Dorothy at 85: The Wizard of Antique Shows

She is an exquisite Victorian piece, skin smooth as early Dresden porcelain, her slight smile an Impressionist’s challenge.

Dorothy Emerson, at 85, also is among the more senior, certainly the most gracious antiques at the Santa Monica Antiques Show & Sale.

“But not yet the oldest,” she chides.

Of course not. Over here is a pair of Regency game tables, a rare matched pair dated 1810. Over there, four carved, oak, French overdoor panels in the style of Louis XIV. Everywhere, English tall case clocks and American needlepoint and Belgian bronzes by 99 exhibitors at this local classic.

“No, I mean not yet as old as Marie who is helping me out again this year.”

Marie?

“Yes. My friend Marie Thurston. She’s 93.”

Even with this sobering comparison in place, Emerson, 29-year director of the show, wasn’t about to take any prisoners in this matter of personal antiquity.

“I was on television at 4 o’clock this afternoon, being interviewed by someone from Channel 4,” she said. “And he asked me: ‘Why are you still working at your age?’

“I was so furious I was shaking. I do it because it still excites me. The antique business continues to be stimulating, it surrounds me with beautiful things and that includes my friends . . . so there is no reason why I shouldn’t keep working just as long as I want to and am able to.”

Game, set and match.

The Emersons, Dorothy and Robert, came to California from Chicago in the late ‘50s. She was a housewife in an era when it was honorable to be known as such. Robert had just retired from his own photo processing shop.

“But he didn’t get very far with retirement so when we arrived in Los Angeles, Robert opened a custom picture framing shop,” she said.

They had friends, Helen and Gordon Pascal. The Pascals operated an annual antique show, first at the old downtown armory, then at Pan Pacific Auditorium. Dorothy Emerson played gofer at each show.

In 1959, when Helen’s death and Gordon’s failing health threatened the show’s future, Dorothy Emerson became its leader. Currently, she stages three antique shows a year at Santa Monica, two at Cal State Northridge and one at Orange County Fairgrounds.

Liberace, who once owned an antique shop, often exhibited at the Emerson fairs. Ironically, several items of Liberace memorabilia purchased at recent auctions are being sold at the current show. There’s even a collector’s market, said show manager Jim McKenzie, for the piano-shaped lot tags once attached to the sold items.

From it all, says Emerson, have come golden stories.

She remembers the couple, she cooing, he bored to glazed eyeballs, who paused at a dozen items of crockery. The wife squeaked a constant expression: “Oooooh, this is just like the one we have at home.”

Finally, the exasperated husband bought a plate. He smacked it against a table. A chip flew big as a thumbnail.

“Now that,” he snorted, “is just like the one we have at home.”

But the screamer, continues Emerson, was the case of the tippling dealer.

“She really liked her vodka and would go behind her screen, have a quick drink and then reappear at her exhibit,” recalled Emerson. “After her fifth or sixth trip behind the screen, a customer came up and wanted to buy one of two glasses on the table.”

The dealer refused. The glasses, she said, were a pair and could not be sold separately. The woman insisted that she only wanted one. The dealer insisted she would have to buy both.

“The customer, for a third time, asked to buy a single glass,” said Emerson. “The dealer picked up one of the glasses, smashed it on the floor and said: ‘OK, now I’ll sell you just one.’ ”

Dorothy Emerson Antiques Show & Sale, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Main Street at Pico Boulevard. Today, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Admission $3.50, senior citizens $2.