hollywood memorabilia

John Wayne's True Grit Outfit Up For Auction

Filed under: Auctions

With the Coen Brothers True Grit remake burning up the box office and garnering Oscar nods, it's the perfect time to auction off a piece of key memorabilia from the original movie. John Wayne's western ensemble from his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (Paramount, 1969) is being offered through High Noon Western Americana on January 29 in Mesa, Arizona as part of their Western auction. Wayne won an Academy Award for the role, the same one that Jeff Bridges is nominated for currently. Should Bridges win it would mark the first time that the same role has resulted in Academy Awards for two different actors.

The lot includes a brown rough-out leather vest with lapels, four pockets, decorative string ties on either side. It has a linen lining with label reading Western Costume Co / Hollywood / 2318-4 / John Wayne / Chest 50. It also comes with a long sleeve, single pocket shirt of fine blue cotton, custom-made for Wayne by Ermenegildo Zegna and worn in the film True Grit, and a salmon neckerchief.

The outfit was originally acquired in the 1970s by Gary Hess, a six-year employee of the Duke Engineering Company (DECO), directly from John Wayne himself, as appreciation for his extraordinary work in resolving some complex technical problems facilitating the completion and lucrative sale to a Texas group working with Exxon. It is offered with notarized letters of provenance and copies of notarized statements from Hess, Walter Adams, and William Evans all employees of DECO, attesting to the presentation of gifts to Mr Hess by Mr Wayne. It is estimated to fetch $15,000 - $20,000 and has a starting bid of $7500 at Live Auctioneers.

Tags: hollywood memorabilia, john wayne, movie costumes, movie cowboy, rooster cogburn, True Grit, true grit 2010, true grit remake, true grit trailer, true grit wine

Large Photography Auction Highlights Classic Hollywood Glam

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Old-fashioned Hollywood glamour can be yours at the Profiles in History auction of the multi-million dollar Michael H. Epstein and Scott E. Schwimer collection on March 26-27. The auction is considered the largest auction of glamour photography ever up for sale in art history. The lots include many shots by George Hurrell the king of the classic Hollywood glamour shot. In his career he photographed many of the great legends of 1930s and 1940s cinema. His absolutely stunning picture of blonde bombshell Jean Harlow on a white bearskin rug created for Vanity Fair magazine is the platinum standard for ultimate glam. The original camera negative and a custom print of this photograph are estimated to sell for well over $20,000.

The auction features classic images of Gary Cooper, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake , and Johnny Weissmuller from Tarzan, an image which heralded the start of Hollywood beefcake. Master prints by many of photography's modern masters including Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts are also part of the auction.

Epstein and Schwimer decided to sell their 25-year collection to benefit many of the charitable organizations they support, primarily the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. Worldwide bidding begins at 12:00pm (noon) PST both days. Bids can be placed in person, via mail, phone, fax or live on the internet by visiting www.profilesinhistory.com.

[via Art Daily]

Tags: hollywood memorabilia, jean harlow, photography auction, profiles in history

Get Orson's Screenplay Too

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

When I wrote about Orson Welles' Oscar last month I neglected to mention that you can also buy Orson Welles' personal working copy of the script for titizen Kane on the same day, December 11, from Sotheby's New York. The 156-page script is the last revised draft before the final shooting script and contains notes and revisions. The majority of the Welles' archive is held by the Lilly Library at Indiana University, so only a few pieces of Citizen Kane memorabilia of this kind are left in private hands. The script is expected to bring $80,000-$120,000.

Source

Tags: hollywood memorabilia, orson welles, OrsonWelles, oscar, script