Entertainment Icon Pays Record Price for Movie Icon
The record price for Hollywood memorabilia was smashed Saturday when pop star Michael Jackson paid more than $1.5 million for producer David O. Selznick’s best picture Oscar from the classic film “Gone With the Wind.”
Jackson, bidding in the Sotheby’s auction via phone through an agent against another phone bidder, paid $1,542,500. That obliterated the previous mark of $607,500 set in 1996 for the Oscar Clark Gable won as best actor in the 1934 film “It Happened One Night.”
The pre-sale estimate price for Selznick’s statuette was $200,000-$300,000.
A Sotheby’s representative said that Jackson expressed “a lifelong desire to own that particular object.”
The auction of film, television, rock ‘n’ roll and Coney Island memorabilia also saw spirited bidding on a group of lots from the 1950s classic television sitcom “The Honeymooners,” which starred Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.
The kitchen set, consisting of dining table and chairs, sink, stove and a decrepit icebox complete with drip pan was bought by Larry Jones, the general manager for cable television station Nick at Night’s TV Land, for $63,000.
Jones, calling the kitchen “an icon from a television history standpoint,” said the set would be used as a promotional tool.
Other “Honeymooners” items ranged from Gleason’s bus driver uniform, which fetched $64,100, to Meadows’ apron, which went for a mere $575.
Other “Gone With the Wind” lots also commanded top prices.
A dress worn by Vivien Leigh for her Academy Award-winning role as Scarlett O’Hara was bought by the owner of a Sao Paolo, Brazil, restaurant called Scarlett, who paid $90,500 after a pre-sale estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.
An annotated script which carried variations on Gable’s famously crushing line to Leigh--”Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn”--such as “My dear, frankly I don’t care,” went for $46,000 after a $40,000 to $60,000 estimate.
One successful bidder took home Christopher Reeve’s Superman costume from “Superman IV” for nearly $26,000.
Among the rock’n’roll memorabilia sold, a copy of the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” autographed by the Beatles sold for $57,750 and eyeglasses worn by John Lennon fetched $25,875.
A black wool sport jacket worn by Elvis Presley for his first television appearance, in 1956, sold for just under $60,000 after a pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.
