Interview With Jeff Lagace
Conducted by Aaron Pacentine
(Wednesday May 9th 2007)
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (Final) |
This
wonderful young man, Jeff Lagace is from New York, and very much
involved in the Oz community. He has created many wonderful pairs of ruby
slippers, which are just simply amazing! Jeff is also an actor and had done some
work for D
isney in some of their premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York
City. Jeff has been a devoted fan of the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” ever
since he can remember and he has a special interest in the Ruby Slippers.
In the last 5 years Jeff has crafted nearly a dozen and each pair is made from
real vintage shoes and individually hand-sewn using deep red metallic
sequins...almost 5,000 on each pair to be exact!
Michael
Shaw
keeps a pair of his ruby slipper replicas among his authentic Hollywood
collectibles, and most recently they were used for display at the Appraisers
Association of America symposium “Appraising Celebrity Material” with Rhys
Thomas, author or “The Ruby Slippers of Oz” as a keynote speaker in New York
City. So far he has been lucky to view in person three of the existing four
original
pairs….
the Peoples Shoes, Dorothy’s Shoes, and Michael Shaw’s Traveling Slippers.
While Jeff is not an expert on costumes, props or Hollywood memorabilia,
everything he knows about the real Ruby Slippers he have learned through books,
videos, photographs, fan club websites and newspaper articles. With this
knowledge
he has grown to appreciate the significance and value of authentic old Hollywood
costumes and props from this bygone era.
