The View Autograph segment

On the view, Whoopi was hot, talking about autograph seekers. Her
peeve is that people bother her all the time and while she's eating
etc she doesn't think people should ask for one. She argued with the
new host Sheri Jackson who said that she sides with people who are say
from "Alabama" who may never again have the opportunity to meet the
celeb or get an autograph. Whoopi said she understood that, but what
people need to realize is there could've been 50 people before that
thinking the same thing; sucking up all her time and energy while
she's trying to eat, shop or whatever.

She does go on to say she gives autographs all the time but had to
develop a tougher skin and learn to say "now is not the time; I am
with my family" or other such things.

I agree with Whoopi. I think Sheri has a point.

Not noted in the conversations though were DEALERS. I am sure the
topic on that would've been very interesting.

On MSNBC.com, there was an autograph article about the best and worst
signers (today) and on the list of BEST signers were Johnny Depp,
Dakota Fanning, Jack Nicholson (wuh????) etc

Worst: Scarlett Johannson, Juaquin Phoenix and Cameron Diaz

I think the best and worst signers thing refers to in person rather than
TTM.

What about Dealers?


"Sue H" wrote in message
...
On the view, Whoopi was hot, talking about autograph seekers. Her
peeve is that people bother her all the time and while she's eating
etc she doesn't think people should ask for one. She argued with the
new host Sheri Jackson who said that she sides with people who are say
from "Alabama" who may never again have the opportunity to meet the
celeb or get an autograph. Whoopi said she understood that, but what
people need to realize is there could've been 50 people before that
thinking the same thing; sucking up all her time and energy while
she's trying to eat, shop or whatever.

She does go on to say she gives autographs all the time but had to
develop a tougher skin and learn to say "now is not the time; I am
with my family" or other such things.

I agree with Whoopi. I think Sheri has a point.

Not noted in the conversations though were DEALERS. I am sure the
topic on that would've been very interesting.

On MSNBC.com, there was an autograph article about the best and worst
signers (today) and on the list of BEST signers were Johnny Depp,
Dakota Fanning, Jack Nicholson (wuh????) etc

Worst: Scarlett Johannson, Juaquin Phoenix and Cameron Diaz

Yes; obviously it was about in person.

Dealers don't go up to celebs with one photo they don't mind
personalized because "I'm from Alabama and may never get to see you
again". That is unless they are liars... I am sure when they had this
discussion, they are more obliging to REAL fans who may never get
another opportunity like that again; rather than someone who
continually turns up at every event with a bag of items to sign...

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:55:23 GMT, "Richard B"
wrote:

I think the best and worst signers thing refers to in person rather than
TTM.

What about Dealers?


"Sue H" wrote in message
.. .
On the view, Whoopi was hot, talking about autograph seekers. Her
peeve is that people bother her all the time and while she's eating
etc she doesn't think people should ask for one. She argued with the
new host Sheri Jackson who said that she sides with people who are say
from "Alabama" who may never again have the opportunity to meet the
celeb or get an autograph. Whoopi said she understood that, but what
people need to realize is there could've been 50 people before that
thinking the same thing; sucking up all her time and energy while
she's trying to eat, shop or whatever.

She does go on to say she gives autographs all the time but had to
develop a tougher skin and learn to say "now is not the time; I am
with my family" or other such things.

I agree with Whoopi. I think Sheri has a point.

Not noted in the conversations though were DEALERS. I am sure the
topic on that would've been very interesting.

On MSNBC.com, there was an autograph article about the best and worst
signers (today) and on the list of BEST signers were Johnny Depp,
Dakota Fanning, Jack Nicholson (wuh????) etc

Worst: Scarlett Johannson, Juaquin Phoenix and Cameron Diaz

So you are not keen on dealers then? )


"Sue H" wrote in message
...
Yes; obviously it was about in person.

Dealers don't go up to celebs with one photo they don't mind
personalized because "I'm from Alabama and may never get to see you
again". That is unless they are liars... I am sure when they had this
discussion, they are more obliging to REAL fans who may never get
another opportunity like that again; rather than someone who
continually turns up at every event with a bag of items to sign...

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:55:23 GMT, "Richard B"
wrote:

I think the best and worst signers thing refers to in person rather than
TTM.

What about Dealers?


"Sue H" wrote in message
. ..
On the view, Whoopi was hot, talking about autograph seekers. Her
peeve is that people bother her all the time and while she's eating
etc she doesn't think people should ask for one. She argued with the
new host Sheri Jackson who said that she sides with people who are say
from "Alabama" who may never again have the opportunity to meet the
celeb or get an autograph. Whoopi said she understood that, but what
people need to realize is there could've been 50 people before that
thinking the same thing; sucking up all her time and energy while
she's trying to eat, shop or whatever.

She does go on to say she gives autographs all the time but had to
develop a tougher skin and learn to say "now is not the time; I am
with my family" or other such things.

I agree with Whoopi. I think Sheri has a point.

Not noted in the conversations though were DEALERS. I am sure the
topic on that would've been very interesting.

On MSNBC.com, there was an autograph article about the best and worst
signers (today) and on the list of BEST signers were Johnny Depp,
Dakota Fanning, Jack Nicholson (wuh????) etc

Worst: Scarlett Johannson, Juaquin Phoenix and Cameron Diaz

Nothing against dealers per se; only if they ruin it for real
collectors. Not all do.

On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:20:42 GMT, "Richard B"
wrote:

So you are not keen on dealers then? )


"Sue H" wrote in message
.. .
Yes; obviously it was about in person.

Dealers don't go up to celebs with one photo they don't mind
personalized because "I'm from Alabama and may never get to see you
again". That is unless they are liars... I am sure when they had this
discussion, they are more obliging to REAL fans who may never get
another opportunity like that again; rather than someone who
continually turns up at every event with a bag of items to sign...

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:55:23 GMT, "Richard B"
wrote:

I think the best and worst signers thing refers to in person rather than
TTM.

What about Dealers?


"Sue H" wrote in message
...
On the view, Whoopi was hot, talking about autograph seekers. Her
peeve is that people bother her all the time and while she's eating
etc she doesn't think people should ask for one. She argued with the
new host Sheri Jackson who said that she sides with people who are say
from "Alabama" who may never again have the opportunity to meet the
celeb or get an autograph. Whoopi said she understood that, but what
people need to realize is there could've been 50 people before that
thinking the same thing; sucking up all her time and energy while
she's trying to eat, shop or whatever.

She does go on to say she gives autographs all the time but had to
develop a tougher skin and learn to say "now is not the time; I am
with my family" or other such things.

I agree with Whoopi. I think Sheri has a point.

Not noted in the conversations though were DEALERS. I am sure the
topic on that would've been very interesting.

On MSNBC.com, there was an autograph article about the best and worst
signers (today) and on the list of BEST signers were Johnny Depp,
Dakota Fanning, Jack Nicholson (wuh????) etc

Worst: Scarlett Johannson, Juaquin Phoenix and Cameron Diaz

Sue's right. Dealers can ruin for the hobbyist.

I was out at our local charity event many years ago that was run by Bruce
Smith. A mutual friend had 80 Bernie Kosar football cards to be signed.
Bernie asked what he was going to do with 80 signed cards, and the friend
said point blank, trade'm....yeah right. Bernie signed all 80 cards, but
point blank told the friend I don't ever want to see your face again! 80
cards, unreal....

Dealers have this usefulness... to a degree. Joe Public that lives in the
mid-west will never see a celeb walking down their main street. This means
that their chances of an IP experience is severely limited. With that said,
if Joe Public happens to be on one of the coasts, his chances of an IP
experience increases dramatically. That is, unless, you run into a pack of
dealers. If a chance celeb meeting on the streets happens, those exact same
odds again drop if a celeb is (insert he asked/harassed/put upon) to sign
a stack of items for a single individual who just "happens" to have them on
hand. The celeb is then not going to be in the mood to sign for the others
gathered in the crowd that just has a single item. The "favor factor" that
a celeb gives you by simply acknowledging you, is used up on an individual
dealer's stack of photos and the fan that just stumbles upon the celeb is
shut out. This means that the fan is left out in the cold with no autograph
to mark the meeting. This, in turn, means that the fan is left to the
option of, SURPRISE, buying from a dealer to get the autograph. I have a
friend that was waiting outside a Broadway show with a small crowd. The
celeb, who will remain nameless as I don't want to go into detail, said that
he/she would sign autographs for all that was there with one speculation: if
you have multiple items, he/she will charge a "dealer's fee" if you wanted
the autographs. I found this to be an excellent idea and it might actually
be a deterrent to greedy grabs.

--


Mike
Gummby3
-= Star Collector =-
www.star-collector.net


"pe2" wrote in message
...
Sue's right. Dealers can ruin for the hobbyist.

I was out at our local charity event many years ago that was run by Bruce
Smith. A mutual friend had 80 Bernie Kosar football cards to be signed.
Bernie asked what he was going to do with 80 signed cards, and the friend
said point blank, trade'm....yeah right. Bernie signed all 80 cards, but
point blank told the friend I don't ever want to see your face again! 80
cards, unreal....

I agree. There are times when a crowd has gathered and the celeb will
not even come over! the problem in NY or CA is mainly that the
dealers and papparazzi follow and know the hangouts and hang there
till they get their opportunity. It's not likely a celeb will see
that and sign. It does ruin it. Not to mention another fact:
Dealers compete with one another and this sometimes leads to pushing,
shoving, name calling, cussing and other behavior that the celeb
doesn't want to deal with. I've seen it happen.

Oftentimes, fans are to blame too because they lack common sense. I
remember being with one person talking to a band member who was
playing with Huey Lewis (known to be in many bands). He was going to
get Huey for us when another two ladies came over and got excited when
they figured out what we were up to. The one is LOUD and yelling to
others to come over! What a moron. He did come, but left VERY
quickly because others came over because the girl was loud and
annoying. She asked the most INANE questions that he's probably been
asked a million times. I understand the excitement but control
yourself and use common sense; lest you ruin it for yourself. It was
a shame too because before that, we got Stef to have a cool
conversation about past bands he was in and he was almost ready to
dish the dirt!

On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:31:02 GMT, "Gummby3"
wrote:

Dealers have this usefulness... to a degree. Joe Public that lives in the
mid-west will never see a celeb walking down their main street. This means
that their chances of an IP experience is severely limited. With that said,
if Joe Public happens to be on one of the coasts, his chances of an IP
experience increases dramatically. That is, unless, you run into a pack of
dealers. If a chance celeb meeting on the streets happens, those exact same
odds again drop if a celeb is (insert he asked/harassed/put upon) to sign
a stack of items for a single individual who just "happens" to have them on
hand. The celeb is then not going to be in the mood to sign for the others
gathered in the crowd that just has a single item. The "favor factor" that
a celeb gives you by simply acknowledging you, is used up on an individual
dealer's stack of photos and the fan that just stumbles upon the celeb is
shut out. This means that the fan is left out in the cold with no autograph
to mark the meeting. This, in turn, means that the fan is left to the
option of, SURPRISE, buying from a dealer to get the autograph. I have a
friend that was waiting outside a Broadway show with a small crowd. The
celeb, who will remain nameless as I don't want to go into detail, said that
he/she would sign autographs for all that was there with one speculation: if
you have multiple items, he/she will charge a "dealer's fee" if you wanted
the autographs. I found this to be an excellent idea and it might actually
be a deterrent to greedy grabs.

Yeah, and let's not forget about the TTM collectors that ruin it as well.
WHAT, TTM COLLECTORS RUIN IT dare I say!?!?! Yes, not a week goes by that
you can't see a has-been TTM collector peddling his duplicates or left-over
collection on ebay. As I stated once before, I am willing to bet at least
90% of all reading this will have their items sold some time in the future.
Maybe not all, but a majority. Generally every month you can see that
famous Jim Carrey Spank You Very Much signed TTM preprint or whatever that
fugazi is. A lot of times when a celebrity sees that photo they gave freely
TTM signed "TO BOB" pop up on ebay, I'm sure that's caused some resentment.
There are also many TTM and in-person collectors who are just 'addicted' to
autographs. You know the type. The ones with 3 binders full of photos,
somehow justifying because they bought that celebrities dvd that they are
entitled to consider themselves a big fan. Truth is, if you have more than
say 10 autographs in your 'collection', it's a bit much, and could certainly
qualify you for having contributed to the downfall of autographs of any
number of celebrities. If you are one who pulls addresses off the net,
think about how you would feel if all of a sudden someone posted your
address on ebay, and said that hey, mail this guy and he'll give you a free
$1 bill. How would it feel to have your home flooded with these requests?
Yes, celebrities should expect mail requests and in person requests, but the
fact is some just get burdened and overwhelmed by it.

Here are my estimated statistics for a contribution to a downfall of
autographs:

dealers 20%
TTM collectors and in-person collecting addicts 15%
celebrities who don't appreciate the fact that they have 3 houses, 10 cars,
and bank accounts that add up to all of ours combined who are brainwashed by
agents who really have their hand in their pocket and think that anyone who
sells their autograph for $50 is somehow having an affect on their life 30%
Celebrities who are just burnt out of signing for any number of other
reasons, some legitimate like Steven Tyler saying he's only signing guitars
for Aids charities to increase the revenue for them 25%
fans who are obnoxious 10%


Even with these stats, the truth is, all it takes is persistence and some
research and you can meet everyone you wanted, and that should be enough.
Hell, when Eric Clapton let me hold his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction
award rather than sign an autograph, it was damn well good enough for me,
and I sell autographs for a living. But even still in today's times,
everyone is signing in just about every scenario. In the end, it needs to
be asked, where is this autograph going to end up? In a binder for you to
keep forever? If that's the case, then you need to ask yourself, am I truly
one of this celebrities biggest fans? If the answer is no, then when a
dealer hawks the item on the net and it ends up with a mom buying it for
their son as he is truly a huge fan, wouldn't that end result outweigh a
dusty binder. I personally respect every aspect of the autograph hobby.
TTM collectors, those hoarders, those fanatics who are truly fans, and all
dealers. I've never downed any TTM collectors here, nor have I ever downed
any legitimate dealer. I've helped fans get autographs, dealers get
autographs, and TTM members as well. My only disrespect to the hobby are
the forgers, and this is where the time needs to be spent. It's a plague.

--
Michael Kasmar
www.AutographPros.com
Accredited Better Business Bureau Member
Universal Autograph Collectors Club Registered Dealer #237

"Have you joined our website emailer yet? If not, go now to
http://www.autographpros.com/newsletter.php and sign up. We have many
exciting things to come there including exclusive sales and discounts, gifts
and free prize give-aways, and updates to our in-person adventures with the
stars."


"Sue H" wrote in message
...
I agree. There are times when a crowd has gathered and the celeb will
not even come over! the problem in NY or CA is mainly that the
dealers and papparazzi follow and know the hangouts and hang there
till they get their opportunity. It's not likely a celeb will see
that and sign. It does ruin it. Not to mention another fact:
Dealers compete with one another and this sometimes leads to pushing,
shoving, name calling, cussing and other behavior that the celeb
doesn't want to deal with. I've seen it happen.

Oftentimes, fans are to blame too because they lack common sense. I
remember being with one person talking to a band member who was
playing with Huey Lewis (known to be in many bands). He was going to
get Huey for us when another two ladies came over and got excited when
they figured out what we were up to. The one is LOUD and yelling to
others to come over! What a moron. He did come, but left VERY
quickly because others came over because the girl was loud and
annoying. She asked the most INANE questions that he's probably been
asked a million times. I understand the excitement but control
yourself and use common sense; lest you ruin it for yourself. It was
a shame too because before that, we got Stef to have a cool
conversation about past bands he was in and he was almost ready to
dish the dirt!

On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:31:02 GMT, "Gummby3"
wrote:

Dealers have this usefulness... to a degree. Joe Public that lives in the
mid-west will never see a celeb walking down their main street. This
means
that their chances of an IP experience is severely limited. With that
said,
if Joe Public happens to be on one of the coasts, his chances of an IP
experience increases dramatically. That is, unless, you run into a pack
of
dealers. If a chance celeb meeting on the streets happens, those exact
same
odds again drop if a celeb is (insert he asked/harassed/put upon) to
sign
a stack of items for a single individual who just "happens" to have them
on
hand. The celeb is then not going to be in the mood to sign for the
others
gathered in the crowd that just has a single item. The "favor factor"
that
a celeb gives you by simply acknowledging you, is used up on an individual
dealer's stack of photos and the fan that just stumbles upon the celeb is
shut out. This means that the fan is left out in the cold with no
autograph
to mark the meeting. This, in turn, means that the fan is left to the
option of, SURPRISE, buying from a dealer to get the autograph. I have a
friend that was waiting outside a Broadway show with a small crowd. The
celeb, who will remain nameless as I don't want to go into detail, said
that
he/she would sign autographs for all that was there with one speculation:
if
you have multiple items, he/she will charge a "dealer's fee" if you wanted
the autographs. I found this to be an excellent idea and it might
actually
be a deterrent to greedy grabs.

Please don't take my post as a slight to every dealer. There are some very
legit and helpful dealers, such as yourself, but there are also that
percentage that hurt the hobby. The scenario I presented is that of the
damaging dealers. In the case of TTM, the celeb has the option of
tossing/RTSing the unsolicited mail away without even opening it as they
would with any other junk mail. That is less intrusive than having items
thrust in their faces. :-) Yes, there are the TTM addict fans too. The
ones that have to have an autograph just to have it, AKA the autograph hound
looking for another bone. I do agree that those personalized autographs
that pop up for sale can, and do, sting more than the 10 other generically
signed pictures would. This is especially true if we're dealing with a
"flash in the pan" actor. That just proves that the "fan" was simply after
the buck instead of the autograph. This is also true for older, established
celebs. A prime example is Shirley Temple-Black. She used to be a great
TTM signer, but the generic response now is that she does not like finding
her personalized autographs on Ebay and that she does not have the staff to
handle requests just for that result. That has been my main hope, with Star
Collector, to help educate TTM collectors in the proper way of collecting.
I know for a fact that my work has influenced many people from the emails
that I receive. I'm definitely not deluded into thinking that my site has
been warped by those literally going down the list of each name and sending
a request simply because they are on the page. My hope is that they are in
the minority. :-)

There are good and bad influences on both sides of the fence. It is a shame
that both are hurting the hobby...

--


Mike
Gummby3
-= Star Collector =-
www.star-collector.net


"AutographPros.com" wrote in message
. ..
Yeah, and let's not forget about the TTM collectors that ruin it as well.
WHAT, TTM COLLECTORS RUIN IT dare I say!?!?! Yes, not a week goes by that
you can't see a has-been TTM collector peddling his duplicates or
left-over collection on ebay. As I stated once before, I am willing to
bet at least 90% of all reading this will have their items sold some time
in the future. Maybe not all, but a majority. Generally every month you
can see that famous Jim Carrey Spank You Very Much signed TTM preprint or
whatever that fugazi is. A lot of times when a celebrity sees that photo
they gave freely TTM signed "TO BOB" pop up on ebay, I'm sure that's
caused some resentment. There are also many TTM and in-person collectors
who are just 'addicted' to autographs. You know the type. The ones with
3 binders full of photos, somehow justifying because they bought that
celebrities dvd that they are entitled to consider themselves a big fan.
Truth is, if you have more than say 10 autographs in your 'collection',
it's a bit much, and could certainly qualify you for having contributed to
the downfall of autographs of any number of celebrities. If you are one
who pulls addresses off the net, think about how you would feel if all of
a sudden someone posted your address on ebay, and said that hey, mail this
guy and he'll give you a free $1 bill. How would it feel to have your
home flooded with these requests? Yes, celebrities should expect mail
requests and in person requests, but the fact is some just get burdened
and overwhelmed by it.

Here are my estimated statistics for a contribution to a downfall of
autographs:

dealers 20%
TTM collectors and in-person collecting addicts 15%
celebrities who don't appreciate the fact that they have 3 houses, 10
cars, and bank accounts that add up to all of ours combined who are
brainwashed by agents who really have their hand in their pocket and think
that anyone who sells their autograph for $50 is somehow having an affect
on their life 30%
Celebrities who are just burnt out of signing for any number of other
reasons, some legitimate like Steven Tyler saying he's only signing
guitars for Aids charities to increase the revenue for them 25%
fans who are obnoxious 10%


Even with these stats, the truth is, all it takes is persistence and some
research and you can meet everyone you wanted, and that should be enough.
Hell, when Eric Clapton let me hold his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
induction award rather than sign an autograph, it was damn well good
enough for me, and I sell autographs for a living. But even still in
today's times, everyone is signing in just about every scenario. In the
end, it needs to be asked, where is this autograph going to end up? In a
binder for you to keep forever? If that's the case, then you need to ask
yourself, am I truly one of this celebrities biggest fans? If the answer
is no, then when a dealer hawks the item on the net and it ends up with a
mom buying it for their son as he is truly a huge fan, wouldn't that end
result outweigh a dusty binder. I personally respect every aspect of the
autograph hobby. TTM collectors, those hoarders, those fanatics who are
truly fans, and all dealers. I've never downed any TTM collectors here,
nor have I ever downed any legitimate dealer. I've helped fans get
autographs, dealers get autographs, and TTM members as well. My only
disrespect to the hobby are the forgers, and this is where the time needs
to be spent. It's a plague.