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A blue and white checked gingham costume, worn by Judy Garland within the “Wizard of Oz,” hangs on show, Monday, April 25, 2022, at Bonhams in New York.
Katie Vasquez | AP
A federal choose in New York blocked Tuesday’s scheduled public sale of a costume worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” that had been anticipated to fetch as much as $1 million or extra for The Catholic College of America.
Monday’s injunction barring a sale of the costume by Bonhams public sale home in Los Angeles got here greater than two weeks after a Wisconsin girl, Barbara Hartke, sued to cease the sale, claiming it belonged to the property of her late uncle, the Rev. Gilbert Hartke. The lawsuit will proceed in Manhattan federal court docket.
Choose Paul Gardephe ordered Catholic College, which is positioned in Washington, D.C., and Bonhams to not promote the costume till the lawsuit is resolved.
Anthony Scordo, the legal professional for Barbara Hartke, in an e-mail to CNBC stated, “I’m happy with the ruling stopping the sale. I really feel the choose rigorously reviewed the submissions of all events and got here to a good end result.”
In its assertion, Catholic College stated, “The Court docket’s choice to protect the established order was preliminary and didn’t get to the deserves of Barbara Hartke’s declare to the costume. We sit up for presenting our place, and the overwhelming proof contradicting Ms. Hartke’s declare, to the Court docket in the middle of this litigation.”
Hartke acquired the “Oz” costume in 1973 as a present from Academy Award-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge whereas serving as head of Catholic College’s drama faculty, which he based. It’s not recognized how MacCambridge obtained the costume from the traditional 1939 movie.
As an inheritor to the priest, Barbara Hartke stands to inherit a fraction of the possession to the costume if she prevails in her lawsuit to show that it belongs to her late uncle’s property.
The costume had been lacking for many years earlier than it was present in a trash bag in a room on the drama faculty final yr. Catholic College then moved to place it up for public sale, producing widespread media protection final month.
The college argues that it’s the authorized proprietor of the costume, as a result of Hartke, as a Roman Catholic priest, had taken a vow of poverty and that the costume was meant to profit the varsity.
The college additionally submitted affidavits from a grandnephew of Hartke who remembered that “my grand uncle Father Gilbert Hartke stated to me that I couldn’t have it because the costume belonged to Catholic College.”
That man, Thomas Kuipers, with a cousin stated that they and different descendants of the priest supported the public sale of the costume with the understanding that it was given as a present for the varsity.
In its assertion, Catholic College stated that “it continues to be dedicated to its plan to make use of proceeds from a sale of the costume to endow a school place within the Rome Faculty of Music, Drama and Artwork, which it believes is consistent with Mercedes McCambridge’s unique intent and Father Gilbert Hartke’s need to assist and develop the College’s drama program.”
The costume is one in all solely two clothes recognized to nonetheless exist of the a number of created for Garland to put on in “The Wizard of Oz.”
The opposite costume was auctioned in 2015 by Bonhams for greater than $1.5 million.
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