Collector's Calendar for May 2014

Collector's Shangri-La provides a monthly calendar of selected celebrity autograph signings, collector's conventions, and other events.

Our May Collector’s Calendar includes the UACC Autograph Show, Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, the Manuscript Society Annual Meeting, Free Comic Book Day, Pop Culture Expo Boston, and Wizard World, plus signings with Nathan Fillion, William Shatner, Tim Matheson, Linda Hamilton, and many more! 

UPCOMING EVENTS -  GOOGLE CALENDAR
(click here to view if it doesn't appear below)

  

Symposium on Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts

Collector's Shangri-La is proud to participate in the upcoming Symposium on Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts sponsored by The Manuscript Society. Limited to 50 attendees, the event will be held in Los Angeles on Saturday November 17, 2013. Whether you are just starting out collecting, or you are a seasoned collector, you won't want to miss this event. We'll cover the history of autograph collecting, mistakes to avoid (forgeries, facsimiles, unethical sellers, etc.), methods of preservation, tips on hunting for treasures at estate sales, and special considerations for the historical collector. The $25 cost includes a buffet lunch. Click here for more details and online registration.

New Collector's Shangri-La Channel at Youtube

Collector's Shangri-La Channel at Youtube

We just returned from the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Manuscript Society in Santa Fe, NM. We used the occasion to “jump start” a new Collector’s Shangri-La Youtube channel with four short videos we shot at the meeting. Check them out here!

Collector's Treasure of the Day - Happy Birthday Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra/Perry Como Autographed White House Performance Sheet Music

Happy Birthday Ol' Blue Eyes! Today's treasure is a set of sheet music for a medley of Jazz standards including "Blue Skies" and "Deed I Do" that was written for a Frank Sinatra / Perry Como performance at the White House. It has been autographed by both Frank Sinatra (1915 - 1998) and Perry Como (1912 - 2002).

The Autograph Legacy of a Society Hostess

Guest books can be a treasure trove for the autograph enthusiast—especially if the guest book belongs to someone famous in their own right. I’ve recently acquired for my personal collection a guest book used by Cobina Wright (1887–1970), an American opera singer and actress who later became a syndicated gossip columnist. She was quite famous as a society hostess, and her guest book that covers the years 1950-1967 contains hundreds of pages of autographs of A-list celebrity guests. It’s no wonder she had so much inside “intel” to fill her society columns—she was a true insider in the celebrity worlds of her day: Hollywood, Broadway, politics, high society, music, and art. It’s clear in studying this book that all of these worlds were inextricably linked, and it is utterly fascinating to see who was hobnobbing with whom! In alphabetical order, a sampling of the luminaries include:

Muhammad Ali, Army Archerd, Gene Autry, Anne Baxter, Edgar Bergen, Red Buttons, Rory Calhoun, Hoagy Carmichael, Jack Cassidy, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Coburn, Nat King Cole, Gary Cooper, Robert Cummings, Arlene Dahl, Marion Davies, Delores Del Rio, Phyllis Diller, Walt Disney, Doris Duke, Irene Dunne, Edward-Duke of Windsor, Henry Fonda, Joan Fontaine, Clark Gable, Eva Gabor, Reginald Gardiner, Judy Garland, Greer Garson, Janet Gaynor, Paulette Goddard, Howard Hawks, Susan Hayward, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Hedda Hopper, Ross Hunter, Van Johnson, Shirley Jones, Hedy Lamarr, Esteé Lauder, Liberace, Art Linkletter, June Lockhart, Fred MacMurray, Jayne Mansfield, Tony Martin, Ann Miller, Ricardo Montalban, Patricia Neal, Richard Nixon, Hugh O’Brian, Merle Oberon, Louella O. Parsons, Norman Vincent Peale, Mary Pickford, Cole Porter, Otto Preminger, Anthony Quinn, Nancy Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson, Buddy Rogers, Ginger Rogers, Gilbert Roland, Cesar Romero, Jane Russell, Rosalind Russell, Wallace Seawell, Norma Shearer, Nancy Sinatra, Edith Sitwell, Red Skeleton, Robert Stack, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Mark Taper, Norman Taurog, Elizabeth Taylor (Todd), Mel Tormé, Gloria Vanderbilt, Robert Wagner, Wallis-Duchess of Windsor, John Wayne, Clifton Webb, Mae West, Natalie Wood (Wagner), and Jane Wyman.

Autographs of Lillian and Walt Disney and others

The book itself is a beautiful object—an oversized volume bound in mauve-colored leather and embossed in gold-ink on the front cover “Cobina.” Her guest book takes one into the private celebrity world behind the veil. By looking at the personal sentiments, funny drawings, and “in-jokes” the reader gains a sense of the relationships and humanity beyond the celluloid and print artifacts we usually get to see.

On February 16, 1963 George Hamilton jokes, “hope you don’t mind going out with an old man!” At the time he was 24 and had just played the playwright Moss Hart in the film Act One. Wright was 76.

John Wayne displays his sense of humor in his 1953 entry, “We’re flat on our backs / Our room rent is due / But never mind about us dear / Happy Birthday to you”.

Art Linkletter playfully flirts, “once again My heart trembles as I meet Cobina—‘the other woman’”. He signs as “Art Linklet- ter + wife” while years earlier he had written: “Art Linkletter (a man you spent the night with) over the Atlantic—remember -”.

Not to be outdone in affection, Phyllis Diller signs on Bob Hope’s birthday in 1967 with a self portrait and hearts, “the other half of the Screen Team says Cobina is a silly broad who is lovely and adorable...I love you Cobina...meet my darling Warde Donovan”. This was Diller’s blockbuster year starring in Eight On the Lam with Bob Hope, the animated special Mad Monster Party, and her own Phyllis Diller Show.

Autographs of Judy Garland, Paulette Goddard, Otto Preminger, others

It’s a shame most of us don’t use guest books anymore. It’s an invaluable tool for subsequent generations to be able to peek into another time—and another world.

For more information on Cobina Wright, pick up a copy of her memoir I Never Grew Up (Prentice-Hall, 1952).

article by Kevin Segall, published in Manuscripts Volume LXIV- Number 3 Summer 2012 (a publication of the Manuscript Society)

Southern California Manuscript Society visits the Academy of Motion Picture Library

Members of the Southern California Manuscript Society with Howard Prouty

*Have you ever seen Winston Churchill's autograph next to Adolf Hitler's?

*Have you ever seen an autograph album with three (3) clear, dark Greta Garbo signatures?

*A letter, on White House stationery, from Franklin Roosevelt, inviting political enemy, William Randolph Hearst to the White House?

* A signed Picasso sketch and a signed Walt Disney get well card from the Disney Studio!

I just did, and so did a half dozen other members of the Southern California Manuscript Society on Tuesday June 19, 2012. We visited the Academy of Motion Picture Library in the Douglas Fairbanks Building. We were greeted by the Acquisitions Archivist Howard Prouty. He gave us a quick tour of the outstanding 1927 building that was once used as Beverly Hills Water department! In the 1980's it was converted into the Academy's library. What treasures are inside that beautiful building. Howard took us into the reading rooms, and through the poster and photo coping room and into the vaults!

*We saw a "paybook" from MGM and saw that John Gilbert was getting $3000 a week and Greta Garbo only $400 a week. (They fell in love anyhow!)

*We saw the wig used by Bert Lahr's lion in the 1939 The Wizard of Oz. (Tom Folenta had to be held back from trying it on)

*We also saw terrific black and white photos from Charles De Gaulle and Maurice Chevalier, inscribed to Charles Boyer!

*We saw the correspondence from the "Hays" office to film makers asking for every possible change to clean up films.

But for me, the Crown Jewel was the autograph album kept by William Randolph Hearst friend Harry Crocker. It was this autograph album I described above, and I have only mention 5 % of the signatures!

The best part was dinner after the tour. Pat Mock joined Beverly Hill and Bill and Monique Coleman drove in from Riverside. Tom Folenta joined us only after being assured he could visit the library again on his own.

A great time with great autographs and great autograph people.The only sad part was we missed visiting with Kevin and Stephanie Segall, who were not able to be there.

Below is a photo of your guide, Howard Prouty. This photo captures his intelligence, but not his humor, which was on display during our trip.

Howard Prouty

Article by Michael Hecht, Manuscript Society member and UACC President

A Whirlwind Account of The Manuscript Society Annual Meeting 2012 - Quebec City

It was my honor and privilege to join the Board of Trustees of the Manuscript Society this year. We're an international nonprofit organization founded in 1948 and devoted to the collection, preservation, use, and enjoyment of autographs and manuscripts. Our annual meeting is in a different city each year, and for 2012 we had the pleasure of exploring the treasures of Quebec City, Canada.

The Redpath Museum at McGill University

Neither my wife Stephanie nor I had ever been to Canada so we began our trip in nearby Montreal a couple of days before the official itinerary began. We visited the Redpath Museum at McGill University which consists of three floors of natural history and world culture artifacts - both areas are right up our alley. We also visited Montreal's McCord Museum of Canadian History - home to collections of costumes, paintings, art and aboriginal objects. It seemed like they must have known that we were coming because one of their main temporary exhibits was Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star. The exhibit featured some incredible manuscript items like a 1920 signed distribution contract for United Artists and a 1924 Motion Picture Relief Fund Certificate signed by Mary Pickford and Cecil B. Demille.

Pickford Inscribed Photo on her Wedding Day to Husband Douglas Fairbanks 1920

We took the train to nearby Quebec City and arrived at the historic Château Frontenac which was our home base for the annual meeting. My first full day there was spent with the other board members taking care of our regular business: budgets, membership, marketing, ethics issues, future annual meetings, honors, and scholarships. Since it was time for the well-respected Herbert Rubin to step aside to make room for new board members such as myself, he was unanimously elected as an honorary board member for life. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a cocktail reception with the other meeting participants in the Salon Rose Room. We learned that the room had hosted critical meetings between world leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and William Lyon Mackenzie King during the Quebec Conferences of World War II in 1944.

Our Quebec City adventure begins outside the Château Frontenac

The next day we begin with a talk by our host David Mendel entitled Quebec: World Heritage City. For those of us with a basic "American" education, the talk certainly filled a number of holes in our knowledge of Canadian history and served to orient us for our visit. We took a walking tour of Upper Town and stopped at the Ursuline Convent to explore its museum and archives. It is the oldest educational institution for women in North America and still functions as a school.

Outgoing president Barton Smith and the Manuscript Society outside the Ursuline Convent

Metting with the librarian to view the treasures of the Ursuline Archives

1831 Manuscript with the Seal of King William IV

1671 Testament of Madame de la Peltrie who started the Ursuline order of Quebec 

We had lunch that day at Le Parlementaire Restaurant at the National Assembly, where we took a guided tour and visited their library and archives. The origins date to 1791 and serve the members of the National Assembly in their duties of governance.

The Manuscript Society checks out the Goods and mingles with the Archivists

Oldest Item in the National Assembly Library - 1472 Thomas Aquinas Book

Register of Oaths taken by Members of the Legislative Assembly

Later that evening our group visited the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity with a special viewing of communion silver given by King George III. We were also treated to a double-bill concert. First, the church organist demonstrated a rare English chamber organ made in London in 1790 that was recently moved to the Cathedral. Next, our esteemed ex-president Barton Smith performed several piano pieces - including compositions by J.S. Bach, Chopin, and Scott Joplin. Finally, he quizzed the audience with a mystery ballad by a manuscript dealer who died in 2000 and was once a famous chanteuse. The song was on the Hit Parade several times, the most famous version being by Nat King Cole. Can you guess the answer?

The next day was filled to the brim with activity - a walk to Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica, an exploration of the exhibitions and archives of the Seminary of Quebec, and a visit to the National Archives of Quebec.

Inside the Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica

Visiting with one of several Librarians at the National Archives of Quebec

Early Choir Book at the National Archives

The Autograph of one King Louis of France (or is it the "Hand" of the King?)

The Autograph of another King Louis of France

James Pattison Cockburn (1779 - 1847) Original Illustration of Early Canada in the Archives

For lunch that day we had just barely enough time to cover a business meeting and auction off about 60 lots of donated manuscript material to benefit the Manuscript Society. The annual auction is always one of the highlights of our annual meetings, and certainly the most boisterous. UACC President Michael Hecht and I had a bidding war over a Jack London signed check which he finally let me have (thanks, Michael). I returned the favor by quickly parting with a David Selznick letter that I had been eyeing. I also was lucky enough to provide winning bids on several other goodies - an autographed Jack Benny letter, an Al Capp signed contract, and several signed Hollywood photos including Mr. Television himself, Uncle Miltie.

Milton Berle Signed Photo

Pearl Bailey Signed Photo

Our final day in Quebec City consisted of a walking tour of Lower Town and a trip to the Island of Orleans where we walked across the majestic Montmorency Falls. Our farewell dinner at the Garrison Club was accompanied by a talk about the Napoleon/Josephine/Marie-Louise love triangle by member Peter Friedman.

Our Hotel as Seen from Lower Town 

Me and the Mrs. at Montmorency Falls

Next year: Santa Fe, NM and another adventure. We can't wait!

Manuscript Society Visits the Autograph Collection of the LA Public Library

Eleven members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Manuscript Society gathered at 10:00 AM on May 5th at Los Angeles' Central Library. Among those attending were incoming president Beverly Hill (pictured with Kevin Segall and Emma Roberts), Board members Dennis Shapiro, Michael Hecht, and Kevin Segall, as well as retired Disney archivist and past Board member Dave Smith, and Gary Milan, renowned for his Revolutionary War and entertainment collections.

Beverly Hill, Emma Roberts, Kevin Segall

Thanks to the organizing efforts of Kevin Segall, we were escorted into the Rare Book Room where Subject Specialist Emma Roberts laid out some treasures, among which were a 13th century manuscript in Latin (sold to the Library in 1960 by the now-100-year-old Glen Dawson), a diary written by a Frenchman during the Gold Rush, an 18th century cookbook, and a book that was branded (!) to prevent theft (see photo).

branded book to prevent theft

The highlight of our visit, however, was the Charles Lummis collection of 1700 autographs, obtained from writers, artists, and other prominent people while Lummis was head librarian (1905-1910). On the special library stationery sent to them by Lummis, the recipients responded in a variety of ways, some with quotations, some with long explanations and some with original artwork (see photo).

Dorothy Dix Autographed Manuscript from the Lummis Collection

After our visit, the group retired to the Biltmore for lunch and a discussion of what we had seen.

Story courtesy of Michael Hecht

Back from the 2011 Manuscript Society Annual Meeting

I've just returned from the Manuscript Society's annual conference, and boy, was it a blast this year! In case you're not already familiar with the Manuscript Society, it is an "international organization of persons and institutions devoted to the collection, preservation, use, and enjoyment of autographs and manuscripts." So, it's basically a club for fellow collectors, dealers, and curators. The annual meeting is one of the highlights of my year and takes places in different cities each time to visit important manuscript collections.

This year we chose a city very near and dear to my heart - Providence, RI - home to my alma mater Brown University. As such, I was already familiar with some of the treasures that awaited our eager minds at Brown's John Hay library - Walt Whitman's personal copy of Leaves of Grass, George Orwell's original manuscript of 1984, and the infamous Andreas Vesalius anatomy book from 1642 bound in human skin. I had spent countless hours at the Hay while an undergrad at Brown pouring over the rare and unique documents held in its special collections.

But...I'm getting ahead of myself here. First and foremost what I love about the Manuscript Society is the people. When my wife Stephanie and I arrived in Providence on June 1, we were quickly reunited with many friends from all over the country - former Manuscript Society president Ed Bomsey, Executive Director Shirley Sands, Special Assistant to Secretary at U.S. Department of Education Reyna Aylward, Beverly Hill from Goldberg Auctioneers, former curator of manuscripts at the Lilly Library Saundra Taylor, UACC (Universal Autograph Collectors Club) President Michael Hecht, and many more. Some of our favorite Manuscript Society members aren't even curators, collectors, or dealers. One standout is Allan Stark, who just adores the history and the intellectual camaraderie that the Society offers.

The meeting this year started off with the excitement of a live auction. All sorts of treasures were donated by Manuscript Society members to raise money for the organization (part of our mission is to offer graduate study grants). That night I was extremely happy to bring back to my hotel room a number of wonderful items - a magazine signed by President Gerald R. Ford and First Lady Betty Ford, an autographed Victor Borge book, and personally signed photos of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau from the Odd Couple, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Nancy Reagan, Steve Allen, Shirley Temple with Buddy Ebsen, Anthony Quinn, Van Johnson, Dudley Moore, Doris Day, Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Lillian Gish, and Tony Curtis.

Photo still from the 1936 film Captain January hand-signed by stars Shirley Temple and Buddy Ebsen.

The next day we visited the John Hay Library and the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. At the Hay, we were fortunate to have a presentation on Lincoln-related books and manuscripts by Society member Frank Williams, retired Chief Justice of the RI Supreme Court. He even supplied us with a list of his 68 favorite Lincoln books published in recent years! Judge Williams asked us how many of us had Lincoln items in our collection, and I didn't think to raise my hand. I was thinking of rare historical treasures like UACC president Michael Hecht's handwritten Abraham Lincoln manuscript. Michael told me that he prizes that piece above anything else in his collection - except for the autograph that his own father had given him while Michael was in Elementary school, sparking his collecting passion. When I didn't raise my hand, my wife reminded me that even I (with my focus in 20th century popular culture) have Lincoln in my collection. I have a cast of a famous Lincoln life mask created in 1860 in my "cabinet of curiosities." It's just another Evidence of the ubiquity and relevance of our 16th President!

That afternoon at the John Carter Brown Library, we learned about its collection of over 450 colonial-era manuscripts (held in spite of the mandate the JCB founders issued to exclude manuscripts in favor of printed books and engraved maps). The current JCB librarians also shared with us their efforts to publish online their extraordinary collection of Haiti-related documents through the website Remember Haiti.

On Friday, June 3, we attended a presentation by the Rhode Island Historical Society Library and examined a few of their manuscript treasures documenting the early days of Rhode Island. I found their colonial women's diaries particularly fascinating. Then it was off to a tour of the John Brown House Museum, the premier 18th century house in the state. Next stop (my favorite that day) - the Providence Athenaeum. The Providence Athenaeum is an independent membership library that traces its history back to The Providence Library Company, founded in 1753. Its special collections reveal the history of the reading tastes of library patrons with rare first editions (Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, etc.), two medieval manuscripts, eight incunabula (books printed before 1501), and original letters and ephemera related to two of Providence's most famous literary residents - H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. We concluded the day with a visit to the Rhode Island School of Design Fleet Library.

Frontispiece from Stephane Mallarmé's French translation of Poe's The Raven with illustrations by Édouard Manet. Inscribed by Mallarmé to Poe's champion poet Sarah Helen Whitman. Collection of the Providence Athenaeum.


Last but not least, we took a 2-day whirlwind tour of Newport, RI with a little help from the Preservation Society of Newport County. We visited the Naval War College Museum and Library, Marble House (built in 1892 by the Vanderbilts), the Elms (built in 1901 by the Berwins), the White Horse Tavern (est. 1673 - the oldest tavern in the U.S.), the International Tennis Hall of Fame (where they somehow neglected to show us their library), and Touro Synagogue (American's oldest Jewish synagogue). My favorite stops were the Redwood Library and Athenaeum (America's oldest lending library - where my wife translated  for the Redwood curator a portion of a colonial-era journal written in French), and the home of Society member and Manuscripts Curator for the Georgetown University Library Nicholas Scheetz. Nicholas and his guest Dr. Scott Gwara, Professor of English at the University of South Carolina, shared with us manuscript treasures from their personal collections. It's not every day that I get to thumb through the pages of a 15th century illuminated manuscript. What a rare and special treat!

Back at the hotel in Providence, after our closing dinner where we said our bittersweet farewells, we had an illuminating presentation by Brown University's Linwood Fisher. We learned as much as one can within the short span of an hour about Native American manuscripts from 1600-1800. The annual meetings of the Manuscript Society are always enjoyable and educational experiences. And so, until next year in Quebec City, Canada - I can't wait!