{"id":335,"date":"2007-06-10T18:48:32","date_gmt":"2007-06-11T01:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.originalprop.com\/blog\/?p=335"},"modified":"2012-03-26T15:43:30","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T23:43:30","slug":"featured-interview-joe-maddalena-profiles-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.originalprop.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/10\/featured-interview-joe-maddalena-profiles-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Interview: Joe Maddalena, Profiles in History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph Maddalena<\/a> is the owner of Profiles in History<\/a>, the one auction house dedicated to hosting extensive original prop auctions in Los Angeles several times a year.<\/p>\n

As noted in my Featured Interview Preview<\/a>, my initial first hand impressions of Mr. Maddalena were formed from the action and excitement of the Han Solo blaster auction<\/a> from the Stembridge Armory event<\/a>. He certainly knows auctions, whether they are his own or a bidder.<\/p>\n

I was kindly invited to come to the new Profiles in History offices in Calabasas Hills to meet with and interview Mr. Maddalena as well has have a sneak preview<\/a> of the items coming to auction for Hollywood Auction 28, to be held at the new facilities on August 2nd and 3rd.<\/p>\n

So, having spent part of the afternoon with Mr. Maddalena, what other impressions were made on me? Quite a few. I found Mr. Maddalena’s candidness and free expression of opinion refreshing, in a hobby in which frank talk is rare. Certainly his absolute love of films and television, and respect of its place in our culture, was very clearly evident.<\/p>\n

Most compelling, to me, is understanding that this is a man interested in not only building, but growing this hobby. He is obviously driven personally and professionally to achieve such goals, and for that, he has my respect and gratitude.<\/p>\n

\"Profiles<\/a><\/p>\n

Interview with Joe Maddalena<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Q. How did you get interested in movie memorabilia?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was his age [pointing to son], when I was 12 or 13, and I lived on the east coast, I used to write celebrities for autographs. There was a movie star publication called the Big Reel, it was out of Florida, it was published by a guy named Tom Perry \u2013 I used to write articles for his fanzine. It was basically something he self-published, but it was pretty nice for the time.<\/p>\n

Back then you could literally call Bend, Oregon and Ginger Rogers was in the phone book. These guys were in the phone book. I mean, Jimmy Stewart was in the phone book. You could literally call them up \u2013 even Gene Kelly.<\/p>\n

So I used to call them all up. And I had relatives [in Los Angeles] and I\u2019d come out and visit. I used to go out to the motion picture retirement home and I\u2019d see Moe and Larry and I met all these people. Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton. I became friends with them before any of \u201cthis\u201d ever happened.<\/p>\n

And then, in the 70s, when I came out here, I used to go to Collectors Book Store, and all the great book shops on Hollywood Blvd., and you could buy things for ten or fifty dollars that are now worth thousands of dollars now, and that\u2019s how I started collecting.<\/p>\n

Is there any era, or type of film or television show, or genre, that is a particular favorite of yours?<\/p>\n

I like so many different things. I\u2019d have to say, by far, my favorite film is the Wizard of Oz.<\/p>\n

Then I\u2019d probably skip into the 60s, and when I grew up, and I\u2019d want Willy Wonka, you know, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, because I grew up with that stuff. Escape to Witch Mountain, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, because that\u2019s what I grew up with \u2013 that\u2019s nostalgic for me.<\/p>\n

Q. And how did it transition from a hobby to a business?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a historical document dealer. [Original prop auctions are] \u201ca\u201d business of my company. This isn\u2019t our only business. So what I do for a living is I sell letters of Mozart, Beethoven, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson \u2013 that\u2019s what I do. And I\u2019ve always loved literature. So I always thought, if you\u2019re into Raymond Chandler, Daschel Hammet, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner \u2013 all these great authors \u2013 well, gee, it\u2019s their novels \u2013 Steinbeck \u2013 that become the greatest screenplays ever made.<\/p>\n

So, for me, there was a natural progression. For instance, I have a Dashel Hammet letter about The Thin Man, so how about something from the film \u2013 how about a script, how about a photograph? And that\u2019s how I started to do it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say to my regular clients, \u201cGee, have you ever thought about getting a poster?\u201d and slowly introduce that world to this world, and that\u2019s how it started.<\/p>\n

Q. Which of your businesses started first then, the historical documents business?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, the historical documents business, 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

And your first prop auction \u2013 how did that come about?<\/p>\n

I think the first was in \u201995, \u201996. I had a collection worth millions of dollars, my own personal collection. It became readily apparent that it was incredibly illiquid \u2013 I couldn\u2019t sell them.<\/p>\n

At the time, there was just Chrisities and Sothebys and Camden House, and that was it. You\u2019d buy something for $10,000 and put it back on the market and get $2,000.<\/p>\n

There was no market. There were no dealers. There was nobody. There was no eBay.<\/p>\n

So it became readily apparent to me that if I didn\u2019t find out a way to have some liquidity to my collection, I was going to end up with nothing.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a good feeling to have such a large asset and no exit strategy.<\/p>\n

So I started the auctions. [I thought] I\u2019m in California, if I can\u2019t create a market here, nobody can.<\/p>\n

And, for the first four or five years, they were failures. I mean, they did good, but I lost money on every auction. At the end of the day, when we crunched the numbers, the sales did well, but to print the catalogs, to do all the work, it\u2019s a very expensive business. It took a long time to get that part of the business to be profitable. But I stuck it out, and now it\u2019s very profitable. But, it\u2019s like anything else \u2013 you\u2019ve got to put in the work, year after year after year after year. So now it\u2019s 11-12 years later.<\/p>\n

\"PiH<\/a><\/p>\n

Q. You recently changed locations \u2013 how did the first auction go at the new facilities?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It went great, this is so much better. Beverly Hills is great for the name, but there\u2019s 400 parking spaces here, and 50 are ours. It\u2019s just a much easier place to deal with. We\u2019re much happier.<\/p>\n

Q. And when you publish a new catalog, generally how many do you ship out?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

8,000.<\/p>\n

Q. What would you say is the breakdown between how many are in the states vs. overseas?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d say maybe about 20% go overseas.<\/p>\n

Q. As far as your actual customers go, would you say the same percentages hold true?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, more.<\/p>\n

Number-wise, I\u2019d say there are more collectors in America.<\/p>\n

Buyers are a whole different thing. I would say at least half the buyers are overseas, that I have.<\/p>\n

Q. Would you say primarily in Europe?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, all over the world.<\/p>\n

Q. It seems to be a pretty International hobby\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Film is an international hobby. It\u2019s something were you go anywhere in the world, and you know people watch movies. It\u2019s universal.<\/p>\n

Q. With your consignment process, what is that process like \u2013 if someone is a collector, and looking to consign a piece from their collection \u2013 how does that work?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What we try to tell people is, the one thing I think I\u2019m responsible for is, I\u2019ve created a market. I\u2019ve created liquidity. I\u2019ve created thousands and thousands of collectors.<\/p>\n

So the difference now is people can actually, they don\u2019t have to do what I did, when I started \u2013 you can buy something and sell it. There\u2019s a market. There\u2019s commerce. It\u2019s not just a one-side economy.<\/p>\n

So what I tell collectors is: upgrade, buy things you like. You can play around. You can buy some things, you can sell some things.<\/p>\n

You know, if you\u2019re smart, and you do research\u2026 And you say, gee, I found this thing on eBay, and this is what it was\u2026<\/p>\n

Collectors generally know more than anyone else because they\u2019re microcosmic. They collect one thing, so they tend to know so much about one thing. And those are the guys that can benefit the best because they might find some treasure, for nothing, that we all miss. And that\u2019s the great thing about collectors.<\/p>\n

So we tell people, in general, we like to get things that are valued at, at least, $500. Upper limit doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s fun, because you can do both. You can buy, you can sell, you can upgrade. It\u2019s a market. That\u2019s why I think, any consignor \u2013 people that want to sell or buy \u2013 there\u2019s commerce. I think that\u2019s the most viable thing about anything you collect.<\/p>\n

Q. What steps do you take \u2013 in broad strokes \u2013 to authenticate a piece? Do you do a lot of the research, or do you rely on the consignor to provide the information?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, because we\u2019re here \u2013 my company is totally unique because of where we are based.<\/p>\n

We have so many people who work in the entertainment industry that we consult with, so we have a team of guys who come in to consult on every auction.<\/p>\n

You always, always make mistakes. There\u2019s always some kind of pull. You find out this is whatever\u2026 You know, that stupid Proton Pack from Ghostbusters \u2013 somebody misrepresented it. You can\u2019t catch everything, it\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n

But the good thing about it is that we have so many people that just come through. They might not necessarily have worked on that film, but they know enough, to look at a prop, and say \u201cthis is a casting, here\u2019s how you can tell, you can tell by the seam\u201d. So we use those resources. I know almost every prop maker in Hollywood \u2013 they\u2019ve consigned at one time or another \u2013 so we use them as resources. If we\u2019re not sure, we call them up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow was this made? It was vacuformed\u2026 This process wasn\u2019t around in the 60s\u201d.<\/p>\n

And by being around all those people, you learn all this stuff. You learn, instantly, what to look for.<\/p>\n

Garments, I don\u2019t need any help with \u2013 I can tell you in two seconds. Vintage garments \u2013 I know how they\u2019re made, how they\u2019re constructed; because the costume houses they made them \u2013 Western, Eastern \u2013 they were right around the corner. These people are still alive. So once you know how all that works, it\u2019s pretty simple, you can tell the fakes in two seconds.<\/p>\n

Q. How much of your business do you think is focused on the authentication of pieces, as opposed to general business operations?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You know, not a lot, because people with the fake stuff don\u2019t come here. I\u2019ll get 1,000 items in an auction \u2013 maybe 3 or 4 or 5 mistakes in the whole catalog. I don\u2019t get those people. Those people go to eBay and everywhere else. They don\u2019t come here because they know better. And if they give us something that\u2019s not real, we\u2019re going to pull it, and they\u2019re going to pay a 30% penalty for me pulling it. So we punish them. If you consign something to me, and you try to scam us, the penalty in our catalog \u2013 you pay 30% for the luxury of scamming us. So people, when they read that clause, right off the bat, you weed out that kind of people.<\/p>\n

Q. Do you think the process of shining a spotlight on these pieces, by virtue of putting it in your catalog, also opens it up to a lot of scrutiny?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely, because you have the world looking at you. You have every know it all, every instant expert.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll give you a perfect story. Years ago, David Schneider, who was the Art Director for Blade Runner, calls me up and says, \u201chey, I was referred to you by Warner Bros., I\u2019ve got all the Blade Runner stuff \u2013 I\u2019ve got the artwork, I\u2019ve got Deckard\u2019s desk, I\u2019ve got all this cool Blade Runner stuff \u2013 I took it home. Warner Bros. didn\u2019t want it \u2013 they said to take it to you\u201d. So I put it in the catalog, and I get these e-mails, \u201cYou\u2019re going to go to prison \u2013 Warner Bros. is going to arrest you \u2013 you can\u2019t sell Blade Runner stuff\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

These people are idiots. I don\u2019t know how you can possibly, with any kind of dignity in your life, send somebody an e-mail like that. We don\u2019t respond to them. But they\u2019re nuts. A lot of nutty people tend to gravitate toward the fringes of this field. Not the people that spend money, but you get a lot of those armchair experts that don\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like, dude, I\u2019m not going to explain to you where this stuff comes from, or how we can sell this stuff. Go jump in a lake.<\/p>\n

Believe me, if I wasn\u2019t allowed to sell this stuff, they wouldn\u2019t let me sell this stuff. But you get these people that will drive you crazy.<\/p>\n

But, there again, Joanna Cassidy is coming in a few minutes with her costume from Blade Runner. It comes from her. She\u2019s the consignor. We get that every single day. Marina Sirtis, Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, she came in three weeks ago with all her costumes and all her scripts \u2013 direct from her. Every script from every episode of Star Trek she was ever on, and all her costumes that she wore, that she took home. All from her.<\/p>\n

We get that constantly. You can’t get a better source of provenance.<\/p>\n

A couple weeks ago I get a call from Mary Ann Jefferies, Matt Jefferies widow, and she says, \u201cyou\u2019re not going to believe this, the Smithsonian just called up and I didn\u2019t realize, Matt, years ago, had loaned them an Original Series Klingon disruptor \u2013 they had it, on display there, for all these years, and they took the display down, and they\u2019re mailing it back \u2013 do you want it?\u201d<\/p>\n

So we have an original \u2013 with a letter from the Smithsonian \u2013 we have an original Klingon disruptor from the original series. She didn\u2019t even know Matt owned it. It\u2019s mint. Perfect. And it will be in this auction.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s where the stuff comes from. Most of it comes from people like that.<\/p>\n

Stanley Kramer\u2019s daughter came in and gave us his complete shooting script with corrections from It\u2019s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.<\/p>\n

Jeff Morrow\u2019s daughter came in, we have his complete shooting script from The Island Earth, totally annotated by him.<\/p>\n

So when you have that source of provenance, that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n

Q. In your catalog, and I know you do this to some extent, but do you think you might put more of a focus on the provenance and authenticity, where you explain more where it comes from, or, do a lot of times, the consignors not want it known?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, we try to tell people \u2013 we tell all the consignors \u2013 it helps get better money for their pieces. We urge them; we say look, it\u2019s better for us if we say it came from you \u2013 sign the COA.<\/p>\n

Carrie Henn, the girl that was in Aliens, we put some of her stuff in a few auctions ago, and it did phenomenal, because it came with a letter from her. It makes a huge difference, when you\u2019re literally getting it from the source \u2013 people like that \u2013 it came from them.<\/p>\n

Q. Is there a sort of \u201cprofile\u201d of the typical customer, or does it just run the gamut?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You know what it is? Go any Friday, Saturday night to a movie in a major city and look at the audience. Those are your clients. You\u2019re going to have rich people, poor people, blue collar, white collar\u2026 They\u2019re all there. They all watch movies. They all collect stuff. There\u2019s no color barrier, income bracket \u2013 whoever is a fan of a film or television show.<\/p>\n

Q. What kind of pointers and advice would you offer to a collector who\u2019s never participated in a live auction? Someone who\u2019s only bought things from dealers, or on eBay?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I think the thing about a live auction, the great thing about it is you can participate \u2013 if you like eBay, you can bid over eBay Live Auctions, you can phone in your bid, and you can also set a limit.<\/p>\n

You also have a real sense of what something is worth. We try to have really realistic estimates. Like the guy who consigned the X-Men claws, you know [laughter] \u2013 if you put something in at a realistic amount of money, and you don\u2019t go crazy, the stuff will do really, really well.<\/p>\n

If you put it in for some outrageous number, it\u2019s just not going to sell.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s what collectors are starting to learn, that, you know, you buy something at public auction, you have a public record, you\u2019re pretty certain it\u2019s real, it\u2019s just a safer place to play, I think.<\/p>\n

A lot of the stuff you buy from dealers, it\u2019s like, \u201chey, come look in my trunk, look what I just got\u201d. It\u2019s just \u201cwalked off the lot\u201d. Who wants to deal with that?<\/p>\n

And there really aren\u2019t \u2013 other than Stephen Lane \u2013 there are no dealers. No dealers that actually have a business.<\/p>\n

You do have a bunch of people who collect props that sell things. But there are no dealers.<\/p>\n

To me, a dealer has to have a presence, a website, a retail store \u2013 he does this full time, he\u2019s not a doctor and does this as a hobby.<\/p>\n

To me, a dealer needs to make his living doing this.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think there are any others, apart from Stephen, that I know of.<\/p>\n

So there again, you\u2019ve got to be careful about what you buy on eBay. There\u2019s a lot of junk. There\u2019s a lot of fake stuff on eBay. People make stories up. You\u2019ve gotta be really, really careful.<\/p>\n

Q. What do you think about the different studio sanctioned resellers where they\u2019re selling lots of product from new movies, basically to promote the movies upon release? How do you think that impacts the hobby, in terms of the amount of new product coming onto the marketplace, and just the fact that it runs the gamut, just in terms of \u201cunloading the prop truck\u201d?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s mostly junk.<\/p>\n

Look, Spider-man with Sony, they cut the costume up\u2026<\/p>\n

You know, the guy who\u2019s spending $40,000 on a ripped up cowl? Good luck.<\/p>\n

If you walked in here with that, I would never take it on, even at $20,000. You\u2019re done. You buy that at $40,000, there\u2019s no other consumer but you that\u2019s ever going to buy that.<\/p>\n

The other thing you\u2019ve got to be careful of is that they don\u2019t know the difference between \u201chero\u201d and \u201cstunt\u201d. They don\u2019t. They could sell you something that they say is \u201chero\u201d that\u2019s \u201cstunt\u201d, or \u201cstunt\u201d that\u2019s \u201chero\u201d. It\u2019s the same thing. You\u2019ve really got to look at what you\u2019re buying.<\/p>\n

If they have twenty guns in a box, and they say, \u201coh, this is Jessica Alba\u2019s blah blah blah..\u201d, how do you know that? How do you really know?<\/p>\n

Some of the places, like New Line, are really good. But some of the other things you see, you have to be really look at the stuff.<\/p>\n

Q. I thought New Line Auctions was great as well, but, unfortunately, they\u2019ve shut down their operations\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, but they were good. They had great stuff. It just doesn\u2019t make them any money, and it\u2019s probably more of a hassle than it\u2019s worth.
\nBut if you look at the stuff online \u2013 Universal Backlot \u2013 it\u2019s all junk, $25, $50 for a newspaper \u2013 movies you wouldn\u2019t want anything from\u2026<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not seeing Lord of the Rings, you\u2019re not seeing X-Men\u2026<\/p>\n

Q. Do you think, just because of the sheer quantity of product, that a lot of that just isn\u2019t going to serious, dedicated original prop hobbyists? Do you think it\u2019s more people buying things just on a whim?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two things.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got the arbitrage guy looking to buy something and put it in my auction: \u201cI just got a hero \u2018whatever\u2019 costume for $600, I know Joe can get $3,000\u201d Well, that\u2019s great. If it\u2019s real, I\u2019m happy to take it \u2013 we can\u2019t watch everything.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, yeah, I think people see something, think it\u2019s fun. They want something, they\u2019re buying from a studio, they know it\u2019s real. They buy some casino chips from whatever, a James Bond film. That\u2019s fun. At least you know it\u2019s real. It\u2019s \u201cfrom the production\u201d. I think that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Q. What do you think distinguishes Profiles in History from the other auction houses that don\u2019t necessarily specialize in movie props, like Chrisities, and Bonhams?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the bottom line is the level of expertise of the people who are working there. I think we know more. I think we treat the material much more reverently than they do. Our catalogs are full of video grabs, full of write ups and reference.<\/p>\n

When we look at a costume, we pull up video grabs and spend, sometimes, hours trying to figure out if this thing is real or not.<\/p>\n

Even with the greatest provenance in the world, we want to really make sure we can see that costume in that scene, before we say so.<\/p>\n

Look, you can always buy stuff at these places, but again, you\u2019ve got to do the research. You can\u2019t just assume, because it\u2019s at Christies or Sothebys or wherever it\u2019s going to be, that it\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

That sale in England \u2013 the Bonhams Angels sale \u2013 they had so much junk, it was ridiculous. Whoever did that, didn\u2019t do it properly \u2013 good and bad. I bought some stuff that was a bargain, because it wasn\u2019t identified properly, and I have friends who bought stuff that wasn\u2019t real. It\u2019s like, \u201coh my God, what is this?\u201d<\/p>\n

They went through racks, \u201coh, that looks like Braveheart, let\u2019s pull it off the shelf\u201d. It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not doing any justice to the buyer at all.<\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s all we do. We do the historical documents. We do the movie memorabilia.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not selling baseball cards, and comic books, and stamps, and coins\u2026<\/p>\n

Even a place like Heritage, they\u2019ve got so much\u2026 It\u2019s like a Wal-Mart. They\u2019re just flushing as much stuff through the catalogs as possible.<\/p>\n

We turn down thousands of pieces. We get lists every day from people, \u201chere\u2019s 27 items\u201d, I\u2019ll pick out three. \u201cHere\u2019s 40 items\u201d, I\u2019ll pick out two.<\/p>\n

We just don\u2019t take everything.<\/p>\n

I try to take things that I think are interesting.<\/p>\n

When we put a catalog together, a lot of energy is going into picking out what goes into the catalog. I\u2019ll never have too much of one thing. I try to have a lot of everything. I don\u2019t think anybody [else] put s that kind of care into it because we genuinely like it. We\u2019re all collectors, all the geeks that like this stuff.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n

Q. You\u2019ve been recognized as the place to go to get high dollars for props, for many of the reasons you\u2019ve said. Do you think there\u2019s any other particular reason you\u2019ve been so successful? Is there a certain magic ingredient to what you do?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s because we didn\u2019t give up in the beginning.<\/p>\n

Up until recently, all these companies had stopped doing this.<\/p>\n

Only recently, because of my success, have they started to sell this stuff again.<\/p>\n

They all left. Sotheby’s is gone completely. Christies wasn\u2019t having sales. Bonhams stopped having sales \u2013 they fired the whole department, they fired Michael Schwartz. They stopped.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, it\u2019s like, \u201che\u2019s getting all this publicity\u201d, internally, you hear all these stories, \u201cyou can get P.R. with this stuff, let\u2019s open these departments again\u201d.<\/p>\n

I really think that we\u2019ve made it a viable collectible.<\/p>\n

When we do a P.R. campaign, it\u2019s not uncommon for us to get a million hits to our website. A million hits is a lot. We have a full-time publicist, and we promote this to death.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see Chrisites or Sotheby’s or Bonhams at Comic Con.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re there. We\u2019re spending $20,000 or $30,000 to be there for six days. I don\u2019t bring a thing, not one thing for sale. It\u2019s your consignments, people like you, I\u2019ve got your stuff there and I\u2019m out there, talking it up. \u201cHey, look at the Wolverine claws, let me tell you a great story about where they came from \u2013 these are really cool, you\u2019re never going to get them another like these, here\u2019s why\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re constantly trying to get new people; it\u2019s just an alternative way of collecting, it\u2019s not for everyone. \u201cHere\u2019s what we do, here\u2019s what we do, here\u2019s what we do\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

That grows and grows and grows and grows and grows. You get referral after referral.<\/p>\n

Brian said to me the other day, \u201cJoanna Cassidy is bringing in her Blade Runner stuff\u201d. I say, \u201cwhere did that come from?\u201d [Brian says,] \u201cOh, the Blade Runner guy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Marina Sirtis, that was a referral from the people that run the Star Trek convention.<\/p>\n

All these people that have done all this, they talk to their friends and say, \u201chey, I had a good experience; they do this, they do that\u2026\u201d.
\nThere\u2019s a grassroots effort.<\/p>\n

Again, I think it\u2019s because we do care and we\u2019ve elevated this [market].<\/p>\n

My biggest thing is about elevating the palpable awareness of this field.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about making money. This stuff should be saved and taken care of \u2013 it\u2019s really important, if you\u2019re into this. There\u2019s no museum. There\u2019s no place to put it. So it\u2019s up to use collectors to save it.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re saving part of Hollywood history. It\u2019s really important, because it\u2019s one of the things that\u2019s truly American that\u2019s influenced the world.<\/p>\n

Film and television influence how we cut our hair, what we wear, how we speak, who we think is beautiful. In America \u2013 celebrities \u2013 they\u2019re our royalty. We don\u2019t have the King and Queen \u2013 we have Angelina and Brad, right? But that\u2019s what it is \u2013 that\u2019s what drives our society.<\/p>\n

To me, that\u2019s really important. It\u2019s that we care. People come in and say, \u201cwow, you guys are really enthusiastic about [the hobby]\u201d. We tell [our consignors], \u201chey, we\u2019re going to give it our best possible shot\u201d.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t make any promises \u2013 like $42,000 for your claws \u2013 but I\u2019m going to give it my best possible shot. There won\u2019t be a collector on this planet that doesn\u2019t know about these auctions. And, because we do so much, I think we have 30,000 people on our e-mail list. We\u2019re constantly barraging the world: \u201chey, look at what we\u2019ve got for sale, this is a cool thing to collect, this is a cool thing to collect\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is a cool thing to collect. I do 400-500 interviews a year on radio and television. It\u2019s the same thing: \u201cthis is a cool thing to collect\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pop culture. $77 million dollars for an Andy Warhol painting. $42,000 for Wolverine\u2019s claws.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re both pop culture. You can\u2019t argue with me that one\u2019s better than the other. They\u2019re different.<\/p>\n

But, it\u2019s like, Andy Warhol, okay, he was an icon of the 60s. To me, it\u2019s the same. There\u2019s no difference, to me, between the two buyers, and their desire to own them. The same desire, when you buy a Van Gough, or you buy your Wolverine claws. It\u2019s the same desire \u2013 you want to own them \u2013 for whatever reason it is, something makes you go pitter patter: \u201cI want this\u201d.<\/p>\n

[Art collectors] are just plunking down a lot more money. But I think with the pop culture stuff, when you see the Jasper Johns, the Warhols, all that stuff, I think that\u2019s going to have a dovetail effect into our field. Not only for the very best. I mean, if you\u2019re going to collect in this field for that reason, you\u2019ve got to only collect the very most iconic, the very, very best. And really, it\u2019s very, very difficult to explain to people.<\/p>\n

For instance, someone will come in and say, \u201cI\u2019ve got all this stuff from Die Hard\u201d. Nobody cares. In the 80s, it was huge. Bruce Willis? Nobody wants Bruce Willis. Nobody knows who Bruce Willis was.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019ve got all this Arnold stuff from Eraser, blah, blah, blah\u201d\u2026 Nobody cares.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the weirdest thing. Of the contemporary stuff, they are really faddy. You\u2019ve got to make sure, if you\u2019re going to buy something, it had better be The Lord of the Rings. It had better be something that really had long-lasting staying power, because this stuff comes and goes so quickly.<\/p>\n

Television shows. \u201cOh, Buffy.\u201d Well, great, Buffy\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

They want Lost in Space. They want Star Trek. Hogan\u2019s Heroes. Get Smart. McHale\u2019s Navy.<\/p>\n

These are iconic shows that have stood the test of time. Bonanza. Gun Smoke.<\/p>\n

Q. How much time do you think needs to pass before something can be considered timeless?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To me, 20 or 30 years. Even stuff now, from the 70s, like the Brady Bunch\u2026 Okay, the Brady Bunch is now on my list. Partridge Family. Okay, they\u2019ve stood the test of time. But will X-Files? Will anybody care? Who collects X-Files? Nobody anymore. That was a huge craze.<\/p>\n

Will the Sopranos be the coolest thing ever? You just don\u2019t know, if not enough time has gone by.<\/p>\n

But you can look at epic films and say\u2026 Well, look at recent years, what do you have? King Kong, Aliens\u2026 It\u2019s not hard to look at these things, these sci-fi films\u2026 Aliens, My God, that was one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. Blade Runner. What was the last movie like Blade Runner to come out? There really hasn\u2019t been one. Those are the iconic things that are going to hold up.<\/p>\n

Q. Back in the 70s and 80s, science fiction films and action films tended to be more eventful, because they just didn\u2019t make as many as they do now. Because of that, I think the really good ones stood out. Now, it\u2019s like, every summer, it\u2019s the competition of all the different sequels, and so many films of this genre, that it seems like it takes that much more now for something to stand out, as compared with the 70s and 80s. Do you agree?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, there\u2019s a lot of junk now. It\u2019s all sequels, like you say. The problem is getting something that\u2019s original. And now, instead of coming up with original things, they\u2019re going out and robbing the comic book franchise. They\u2019re great movies, but they\u2019re not new ideas.<\/p>\n

When you deal with something like the X-Men, the X-Men are probably the most historic comic – bigger than Superman, bigger than Batman \u2013 [the most historic] franchise in all of comics. They\u2019re it. King of the hill. That\u2019s never going to go away, but that\u2019s not because of these movies. That\u2019s because of John Byrne, Jack Kirby, Dave Cockrum, and millions and millions and millions of fans, over the years, reading these comic books, building this legion of X-Men fanatics out there, that watch these movies. That\u2019s what people have to understand, you\u2019ve got this built-in audience that\u2019s never going to leave. It\u2019s like Star Wars, it\u2019s so ingrained into our consciousness.<\/p>\n

But you get these other movies \u2013 V for Vendetta \u2013 it\u2019s cool, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

300 was a great movie, but it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not going to have the staying power of the X-Men. Because the X-Men has so much amped up behind it already, it\u2019s kind of like, \u201coh, and we\u2019ve done an X-Men movie\u2026\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201coh, we\u2019re giving you an extra great thing, X-Men fans\u2026\u201d They\u2019re just merchandising back into a giant franchise. With or without those movies, it\u2019s still healthy and thriving.<\/p>\n

Just like Superman \u2013 you\u2019ve already got a legion of fans. They want to see the movie, but their interest in Superman is never going to change. That\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re not even making those kind of movies now. Name, in the last 10 years, a great science fiction movie that you think is really phenomenal and it\u2019s hard. This was interesting, or that was interesting, but they\u2019re just not great stories, you don\u2019t have the compelling acting. It\u2019s like pretty faces running around in tight suits\u2026<\/p>\n

Q. \u2026and great effects?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all effects. I mean, the Matrix movies, the first one was phenomenal. I think Matrix will last. He\u2019s such a good actor. It\u2019s such a great character. I think Matrix, in 20 years, [Neo] will be a remembered character. That\u2019s probably the only one I can think of. Keanu Reeves, a hero Matrix costume: $50,000, if you had a complete costume. That will only continue to grow. It\u2019s not going to be worth $5,000 in 10 years.<\/p>\n

Other films? Good luck.<\/p>\n

Q. Is there a favorite piece, that you\u2019ve put through your auctions, that really stands out?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The best thing I ever had \u2013 I didn\u2019t sell it at auction \u2013 my favorite piece – I had the hourglass from the Wizard of Oz. I had the hero, hand carved, 60 pound hourglass. When they did the scene, [gesturing] Margaret Hamilton is only about this big, when they did the close-ups of her, in the castle, when she\u2019s turning it over, it\u2019s a wooden hourglass. When they go outside, and she\u2019s carrying it, it\u2019s a wooden hourglass. When she raises it over her head, to throw it at Dorothy, it\u2019s a paper mache hourglass. It was way too heavy for this little lady, and she had to throw it, over and over again, so they made paper mache ones and throw those. Four of them survived, but the wooden one survived. I bought that years ago. Then Blockbuster bought it for a fortune from me. That\u2019s probably the only piece I regret selling. I think it was the greatest thing I\u2019ve ever owned, personally. It was just an iconic part of that movie. To me, I\u2019d rather have that than the ruby slippers. But, everybody likes something different.<\/p>\n

Q. Do you tend to like props, or wardrobe, or set pieces\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I like everything. I like production art. I like scripts. I just look at every piece for what it is. Even a great piece of photography. To me, it\u2019s all great.<\/p>\n

We have thousands of clients. The guy who comes in who\u2019s all enthusiastic about photography\u2026 I\u2019m enthusiastic about photography too.<\/p>\n

Look this is the best image of Carol Lombard. People are like, \u201coh my God\u201d. It was the best image of Carol Lombard ever sold. I didn\u2019t make it worth $9,000 \u2013 I put it in a $400-$600, the reserve was $200. They decided what it was, the collecting world. And it takes more than two people to drive the price to $9,000. But people are starting to recognize that, \u201cwow, it was really that good\u201d.<\/p>\n

So I can\u2019t ever say, just because it\u2019s the prop, it\u2019s not as good as the photo. They\u2019re all the same to me. They\u2019re all cool. I love everything. I have less interest in some stuff, like we get Madonna things, I don\u2019t have any interest personally, not to say Madonna\u2019s not a great personality. But would I ever want to own it? No, it\u2019s cool, it\u2019s fine, I can understand why somebody else would want to collect it, but it\u2019s not something I would want to collect. But that would never change our enthusiasm to sell it, because someone else out there really collects that. You have to be enthusiastic and selective about everything you take, because there\u2019s somebody out there that wants it as much as you want what you want.<\/p>\n

Q. One thing I\u2019ve noticed about your auctions and issues eBay policies, in selling a non-firearms that looks like a firearm\u2026 Have you ever considered affixing an orange plug to the end in the photos so that the pieces can be bid on over the Internet, via eBay Live Auctions?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

eBay\u2026 They don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

I had Oscar Schindler\u2019s glasses from Schindler’s List, and we said \u201cplastic glasses, replica tortoise shell\u201d.<\/p>\n

We get an e-mail from them, \u201cTortoises are an endangered species\u201d. They took it off.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s plastic! Yeah, but it\u2019s plastic tortoise, that\u2019s endangered\u2026<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as plastic tortoise \u2013 it\u2019s imitating tortoise\u2026<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t care. It\u2019s off.<\/p>\n

You can buy a knife 18 feet long and kill somebody, but you can\u2019t buy a rubber rifle. Plug, no plug, you can\u2019t sell it. They have their keywords, and they just pop the stuff off.<\/p>\n

Q. Have you thought about putting a note in your catalog on those items: \u201cphone, fax, in person bidding only\u201d, or something to that effect, so that buyers don\u2019t think the item has been pulled from the catalog when it doesn\u2019t show up on eBay?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We probably could. Because we have the website, and if it\u2019s in the catalog, they probably know, but people are pretty good about finding out. Anybody who\u2019s really serious \u2013 they get the catalog. They go to the website. They look at eBay. They interact. It\u2019s not like you get these people that fall out of outer space and spend a million dollars. They pretty much know. They ask the questions.<\/p>\n

eBay is great, because you do get new people \u2013 you get new people all the time. But then, the opposite problem, putting it in the catalog doesn\u2019t help the guy who\u2019s on eBay. How do you fix the problem, of the guy who doesn\u2019t get the catalog, who doesn\u2019t know it\u2019s there to begin with? All you can do is make an \u201cAbout Me\u201d page, and drive them to your website. So I think it only affects the guy who doesn\u2019t get the catalog. And that\u2019s just eBay \u2013 they have their weirdness. You just have to work around it. Some of the things they kick off \u2013 it just amazes me.<\/p>\n

Q. Do you have a sense of how many of your bidders are on the Internet, versus in person, proxy, or phone?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get 1,000 people who participate on eBay. So of them, that\u2019s maybe 25% of the auction. We get a lot of bids through the Internet. Internet, eBay, I\u2019ve got to qualify that, it\u2019s eBay Live Auctions. So how many are eBay people who just stumble across us, and how many of those are existing clients who just like to bid online? So they\u2019re almost impossible questions to answer, because a lot of people like to bid online now.<\/p>\n

Q. I know eBay doesn\u2019t have this capability, but have you ever thought about doing some kind of live feed, here, so bidders online can see the action in real time?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to do that down the road, we\u2019re going to offer streaming video on our website. Now that we\u2019ve moved here, we can do it, because there\u2019s much more sophistication in technology \u2013 we have T1s and stuff here \u2013 with fiber optics, we can do that with streaming video. You\u2019ll have to go to our website to watch it, but you can watch it online.<\/p>\n

Q. And you seem to be having about three auction events per years \u2013 does that seem to be the right balance?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, three to four per year. We\u2019ll probably have four this year. Three to four, that\u2019s about as much as we can handle. It\u2019s a lot of stuff, we\u2019re always behind. To keep that pace up, it\u2019s pretty tough.<\/p>\n

Q. And I\u2019ve noticed your catalog keeps getting a little bit bigger each time\u2026 Do you think you are settling in on the quantity of items that you do per auction?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem is that we have so many consignments, and so many consignors \u2013 it\u2019s hard to know where to stop. Like this catalog, it\u2019s going to have 1,200 lots, it\u2019s going to be a two-day sale. It was going to be a small sale, but it just grew and grew and grew.<\/p>\n

What happens with me is, if I start getting a theme in the catalog, like I have a lot of photographs this time, then I tend to take more. Then you have a lot of \u201cthis\u201d, and might want more of \u201cthat\u201d.<\/p>\n

My son\u2019s dream is, 10 lots, each $100,000. Then we go home in fifteen minutes! I\u2019d love to have that auction \u2013 20 lots, $100,000 each, let\u2019s go home [son smiling and nodding in the background, \u201cthat would be fun!\u201d].<\/p>\n

These auctions are a lot of work, but I hope I have one of those someday.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t want people to say, \u201conly rich people can buy from here, everything\u2019s $50,000\u201d.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the case. I want to have $200, $500, $800,000\u2026 I want to get everybody.<\/p>\n

I want everybody to be able to collect. Everybody to be able to enjoy what they buy. Everybody.<\/p>\n

In this sale, I have 200 scripts. But I have great scripts. New people will buy the scripts.<\/p>\n

My goal is to get more people to collect this stuff. With more people, we all benefit, because it makes the hobby just that much more enjoyable.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my sole goal, and if I have to have 2,000 lot auctions to do that, you know, I will.<\/p>\n

But, because we\u2019re here [in Calabasas Hills], the catalogs will probably be bigger and we\u2019ll have more auctions, because we\u2019re more efficient here, we can do much more work here.<\/p>\n

Q. I\u2019ve also noticed, with the last few auctions, increasingly more posters offered. Do you find that there are dedicated poster collectors, and dedicated prop collectors, or is there a good amount of crossover interest and collecting?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

People collect everything. If you\u2019re interested in a movie, and your favorite movie is, say, Blade Runner, which is one of my favorite movies\u2026 I bought a Blade Runner poster. I\u2019m not a poster collector, but I think it\u2019s cool to have a Blade Runner poster, which I\u2019ve hung right up on my wall. $300 bucks. I think people tend to do that. \u201cOh, I loved that movie, I\u2019ll buy it.\u201d \u201cOh, a photograph, that\u2019s my favorite film, it\u2019s only $400\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s what collecting is. Showing people, here, here are all these things you can collect. You might not be the poster person, but for me, I want to have a representative sampling of everything that goes into making a television show or a motion picture, whether it\u2019s behind the camera or in front of the camera, I think I should have everything in that \u201cworld\u201d for sale. I\u2019m not going to sell really commercial, I\u2019m not going to sell toys and stuff, but anything that\u2019s really close to the field, like the posters, the advertising, that kind of stuff. I think it\u2019s cool, because it\u2019s really visual.<\/p>\n

Somebody might say, \u201cOh, The Day the Earth Stood Still poster, that\u2019s cool\u201d. The guy who bought that for $12,000 or $13,000 is a prop collector, it\u2019s his favorite movie. He said, \u201coh, I\u2019ve always wanted one of these\u201d.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ll do more and more of that. And to get good, quality props is not easy. So I sell whatever I can get. If I only have 400 props, I\u2019ve got to have 400 of something else.<\/p>\n

You never want to have too much of everything. Once I did a sale of just costumes, and it just doesn\u2019t work. You\u2019ve got to have costumes, props, set pieces \u2013 you\u2019ve got to really vary it. You\u2019ve got to have some of everything. You\u2019ve got to say, I\u2019m just going to put out the best of what I can get, and hope that somebody wants it.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks again to Mr. Maddalena for the invitation and hospitality, as well as Brian Chanes for the tour of the facilities and discussion of items in the upcoming event in August.<\/p>\n

Jason De Bord<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph Maddalena is the owner of Profiles in History, the one auction house dedicated to hosting extensive original prop auctions in Los Angeles several times a year. As noted in my Featured Interview Preview, my initial first hand impressions of Mr. Maddalena were formed from the action and excitement of the Han Solo blaster auction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1173,952,1180],"tags":[772,928,773,953,63,448,912,960,211,966,218,22,962,410,961,911,914,100,384,817,799,965,957,19,18,20,964,228,227,226,281,157,775,23,956,959,954],"class_list":{"0":"post-335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorials-features","7":"category-featured-interviews","8":"category-movie-guns","9":"category-auction-event-profiles-in-history","10":"tag-armorer","11":"tag-armory","12":"tag-armourer","13":"tag-armoury","14":"tag-auction","15":"tag-batman","16":"tag-blaster","17":"tag-bonanza","18":"tag-collection","19":"tag-dirty-harry","20":"tag-event","21":"tag-film","22":"tag-godfather","23":"tag-gun","24":"tag-gunsmoke","25":"tag-han-solo","26":"tag-heat","27":"tag-hollywood","28":"tag-indiana-jones","29":"tag-john-wayne","30":"tag-little-johns","31":"tag-magnificent-seven","32":"tag-magnum-pi","33":"tag-movie","34":"tag-original","35":"tag-prop","36":"tag-raiders-of-the-lost-ark","37":"tag-screen-used","38":"tag-screenused","39":"tag-service","40":"tag-show","41":"tag-star-wars","42":"tag-stembridge","43":"tag-television","44":"tag-terminator","45":"tag-true-lies","46":"tag-wrangeler","47":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nFeatured Interview: Joe Maddalena, Profiles in History - Movie Prop Collecting with Jason DeBord's Original Prop Blog Film & TV Prop, Costume, Hollywood Memorablia Pop Culture Resource<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.originalprop.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/10\/featured-interview-joe-maddalena-profiles-in-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Featured Interview: Joe Maddalena, Profiles in History - Movie Prop Collecting with Jason DeBord's Original Prop Blog Film & TV Prop, Costume, Hollywood Memorablia Pop Culture Resource\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joseph Maddalena is the owner of Profiles in History, the one auction house dedicated to hosting extensive original prop auctions in Los Angeles several times a year. 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