I'm on the floor... priceless as always!
Thanks Freeman for some light relief in what has proved a dark day for
Australian freedom of speech.
Don't ask. They'll lock me up if I say anything "negative".
Phil
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
HEY GANG,
I attended the Bonham's auction and for me it was great to finally
meet in person Grey Smith who, had it not been for Debi Jacobson of
Limagerie fame at the Sunday preview tell me "hey that's Grey Smith"
I would have never recognized by Heritage photo alone- because he
looks 14 years old. He will no doubt prove to be the "Dick Clark" of
the poster business, no doubt by some pact made with the ghost
of George Sanders when selling paper from "The Picture Of Dorian
Gray". Other attendees of note Walter Reuben, Daniel Streben, Glen
Taranto who I was in hopes would win one of the Wheeler and
Woolsey's and several on the phone from Texas, New York, and
Chicago. Anyway, the most crowded auction I have ever attended.
Question........are there any people of color who collect posters?
Evidently not.
When the first item THE BIRDS hit hammer at $1200 I turned around
to a client behind me and asked " Don't tell me its going to be one
those kinds of auctions". Sure enough I was flabbergasted at some of
the prices achieved on item after item. Example the onesheet of
Anatomy of a Murder at something approaching 1300 while a seller on
Ebay was in his second week listing a mint folded for 900 buy it
now. That was a scenario that repeated itself something like maybe 66
times.
When the Film Noir posters began with ACE IN THE HOLE, I felt like
the loser in line at Starbucks whose order never gets shouted out by
the cashier or goes unconfirmed by the barrista with the 5 gold hoops
through a penciled eyebrow with everyone in line looking at you like
"dude you don't even count". Time and again I was the bidder
"against the pole" and time and again I would be bidding (only a few
times with those present) climbing first by $10 increments, then $25
increments then $50 increment and twice in $100 increments only to
come back to me too high. I must have bid on 20 of the first 28 film
noirs until finally winning THE DARK PAST for a client whose wife
carries a torch for William Holden.
But the malaise set in again beginning immediately with MACAO and
repeated again and again ...........and then an extremely fine title
in excellent condition came up and bidding stopped as soon as it
started. I waited two pregnant pauses and stuck paddle in the air and
won NARROW MARGIN at a significant value. Of course auctioneer
looked down at all gathered from her bully-pulpit and for what seemed
an eternity kept repeating "last call" and "I will end bidding" which
really meant......are you guys really going to let the loser against
the pole get this for cheap? I can only surmise the phenomenon
known as "group-pity" set in and the hammer dropped. Not to sound
unappreciative but I did think GREAT! why couldn't this happen on a
poster I had my eyes set.
Well, it never happened again and I knew I had to position myself on
an upcoming lot that conveyed to those present and operators on the
phone that I meant business. So just before the lot called I stood up
and leaned against the pole, summoning up every ounce of "just try and
outbid me" as I forced a slouch of indifference against my namesake,
the pole. Bidding began approaching a thousand far too fast but I
prevailed and won the nearly mint NO WAY OUT onesheet for a client who
changed his mind from Scarlet Street to OUT only minutes before by
text messaging my cell phone. However I must point out its a lot
easier and more fun when spending someone else's money.
I stayed and stabbed at a few more, pitifully falling to much higher
bidding ending with Calcutta that slipped away by $50. Damn! By then
I had to return home, report to clients and dashed to the LA All
Media Screening of KING KONG as guest of fellow MOPO'er Ron Magid.
Now Ron is a dyed-in-the-wool Kong'ofile. How big? He ladies and
gents wrote the script and is featured in the two hour
plus documentary on disc two of the newly remastered DVD of the
original KING KONG. He was also the owner for a brief but
amazing eight month adventure in acquiring the astounding 10 foot
standee from 1933 (owned previously by, at the time, a very recently
deceased Matt Shapiro however now many are not so sure about his
expiration) and allowed me the opportunity to successfully broker its
re-sale, selling for several reasons not the least of which it didn't
fit in his house. Also Ron is the proud owner of many props from the
film and regarding the nearly religious handling of the stegasaurus
model created by legendary special effects wizard Willis O'Brien, by
Peter Jackson and company in the documentary, that quarter million
dollar piece of Cinema history was restored by Ron as a favor to owner
Forrest Ackerman. So are we all on the same page as to the level of
fandome my host is with the original KING KONG?
Well I thought it was great. It delivered everything I thought it
promised and then some. I was tearing up the last 10 mins of the
film. Honestly, at one point it was achieving "Dad? You wanna throw
catch" FIELD OF DREAMS, OLD YELLER AND THE YEARLING sentiments which
caught me by surprise as anything I've seen this year.
The adventure aspects of the film including ships crew running amidst
and staying clear of death by squashing courtesy of 6 ton
brontosaurus/patosaurus legs in a stampede all the while dodging
velociraptors hell bent on feasting on human hors d'oeuvres is the
single greatest set piece on film since Jackson's own climactic battle
in THE TWO TOWERS with the Ents or whatever the hell they were
called, the giant trees bowling with boulders to vanquish the Orc
army at Helms Deep.
The period images of New York City are dazzling, the performances all
around solid. A real shock is Jack Black's character becomes just
short of despicable but real kudos goes to Naomi Watts being as
emotionally convincing as she projects given she was acting on set to
the end of a stick, a blue screen or just air.
It could have easily been 20 minutes shorter, but film is never dull
as there is always something to marvel at on screen. The climax atop
the Empire State Building is technically brilliant, but inexplicably
not very windy. I guarantee you will feel a charge when Kong leaps
up from atop tower platform to swat a bullet spewing bi-plane landing
with a bit of a slip only to pull him self up again and pound his
chest and letting out an invincible roar as plane spirals and crashes
in the distance into the future home of Posteritati. A POV shot from
one of the attacking bi-planes as it zooms in on Big Guy achieves a
rush of exhilaration not unlike finishing a ride on a swell roller
coaster and wanting to jump back in line to go again all the while
taking in the architecture of the landmark building and 1930's NYC all
of this while your animal lover instincts are about to burst open with
a flood of genuine sadness that this poor giant monkey is about to
bite it big time.
Oh, and the opinion of my host, Kong'ophile Ron Magid? Well in one
clipped declaration: "They remade the Jessica Lang KING KONG not the
'33. Kong may fall for the blond, but the blond does not fall for
Kong. Kong is a monster. You don't fall in love with monsters. This
is a movie for animal lovers."
And there you have it.
freeman fisher
8601 west knoll drive #7
west hollywood, ca
90069
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