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Maine Antique Digest, March 2015 17-B
- AUCTION -
This emerald-green velvet
and crepe evening gown was
worn by Judy Garland in
MGM’s 1948 musical
Easter
Parade
. It sold on line for
$11,875 (est. $8000/12,000).
This bathing suit was worn by
Esther Williams in
Easy to Love
(MGM, 1953) in the water-skiing
finale. It sold on line for $3750
(est. $1200/1800). Decorated with
rhinestone-covered petals at the
bust and on the asymmetrical
shoulder strap, it has faded from
hot pink.
The phones kept ringing for this wed-
ding ring given to Clark Gable by Carole
Lombard. The actors married on March
29, 1939. The 14k gold man’s ring with
ribbed center band sold for $50,000 (est.
$2000/3000). Gable typically wore rings
only on his pinkie finger, which would
account for the ring’s smaller than expected
size, according to the auction catalog.
A r a g o r n ’ s
sword
Andúril,
made
for
Viggo
Mortensen,
The
Lord of
the Rings: The Return of the
King
(2003), sold for $437,000
(est. $150,000/250,000). The 53½" long
sword, designed by John Howe and made
by Peter Lyon, came from the collection of Sir
Christopher and Lady Lee. Lyon began mak-
ing swords in 1985 and has created weapons
for
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe
,
Avatar
, and
The Hob-
bit
, in addition to the
Lord of the Rings
trilogy.
This 81" x 41" three-sheet lin-
en-backed poster for
The Afri-
can Queen
(1951) sold to an
absentee bidder for $3750 (est.
$1000/1500). The film starred
Humphrey Bogart as Charlie
Allnut and Katharine Hepburn
as Rose Sayer. Bogart won
an Oscar for his performance
in the film directed by John
Huston.
The best-known Audrey Hepburn poster
for
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
(1961) sold on
the Internet for $6000 (est. $2500/3500).
The 41" x 27" one-sheet linen-backed
poster depicts Holly Golightly in her black
Givenchy dress in Blake Edwards’s adap-
tation of a novel by Truman Capote. This
was illustrator Robert McGinnis’s first
movie poster assignment.
These partially glazed paint-decorated hardwood doors, 92"
x 36", which were the main entrance doors to Rick’s Café
Américain in
Casablanca
, sold on the phone for $115,000 (est.
$75,000/100,000). A copy of the 1942 film accompanied the lot.
A final shooting script for
Gone
with the Wind
, presented by
David O. Selznick to the widow
of screenwriter Sidney Howard,
sold on the phone for $62,500 (est.
$50,000/70,000). Unlike Selznick’s
other bound presentation scripts,
this one doesn’t have an inscrip-
tion from the producer but rather
one from Howard’s widow, Polly,
to her nephew Blaine. Howard won
a posthumous Academy Award for
best screenplay for the 1939 film.
This
Springtime for Hitler
prop
poster from
The Producers
(1968)
sold in the room to a collector.
Ralph DeLuca paid $8750 for the
75" x 39" poster, which came from
the collection of Alan Johnson, the
film’s choreographer.
The script super-
visor’s copy of the
screenplay of
To Kill
a Mockingbird
(1962)
sold to an absentee
bidder for $43,750
(est. $10,000/15,000).
Meta Rebner’s 136-
page mimeographed
manuscript by Hor-
ton Foote, adapted
from Harper Lee’s
novel,
includes
notes on camera
angles and some
textual changes, with an additional
56 pages of production lists and wardrobe documents.
The film won three Academy Awards, including one
for best adapted screenplay for Horton Foote.
A one-sheet linen-backed 41" x 27" poster for
Sunset Boulevard
(1950), featuring the film’s tan-
gled celluloid logo, sold on the phone for $6875
(est. $1500/2000). The film received Academy
Award nominations in almost all major categories
including best picture, best screenplay, best actor,
best actress, and best director. It starred William
Holden as screenwriter Joe Gillis and Gloria
Swanson as Norma Desmond and was directed by
Billy Wilder.
Catherine Williamson, director of fine books,
manuscripts, and entertainment memorabilia at
Bonhams, was one of three auctioneers for the
eight-hour sale.