WSIL-TV Channel 3 in Southern Illinois broadcast a report about Jim Hambrick’s “Americana Hollywood Museum” being flooded over the weekend due to a broken pipe. In the video and an associated news feature with reporting by the Paducah Sun, Mr. Hambrick reports over $100,000 in damages “to talk to the insurance company about”.
Below is an archive of the televised report broadcast by WSIL-TV (see www.WSILTV.com for source broadcast):
Below is an archive of the online report on the event (Burst pipe indefinitely closes Metropolis museum [The Paducah Sun, Ky.]):
Knight Ridder/Tribune 01/21/2009 4:15 AM ET
Burst pipe indefinitely closes Metropolis museum [The Paducah Sun, Ky.]
Jan. 21–METROPOLIS, Ill. — Jim Hambrick’s Americana Hollywood Museum likely will remain closed for weeks after a burst pipe on the second floor soaked a selection of one-of-a-kind silver screen memorabilia.
A half-inch water line concealed in a wall in the upper floor of the former True Value Hardware building apparently ruptured Saturday night, then gushed for a day and a half.
“We didn’t even know the line was there,” Hambrick said, explaining that it is near the ceiling on the second floor.
Museum manager Kevin Hambrick, the owner’s brother, said police reported the leak when an officer observed water flowing from under a door from the 40,000-square-foot building.
“It was coming out the warehouse door like a fire hydrant,” he said.
Kevin Hambrick said damage to Hollywood memorabilia could have been restricted had the water been cut off soon after discovery, but the location of the city’s valve feeding the line was not known at first, then later determined to have been covered with paving. Also, city utility workers were off the job because it was a holiday weekend.
“We had to cut the pipe and cap it to stop the leak, and we weren’t able to get that done until about 1 o’clock Monday afternoon,” he said.
Mayor Billy McDaniel, while sympathizing over the Hambricks’ misfortune, said Tuesday he had not received a detailed account of the city water workers’ efforts and findings at the museum and could not comment.
Kevin Hambrick and other museum workers on Tuesday had sorted through a number of the museum pieces, removing some from damaged areas and spreading them to dry.
“The leak was in the worst place: right over the Marilyn Monroe room where some of our most valuable stuff is,” he said.
Jim Hambrick on Tuesday still didn’t have a full grasp of the damages.
“That’s why they’re spreading it out in there and checking how much damage there is,” he said. “Right now I don’t want to hear it. Once I get my emotions straightened out, then I’ll be able to sort things out and get ready to talk to the insurance company about it.
“I’ve spent my life collecting this stuff,” said the California native, who began accumulating memorabilia from Hollywood and of movie icons as a child — and before they became historical in nature. “I started collecting when I was 5, and I’m about to turn 55.
“Try to understand how frustrating it was watching it rain into the Marilyn Monroe Room,” Jim Hambrick said.
Among the items damaged by the run-off down the walls and through the floor of the second story building were numerous photographs and original movie posters, some signed by the late Marilyn Monroe, as well vintage magazines. Some of the film star’s dresses were soaked.
A canceled check bearing Monroe’s signature sat drying, the face of it faded with a water stain.
Among documents reportedly wet and damaged are Marilyn Monroe’s birth and death certificates.
Other areas hit significantly with water damage were the museum’s John Wayne Room and its swashbuckling Pirate Room.
Hambrick, while he now has only a rough idea of the damages, speculated, “I can’t imagine it being less than $100,000.”
When he opened the museum in 2005, Hambrick estimated his total collection value at $2 million.
He predicted lengthy negotiations with insurance representatives to sort out the collectibles’ value. “Luckily, we have eBay these days, where we can see what people are paying for these pop culture things.”
Hambrick, who also owns and operates the city’s SuperMuseum on Superman Square, said the Americana Hollywood Museum has been closed since the pipe burst and may remain that way for up to two months.
Steve Vantreese can be contacted at 575-8684.
To see more of The Paducah Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.paducahsun.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Paducah Sun, Ky.
Jim Hambrick is also the owner of the “Super Museum” and is very involved with buying, selling, and authenticating Superman costumes and wardrobe pieces, marketed as authentic and original, and attributed to the Christopher Reeve Superman films of the 70s and 80s – see Jim Hambrick for related OPB articles.
Jason De Bord