Franc
my first Cinevent was in 1986.. I went steadily until I moved to
Vegas & missed 1994-2000, then I have returned ever since.
Tom Martin has the right idea "it's the man, not his clothes"
I've been doing conventions for 41 years and I ran them for 7 as well
when I lived in Cincinnati (I also co-directed a huge convention in
1981 at the Pennsylvania in NYC).. It is what it is..
Steve Haynes and the rest of the Cinevent people have used this hotel
for decades and while I will readily admit it is run down, they have
been renovating the place and had the economy & the current bank
situation not stopped them, they would have continued to do so. Right
now they have 5 tractor trailers full of supplies sitting out back
for when they can restart the renovation.
One major reason for using the facility they use is cost. Another is
facility. It's the only hotel in a certain price range with the
ability to have a dealers room AND a movie room within that price
range. If they try to move to another facility that pleases you, the
cost will skyrocket and instead of paying $125 or so for tables,
we'll be paying $500 and that will cut very deeply into dealers. Or
they won't have a movie room and that will cut deeply into attendance
(this show has many attendees that do not go to the dealers and only
watch the movies)
Concerning wake up calls.. I had no problem this year. My calls came
right on time, and seeing as for printing I simply went to Wal Mart
and bought a cheap $30 Canon printer (I needed color and to print a
lot of stuff)
Look.. the convention isn't held in LA, Chicago, NYC or Atlanta where
there is a plethora of great hotels and from my own experience
finding hotels in Cincinnati when I was living there for the comic
conventions I ran, I know the problems they face trying to find
another location that is affordable and has the utility they need.
Besides, I'm only there for a few days and for one reason - to have
fun buying & selling posters. I had a rented car so food was not a
problem (I usually go elsewhere) and my room was really nice. So I
had no gripes. If I eat on site, I know the food sucks.
On another level.. do you remember the Roosevelt Hotel on 44th street
in Manhattan?? Without question it was the worst dump of a hotel
that ever existed. During teh 1970s-80s when I was still living in
NYC (where I'm from) we had comic book conventions and rock n roll
conventions. I remember the first time I checked in to a room there..
there was a can of roach spray behind the door when I entered the
room. Compared to that place, the Ramada was a castle.
That's just the way it is.. But as fasr as I'm concerned.. if
Cinevent is there for another 20 years.. I'll hope to make every show.
To Michael.. Yes, they had some issues with the website for bidding
in the auction. John Ours (Morrie's step son) happens to also be my
programmer now for MoviePosterBid (he did not design my site. I
bought it that way from JR) and now that eBay Live is gone, you can
expect that John will redesign a site for teh October auction that
utilizes MoviePosterBid, expanding the ability to bid. We look
forward to hosting Morrie's auction. We still have some final
discussions, but Morrie says as long as John can interface it, we
should be working together (not in those words.. he just says to talk
to John and let him make the decisions. So I know we'll be doing it)
The glass is half full or it is half empty.. but even a half full
glass is better than no Cinevent, no auction.. and a disintegrating hobby.
best
Rich
At 11:31 AM 5/26/2009, Franc wrote:
Hey, if the dealers are happy with the sales they brought in this
year and if Diane and Morrie are happy with the auction results and
Sean is happy with the elevators who am I to complain? For the
record I had a good time at the convention and if fact recommended
it to some clients. I just detest this hotel and will rectify that
next year by staying elsewhere, something with a spa as you suggested.
FRANC
-----Original Message-----
From: MoPo List [mailto:mop...@listserv.american.edu] On Behalf Of
lobby card invasion
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:06 PM
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: [MOPO] hollywood poster auction & DISCUSSION
"I stand by my statement"
AND SO DO I. Stand by MY statement, that is
I can tell you that in my room the A/C worked just fine. The room
did not smell. Front Desk was very cordial and helpful in numerous
and various requests. The shape of the elevators is of absolutely
of no consequence to most people. We came to a movie memorabelia
concention, not a spa.
Look, this back and forth can go on forever, with arguments and
couner-arguments in both direction. You had a lousy time, I had a
good time. Are there better hotels? Of course. Will rooms, dealer
tables, food ets cost much more in a fancier place? Of
course. So let the Cinevent organizers do their job. They've been
successful at it for 40 years.
Zeev
----- Original Message -----From: <mailto:fdav...@verizon.net>Franc
To: <mailto:lobb...@rogers.com>'lobby card invasion' ;
<mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:19 PM
Subject: RE: [MOPO] hollywood poster auction & DISCUSSION
I stand by my statement and I know for a fact that many dealers feel
the same, especially since you can find luxury hotels in Columbus at
that time of the year for the price that is charged at this Ramada dump. FRANC
-----Original Message-----
From: lobby card invasion [mailto:lobb...@rogers.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:04 PM
To: FRANC MARTARELLA;
<mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: [MOPO] hollywood poster auction & DISCUSSION
Frank, I think you're exaggerating just a little bit.
I attended this year's Cinevent, and have been going to this show,
at the same hotel, for almost 20 years. While this hotel may have
its flaws(e.g. poor A/C in some common areas), calling it
"disgusting" is grossly unfair and totally inaccurate.
I have no shares in this hotel, and no personal interest in it, I
just don't want people who never attended the show, and who might be
contemplating on doing so in the future, be wrongly influenced by
your highly subjective bad experience.
No printing capacity in the "business center" (exactly 2 computer
monitors) may not be as important to most guests as it is for you. Sorry.
Zeev
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:fdav...@verizon.net>FRANC MARTARELLA
To: <mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] hollywood poster auction & DISCUSSION
I think Collectible Shows and on-site auctions can still have the
edge. I just got back from Cinevent and it's great to connect with
dealers and buyers I haven't seen all year and nothing, not even a
super-image zoom, can replace holding a poster or lobby cards in
your hands to see the artwork, color, texture etc. Besides which
it's tedious to go through all the Heritage or Bruce Hershenson
listings to check condition and I lose interest one quarter of the way through.
That said, I found this year's Cinevent to be a someone subdued
affair. Unfortunately the economy has taken its toll on the art of
collecting movie ephemera. Most of the dealers were complaining that
sales were slow and I don't think Morrie going to count this one as
his most financially successful auction either.
Part of the problem for me is that disgusting hotel the Cinevent
insist on using. Their business center had no capacity to print
anything, given that their printers were all down and had been
apparently for some time. The rooms either smell of disinfectant or
stale cigarettes. The air- conditioner in my room was dead and had
to be changed. The restaurant doesn't even look clean and wake-up
calls were ignored by the front desk. The auction room was decided
hot, so much so I couldn't sit in that room for more than an hour at
a time and Morrie seemed to be experiencing technical problems
throughout. I've made a decision to stay elsewhere ...anywhere
else... next year. I only wish the Cinevent management would wise up
and follow suit. FRANC
From: Bruce Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [MOPO] hollywood poster auction & DISCUSSION
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Date: Sunday, May 24, 2009, 10:41 AM
I love Morrie, and he is absolutely one of the pioneers of this
hobby! Without people like Morrie and Richard Allen, who started the
hobby and spent massive effort on making the world aware of it,
there likely wouldn't be a hobby today!
With that being said, I do think that "live auctions" are a dying
breed, and large collectible shows have a similar problem. Why
should people spend lots and lots of money on travel and hotels when
they could spend that same money on buying posters? In the "old
days", the advantage was that you could see the items "up close and
personal", and that was not possible through the mail, without
spending $50,000 or so on a deluxe color catalog as I did, and even
then you didn't get a really good idea of what the condition was,
just what the image looked like.
But now, with the Internet, you CAN provide super-sized images that
show every flaw in excrutiating detail (of course some auctions
choose not to do so, with fuzzy scans, but that is their choice), so
I really think that one giant advantage live auctions had is gone.
I hope Morrie can continue to put on his auctions (to whatever
extent he can), and that the hobby will support him, for as you
rightly point out, Cinevent might not survive either, and it is
wonderful that once a year there is a place in the middle of the
country where many of the members of the hobby gather (I have
attended many times, and would have been there this time, except for
fate conspiring against me; Memorial Day falls super-early this
year, and it started on the last day of my kid's school, and my 14
year old had perfect attendence all four years of middle school and
he wasn't about to miss the very last day, and besides, he got
straight As all year and got an award that last day, so I had to
choose being at that over being at the auction, and it was no choice at all).
Bruce
On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 9:26 AM, Douglas Ball
<<http://us.mc841.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=deb...@columbus.rr.com>deb...@columbus.rr.com>
wrote:
Michael,
Speaking from what I have seen... Morrie was extremely short of help
this year. I believe this is also the first year as long as I have
attended that Marty Davis wasn't involved.
Anyway, Morrie tried some new things this year, some worked well,
but many did not...I believe for next year there will changes...for the best!
As for the catalogues, this was the first time I received a catalog
for the Columbus auction, I've only receive flyers. If you were at
the auction you could get a catalog free of charge.
They are not the quality of Heritages auctions. Heritage has the
resources and personal to put together their beautiful catalogs,
pictures, and descriptions...plus from what I understand, they print
their own. Morrie did this on his own, with a lot of help from his
family...whom I respect.
If you viewed the online catalog, you would have received a better
description and picture than the catalog, plus if you really wanted
to bid, many options to do so...including coming to Cinevent to be a
part of the poster community as those who did.
There was a time that Morrie's auction was one of the biggest and
best. A lot of high end poster were there, if you were after them.
Heritage and of course Bruce went to Morrie auctions, learned from
them, and did their own. We need Morrie auctions, Cinevent (to
survive) needs it, and we collectors and dealers need it. To bash it
without giving Morrie some constructive opinions/criticisms will
only help hurt our future of this business including the live
auctions that are doing well at this time.
Doug Ball
----- Original Message -----
From:
<http://us.mc841.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=dialmbb...@aol.com>Michael B
To:
<http://us.mc841.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mop...@listserv.american.edu>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] hollywood poster auction & DISCUSSION
1. i gave up looking at the site because it took forever to load
into my computer. AND I HAVE A FAST COMPUTER.
2. more importantly, i wrote 2 emails to Hollywood Poster asking
why i could not see poster descriptions. Neither were
answered. How can you bid without a description??? Did their
on-line sire contain descriptions? Were you able to really enhance an image?
>>>>>so, although a quick search of the site found 2 posters i
might have bid on.......i never went back.
SO WHY DO AUCTION HOUSES LIKE HERITAGE SEND OUT
FREE CATALOGUES? ANSWER: they are smart! !!!
For example, in the last Signature Auction of Heritage, i made a
quick search on their internet site. Although, i saw beautiful
posters, i believe only one interested me at the time. Yet, after i
received their catalogue, and had time to study it, i tracked about
12+ posters-----------------------and bought 6 INCLUDING the one
sheet and insert of THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY.
clearly, i was super-pleased with the items i won, and Signature
made more money because of my bidding. SO------THE AUCTION HOUSES
THAT ARE SMART SEND OUT CATALOGUES TO SERIOUS BIDDERS BECAUSE THEY
KNOW YOU GOTTA SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY.
>>>>>if the receiver of a catalogue increases a lot sold by $100,
then the auction house made money to cover the catalogue and
shipping cost. surely, a recipient should be removed from the free
auction catalogue courtesy if they never bid.
and, whenever i write to Heritage, i always get a fast answer. for
example, i asked a question about the one sheet of Dorian Gray, and
received a response from bruce c. within 2 hours of my question. as
i said, i won that item!
michael
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