MovieChat Forums > One from the Heart (1982) Discussion > I was at Zoetrope's bankruptcy sale..

I was at Zoetrope's bankruptcy sale..

posted 13 years ago by hrlaser
12 replies | jump to latest

After "One from the Heart" bankrupted Coppola's American Zoetrope Studios, the studio held a sale (not an auction).. of costumes and props from the film.. it was advertised in the L.A. Times, and was, as I remember, a one or two-day weekend affair, held on the actual soundstage where Coppola's recreation of Fremont Street in Las Vegas was filmed.. the soundstage looked much smaller in person than it does in the film, because he used forced perspective..

All of the "old school" Las Vegas hotel casino signs from the title sequence, which were one-of-a-kind, meticulously custom-made, and filled with miles of wiring and thousands of "grain of sand" light bulbs were for sale.. each sign was mounted on an approximately two foot wooden cube, that contained the wiring and power supplies for the tiny lights.. they were each priced at $500.00 and up, depending on their complexity.. I didn't have that kind of money to spend, so, unfortunately, I couldn't buy one, but I've always wondered where they ended up..

There were many racks filled with costumes, pieces of the sets, including the "scrims", and also some huge casino and hotel sign reproductions for sale, but everything was quite expensive.. again, it wasn't an auction.. each item had a price tag on it..

Although I walked out empty-handed, except for a single sheet advertising flyer for the sale we were handed as we entered,(which I've never been able to find again).. I did take my 35mm SLR film camera with me, and shot an entire roll of film at the sale, and still have the original negatives, prints, copies of the prints, and digital (.jpeg) versions of the prints, which have never been published anywhere..

Although there were probably a couple hundred people when my friends and I were at the sale, I didn't see anyone else there with a camera.. unless someone from the studio, or other attendees shot pictures, my photos could quite possibly be unique.. I got some excellent close-ups of the miniature casino signs, crowd shots, and a few shots around the soundstage, where there were still remnants of artwork on the walls, that hadn't been completely eradicated..

It was quite an interesting experience.. I only wish I had had the cash to buy one of those miniature casino signs, even if most of them were non-functional..

[–] peddlerwhospoke 12 years ago

And where can we see these photos?

[–] hrlaser 12 years ago

You can't, because I've chosen not to make them public yet.. I'm trying to contact someone at Zoetrope, to see if they'd be interested in buying the original negatives.. as in, maybe they'd want to use them in a book about the studio, or the film.. or some other author would.. after I saw the film when it was first released, I wrote a fan letter to the Producer, Fred Roos, and he wrote back to me, on Zoetrope letterhead.. and Thanked me for my praise of the film, which was pretty much universally panned, except by the El Lay Times film critic, who loved it.. maybe I'll put ONE of the photos on my server, just so you can see I'm not making up any of this.. if I decide to do that, I'll respond here again, with a link..

[–] HolyShackles 12 years ago

I'd definitely be interested in seeing that too. Those photos sound like they'd be great for something like the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls documentary and/or book which would be a powerful image piece to the end of the New Hollywood era of filmmaking and a sad symbol of the lost hope and glory of the era. If they ever decide to do an updated version of either of those or make something else like it hopefully your work can be included.

[–] hrlaser 12 years ago

I shot two dozen photos, using a Minolta 35mm SLR, and Kodak 100 print film, at the Zoetrope bankruptcy sale.. I have all the original negatives and prints, and I took the negatives to a camera store a few years ago, and had the negatives transferred to digital images on a CD for me.. the resulting .jpegs are 1544 x 1024.. I've posted one of them to my server.. you'll find it at http://www.amigazone.com/images/june/sale.jpg

These negatives and photos are in my possession, in safe Storage, and I've posted only ONE photo, to give you an idea of what it looked like on the soundstage, during the sale.. there were probably a couple hundred people in the room..

I remember there was no charge for admission to the sale, but I could be mistaken..

Every item for sale, and there were hundreds of them, had a price tag on it, so it wasn't an auction.. there may have been costumes and props from other Zoetrope films, besides "One from the Heart" in the sale, but I didn't look at every item, so I don't know for certain.. my main interest was the miniature hotel casino signs..

In the photo, you can see some of the miniature "old school" Las Vegas casino signs and buildings used in the film's opening credits, and other scenes in the movie, (like the tiny gas station, smack in the middle of the photo).. atop their plywood boxes, which were filled with wires, power supplies, transformers, and whatever else it took to illuminate the hundreds of "grain of sand" bulbs inside the signs themselves.. each one was one-of-a-kind, as far as I know.. all looked to be hand-crafted by very skilled prop designers who really knew their art.. some of the letters on the hotel signs with marquees had fallen off.. I have a lot of close-up shots.. they were all powered up and illuminated, so potential buyers could see they still operated, but, if I remember correctly, there were no guarantees given, and no returns accepted..

On the wall, way in the back, is the "Golden Nugget" sign, that was used in the title sequence, through which Coppola ran a snorkel camera, which then tilted downwards, onto his simulated Fremont Street crowd, and towards and through the window of a travel agency, where Terri Garr was fiddling with some things..

That shot reminds me a lot of a shot in "Citizen Kane", when Orson Wells created a seamless shot with his legendary cinematographer, Gregg Toland, and in one continuous motion, the camera went towards a nightclub, through its sign on the roof, and down through a skylight, into the nightclub, where the reporter was interviewing the second Mrs. Kane..

Anyway.. some of my photos at the Zoetrope sale, are tight close-ups of the miniature hotel signs, some are of racks of costumes, mannequins.. some are of bigger signs that were still mounted to, or just leaning against the walls..

I don't remember the exact date of the sale.. some friends told me they had seen a small ad about it in the El Lay Times, and we went to it together.. as I mentioned earlier, I didn't see anyone else with a camera there, although we weren't there all day, so it's possible other attendees shot photos.. or not.. I have no idea..

The photo I put on my server is Copyright (C) 1983 - 2012, HR Laser, all rights reserved, and is for your own personal amusement.. I do NOT give permission to anyone reading this, either on IMDB or through a search engine, to post the photo anywhere else, on any Web site, for any reason, at any time.. and it is guaranteed to be removed from my server, at my whim, at any time, so, depending on when you read this, it may or may not still be there.. NONE of the other photos I shot are posted anywhere..

If you have any other questions, holler away :-) ..

[–] peddlerwhospoke 12 years ago

very cool sir. I hope you can convince someone to include them in some way or form. If not you could always publish the book yourself through a kickstart or something.

There's a book out there of one photographer's brief session with Bob Dylan when he first arrived in New York, which can't be a highly popular book.

So, I'm saying it could be done.

[–] hrlaser 12 years ago

I have a few frieds who have self-published books.. it's a lot of work.. one friend spent years working on a coffee table history book of Venice and Santa Monica, including Pacific Ocean Park.. he wrote thousands of words.. there's really no other book like it, but he couldn't even convince local bookstores to carry it.. he is / was known as "Postcard Man", and still has a cart on the Venice beach boardwalk.. he's also a professional photographer, and has an immense collection, as in thousands, of postcards of that area, including Vintage "chrome" cards, and those he shot himself, and a Venice History Web site.. http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/ - you can see the book there..

He's spent years working on a similar book about Coney Island, and as far as I know, he's still working on it, on and off..

He's told me many times how people walking by his cart stop and look at his display, pick up his book, flip through it, say "nice book", then put it back down, and walk away.. once in a while, one shows up on eBay.. I have an autographed copy he gave me.. self-publishing costs a lot of money for color printing and binding.. then, getting people to buy it is another matter..

I can sense the frustration in his voice, when, after putting so much time, work, research, and money into creating some books, he has so much trouble selling them..

I don't claim to know the whole history of Zoetrope.. I'm not in the film industry.. the reason I went to their bankruptcy sale back in 1983, was because I loved "One from the Heart", and wanted to buy something that was actually used in the film, but everything at the sale was way over my budget.. like I mentioned, they tagged those miniature signs at $500.00 and up.. I've always wondered where they ended up.. they were just so cool to see in person..

One of these days, I'll try to make contact with someone at Zoetrope, and see if they're interested in buying my negatives.. it's been on my "to-do" list for a while.. as in years..

[–] peddlerwhospoke 12 years ago

Not to go off topic but your friends book seems pretty cool.

Would it be possible for me to pick one up somehow? I just live in New York though.

[–] hrlaser 12 years ago

Peddlerwhospoke.. I replied to you privately, by regular email, using the address in your IMDB profile I got by clicking your handle..

The email didn't bounce back, which means one of two things.. either you got it, or it hasn't bounced back YET.. I've sent emails that bounced back days later, after multiple attempts at delivery.. so.. if you got my emailed reply, let me know, and you can take it from there.. if not, I'll post what I emailed here.. it basically boils down to:: I'm sure Jeff would be happy to sell you one of his books, but if you read his site's "bookstore" page, he states that the book can only be obtained directly from him, either by picking it up, which would be a rather long walk for you, or by mail, since no bookstores anywhere stock it..

[–] peddlerwhospoke 12 years ago

I'm sorry that was an old email, i updated it to the current one i use. It's [email protected].

Could you send me his website?

[–] hrlaser 12 years ago

I just re-sent the email to your new(er) address..

Jeff's book is pictured and described in exruciating detail at::

http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/bookstore.html

You're going to have to order it directly from him.. if you scroll down past the photos of the book, he says no stores carry it.. he's the only source..

I suggest you call him first, before you throw money in the mail.. it's all in my email..

[–] peddlerwhospoke 12 years ago

Thanks a bunch

[–] trekkie313 11 years ago

So how are things going?