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How do the silver shoes in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz differ from the ruby slippers in the 1939 film?
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
An illustrated page by W.W. Denslow in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
In L. Frank Baum’s original 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the magical footwear given to Dorothy are silver shoes.1
The iconic ruby slippers featured in the 1939 film adaptation are a departure from the source material. While the novel specifies that the shoes are made of silver, the filmmakers changed them to ruby for the movie to better utilize the vibrant Technicolor film process, which made the bright red color stand out more effectively on screen than silver would have. In both versions, however, the shoes serve the same essential narrative function: they are a source of powerful magic that ultimately allows Dorothy to return home to Kansas.1