MGM Sale in 1972of props..costumes

[gwtwbooklover]

I saw a biography once of Debbie Reynolds and learned she had purchased some of stuff on sale when MGM sold a boatload of stuff. My question is it was open to anyone I assume if you had the money or peolple were allowed to look at the items. Did any of our TCM website family buy any items and what or did you see them on display? I remember TCM showing a fill in of the sale( they showed the items in boxes and labeled I saw a box labeled Father of the Bride Elizabeth Taylor) between movies and I thought how sad and then MAN I wish I could have been there however I was 3 in 1972.

[moviejoe79]

I wasn't alive during the M.G.M. sale, but I'm lucky enough to have bought a jacket worn by Frank Sinatra that someone else purchased at this great sale. I also have a set of the original auction catalogs which list all of the amazing stuff they sold.

 

M.G.M. sold just about everything they had during this auction, including costumes, props, furniture, weaponry, vehicles of all kinds, etc. And what didn't sell at the auction was then sold at a "flea market" type of sale which was held for a few weeks following the actual auction. At this sale thousands of costumes worn by every great star you could think of were sold for just a few dollars each. There was a book written about this sale as well as the controversy surrounding Judy Garland's Ruby Slippers - how many pairs there were, what happened to them etc. It's called "The Ruby Slippers of Oz" and was written by Rhys Thomas. Look for it in the Library or on Ebay - it's an interesting read. It talks about Debbie Reynolds as well, and what she went through to get her collection.

 

One story in the book tells of a woman who purchased a blue period style jacket with Clark Gable's name in it at the flea market sale for about five dollars. She found out he wore it in "Mutiny on the Bounty" and sold it twenty years later for a few thousand. Could you imagine buying costumes at that sale? Not only would you have such great Hollywood history, but the investment value would be enormous. I only wish I could've been there. But back then there was no such thing as "collecting Hollywood memorabilia" since there really wasn't any around. And it was after this sale that the idea of collecting this stuff really took off.

 

There was a documentary made in the early 70's at MGM which was narrated by Dick Cavett - I can't remember the name of it, but it shows footage from the auction, and you can see all of the stuff for sale. They actually show you the original "Showboat" from the 1951 movie being sold - for a few thousand dollars. Today it's priceless.

[path40a]

moviejoe,

 

I think the piece you refer to at the end of your post is called "Hollywood Dream Factory" and, as luck would have it, it's on TONIGHT/EARLY AM (5 ET) on TCM! I saw it recently and it is worth watching.

 

BTW, congrats on 1,000 posts to these boards!

[moviejoe79]

Thanks for the congrats path, and you're right - "Hollywood Dream Factory" is the documentary I was thinking of. And I also found out that it's a Special Feature on the "Meet Me in St. Louis" DVD. It's cool to see footage of the actual sale in this doc, but sad at the same time, since it was MGM just getting rid of their history. Could you imagine if MGM saved all of the stuff they sold? They would've had a hell of a museum!

[spencerl964]

Utterly marvelous topic you cinephiles, however this is a very, very, tricky thing-(especially when it comes to setting a vcr to tape it. There are 2 of these same type of specials. The one that was hosted by Dick Cavett from around '72-(a yr. after Kirkorian lobotomizide the grandest of all "DREAM FACTORIES>METR0-GOLDWYN-MAYER!"-(I don't know how a jerk ike that can sleep at night? Probably instead of counting sheep, he counts dollar signs) That is a great special-(1st aired way back on PBS in early 1980's. Thats at least when I first saw it) 7 then there is-(NOTICE TO: tcmwebmaster her, please help us???) A TCM docu hosted by OSCAR winnr: *Faye Dynaway-(1941-) thats even a wee-bit superior. It's close-(Because the finale shot of the former & a ghost town is quite an image & now with Sony, biting into the 44 acres left. I must add, Sony has already done quite a number of whats left of M-G-M to begin with. There's a *Spencer Bldg/ *Kate Bldg/ *Sinatra Bldg & a *Lionel Barrymore bldg. left, for now anyway!?) & "The Massive Thalberrg Building" is still standing, again, for now!? If you fans look at it, all the way to far left side was L.B.'s office for 27yrs! However, the strickly produced by TCM docu hosted by *Dunaway is faurly new-(1996 or so & both are MUST HAVES!!!) Someone accurately ponted out D. Reynolds bought up as much as she could, during that 1971 "CRIME!" She, venthen knew it could make an even greater "Disneyland" However, Mr. Kirk K. only cared about his wallet & not history She later used all the tremendous clothes from "M. Antoinette"/ "GWTW"/ "Barrets of Wimpole St"/ Garbo's clothes & many other never to be replaced memorabelia, at her short-lived "Movie-Museum" in Vegas. Then I think she had to sadly auction it off, but for entirely different reasons Thanks

[moviejoe79]

Spencer - You're right about Debbie Reynolds losing her museum and hotel in Vegas, but she didn't auction off her collection. Her collection still remains one of the best and most comprehensive in the world, with some of the most incredible pieces of memorabilia from Hollywood's Golden Age.

 

She did have an auction last winter of some of the items in her collection, to raise money to open another museum, and she is now planning to do that - somewhere in Tennessee, near Dolly Parton's Dollywood.

 

What Debbie did to save Hollywood's history is great to say the least, but what most people don't realize is that she is a collector, just like everyone else who collects Hollywood memorabilia, and she's used her star status to great advantage in acquiring things. I spoke to one dealer who has a very well known business in Hollywood, and she said that when Debbie has contacted her, she expects to be "given" things, since she's "preserving" them. I want to preserve these things as well, but since I'm not a celebrity, I can't expect anyone to give me anything. And no one knows just how much she has. In her last museum and now in the plans for this new one, there's only going to be a small part of her collection on display. People who've worked with her and with the collection say that it is a lot more vast than anyone realizes. And that's the only thing that bothers me about her - is that she doesn't let any of it out to other collectors. The recent auction she had was a start, but even that was just a drop in the bucket with a lot of costumes that didn't even match the photos of the stars wearing what was supposed to be the same costume. And she's been quoted as saying that when she dies, there's going to be the biggest auction that anyone has ever seen - which means that she's basically hording these things - I just wish she would let other collectors preserve some of these treasures as well. What good do they do sitting in a warehouse?

[edgeciff]

I heard a lot of stories about the Reynolds collection. Too bad she doesn't let someone who has lots of money acquire all of the collection so they can finally open a museum so all of the items can be permanently on display for all to see. If Reynolds dies and there is a big auction everything she owns will be scattered every which way like the MGM auction and that is a pity. There were some efforts to open a museum in Hollywood, but this seems to have failed for some reason. Opening a museum in Tennessee seems bizarre, but I guess Reynolds thinks this is a money making idea like her Las Vegas hotel which ultimately failed. I think the L.A. Museum had a one or two items from Reynolds collection on loan out for a costume display they did sometime ago, but that's all I have personally ever seen of this hugh and historic collection.