Judge blocks auction of Judy Garland’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ dress by Catholic University pending outcome of lawsuit

Judge blocks auction of Judy Garland’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ dress by Catholic University pending outcome of lawsuit


A blue and white checked gingham dress, worn by Judy Garland in the “Wizard of Oz,” hangs on display, Monday, April 25, 2022, at Bonhams in New York.

Katie Vasquez | AP

A federal judge in New York blocked Tuesday’s scheduled auction of a dress worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” that had been expected to fetch up to $1 million or more for The Catholic University of America.

Monday’s injunction barring a sale of the dress by Bonhams auction house in Los Angeles came more than two weeks after a Wisconsin woman sued to stop the sale, claiming it belonged to the estate of her late uncle, the Rev. Gilbert Hartke.

Barbara Hartke’s lawsuit now will proceed in Manhattan federal court.

Judge Paul Gardephe ordered Catholic U., which is located in Washington, D.C., and Bonhams not to sell the dress until the lawsuit is resolved.

Anthony Scordo, the attorney for Barbara Hartke, in an email to CNBC said, “I am pleased with the ruling preventing the sale.”

” I feel the judge carefully reviewed the submissions of all parties and came to a fair result,” Scordo said.

CNBC Politics

Read more of CNBC’s politics coverage:

Hartke received the “Oz” dress in 1973 as a gift from Academy Award-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge while serving as head of Catholic U.’s drama school, which he founded. It is not known how MacCambridge obtained the costume from the classic 1939 film.

As an heir to the priest, Barbara Hartke stands to inherit a fraction of the ownership dress if she prevails in her lawsuit.

The dress had been missing for decades before it was found in a trash bag in a room at the drama school last year. Catholic U. then moved to put it up for auction, generating widespread media coverage last month.

Catholic U. argues that it is the legal owner of the dress, because Hartke, as a Roman Catholic priest, had taken a vow of poverty and that the dress was intended to benefit the school.

The school also submitted affidavits from a grand-nephew of Hartke who remembered that “my grand-uncle Father Gilbert Hartke said to me that I could not have it as the dress belonged to Catholic University.”

That man, Thomas Kuipers, with a cousin said that they and other descendants of the priest supported the auction of the dress with the understanding that it was given as a gift for the school.

The dress is one of only two dresses known to still exist of the several created for Garland to wear in “The Wizard of Oz.”

The other dress was auctioned in 2015 by Bonhams for more than $1.5 million.   



Source

Lawyers for Susan Monarez say ‘she remains as CDC Director’, only Trump has power to ‘fire her’
Politics

Lawyers for Susan Monarez say ‘she remains as CDC Director’, only Trump has power to ‘fire her’

Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), arrives to testify for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images Lawyers […]

Read More
Rheinmetall chief says Europe must catch up with Russia’s ammunition output as it opens mega plant
Politics

Rheinmetall chief says Europe must catch up with Russia’s ammunition output as it opens mega plant

Workers are seen at the new Rheinmetall artillery munitions factory during its inauguration on August 27, 2025 in Unterluess, Germany. Germany is investing heavily to modernize the Bundeswehr, its armed forces. Morris Macmatzen | Getty Images News | Getty Images Rheinmetall‘s newly-opened factory in Northern Germany — set to become Europe’s biggest ammunition production facility […]

Read More
Researcher who has distorted voter data appointed to Homeland Security election integrity role
Politics

Researcher who has distorted voter data appointed to Homeland Security election integrity role

A conservative election researcher whose faulty findings on voter data were cited by President Donald Trump as he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss has been appointed to an election integrity role at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Pennsylvania activist Heather Honey is now serving as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity […]

Read More