This week the Academy Awards are being held here in Hollywood so there are lots of galas, parties and events all over town this week. All the celebrities are out, with the LA collectors and autograph dealers from Chicago and even as far away as New York in town, pursuing the autographs of Hollywood's actresses and actors. The problem with all of this is that sometimes the bigger the event, the more collectors, the tighter the security and such and what seems like a promising opportunity for many autographs leads to just the opposite. I personally have noticed that some of the large events ultimately lead to even less autographs in quality and quantity than a typical day.
Tonight (Thursday, March 4, 2010) was the US-Ireland Alliance
Pre-Academy Awards Event at the
Ebell Club of Los Angeles and producer
JJ Abrams was one of the evening's honorees. Chosen to introduce Abrams was none other than superstar Tom Cruise, so this was the big draw of the evening. The stated guest list included Andrew McCarthy, Richard Chamberlain, Tim Roth, Dana
Delany and Ed Burns. Prior to me arriving to the event, one collector was able to get
Delany to sign 20 photos for him. We spotted Abrams who told us that he would sign on the way out, which I believe he would have because I am told he is quite good with collectors.
After waiting for the arrivals and then some, I decided to check another entrance on the other side of the building. Sure enough, a large group of collectors and
paparazzi had assembled, awaiting Cruise. After about half and hour, Cruise was in the parking lot and getting onto his motorcycle. He revved the motor and took off out the back exit, taking the long way around the block. I ran with some other collectors, hoping to catch up with Cruise at a red light. Unfortunately for us, Cruise hit all greens and roared past us, finally pulling up to a red light, turning right and he sped off into the night. Even though we didn't get any autographs, I have to admit that as far as departures go, I had never quite seen one like this. I decided to move on to another event than to put any more time into this location.
I left this event and went to the
Palihouse, which was hosting a Vanity Fair charity party. Hosted by Amy Smart and guests including Elijah Wood, David
Arquette and Rosana
Arquette, I was hoping that this event would be more successful. Bonnie
Somerville, who was a guest star for several episodes during season one of "The
O.C.", signed autographs and posed for pictures for everyone on her way out of the party. She was super-friendly and put her arm around me for our picture.
Hearing that Madonna was at BOA, I headed there where I saw several celebrities including Dustin Hoffman, Zachary
Quinto, Juliette Lewis, Matt Dillon, Emile Hirsch departing the parking garage. My only success was snagging and autograph on an index card from one of my favorite directors, Quentin
Tarantino.
Tarantino makes a lot of appearances at events and banquets and I have already met
Tarantino several times over the past two months. He always is friendly and this encounter was no different. A bit of a side note, I thought it was ironic that in the same evening I had seen both stars, Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, from "Rain Man". I never did see Madonna or Elton John who was also at the party earlier in the evening.
I went to the club Voyeur on Sunset Boulevard to try my hand at trying my luck with the celebrities leaving the club at the end of the night. I once again saw Emile Hirsch but he quickly rushed to his car and did not sign. Brody Jenner spent some time talking with his friends but I did not ask him as Voyeur was closing and everyone was coming out all at once. Jamie
Foxx also left Voyeur without signing any autographs. Stacy
Keibler had also been at the club, but I did not see her.
That's how it goes, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. As a big fan of
Somerville's "The
O.C." and
Tarantino, I was glad to meet and add both of their signatures to my collection. Still, it was a bit of a letdown to not get Tom Cruise after investing so much time. Yet onto another day, more pursuits and more autograph collecting successes!
Just got home from a very successful day, wrapping it up by scoring multiple Tom Cruise autographs. After his appearance on a television talk show this evening, Cruise signed up a storm for collectors and fans. As expected with an "A-lister", it was chaotic, with pushing and shoving by people in their pursuit for autographs. Cruise had a black Sharpie which he signed with the entire time, signing photographs in good areas where the autograph could best be seen. Sometimes this is a problem as celebrities sometimes sign the autograph in a dark area of the photo, making it less visually appealing. Cruise seemed to place his signature on the lighter areas of the photographs, where it stands the best chance of being visible. Whether it was the first or last autograph he si
gned, Cruise is very consistent with his signature. He signs a nice, big autograph with an over-sized "T" in "Tom" and a large "C" in "Cruise" dominating his signature. While not an "every letter" autograph, you can still generally see a lower-case "o" and a line for the "m". Cruise does not pick up the pen when he signs an autograph as the "Tom" part of the signature flows right into the "C" in "Cruise". He makes a little bump for the "r" in "Cruise" and sometimes another bump for the "s" but not always. No matter what, Cruise always seems to sign the lower-case "e" at the end of his last name. Most of the time Cruise puts a dot for the "i" in his last name, though it varies a bit in placement from autograph to autograph, sometimes falling inside the loop of the "C" in "Cruise" yet not existing at all in some signatures.
