Who drew this familiar-looking comic character on the back of a production still of actress Alice White? This mystery item will be sold at Super Auctions’ Hollywood memorabilia auction May 15. Image courtesy of Super Auctions.
HOLLYWOOD – Super Auctions has discovered a production still photograph of actress Alice White with what appears to be a highly collectible animated character drawn on the reverse side of the picture. It and more than 300 additional lots of Hollywood memorabilia will be sold May 15 by Super Auctions. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding services.
Alice White was once a secretary and script girl until Charlie Chaplin decided to place her in front of the camera in the 1920s. Several years after the petite actress’ death in 1983 some of her personal effects were donated to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. Since then the museum has closed and all items have been in storage until the services of Super Auctions were obtained in an effort to help their foundation, Hollywood Media Arts Academy.
Melissa Storment, vice president of Super Auctions, found the photograph while sorting through White’s belongings.
“I was carefully removing pictures from sheet protectors and that’s when I saw it. There was no doubt in my mind who the character was.” Under the drawing it is signed “To Dabby By DickF.”
Preliminary research has found that DickF could potentially be Dick French, a mainly uncredited actor between the late ’20s-’40s who had appeared with her in the 1933 film Jimmy the Gent. It could potentially be Dick French who with Will Eisner, icon from the Golden Age of Comics, is credited with assisting on The Spirit – or it could be neither of them.
“A few things are clear, the time frames are consistent, the picture is very old and the drawing appears to be authentic. If this is true, if this is from the late ’20s/early ’30s, then there is not too much more to say other than this has been a buried treasure for many years that has just been discovered,” said Storment.
“We are attempting to have the item authenticated,” said Storment.
Meanwhile Super Auctions will is conducting a $100 drawing at the conclusion of their May 15 auction for all submissions received from the public poll on their Web site.
“We have just begun the poll and as of today every entry submitted has stated the same character name with the exception of one, although this one character name was from the same film,” said Storment.
In addition to the above, many unique and valuable items from Hollywood’s Golden Age will be sold in the May 15 auction including original autographed negatives of actress Theda Bara, Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford and more. To learn more about the auction and poll, visit www.Superauctions.com
Motels and other roadside businesses often erected neon signs to attract customers in the mid-20th century. This two-piece sign greeted motorists traveling Route 66 in Litchfield, Ill. Image courtesy of RM Auctions and LiveAuctioneers archive. TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Evan Voyles lives in Austin, Texas, and sells classic neon signs on his website, Neon Jungle.
Many of his signs come from the Lone Star State, but some come from other parts of the Southwest – including a few from the Tucson area.
One of the Tucson signs says “RADIO” and has an antenna in place of the “I.” Another, from the Sunset Motel in Willcox, features the word “Sunset” in bright red letters.
Voyles, whose neon treasures have been featured in magazines and on MTV’s “The Real World,” says he scavenges for classic signs in places where the economy has dried up.
“I’m going to find the old road into town,” he says. “Places that have not had a revival. Places that haven’t had a reason to take neon down.”
Tucson’s old road into town, the “Miracle Mile strip,” was a haven for neon in the 1950s and 1960s, when flashing signs beckoned to visitors with promises of swimming pools, grassy courtyards and $2 steak dinners.
Now, a group of historical preservationists are hoping to bring back the neon buzz.
On April 30, the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Tucson’s architectural heritage, will hold a fund-raiser on the roof at Hotel Congress to raise money to restore three old neon signs.
The group seeks to raise $30,000 to restore the neon signs salvaged from Magic Carpet Golf, Medina Sporting Goods and the Arizonan Motel. The cost is about $10,000 to refurbish and reinstall each sign.
The signs would be reinstalled along the route known as the Miracle Mile strip, which runs east from Interstate 10 along Miracle Mile, then south on Oracle Road, until turning again onto Drachman Street to Stone Avenue.
“The area we’re looking at is about two miles long,” Clinco says.
For much of the 20th century, the Miracle Mile strip was the way people drove into Tucson from the north.
Many of the motor lodges, restaurants and bars that popped up along the strip announced their presence with bright neon signs.
Over the years, Tucson’s neon profile dimmed. Many classic signs were taken down and now sit in storage, or were thrown away.
Demion Clinco, president of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, says he wants the Miracle Mile corridor to become a drivable neon museum.
“Neon signs have a real incredible power to activate the nighttime environment,” says Clinco, 29, who grew up here and studied art history at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
In recent years, the Miracle Mile corridor has struggled to reclaim its lost luster. Many of the strip’s once-glamorous motels are now seedy magnets for dubious activity.
Clinco knows neon won’t change that all on its own. But he says it could be part of the solution.
“One of the tenets of modernity is if you turn on the lights people will come,” he says. “When we turn on these signs people will start looking at the area in a different way.”
The Miracle Mile strip got a little brighter earlier this month, when local artist Dirk Arnold debuted a neon sculpture in the shape of a saguaro at the Oracle Road-Main Avenue-Drachman Street interchange.
Before the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation can start relocating restored neon signs to the strip, the city’s sign code must change.
Most old signs violate the code because they are too large, too tall or too near a right-of-way. Under the current code, if an owner removes a sign for repair or restoration, it can’t go back up.
A committee is considering changes to the code that would make it easier to repair classic signs. It will make recommendations soon and a proposed ordinance will be presented to the City Council this summer.
The city is also looking into creating a historic register of classic signs, according to Jonathan Mabry, Tucson’s historic preservation officer.
“The amendment to the sign code will include an explicit and specific definition of what is a historic sign,” says Mabry.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The cover of ‘The Holy Bible’ printed by Robert Aitken was detached, but the flaw did not deter a rare book dealer from buying the 1782 volume for $78,975. CHADDS FORD, Pa. – On a day when a trio of high-profile consignments brought outstanding prices at William Bunch Auctions’ sale April 13, friends and former customers of the late Fred Peech showed their respect for the longtime antique dealer from Marmora, N.J., with strong bidding for the best pieces from his home.
“It was just a nice sale where a lot of I’ll say ‘the Old Guard’ of the antique business came together to pay homage to Fred,” said William Bunch. He was a nice guy, very humble fellow, very well liked, who had a lot of product knowledge.”
The top piece of furniture was an early 18th-century walnut William & Mary stretcher-base tavern table with one full drawer. This Pennsylvania piece sold for $21,060. (Prices in this report include the buyer’s premium.
In a crusty finish a small walnut stretcher-base joint stool, which measured 16 1/2 inches by 10 1/2 inches by 20 1/2 inches high, rose to $9,945.
“A good Philadelphia dish-top tea table with a single-board top had a little repair to it, but brought a respectable $7,750 (plus premium),” said Bunch.
“It was the typical sale one has today where the brown furniture that has a few apologies doesn’t do as well as you’d like it do,” said Bunch, “but the things that are sweet, that are still charming, still attract a lot of attention and command a lot of competition … and good prices as well.”
Three separate consignments performed particularly well at the sale, starting with a Bible printed in Philadelphia by Robert Aitken during the American Revolution. With its cover detached the well-worn volume looked much like any other old Bible that had been found in an attic.
“It was literally contained in a one-gallon baggie and it was a humble looking book. Just octavo size, which is 6 or 7 inches,” said Bunch, quickly learned the Bible was rare and valuable.
Of the 10,000 printed in 1782, significantly fewer than 100 remain and only a handful is in private hands. It is significant in that it is the first Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments ever printed in English in America. It was sanctioned and supported by the U.S. government; George Washington said of the Bible, “It would have pleased me well, if Congress had been pleased to make such an important present (a copy of the Aitken Bible) to the brave fellows, who have done so much for the security of their Country’s rights and establishment.”
Only one of Aitken’s Bibles has surfaced in recent years at auction, bringing $57,000 in 2008. Bunch assigned an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 on this copy.
“It has some potential to bring into five figures,” he told the consignor, who a descendant of the original owner.
Bunch, who was hoping to get several interesting parties to make the bidding competitive, was surprised by the broad response. “I landed eight phone lines, three active bidders on LiveAuctioneers … and I had three people in the room who that had looked at the Bible and were seriously interested. And I had an absentee bid in the neighborhood of $50,000,” said Bunch.
It finally came to a battle between two phone bidders with a rare book dealer winning the Bible for $78,975.
“It’s hard to say if he was bidding for a client. I didn’t ask and they don’t like to say,” said Bunch.
The top painting at Bunch’s auction was an impressive work by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson 1889-1946, an English-born artist who studied at the Academie Julien in Paris. He was interested in Cubism and Futurism, styles that are evoked in the painting titled Canal at Ghent, a 30-inch by 22-inch oil on canvas.
The painting was consigned by a grandson of Charles Hovey Pepper, 1864-1950, who was an American artist trained in New York and Paris and was a member of “The Four Boston Painters,” founded in 1913 by Carl Gordon Cutler and including Maurice Prendergast and E. Ambrose Webster, all Academie Julian graduates. Pepper was also an avid collector, and his grandson has consigned works to Bunch in recent years that were collected by Pepper.
After discussing the painting with a British art scholar who had written books on Nevinson, Bunch estimated the painting at $60,000 to $90,000.
“I had a lot of interest from London, but they were scared off a little by my estimate,” said Bunch. “I didn’t think I was too high; maybe I was a little optimistic.”
After a collector from the West Coast and a London gallery chased the painting to $55,000, one of Bunch’s regular customers in the gallery jumped into the fray and prevailed with a bid of $60,000 ($70,200 with premium).
“She bought it away from both of them. She buys expensive things but surprised me by buying that particular painting, but I’m glad she did,” said Bunch.
The third major consignment of the sale was what Bunch described as a “rare survivor” – an all-original 1958 Ford Custom 300 two-door sedan in like-new condition.
The original owner purchased the car from Keyser & Miller Ford in Pottstown, Pa., on July 30, 1958.
“The story goes he and his wife took a trip to Florida. She didn’t like the car so the fellow parked it and didn’t drive it much after that,” said Bunch.
The consignor’s father purchased the car from the original owner in 1973, but drove it little and kept it garaged.
“It wasn’t the most desirable model as ’50s and ’60s cars go – you’d rather see a convertible or a hardtop – but to find a car with barely 5,000 miles on it of any model is rare and unusual,” said Bunch. “Other than a little peeling paint on the engine block it was in beautiful showroom condition.”
A man from Georgia bought the classic Ford for $25,740.
For more information contact William Bunch by calling 610-558-1800 or e-mailing info@williambunchauctions.com
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (English, 1889-1946) painted this oil on canvas titled ‘Canal at Ghent’ about 1912. The 30-inch by 22-inch work sold for $70,200. All original, this 1958 Ford Custom 300 Custom had only 5,333 actual miles on the odometer. The two-door sedan was equipped with a straight-six engine and standard transmission. A Georgia bidder paid $25,740. A sweet piece from the Fred Peech estate was this walnut William & Mary stretcher-base tavern table with one full drawer. Made in Pennsylvania in the early 18th century, the table sold for $21,060. A crusty finish covered this walnut stretcher-base joint stool, which rose to $9,945. It stood 16 1/2 inches by 10 1/2 inches by 20 1/2 inches high. Flying a 15-star U.S. flag is the bark ‘Sea Lark,’ depicted in a mid-19th-century watercolor attributed to English marine painter Duncan MacFarlane. The 16-inch by 34-inch work in a gold painted frame sold for $6,435.
RCA introduced the Victor Special Model K portable phonograph in the mid-1930s. Contained in an Art Deco aluminum case, the highly collectible machine has a clockwork motor, folding winding handle, electric pickup, 10-inch turntable and a built-in speaker. Image courtesy Skinner Inc. and LiveAuctioneers archive.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) – His 16-year-old daughter and her friends couldn’t identify the round black disc.
“Is it an overly large CD?” they asked Shane Jensen.
How it could even play music was another matter.
“All they knew were cassettes and CDs,” he said with a chuckle.
Yet, from the turntable his brother bought him a few years ago, the 39-year-old has been playing the tunes of Earth, Wind and Fire and Freddie Jackson on what else but vinyl records.
Maybe it’s nostalgia of his childhood for this Gen Xer – a yearning for a time when music was much more than just background noise. Moreover, those vinyl records collecting dust in a cardboard box in many an attic might be worth something.
He’s not the only one who is partaking in the vinyl renaissance of sorts. Vinyl record sales reached 1.9 million units in 2008, and then grew to 2.5 million in 2009, according to industry tracker Nielsen SoundScan. CD sales, meanwhile, have dipped, being replaced by downloading services such as iTunes. Nielsen estimates sales dropping about 20 percent in 2009.
Vinyl’s resurgence, as it continues to climb, hasn’t gone unnoticed by local businesses.
Ron Klassen, with Hayes Sight and Sound, said he’s seen an uptick in sales of new turntables. Customers also are bringing in their old consoles from the 1970s that have been sitting in garages or storage for years in an effort to get them working again.
At CD Tradepost, manager David Thornhill sifted through a box of vinyls he plans to start selling – original 33s with the covers for bands such as Foreigner, the Eagles, ABBA, Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac.
Topeka and Wichita stores began selling vinyls earlier this year with much success, he said.
“The way we listen to music is changing for a lot of people,” Thornhill said, adding that many want a warmer, richer sound of vinyl that can’t be found on a digitally mastered CD.
They want the sound they grew up hearing, he said, complete with the pops and cracks of a record that has been played over and over again.
Even some artists are putting their newest releases on records, which can be purchased at Hutchinson’s Hastings. Aisles at many record stores hold new records – from classic rock to the vinyl versions of recently released tunes such as popular artists like Lady Gaga and 50 Cent.
Jensen, however, prefers browsing secondhand stores and rummaging through garage sale tables to find his classics – sometimes getting lucky and finding vintage items for cheap.
Those jumping on the trend would find it fortuitous if they ran into Terry Manche’s sale at his home on Carole Street, where a small portion of his 20,000-record collection was situated amid books, tools and trinkets.
For $1, bargain hunters could buy 45s containing the songs of Bing Crosby, Wayne Newton, Tony Bennett and the Rolling Stones – all still within the original sleeves.
Jensen, who worked the state fair and trade show circuit from 1974 to 2000, selling fossils, antiques and collectibles like records, said it was time to “declutter.” Autographed records, however, will stay put in storage, at least for a while.
It doesn’t surprise him that vinyl has made a comeback, he said, noting he still plays records on one of his jukeboxes.
For him, the medium never left.
___
Information from: The Hutchinson News, http://www.hutchnews.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Dick DeVos ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan in 2006. Image by Jake Novak, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. WASHINGTON (AP) – The Kennedy Center in Washington is announcing the largest private donation in its history – a $22.5 million gift from Dick and Betsy DeVos to endow its Arts Management Institute that trains the nation’s arts leaders.
Betsy DeVos says arts organizations have been struggling in the recession and need expert leadership to survive. The gift announced Monday is among the largest ever for the Michigan couple.
Dick DeVos, an Amway Corp. heir and Republican, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006. DeVos spent more than $35 million to challenge Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm. His family also owns the NBA’s Orlando Magic.
Former President George W. Bush appointed Betsy DeVos to the Kennedy Center’s board. She is a former chairman of Michigan’s GOP.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
