Thursday, October 30, 2014

"Hollywood" Wails and Gnashes Its Collective Teeth

And so does Los Angeles magazine.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is scheduled to open in the old May Company building on Wilshire's Miracle Mile in 2017. 

But there might not be anything worth seeing because incredible costumes and props are being auctioned off left and right. 

A Beverly Hills dentist has painstakingly assembled most of Rick's Café Americaine - chairs, screens, lamps and Sam's piano.  The piano goes for a separate auction and is expected to fetch more than $1 million. 

The Maltese Falcon is already gone - $4 million at an auction last year.

Don't look for Judy Garland's blue pinafore (Wizard of Oz) which was sold in 2011 for $910,000.  But:  it's Hollywood practice to make four or five duplicates of the leading actors costumes in the event of an accidental spill or tear.  Someone, somewhere will undoubtedly have one.

A collector in the Middle East snapped up Monroe's whit pleated dress for $5.6 million.  I presume this included dry cleaning.

Other items and what they fetched.  All were sold by auction houses.

Charlie Chaplin hat and cane - used in "A Dog's Life" $62,500

Gene Kelly's suit from "Singin' in the Rain" - $106,250

And I just realized that all of the above items are going to draw this response from today's youngsters --"Uh, who?"



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