantime, knowing what this would mean, three of our Board members planned to stay at the museum all day. The phones were off the hook with requests for interviews and notices that the TV stations were coming! In addition to our front desk person, Sue Plagmann, our part-time secretary, Marie Flicker came in and two of our Children’s Discovery Museum teachers, Nancy O’Toole and Debbie Sias. Board Members fielding calls and conducting interviews until late that night were John Miner, Ray Nikkel and Jaime Coffel. Aside from the Minnesota television and radio stations which included those as far away as Minneapolis there were calls from all over the country and the BBC, who called twice and a station in France! Jon Miner gave two interviews to BBC, one live at 1 am!

Celebration time!

It was a crazy day with all these people running to take calls, answer questions, and give phone interviews and television interviews as well as people coming into the museum to buy Ruby Slipper souvenirs. In fact, the entire town of Grand Rapids was in an uproar. It was like one big birthday party!

Because this is an ongoing case, with the FBI still trying to ascertain all the culprits, they did not say much in the press conference. They did verify that the slippers were found in July and then taken for verification to the Smithsonian, where they have the Ruby Slippers being restored and a lab to confirm that these are indeed Judy Garland’s slippers – the ones that were missing. All these years the Police Department has had a single red sequin which John Kelsch found on the museum floor the day of the theft. This was used to verify that the slippers were the stolen pair and that missing sequin fit like a glove!

Now the job is to figure out who stole the slippers and where they have been all these years. The reveal in the news conference was thrilling and proved that they were unharmed. For years we heard they were at the bottom of a mine pit or even burned up and there they were!

There is more to this story and it’s fascinating! Perhaps one day it will even be a motion picture. Stay tuned and if you know anything, please contact the Grand Rapids Police Department or the Minnesota FBI.


PS: You are all wondering who owns the Ruby Slippers and where they will end up. They were owned by Michael Shaw and only on loan to us when they were stolen. Shaw was paid for the Slippers by the insurance company a year after the theft. So although they are now owned by the insurance company, with the case unsolved, they are still evidence and being held by the FBI as such until the case is solved! We do hope they come back to us – at least for a visit!


The 2018 Wizard of Oz Festival

Festival time is always exciting in Grand Rapids and this year was no exception. Beginning on Wednesday, Judy Garland fans begin arriving and there are many cries of excitement as old friends see one another with greetings of happiness at just being here in Judy’s hometown.


Thursday, the Festival opened with a living history of the Gumm family (Judy’s family, of course) titled: “The Gumm’s 1926 Farewell Party.” Local actor, John Schroeder- a true showman himself- played Frank Gumm with great flair. Although we were unable to find an “Ethel,” Karen Bordeaux played a family friend beautifully, and sang Ethel’s songs for her. Three little girls (Riley Stovall, Sarah Whittaker, and Hannah Clark) played Mary Jane, Virginia and Frances. They sang such songs as “Remembr’ing,” “In a Little Spanish Town,” and “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street, the Little Birdies Go Tweet, Tweet, Tweet.”
The show was indeed popular and was repeated three times during the weekend, literally to a full house. In addition, we should mention great thanks to our wonderful accompanist/musical director, Stuart Boehr, and Sharon Marty, who does costumes at the Reif, and generously lent and altered costumes for the little girls.

Judy, Frank and Dean
After our living history, we had a wonderful summer broasted chicken dinner supplied by Sammy’s Pizza. They make wonderful food. The dinner was so attractive that we even had some people just visiting Grand Rapids show up for the meal!

Following the dinner, famed Garland author John Fricke provided the opening of the Garland portion of the Festival with a short talk about “Judy’s Miracle Year.” At the conclusion, the audience was able to watch a pristine copy of Judy’s 1962 television special on our new 10 foot screen. The whole thing was just stunning.




Joe Maliovsky speaks to director of "The Slippers" -
Morgan White in 2016
Friday
The day opened with an exciting Oz and Judy Jeopardy game conducted by our brilliant and wonderful volunteers Paul Herrick and Joe Malinovsky. Everyone always has great fun at this event and there are prizes.

Friday afternoon, Michelle Russell revealed “Hidden Secrets at the Museum.” This well-attended event had lots of intriguing items. Russell showed off costumes Judy Davis wore in Lorna Luft’s film, “Me and My Shadows” and items from the Gumm family’s home – both in Minnesota and California. As for the piece de resistance, there were two. One was a little box Russell recently found in the museum which had never been opened. She re-enacted opening it – a long process which finally revealed something that caused the crowd let out a big “oh.” Inside the box, wrapped in layers of paper, and then inside a small, clear case were several pairs of Judy’s false eyelashes.

Fan and Judy Garland Museum volunteer,
Katie Stella holding up Judy's gorgeous top.
The other exciting piece was a gorgeous red sequin and beaded top which Judy wore in concert. Unfortunately, during one concert she fainted and the emergency people cut the top right down the front. The back had a top to bottom zipper so it wouldn’t have been necessary and we learned that Judy was quite angry that they destroyed her beautiful top, but that is the way they do things.

Later that day, John Fricke gave a second lecture on “Judy’s Miracle Year” and showed some rare clips that gave us a further glimpse of the brilliance and charm of this great star, revealing why she was so loved and is loved to this day. We had a whole group of new visitors this year who got to experience Mr. Fricke’s amazing skill as a speaker on Judy Garland. His talks bring Judy to life.

All this was leading up to the Blu-Ray showing of “I Could Go on Singing,” again on our great new screen. The film, also from 1962, was filmed in London, with Judy’s performances at the London Palladium. Although the subject of the film was quite serious, unlike the fun of MGM films, it gave our audience a chance to see Judy in live concert.


Friday looked rainy, but the raindrops stopped early and so the annual showing of “The Wizard of Oz” on an outdoor JUMBO screen did not have to be moved. There were probably not as many people as some years, but a fairly big crowd, along with a children’s costume contest just before and an outdoor picnic dinner before that, seemed to keep a great many people happy!

Saturday
Saturday morning Michelle Russell spoke about the history of the Judy Garland Festival and played a compilation CD of news and personal film clips compiled from 1989 to 2006. Quite a trip down memory lane for those who lived through those days and eye-opening for those who missed them.

Our outdoors children’s events Saturday were hit with rain, but that didn’t faze anyone. Tables were set up in the halls, gift shop, children’s museum and gallery and over 300 people showed up to have fun with crafts, music and more. Meanwhile, in the art room, John Fricke gave a talk for all ages entitled “Ask Anything About Oz!”

The house was literally packed for Judy's Tribute!
The official closing event for the 2018 Festival was a musical “Tribute to Judy Garland” in the Judy Garland Birthplace. Pianist Stuart Boehr played for this event which included cast members from the living history along with a young singer from Minneapolis, Jayda Richards, age 17, who wowed the crowd with her fine performance of some of Judy’s early songs. 
l. to r. Sarah Whittacker, Riley Stoval, and Jayda Richards

The house was packed with over 40 people for this event. One never to be forgotten moment was when eleven year-old Sarah Whittaker spoke about Judy paying tribute to President Kennedy after his death by singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Sarah sang the verse quite beautifully and sweetly. Then, when she raised her hand for the audience to join her in the chorus, the house was literally filled with voices singing. It was an amazing moment, one you couldn’t help feeling the house was meant for.


The Youth Wizard of Oz on Stage

We should not be remiss in speaking about the very special performances of “The Wizard of Oz” which took place during the Festival, downtown at the Reif. Local artist and dance teacher Katie Smith produced the children’s version of “The Wizard of Oz.” The show played three times during the Festival to amazing reviews. The children were all wonderful and the packed houses enjoyed it thoroughly. The show even included the song “The Jitterbug” cut from the 1939 film. In addition, Katie Smith generously donated half of the proceeds of this event to the Judy Garland Museum, for which we were most grateful!

Although we did not have the special guests of yore this time, it seems every enjoyed the 2018 Festival thoroughly.

Oz Character Players Receive Awards

Saturday night, at a private dinner event hosted by Andy Jurss for Judy Garland fans, Museum Board Members popped in to honor three persons make our Wizard of Oz Festivals special and who have donated their time and creative talents for years: Scarecrow Tom Hendricks; Tin Woodman, Larry Johnson; and Cowardly Lion, Jeff Kortman. Each person received a beautifully engraved wooden plaque and all were deeply moved.



The Future of the Festival


Aside from questions about the Ruby Slippers, one of the biggest questions these days is regarding the future of the Festival.

In recent months, it has been necessary for the Museum to look at re-structuring and finances. Being located in Northern Minnesota where we have about three months of tourism each year, it has never been easy to find the funds to keep our doors open year-round. Our ability to do this has mainly been helped by the Children’s Discovery Museum, our other half which brings many school groups in year-round. Meanwhile, this is a new era and some things were done in the past are not working in the present.

For reasons listed above and others, in a recent review of our situation, the Board discovered that a great deal more money and time is being put into The Wizard of Oz Festivals, than we can afford.. In the past, with the Munchkins and MGM stars available to visit, we had donors who covered these costs. These events, covered by the press, made the Judy Garland Museum known to the rest of America and the world. It also brought a large number of fans to Grand Rapids, an area which might otherwise have been unknown to them. This was a wise investment, however, at present the bills must be paid and the budget must be balanced if we are to continue.

In 2018, we no longer have this kind of funding for these extravagances.. In addition, we are award that we need to spend our time an energies on means of fundraising for things like the Judy Garland Birthplace, which now seriously needs preservation work.  With very limited staff and funds, this only makes sense. 

For these reasons, it was decided by the Board that at least for now, we should not plan for another Festival. At the private dinner held in Grand Rapids at the close of the 2018 Festival, Ray Nikkel and Jon Miner made some of these facts known to fans in attendance and offered a challenge for people to plan and create a Festival of their own, as well as figuring out how to raise the funds for it. Of course, most fans do not live in this area, work full-time and do not have to means to do this, so we are uncertain as to what the future holds.

Some staff members have also been brainstorming on how to have a Festival without large costs. Advertising on the internet and Facebook would cut some costs, borrowing chairs and tables from local churches would cut others, as well as making our own black-out curtains for the art room, where we would be able to show films on our grand new 10 foot screen. Cutting back several thousand in costs, along with volunteer help and donated talent might also help.

If you have an idea, or would like to do something for the Festival, please let us know. If not, for the Festival, we know we will be having some fundraisers in the near future and we welcome all your ideas.

As of now, Land of Oz Kids Activities are scheduled for of Saturday, June 8, 2019. Young at Art’s youth production of “The Wizard of Oz” will also be repeated with shows on Thursday, June 6, Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9.

Other events maybe planned, such as free (donation only) films in the museum and talent. That will depend on what funding and volunteer help we receive.

We are sorry to bring this news to those who hoped to attend a Festival next year and to those who look forward to these events every year, but as things stand, it’s necessary. Meanwhile, we will keep you posted with the latest.

If you have ideas or comments about the Festival you may send them to:  jgarland@uslink.net


The Sawmill Inn and Site

This past week the Grand Rapids Herald Review had a front page story on the Sawmill, our favorite hotel and restaurant and the site of many happy memories with fans, Munchkins and other co-stars of Judy Garland.

According to the September 2nd newspaper, Rebound Hospitality has purchased the hotel site from the Jacobsons. Although Rebound is a company which often buys and preserves properties, sadly this is not the case with the Sawmill. They plan to entirely reconfigure and build on the acreage. Included on the site will be a four-story hotel with 83 rooms under the flagship of Best Western Plus. Separate from the hotel will be a restaurant and event center. In addition, Rebound is planning two “pads” for commercial buildings in front – either office or stores. The building of the hotel will likely take a year or more to occur. 

These new buildings will certainly change the look and feel of 169 by the Judy Garland Museum. We recall that when the house was first moved to this site, the area across from it was full of woods from which emanated the sounds of birds and wildlife.


New Exhibit at the Children’s Museum

Last year we opened the big front room up with a new hands on exhibit – Lake Life.  This year, we are re-doing a portion of the mid to back section (River Town), which was a store and bird’s nest. The new exhibit is up and the store is amazing. There is also a pizza parlor and a playhouse. If you have children, be sure to check it out next time your visit!

Oz Gift Shop!

We'd like to remind you of our wonderful gift shop. Not only is it filled with many rare items scouted out by
A postcard found in our shop.
Ruby Slipper items are very popular now!
our shop manager, Sue Plagmann, it also includes items donated to us to benefit the museum AND from time to time, dupicate items found in our archives. 

Recently, in need of fundraising, further organization of our archives revealed three Dorothy dolls from 1989, plates and other artworks not related to Judy Garland. Some of these you will find on ebay, and others listed on our Facebook page. Still others are listed on our website.


If you are looking for something Judy Garland related, please check with us as we receive new items all the time!  Thanks for looking and thank you for supporting the Judy Garland Museum.

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Thank you all for your support and interest. We will be in touch in a month or two with the latest news.

Happy fall!

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