He has a $30 minimum now - (and I think he'll eventually raise it to $50 or $100) - and the result earlier on his site could have been a one-off. Like that Gilda that once sold for $73K at Heritage or that time when I bid on a Hannah and Her Sisters Australian daybill on Bruce's site that sold for more than $200. (I ended up buying another from John Reid or one of the other dealers in Australia for far less.) Might not happen again, never know. Programs generally don't fetch much. - d.
________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of Sean Linkenback <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 8:33 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Movie item banned at eBay. Sounds like you should have just sent it to Bruce to start with. On Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 9:30 PM David Kusumoto <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: * Just wanted to share what happened to me recently. * A few months ago, I posted a GWTW program for sale - the recalled version featuring Hattie McDaniel on the back. Someone reported me - and it got taken down and labeled as offensive. I guess whoever reported me - judged the program as being akin to selling Nazi memorabilia, I don't know. * I re-listed it - but had to add exhaustive historical context which I personally researched - about how McDaniel was banned from the Atlanta and NYC premieres, etc. - adding citations about the program itself - from Ron Haver from 1980 and from an LA Daily News story - the latter reporting the Hattie program's appearance at the LA premiere she attended in late Dec. 1939 at the Carthay Pacific (Fox Village Westwood) - through early 1940. * Eventually, all GWTW programs including the blank back ones at the premieres - were replaced by Selznick marketing executive Howard Dietz - with programs which took out Hattie and replaced her with actress Alicia Rhett, who had a minor role. But I got to thinking - why am I fighting this at all with them? Rare book dealers in the know have all told me the Hattie programs - are outnumbered by the blank back ones and the Alicia Rhett ones - by a factor of thousands. It's the rare circumstance - whereby a commercial program - can be worth a few hundred bucks or more depending upon condition. * Hattie's program was not banned because it was considered offensive in 1939-40. It was banned because Selznick / MGM distribution / Howard Dietz did NOT want to potentially offend paying customers, esp. in segregated America. On the other hand - eBay's ban in 2023 - is based upon the program being considered offensive by TODAY'S cultural standards. These are huge but important differences. * So I took my program down and sent it to eMoviePoster - where it's supposed to appear in December. * What I'm irritated about - is the whole "you have to explain everything" while defending yourself from people who think you're a racist - even when it comes to old movie posters. I mean, you know, you're a branch-to-root racist for selling material considered offensive today, even if you put it in context to discourage this sort of takedown. eBay doesn't know who I am, really, though I do sell a few tschotskes over there like signed first editions, etc. * But what happened bugged me. This has never happened to me before. Hattie McDaniel - including her name - was kept off of all GWTW movie posters and subsequent re-issue posters for 50 years - for reasons we know. She was given line-credits only - and her likeness was scrubbed from all promotional materials until 1989. Her likeness didn't even APPEAR on a re-issue poster until 1998. I suppose you can't sell posters featuring Amos and Andy, Birth of a Nation nor the Jazz Singer over there either. Without Hattie, the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award - GWTW is a different movie and loses its moral center - regardless of how people look at her depiction today. To me - she's the smartest character in the movie. * But apparently - this stuff is selectively enforced by the "community standards" police. Because today I stumbled upon the following listing in lesser condition than the one I own - which I believe is also in lesser condition than the example eMoviePoster sold many months ago for more than $2K. https://www.ebay.com/itm/314909361404 * And no, I don't plan to report this - but I think the whole thing is nutty. Parenthetically, the seller's handle is familiar in a way that escapes me now. His listing does NOT come up in regular searches over there, e.g., "Gone with the Wind program." It didn't for me, anyway. Maybe if you add the search word, "recalled" - it will come up, but otherwise it's not in the general listings. Just shaking my head. No reply necessary, just venting. - d. 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.
