A new documentary film, “Under the Rainbow” sheds fresh light on the most high-profile heist in Minnesota’s recent history: The 2005 theft of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids.
The film, which debuts Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles, explains why the slippers are arguably Hollywood’s most iconic memorabilia, as the symbol of one of the country’s most-watched films, “The Wizard of Oz.”
But mostly it delves into the slippers’ shocking disappearance and equally mysterious return — a true-crime tale that seems about as believable as having a Kansas farmhouse get swept up by a cyclone and land on a sequin-shod witch.
Film directors Seth Gordon and Nikki Calabrese talked to many of the caper’s major players, including John Kelsch, the head of the museum at the time of the theft; Michael Shaw, the slippers’ owner, who had loaned them to the museum; police investigator Brian Mattson and local reporter Pam Dowell, who dug into the case.
But the filmmakers’ biggest coup was getting an interview with Terry Jon Martin, who pleaded guilty to stealing the slippers in 2023 but has not spoken publicly about the theft outside of the courtroom.
Since Martin’s conviction, an anonymous buyer bought the slippers for $32.5 million at auction, and the FBI continued to investigate. Many who have investigated the case say the theft involved far more people than Martin, but at this point, some of the suspects are no longer around.
Jerry Hal Saliterman, an associate of Martin’s who was indicted by a grand jury for his involvement in the theft — which included burying the stolen ruby slippers in his Crystal backyard for seven years — died before his court case played out. Minneapolis attorney Joe Friedberg, thought to be the unnamed middleman who handed the slippers over to the FBI in a 2018 sting, died without being charged with having any part in the crime.
Slamdance’s $50 virtual passes give online access to all 100-plus of the festival’s films from Feb. 24-March 6.
