1998 Tony Curtis Drawings
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GUEST:
The one picture right there I got in 1984 when Tony came for the anniversary of "Some Like it Hot," and I went to the dinner-dance, I rented a tuxedo there, and that's how I got that picture. These two pictures I got in 1998 when Tony was here. We started talking and I told him about my mother, who was 87 at the time, and he drew this picture for my mother, and signed it, and dated it. And this one he drew of my hand.
APPRAISER:
So you have a connection to the Hotel del Coronado.
GUEST:
Oh yeah, I work in the elevator, worked there for 38 years.
APPRAISER:
Wow, so you've run the elevator here at the Hotel del Coronado for 38 years.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
"Some Like it Hot" is such a famous thing that occurred here.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
This is probably one of Tony Curtis's most critically acclaimed films that he ever starred in. And he was pretty well-known as an artist as well. Obviously, I think that the hotel itself had a very special place in Tony Curtis's heart because he continued to come back here
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
all these years later, and you were lucky enough to run into him on one of those trips.
GUEST:
Tony used to come here and one of the first things he would say, he'd say, "Where's my buddy Andrew?" He said he wasn't checking in unless I was here. (laughing)
APPRAISER:
Well, that's really sweet. When he passed away, I actually worked on his estate auction, and we sold a good number of his paintings and his drawings.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
And pieces like this did pretty well. People like his abstract style, and they sold, at auction, between $800 and $1,500 depending upon how large they were and how elaborate they were. I think the ones you have here would probably be in the $1,000 range apiece.
GUEST:
Oh really, that's... that's... that's really... that's really nice.
APPRAISER:
The photo that you have here, the greatest value and significance of this photo beyond your memories of the moment that you were meeting him that day was the fact that it actually establishes that you had proximity to him.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And there's no question that they're right.
GUEST:
Yeah.
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