Bride of Frankenstein Cast Autograph Collection (5) (1935). ...

Description

Bride of Frankenstein Cast Autograph Collection (5) (1935). A collection of five signatures on 3" x 5" cards all tied to Bride of Frankenstein. Signatures include: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Thesiger, Carl Laemmle Jr., and Peter Shaw. Overall, in Very Good condition with light staining and toning. Includes an 8 ½" x 11" glossy print of a shot from the film for display purposes only. From the Reggie Del Ray Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: RDR began collecting autographs in the boroughs of NYC in the mid-1960s. The first autograph collected was Sherman Plunkett of the NY Jets football team. Later on, RDR branched out to the entertainment celebrity field. The first autographs collected were Alan Alda and Johnny Olson at the taping of a game show in NYC. The first singer obtained was Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel who was a big favorite of his.
In the early 1970s, RDR collected with a bunch of older NYC collectors. At that time, RDR began to purchase autographs weekly from four of them that they had obtained in person. RDR collected autographs with them outside of hotels and on Broadway. At that time, many celebrities saw shows each night as audience members. Autographs of the cast members were also collected both before and after their performances.
RDR waited for autographs with them at NBC's Live at Five local newscast. Also taped there were Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show, the first version of David Letterman, and Saturday Night Live. Rehearsals were earlier in the week. Also, for a short period, Howard Cosell's Saturday Live was taped there.
Back in those days, there was also a group of music fans that RDR hung out with outside of hotels in NYC. Basically, there were a number of hotels in those days where the majority of singers and groups stayed including the Plaza, the Regency, the Pierre, the Sherry Netherland, the Barbizon Plaza, the St. Moritz, the St. Regis, the Warwick hotel (where RDR obtained Cary Grant and the cast of Happy Days in the same day), and the Waldorf Hotel and Towers.
In those days before computers made it so much easier to find out information on tours and record store appearances, RDR scoured the Village Voice, a weekly NYC paper, the moment it come out late Tuesday night or Wednesday. The Village Voice listed advertisements for the music clubs and theaters from the smallest to the largest arenas enabling one to know when those acts were in town prior to the appearances.
Besides hotels, RDR collected autographs at various rehearsals (soundchecks) of music acts at clubs like The Bottom Line, The Palladium (where they had double and triple bills), Max's Kansas City and other clubs where New Wave and Punk groups performed all over the city, and the Lone Star Café. Many music acts playing downtown stayed at the Gramercy Park Hotel and the Iroquois Hotel, amongst other hotels.
Sometimes acts were on radio shows on stations like 99X where RDR obtained Elton John for the first time on November 27, 1974, as Elton was there being E.J. the D.J. His drummer Nigel Olssen also showed up.
Record stores had artists signing autographs. Tower Records back then allowed one to get anything signed. REM at a very early stage signed autographs at J&R music store near NY's City Hall.
RDR considered himself an archivist purchasing some major collections of autographs, including the Joe Forrest, a collection from four dealers that had purchased them at an auction a few weeks earlier. This collection was in autograph page books and went from the 1950s to the 1990s. It includes actors, politicians, and many music groups with original members on one page at the time they first had hits. Also included were priceless doo-wop groups, soul, R&B, rock, pop groups, and basically all genres.
Later, RDR started to collect at shows like Live with Regis Philbin and the more modern version of The David Letterman Show at NBC, which moved to CBS and taped at the famous Ed Sullivan Theater. Stephen Colbert taped there after he took over for Letterman . Good Morning America, the Today Show, and the first version of After Breakfast on FX were amongst other locations where RDR collected.
From the early days of Rap music, RDR collected outside the radio station WLIB which had on-air live visits on some of their daily and weekly shows.
RDR collected infrequently at the airports, (Kennedy and Newark), including The Night of 100 Stars One and later The Night of 100 Stars 2. It was at the airport that RDR obtained none other than Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols leaving the country.
RDR obtained most country music stars going to Nashville starting in the early 1970s for Fan Fair. Later on, RDR went to the November country award week waiting at studios where nationwide morning radio shows were taped, at the fairgrounds, and at the celebrity country music softball games, and at the Nashville airport.
RDR collected at many concerts he saw in the summer months of the 1970s. He waited before and after the shows for the acts that performed at the Shaffer Music Festival in NY's Central Park. Back in those days, it was quite easy to obtain autographs. It was very informal, unlike later on, especially after the events in September 2001.
In the days before the 2000s, the stars spoke for themselves, unlike in the last twenty years, where a publicist or agent spoke for them. Stars such as Bette Davis or Waylon Jennings, for instance, would spend more time with fans after being told "no they couldn't." The biggest superstars like Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, or Alfred Hitchcock decided when they would sign. In the colder weather, the stars would invite the autograph hounds inside a hotel regardless of whether the hotel staff put up a fuss, saying they were their guests (LOL).