John Rabe's veg oil diary ... Charles Solomon on the pros and cons of animation art auctions ... beer tasting for women ... Frank McCourt's secret plan backfires ... Madeleine Brand can't break up with her car, but she kinda wants to ... Tess Vigeland of Marketplace Money tals carbuying strategies ...
Animation Art Auction - Pro and Con from Charles Solomon
There’s a big auction of artwork from animated films today at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Off Ramp animation expert Charles Solomon says that's good, and bad. CLICK THROUGH for Charles' script.
(Hollywood Auction 44 will take place May 14-15 at the Saban Theatre, 844o Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills. The animation auction is on May 14.)
Charles Solomon writes:
As someone who spends a lot of time writing and thinking about animation, I’m of two minds about this and other auctions of animation art.
Animation has long been the unloved stepchild of film and traditional fine arts. Its artists rarely receive the credit they deserve for being among the finest draftsmen and designers working today. Many of them are the true heirs to a tradition of fine drawing that goes back to Renaissance.
When animation artwork brings in big bucks, artists get more respect in America. During the 80’s, buoyed by the booming economy and the success of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, art from animated film became a hot commodity. It climaxed in May, 1989, when a collector paid almost $470,000 for two background set-ups from the 1934 Disney cartoon “Orphan’s Benefit.” But, when one major buyer lost interest and sold off his collection, prices plummeted. Those two set-ups that brought close to half-a-million? Just three years later they sold for about $150,000.
Now, after two stagnant decades, the market seems to be coming back—partially due to the success of recent animated films. I’ll root for anything that gets animation and animators the respect they deserve, but as prices rise, their artwork is again becoming the exclusive preserve of a few Hollywood moguls and foreign collectors. Gustaf Tenggren's dazzling drawing for the opening shot of “Pinocchio,” when Jiminy Cricket hops into the village, has a pre-sale estimate of $80,000 to $100,000.
Some animation artists are now avid collectors themselves, who are eager to acquire the work of their predecessors -- like Mary Blair, Joe Grant, and Disney’s Nine Old Men. These collectors use the art to study … and if it’s locked up in private collections, that not only makes it harder for artists making films to see and study them, it limits the influence of the great work.
A hundred grand is beyond the means of animators —and most mortals. So I’ll be watching outcome of auction with great curiosity, eager to see what brings in most money, and worrying where the art will end up.
Nick Roman's Elegant Dodger Solution
KPCC’s Managing Editor, Nick Roman, has an elegant solution to The Dodger Situation. He writes:
Whoever winds up buying the Dodgers might have current owner Frank McCourt … as their landlord. Last Sunday, LA Times sportswriter Bill Shaikin reported that soon after Frank McCourt bought the Dodgers, he broke the Dodger empire into bits and pieces – Dodger Stadium here, parking lots there. So now, according to the Times, the Dodgers pay rent to play in Dodger Stadium, about $14 million a year. That’s more rent than any other team … seven times what the Angels pay to Anaheim to play in Angel Stadium. Shaikin was hinting that the notion of McCourt as landlord will frighten away potential buyers if Major League Baseball tries to sell the team. Maybe McCourt had that in mind all along. But what looks like a clever move by McCourt might not be at all. ... CLICK THROUGH for the whole story.
... Let’s say you buy the Dodgers without Dodger Stadium or the parking lots in the deal. All you have to do is make a phone call to AEG’s Tim Leiweke. “Hey, Tim. Instead of building a 75,000 seat football stadium that’s gonna get used a dozen times a year, why not build a 45,000 seat baseball stadium that would be filled 90 times or more?” Vin Scully Field at AEG Park would be pricey, but still cheaper than the billion dollars or so a football stadium would cost.
Let’s face it: Dodger Stadium is almost 50 years old. And nearly every major league baseball stadium built within 15 years of Dodger Stadium’s is gone, from Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium to Shea Stadium to Three Rivers Stadium to the Vet in Philly. Realistically, only Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium and Anaheim’s Angel Stadium still have years ahead as baseball home fields, thanks to major renovations that have made them two of the nicest ballparks around. Major renovations at Dodger Stadium would be difficult and expensive and Frank McCourt the landlord doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who can foot a nine-figure bill.
So go ahead and buy the Dodgers. Then give Tim Leiweke a call and tell him you’re ready to bring the team downtown. Then call Anaheim and get a price on rent for three seasons or so of Dodger baseball in Orange County while Leiweke builds a new stadium. Tell them you’ll match what the Angels pay: $2 million a year. What the heck! Make it $3 million. In an era of tight budgets, Anaheim will take it – and you’ll save $11 million a year in rent. That’s enough to buy a very good ballplayer – or make a nice down payment on Dodger Stadium renovations if you owned the stadium.
Now call Frank McCourt. Tell him you’ll buy Dodger Stadium and the parking lots. Tell him about your calls to Tim Leiweke and to Anaheim. Tell him you’re ready to move to Anaheim for three years so you can fix up Dodger Stadium, or so Leiweke can build a new ballpark four miles away. It doesn’t matter which. Now tell him the price you’ll pay for Dodger Stadium and the parking lots goes down every minute.
Remind him that if there’s no sale, he loses his sole tenant right now. Tell him when his property taxes are due.
Then hang up.
On a drinking gender bender: Eagle Rock Brewery Women's Beer Forum
The craft beer scene in Los Angeles has been picking up steam in the past few years, but Andrea Domanick has the story of one brewer that’s trying—and succeeding—at changing one of beer’s most ubiquitous and annoying stereotypes: a women-only beer tasting.
Cinespia celebrates 10 years of cemetery movies
For ten years now, LA residents have been lining up to get into Hollywood Forever Cemetery. They aren't waiting to pay their respects, or visit a famous grave, but to see a classic movie under the moonlight - sometimes just a few feet from where the stars of the film are buried. Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson talked about the 10- year anniversary with John Wyatt. Wyatt founded Cinespia, the group that organizes the cemetery screenings.
Auto Adventures from Marketplace Money
Marketplace Money, the esteemed personal finance program, recently focused on the car culture, doing a whole show out of Los Angeles. Host Tess Vigeland talked with two experts about car buying, Madeleine Brand talked about her boyfriend the car, and Off-Ramp host John Rabe described his travails with a vegetable-oil burning Mercedes.
Listen to John's piece above; CLICK THROUGH for the others, plus a link to Marketplace Money's car special, and their special event at the Crawford Family Forum on how to avoid getting ripped off when you buy a car.
(Marketplace Money airs Sunday at 2 on 89.3-KPCC.)
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler on fiction, film, and foreign policy
Haskell Wexler is an academy award winning Cinematographer responsible for films like American Graffiti and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But he was also an underrated director of documentaries touching on topics like sleep deprivation, torture, and the infamous Weather Underground. This past month he discussed his work with a panel of cinematographer at Cinefamily's Silent Movie Theater for a discussion on cinematography put on by the International Documentary Association. Here, he speaks with panel moderator Richard Pearce.
Dinner Party Download waxes poetic with Billy Collins
With former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins in hand, Brendan Francis Newnam and Rico Gagliano help you win your dinner party.