Fascinating story! Thanks for sharing Todd! Greetings Philipp
> On Aug 9, 2022, at 11:11 PM, Todd <toddfeier...@msn.com> wrote: > > > Yes. I first saw this figure as part of the Forrest J. Ackerman auction at > Gurnsey's Auction House in New York in December of 1987 named, THE WORLD OF > FORREST J. ACKERMAN AT AUCTION. This was also where I met the New York TV > Horror Host Zacherle for the first time who was at the viewing who was out of > costume, casually walking around looking at the material, when a friend > pointed out, that's John Zacherle!! Zacherle was around 70 at the time and > he didn't look a day over 50. I couldn't believe how much younger he looked > than his 70 years. > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/192355310180 > > The figure was not owned by Forry but was consigned by someone else and from > what I remember was kind of a last-minute addition to the sale, although I > believe it still made it into the catalog. It was so intriguing; I swore it > looked exactly like Karloff's complete costume from The Bride of > Frankenstein. The next day I brought a binder of Bride of Frankenstein > stills to compare and after studying it for a while, including all the > stitching, EVERYTHING matched up exactly. This was Boris Karloff's costume > from The Bride of Frankenstein!! Not only that. The figure itself was > supposedly used at the end of the film as a double for Karloff when the > castle was blown up. The head itself was restored but this was the same one > supposedly shown in publicity shots with James Whale and John J. Mescall, > cinematographer for the film, where the head was on a stand. > > > https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005796/mediaviewer/rm1739050496?context=default&ref_=nm_phs_md_1 > > On the initial viewing at the auction house, the figure was lying flat in a > large wooden crate and the costume was in excellent condition. Security was > very poor and I was horrified to find out after several days that people were > ripping pieces off the costume as a souvenir; buttons off the jacket and > pieces of leather off the boots!! I alerted Arlan Ettinger(owner of > Guernsey's) about this but it was already too late when he now had someone > standing guard. > > I was very interested as was my friend, the late Kevin Burns and we were > thinking of going in on it together. We talked to Arlan Ettinger, the owner > and auctioneer at Gurnsey's and found out that the minimum amount the > consignor would accept was $10,000.00, which was a lot of money at the time. > Kevin and I couldn't decide on an agreement on how to co-own it and when it > was time to come up for sale, the press was there with live camera's and > Ettinger was going to make it "sell", one way or the other. Well, it didn't > sell but he made like it did and it was a lot more than the $10k minimum bid. > > Vey shortly after the auction, I was doing one of the poster/memorabilia > shows in California and somehow by coincidence, I was talking to someone who > was the consignor of the Frankenstein figure!! His name was Ken Kramer, a > film collector who passed away in 2016. Ken told me that he responded to an > ad in The Recycler about a garage sale in LA where he acquired the figure. > He mentioned how he had the head restored. He wasn't at the auction in New > York and didn't hear anything about what had happened to the figure, except > that it didn't sell. I gave him the bad news that when he gets it back, it's > not going to be in the same condition it was when he sent it to Guernsey's > and he was basically speechless. > > Now sometime after this(not sure how much time) the figure ended up at a > Christie's London Sale. I was at Christies East(on East 67th Street in NYC, > I believe 219 E. 67th Street) and happened to see the catalog. It was a > beautiful catalog, which I had to have with a closeup headshot of the > monster. From what I remember at the time, it ended up selling for somewhere > in the high 20's, something like $27,000, which was quite a bit more than the > $10k, Kevin and I could have had it for. > > Well, that's my story as best as I could remember and yes, I did see this in > person. > > Todd > > > > > From: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> on behalf of Phillip Ayling > <mro...@earthlink.net> > Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 12:19 AM > To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> > Subject: [MOPO] Has Your Frankenstein Monster Gone Missing? > > > Has anyone seen this in person? > > https://planetnewspost.com/world/va-row-californian-museum-insists-seven-foot-frankenstein-dummy-was-sold-without-their-consent/amp/ > > > To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: > https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1 > > > To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: > https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1 Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
