Hmmm... seems Rick and Ron are kind of tied for the top horror story so
far. At least we can put some kind of dollar value on Rick's missed
treasure... but, on the other hand, who knows how many super-great
posters were among the "thousands" in the cellar of the burnt-out
theater that Ron missed by only two days?
These stories are almost to painful to read... but still, I'd like to
know about Phil's rolled up KING KONG insert... :)
Call me a masochist.
-- JR
rixpost...@aol.com wrote:
Out here in L.A, we have a Pennysaver-type publication called The
Recycler.,About 20, maybe 23 years ago, I'd buy it every Thursday as
soon as it arrived at my local 7-11...(back then, prior to the
internet and announcements in movie theaters before the film starts
stating things like "original 1932 movie poster on The Mummy sells for
a staggering, record-breaking $459,000!!"----yeah, back then the
majority of the American public wasn't aware of the value of movie
posters---so, I'd occasionally stumble into a great deal...quite a few
times, in fact..).
My most memorable example of "the one that got away" began on a
Thursday afternoon when I bought a copy of The Recycler...just like
every other Thursday afternoon. The only thing different about this
particular Thursday is that there was an add in the "Collectibles &
Old Things" section saying something like: "7 Foot Tall
Frankenstein...$75"...that's all it said. My first mistake was
assuming it was some semi-worthless inflatable Halloween statue and
subsequently not calling the phone number IMMEDIATELY. Something
distracted me and I became involved in a project around the house...I
can't remember what. The one thing I DO remember is lying in bed at
about 11 pm thinking about that ad and kicking myself for NOT EVEN
CALLING to confirm that it was the piece of garbage I assumed it to
be. I told myself I'd call the number first thing the next morning
and barely slept a wink all night.
The next morning around 8 am, I called the number. An older
gentleman answered and said the prospective buyer was walking up his
driveway at that very moment! He didn't know much about the
Frankenstein "statue" that he had...only that it was very heavy, made
of wood...and he insisted it was original. Of course, I told him to
PLEASE call me if the prospective buyer didn't purchase it. He never
called me back. I called him an hour later and he told me he was
sorry but the "statue" was gone.....
Flash forward a year or so....I was selling a poster or lobby
card through The Recycler and received a call from a collector---a
conversation ensued as it often did (does) when one movie poster
collector talks to another. As it turned out, I was talking to THE
GUY WHO BOUGHT THE FRANKENSTEIN STATUE abut a year previous. He told
me it was used as a stand-in for Boris Karloff during the production
of The Bride Of Frankenstein--- a huge wooden statue including
Karloff's original wardrobe and a life-mask of the monster.
He told me the life mask required a few hundred dollars of restoration
(which he'd had done) and he was planning on putting it up for sale in
one Auction house or another....
Flash forward another year.... somehow I learned that Guernsey's
Auction was offering the Frankenstein stand-in statue with an opening
bid of $50,000 (which seems like a truly measly amount by today's
standards). Over the past 30 years, I've had many, many "ones that
got away"....but no other poster, lobby card, collection of posters,
collection of lobby cards...NOTHING COMES CLOSE to the Frankenstein
stand-in "statue" that I could have had FOR SEVENTY FIVE BUCKS!
Somebody out there probably has it standing in their living room
out there...the most prized piece in their collection...probably worth
$500.000 or more by now. I'm sure there are some old-timers who
remember this thing being auctioned ay Guernsey's back in 1987 (I
think that was the year). As far as I know, it's never appeared on the
market since. Maybe it will someday.
Anyway, it's all true....a really interesting story from Movie
Poster Land. Even after all these years, the whole thing makes me feel
kind of queasy. Hey, I bet it would make you feel queasy,too...
Rick
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