Costume boots for the Wizard in The Wiz on Broadway, worn by Carl Hall: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This pair of white ankle-length platform boots are part of a costume worn by Carl Hall as the Wizard in the broadway musical "The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical 'Wonderful Wizard of Oz'" on Broadway. The boots are made from leather that is painted white. They have a rounded toe and a decorative seam along the top of the toe box that extends up the front of the ankle. The boots close at the inner side of each ankle with a metal zipper that has a long shoe string knotted as a pull tab. The wooden platforms are also painted white, with the foot platform measuring 1 1/2 inches and the heel platform measuring 3 inches. Black rubber non-skid soles are adhered to the bottoms of each platform. The word "Wiz" is handwritten in black ink on the bottom of the rubber sole of the foot on both boots. "Hall" is handwritten in purple ink on the arch of the sole of both boots.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1977
• Designed by: Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian American, 1930 - 2014
• Created by: Grace Costumes Inc., American, founded 1961
• Worn by: Carl Hall, American, died 1999
• Subject of: Black Fashion Museum, American, 1979 - 2007
• Type: boots
• Medium: leather, wood, paint, and metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D (left (a)): 10 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 11 in. (26.7 × 8.9 × 27.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (right (b)): 10 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 11 in. (26.7 × 8.9 × 27.9 cm)
• Place used: New York City, Manhattan, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Costume design
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Object number: 2007.3.8.4ab
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Black Fashion Museum founded by Lois K. Alexander-Lane
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.