Since I don't have any super-rare items in my poster collection and it's all insured anyway, if I had 10 minutes to evacuate I'd probably:
a) Make sure everyone in the house got out safely (obviously). b) Grab the family photo albums. c) Take one or two portfoolios with some of my original artwork in them. d) Grab two or three books from my bookshelf that ARE in fact rare and irreplaceable. Don't have any pets, so no bird cages to carry. Dave www.posteropolis.com ----- Original Message ----- From: David Kusumoto To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:00 AM Subject: [MOPO] 3-sheets & what would you would save if you had just 10 minutes ** At one time, we had nearly 200 framed items on display, some art, but most of it movie paper. Our home is modest but was built in the 80s when "vaulted ceilings" were in every home being sold in California. As a collector (vs. a seller) -- I've always had the "always display, never put away" attitude about posters. But things got out of hand. Every space was filled. TOO MUCH "visual noise." ** The turning point was our first-ever evacuation during the fires of October 2003 (and again in October 2007). Both times we took our pet cockatiel, a binder of photographs, five one-sheets and two window cards -- leaving everything else -- including my entire lobby card collection -- behind. ** We said f*** it, this is ridiculous. Since 2003, about 100 posters have come down and were traded or sold or given away. And it still doesn't look like we've made a "dent." We've only owned THREE posters bigger than a one-sheet -- 2 Beatle Quads and a three-sheet to "The Quiet Man" framed by Sue Heim. That 3-sheet is nearly seven feet tall and its top edge is 21 feet above the floor. It still looks magnificent. I would've put up three more, but our house was already looking less decorative, an assault to the eyes. Our home developed an eccentric reputation with visitors because they couldn't focus ANYWHERE. S***, even a museum leaves a little space between its showpieces. I'm talking wall-to-wall garish, like at a restaurant with so many frames that patrons stop caring about what's in them. ** Which leads me to a question that I think I covered before but bears repeating. If you had just 10 minutes to get out of your house -- what would you take with you? I'm not asking you to "out" your collection, but to do an inventory in your head. I've gone through this drill twice in real life and have since "ranked" our STUFF and our posters, 1 through 10 and NO MORE. When you have only 10 minutes, you'd be surprised how satisfied you might be with the finality of your choices. People have said (jokingly) -- that if I had left the bird cage behind both times, I could saved more one sheets. But I was OK with our choices except one. In 2003, I left my journals behind, everything recorded every day in my life since I was 12. I just FORGOT. In 2007, they were the FIRST thing I took, since stored on a small flash drive. Amazing. ** Finally, I leave you with this. Last October, Larry Himmel, a veteran TV journalist (and humorist) here in San Diego, stood helplessly in front of his burning home, AND BROADCASTED IT LIVE AS HE AND VIEWERS WATCHED IT BURN TO THE GROUND. The heat was so intense and firefighters were putting out other blazes. But he kept reporting, describing everything inside that being lost. The next day -- he was asked if he had any thoughts about losing 40 years worth of memories on live TV. He said (paraphrasing), "well you know, when everyone gets out safe and all you have left is what's in your head -- you've no choice but to be thankful. For us, it means life will go on, but with a lot less clutter." By inference, this was a bad thing, but not entirely since he had no control preventing a fire that few thought would enter the city limits. I'd like to think I'd feel the same way if I lost so much "stuff," but my heart feels this consolation would be short-lived, despite knowing we can't take any of this s*** with us when we die. It just gets passed down or sold off by next of kin whose ideas of nostalgia are theirs, not yours. -kuz. > Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 17:36:27 -0700 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: displaying three sheets > To: [email protected] > > I have a number of six sheets framed and up on the walls, some are even 45 feet in the air in a center atrium. There really is nothing like a 6-sheet on display - makes you feel like you can walk right into it. I have up: Double Indemnity, Hollywood, Angels With Dirty Faces, Movie Crazy, and Lives of A Bengal Lancer. The only downside to a 6-sheet is the $2500 framing cost per poster. Then, I also have displayed 6 three sheets, 20 1-sheets, 5 inserts, 1 Italian 4 foglio, 1 Italian duo, 2 small French posters, and easily 100 window cards. I still have a fair amount of room left...and I am following my plan of displaying everything in my collection - nothing is in storage. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
