In November 2018 we drove to Los Angeles to attend Joseff of Hollywood: Treasures from the Vault auction presented by Julien’s Auctions. We had our eyes set on one item only, lot #174, a pair of gold-plated clip-on tassel drop earrings worn by Judy Garland. Marianne loved the style, but we knew little about the creator, Eugene Joseff. Since then we have learned about his amazing life and legacy. Joseff changed the way jewelery was worn in films and the authenticity of his pieces added much to Hollywood movies during the middle twentieth century. And yes, fortunately we were successful bidders.

Judy wore these earrings for a portrait photography sitting with Virgil Apger, but Garland wore other Joseff pieces in her movies, including The Pirate, Meet Me in St. Louis, Harvey Girls, Easter Parade, Ziegfeld Follies and A Star is Born.

Images of Judy wearing the earrings were seen extensively between 1948 and 1950 and most famously in the 1950 ad campaign for Garland’s Broadway show, Judy at the Palace. We learned much of this from our friend Charles Triplett who knows all things Judy. Charles also taught us the southern word for earrings…earbobs.

And in a strange turn of fate in 1978 we purchased a copy of Virgil’s portrait of Judy at Sid Luft’s auction of Garland memorabilia. Little did we know that 40 years later we would acquire the earrings, too.







Marianne and Tom O’Connell August 2020