The final scene of a Hollywood drama will be played out in a US courthouse tomorrow when a decision is announced on the fate of a small, mass-produced, metal statuette. The winner is expected to be the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the loser, an 83-year-old man who holds the key to one of movieland's great mysteries.
Behind the legal action is a story that has all the hallmarks of a Hollywood classic - a long-dead star, estranged children, drugs, cover-ups, lost heirlooms and money.
The statuette is a mini-Oscar, less than 1ft high, won by Judy Garland for her role in The Wizard of Oz . In 1958, her then husband and manager, Sid Luft, reported the Oscar lost or stolen and she was given a replacement. Two weeks ago, 31 years after Garland's drug overdose death, the missing Oscar turned up on an internet auction site, being sold by Luft at a starting price of $3 million (about £2m).
The Garland Oscar is prized for two reasons: it is a unique 'junior' Oscar - awarded when the star was 16; and it has the cachet of the Garland name - last month one of five pairs of ruby slippers she wore playing Dorothy was sold for £500,000. Luft refuses to discuss where the Oscar has been for over 40 years. When Garland died at the age of 47, she had huge debts. As her ex-husband and ex-manager, Luft could still face ownership challenges from her creditors.
The academy seeks to ensure Oscars do not slip on to the collectors' market. Tomorrow it will learn whether it has been successful in obtaining a restraining order on Luft and the website owner, Nate Sanders, preventing any sale.
Luft's action came six years after he was stopped from selling Garland's replacement Oscar. After a legal tussle, the gold-plated copy was given to the couple's daughter, singer Lorna Luft. Lorna, 46, and her half-sister, Liza Minnelli, both inherited their mother's drug problems.
One clue to the reappearance of the Oscar now could lie in the increased interest in the actress. A new biography is out this year and Lorna's autobiography is being made into a film.
According to a family friend, Luft and his daughter, one of two children he had with Garland, no longer speak to each other. Luft, who lives in Los Angeles, recently had a heart bypass operation.
Academy spokesman John Pavlik told The Observer it was Luft who approached the academy in 1958 asking for his then wife's replacement Oscar. Pavlik told him that if the original turned up he should give it to his daughter. 'We own the statuette and when someone dies we would expect it to be given to their heirs. It is a thing for posterity, not for making money out of,' said Pavlik. 'If Sid Luft has suddenly found this original Oscar, the best thing would be for him to hand it over to Lorna. We have obtained a temporary restraining order on Mr Luft and expect to hear the permanent restraining order has been granted on Monday.'
The legal situation surrounding the original statuette is not clear. The academy began issuing contracts with Oscars in 1951. The 'winners' agreement' had to be signed by all recipients; it stated that they or their heirs could not sell an Oscar, except back to the academy for a token fee of $1.
By 1951 some 500 or so had been handed out to tearful thespians. Among them was Garland's in 1940. Academy lawyers say Garland signed the winners' agreement when she got her replacement and that both gongs are covered. The MGM studio star called it her 'Munchkin' award. Despite being one of the most popular stars of her day and having two further nominations, she never won another.
Luft, a former boxer, was married to Garland for eight years. He lasted the longest of her five husbands and was still very much tied up with her financial affairs. Garland's biographer, George Clarke, whose book is to be published in the UK in November, said: 'Sid is a charmer, but he always has his eye out for his next chance to make a dollar.'
Garland's life spiralled out of control after they split. Addicted to uppers and downers, she married and remarried within three years. Most of her money was taken by the taxman, who also seized her home. For the 16-year-old who enchanted the world, it was a yellow brick road to tragedy.
