 In order to include the ruby slippers as part of this film, Disney  had to pay royalties to MGM, the studio which had produced  _Wizard of Oz, The (1939)_ (qv). The ruby slippers did not appear in  the original novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"; they were invented  for the 1939 film to better take advantage of the newly developed  Technicolor process. Interestingly enough, in "The Wonderful Wizard  of Oz," Dorothy wore a pair of magical silver shoes which were  actually destroyed when she used them to return to Kansas. In the  subsequent novel "Ozma of Oz," one of the books on which this film  is based, Dorothy and her friends meet the Nome King who possesses a  magical belt with properties similar to those of the silver shoes.  Early drafts of the script for Return to Oz reflect this, with the  Nome King possessing a magical ruby belt which had been created from  the ruby slippers.