Celebrity Auctions Are Going, Going . . . Online
It didn’t raise as much as the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis auction, but the families it benefited were certainly a little more in need.
Entertainment Promotions Network, a Newport Beach-based Web site design company, recently held what the company says is the first fully interactive online auction of celebrity memorabilia.
The auction raised about $4,000 for the Family Assistance Program, a Hollywood charity that helps homeless families find housing, counseling and child care.
Organizers were hoping to raise more money than they did, but “we were basically testing the waters because no one had done anything like this before,” said Wes Bledsoe, president of Entertainment Promotions.
The top bid was $375 for a “Seinfeld” script autographed by the cast. A boxing glove autographed by Muhammad Ali went for $303, and a Darth Vader helmet signed by James Earl Jones--who provided the voice for the “Star Wars” character--garnered $250.
The items were supplied by Celebrity Source, a Hollywood company that organizes celebrity charity events.
To participate in the auction, Net surfers had to visit the auction site, where pictures of celebrity items were on display, and register their names and phone numbers with the company.
The auction lasted one week, and when bidding closed at 11:59 p.m. on May 3, about 100 people had participated.
The turnout was disappointing, Bledsoe said, and reflects how difficult it can be to make computer users aware of events on the Internet, where thousands of sites compete for attention.
Many bidders were from the Boston area because the auction was covered by a television station there, and later by the Boston Globe.
But Entertainment Promotions, a small company that hopes to design Web sites for celebrities, is already planning another auction for the Family Assistance Program in September. This time the company is hoping to attract corporate sponsors to help generate more interest.
Information about upcoming auctions can be found at the company’s Web site: https://www.epn.com.
Greg Miller covers high technology for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at greg.miller@latimes.com.