"Move Your Bloomin' Arse!" To Debbie Reynold's Auction
Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 12:00PM I didn't intend for this weekend to become such a costume freakout session but sometimes the universe shouts that something must be and you say "okay. okay. stop shouting." You see, Debbie Reynold's movie memorabilia is going on auction today. How much do you wanna bet THIS dress fetches?
I guess when you're "America's Sweetheart" with hundreds of other famous friends from multiple decades of stardom, you wind up with a few collectibles. But Audrey Hepburn's Ascot dress from My Fair Lady in pristine condition?
"move your bloomin' arse!"♫ What a gripping, absolutely ripping
Moment at the Ascot op'ning day.
Pulses rushing! Faces flushing!
Heartbeats speed up! I have never been so keyed up ♪
Reynolds also has a number of Barbra Streisand costumes from Hello Dolly as well as this "Roller Skate Rag" outfit from one of Funny Girl's best bits.
You can see other stunning pieces of the collection over at Tom and Lorenzo, who correctly note...
If you're any kind of film buff you'll gasp at some point.
My gasps were nearly all actressexual until Stephen Boyd's Ben-Hur scabbard whacked me in the face. I can't tell you how hard I ♥ed "Messala" as a young boy. Like Charlton Heston, I was hilariously unaware of the homo suggestiveness but even when you haven't yet learned to decode...
Debbie Reynolds CatalogueThe Auction is happening today at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills starting at 12 PM PST.
I'm not much of a memorabilia collector -- I prefer staring at it in uncluttered museum / travelling exhibit environs -- but if I were and had gazillions of dollars I'd be snatching up Marilyn's red Gentlemen Prefer Blondes number, Liz Taylor's iconic Cleopatra's headdress, and anything Judy Garland or The Sound of Music. And maybe Rudolph Valentino's matador look from Blood and Sand.
Have you ever collected memorabilia for anything?
Which pieces are you gagging over?
Audrey Hepburn, Babs, Ben-Hur, Debbie Reynolds, Funny Girl, My Fair Lady, Stephen Boyd
Reader Comments (13)
OH.MY.GOD. This is....spectacular.I would *SO* buy the roller skate rag dress from "Funny Girl" if I could afford it....I actually am a kind of memorabilia collector, come to think of it - I have a plate and an apple from the recent "Gypsy" production signed by Patti LuPone, for example - but now it's gotten so expensive so it's just not possible.
Forgot to mention - the sheer number of absolutely ICONIC costumes in there is simply staggering. "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" dress, "Wizard of Oz", "Hello Dolly".....Gotta respect Ms. Reynolds!!!
Marilyn's "subway grate" dress from the Seven Year Itch went for $4.6 million!
The auction is live online now and a long way from being over:
http://64.114.165.190/bidlive/bidapp.aspx?as=20092&si=1&s=0
I'm waiting around/checking in to find out how much the Sound of Music costumes go for!
The Norma Shearer/Leslie Howard "Romeo & Juliet" poster I had my eye on went for $1700 - three times as much as they were expecting and far outside my budget.
But Audrey Hepburn's Ascot dress from My Fair Lady in pristine condition?
$3.7 million
Keith -- i got there too late to "watch" but thanks for the link. the auction has now ended. i'll have to do a follow up post on a few key items. i keep starting at the collection. SO MUCH HISTORY.
The auction lasted nearly 12 hours - I'm really glad it was more than half over by the time I realised I could "watch" it happen. But at least I got to see this dress go through the roof (18 x its expected price!) and the Sound of Music stuff get auctioned.
Every time I see Debbie giving an interview and being asked YET AGAIN about Liz Taylor...I always get a flash of Jennifer Aniston's future.
I have been drooling over this collection for the past week. If I had the money I would have been all over it, but frankly, it mostly made me sad and extremely depressed that her museum idea never got off the ground. To see all of this gorgeous history in one place, perfectly preserved and presented, would be breathtaking. And now most, if not all, of it will likely languish in private collections for eternity. I'm happy for Debbie that it went so well, but I'm having a hard time letting go of what could have been.
Does anyone watch Hollywood Treasure on Syfy? It's become a must-watch for me just to see all the memorabilia. There is some pretty incredible stuff out there if you have the money!
Oh wow, I'm gonna have to buy that catalog. At $39.50 it's a little more in my budget than any of the actual items. Here's a link in case anyone else wants to get a copy:
http://www.profilesinhistory.com/debbie-reynolds-auction/debbie-reynolds-the-auction
Shoot, never mind about the catalog. It's sold out.
They will be reprinting the catalogue, since there was such high demand for it. Email them and they'll notify you when the reprint happens.
I truly love all of the tough effort you have devoted to keeping this website around.
I really hope this remains for a really long time.
Bia -- LOL. so true!