Black-Market Past Clouds Worth of Some Animation Art

Billy W. Carmen was well-known among Los Angeles animated art collectors and dealers. He made friends with some top dealers. He advertised cartoon cels for sale in trade magazines. And he wrote an article on collecting animation art that included the Toluca Lake address of his company, Anima’zing Source.

But in February, Carmen’s image of legitimacy was shaken. The homes of Carmen, 30, and some of his friends and customers were searched by FBI agents and Burbank police, who were looking for nearly 5,000 cels worth $275,000 and believed to have been stolen in early 1988 from a Warner Bros. office in Burbank. They were also on the lookout for $200,000 worth of cels reported stolen from a Walt Disney Co. warehouse in Glendale.

Alerted by an anonymous tip to police in April, 1988, Warner Bros. checked its inventory and discovered that the cels were missing. After a 10-month investigation, authorities alleged in a search warrant affidavit filed in Burbank Municipal Court that Carmen or his associates had stolen the cels. When police searched the North Hollywood home of Carmen, the Van Nuys home of animation art dealer Arnold Kowan and a downtown Los Angeles gallery Feb. 24, they seized more than 1,000 Warner Bros. cels--featuring such characters as Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck--and at least two forged cels of the new Disney character Roger Rabbit.

Five months later, no charges have been filed, and the FBI and Warner Bros. will only say that the investigation is continuing. Disney hired a private investigator to determine whether any of its cels were actually missing. But that investigation is not expected to be completed for several more weeks.

Meanwhile, dealers and collectors in Los Angeles and elsewhere are wondering whether they will be able to recover cels they thought that they purchased legitimately. They also say the FBI investigation has made them more cautious in their purchases.

In addition, the searches and subsequent investigation, believed to be a first in kind and scope, has highlighted the uncertainties of ownership of art that for many years was thrown away as trash.

“One of the problems is that not too long ago, most of this animated art was treated as if it were garbage, or close to it, by many of the studios who produced it,” said John D. Vandevelde, Carmen’s attorney. “Now it has value, and there seems to be reconsideration by various people of whether they should have thrown this stuff away.”

‘Caught in Middle’

Vandevelde said, “To a large degree Mr. Carmen got caught in the middle of that.” The attorney declined to respond to any of the specific allegations contained in the search warrant affidavit.

In a brief interview, Carmen said: “It’s really strange how they want to start screaming something’s stolen. If digging something out of a garbage dumpster is stealing, then, hell, I’m guilty.”

The search warrant affidavit said Carmen operated a candy store in the same building where the Warner Bros. cels were stored. The affidavit stated that undercover investigators purchased stolen cels from Carmen. But one investigator, who asked not to be named, said a Warner Bros. executive may have sold some of the cels to Carmen.

In one meeting, according to the affidavit, Carmen and Kowan went to Royal Animated Art’s warehouse in Canoga Park and offered to sell Roger Rabbit cels. Carmen allegedly told Royal employees that he worked for a nonprofit foundation that had obtained the right to sell the cels. No cels were purchased.

Among the galleries searched was Animation Plus Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. Leonard Surico, the gallery’s owner, said police put him in handcuffs while sifting through his collection for three hours. He said investigators seized many Warner Bros. images, including some that were not purchased from Carmen.

Obtained 100 Items

Surico said he had obtained more than 100 cels and sketches from Carmen, many of them in trades. “I bought the least of anyone, and I was kicking myself for a long time,” Surico said. “I got to Billy very late.”

He said his cels seized by the FBI were worth at least $10,000. Surico said he does not want stolen cels returned, but he would like to recover those he bought elsewhere.

Surico said he has become more careful about what he buys. He requires sellers to provide an itemized receipt for each of his purchases. He requests a dealer’s license number. And he no longer purchases cels at flea markets or garage sales.

Most importantly, he said he shies away from buying any recent cels without a statement of authenticity issued by the studio that produced them. The date after which such statements are necessary varies because each studio tightened control over its cels at different times.

Walt Disney Co. cels made after 1973, for example, should carry a statement of authenticity from the studio, dealers said. Otherwise, they probably are stolen. Before then, cels were frequently given away or taken away by animators without authenticating documents.

Practices Changed

For Filmation in Woodland Hills or DIC Enterprises of Burbank, two studios represented by Royal Animated Art, the date after which statements of authenticity are needed is a matter of dispute. As a result, several dealers said they now buy such cels only from Royal to avoid any legal difficulties.

Dealers who do not worry about such issues “haven’t been through what I’ve been through,” Surico said.

Jerry Muller, a top dealer based in Costa Mesa, agreed that the searches have made dealers and collectors slightly more cautious. But, he said, having clear, legal ownership of a cel “is a luxury most dealers cannot afford” because the older pieces most in demand were never issued officially.

Even recently, he said, studios “have not been very good in terms of their own security” and should bear some of the responsibility for cels that turn up missing. “If they can’t secure their stuff, then I can’t secure it for them,” he said.