Yes Tom I mean a picture like GWTW has never been embraced by ALL African-Americans but at least one MoPo member (who is black) - wrote me privately about how she grew up loving Hattie McDaniel, that she could do no wrong and that the controversy goes back much further than what is going on now. I think I wrote that what's going on now is just how younger people look at things and we're all gonna be replaced soon anyway, things change.
As far as the eBay thing - I spent too much time trying to get the program re-listed and added the following language to address the "community standards" violation by presenting historical context, TCM style: " This program is presented as an historical artifact of 1939 - and NOT intended to promote, perpetuate, nor glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. It was recalled after the LA premiere NOT because of Hattie McDaniel's depiction - but because she was African-American. Though her performance is no longer universally admired - this program is an artifact - and its recall illustrates social and cultural forces in play in 1939 - and why contemporaneous marketers chose to suppress her performance in the film - despite receiving critical acclaim. Her character was not how she was in real life. Her honors and linkages to GWTW are factual - despite debates about what her performance meant in 1939 - vs. what it means today." Of course, I thought this was typical overkill that I'm known for - so I punted. I was aware of the huge result Bruce got last time (and so did others) - and we wondered if it was a one-off. We're gonna find out soon. I do think it will fetch more than $100 though - if only because the Hattie program has appeared just once in his entire auction history. - d. P.S. - I remember thinking that my Japanese Internment camp poster from 1942 was also dicey - but it went big on his site thanks to bids from a big-time rare book dealer I recognized from LA. I feel that selling pure history (vs. entertainment) in this case - was gonna be more difficult than selling movie paper with controversial linkages. I'm glad I was wrong about that. - d. ________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of Tom Martin <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2023 9:59 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Movie item banned at eBay. David and Sean and mopo since i started in Biz its became very sensitive of Political correct in the movie biz... for instance the lillian Gish theater in Bowling green state university 30 mile from was changed because it was associated with the Dw Griffith film as well as Disneys Song of the south and other films that depict Black actors as negative I think the naacp enforced it. However also i believe the native americans have had issue as well as Jewish community and also Japanese Americans if their heritage was presented in negative light.. so out of respect we need to honor those offended by that in sales of memorabilia. I remember just in the 70s people collected Black memorabilia my friend John Kish did a book on Black cinema poster called a separate cinema that had a great collection of Black movie posters ... Spike lee and also keys did the foreword of the book./// he has the tv show about people roots I sold to Herb Bridges who wrote books on GWTW and worked fora Atlanta newspaper and worked with the Ted Turner Family so BG has one of the best collections of POP culture in the USA.. i did some appraisals for the producer of e-hollywood true storys who donated his material to BG his name was Jeff Shore the producer//they did some great shows I guess we need to see everyone is sensitive to past and modify our sales to not offend any Race, religion or culture the movies if you consider taught kids racism of how they depicted.. Japanese, Germans, Italians, china and asians. Russians. Black and middle easterns and Indians in the early cinema.. sad but true// even the genders and gays were painted as a certain way and who can forget Al Jolson and black face comedy we just didn't see many were offended.. Now we do...I dont have any big answer except to love everyone and respect all.. Mel brooks made the point if we removed all the gay people there would be no cinema anymore as all the hair dresssors, actors and make up artists would not be around.. Therefore love everybody regardless of race or color or religion and help everybody you can because we are all brothers and sisters regardless of our heritage God bless everybody and let's hope people wake up and start treating each other as neighbors not as enemies Tom Hollywood dream factory® since 1977 ________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of David Kusumoto <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 8:45 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Movie item banned at eBay. 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. ________________________________ 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: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
