Some like it auctioned

It happens all the time, but it still makes one feel odd, sad and eerie, like something's just not right.

An actor struggles to launch a career -- John Wayne as the Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach" (1939), Elizabeth Taylor in "There's One Born Every Minute' (1942), Tony Curtis in "City Across the River" (1949), etc. -- they find fame and when they're gone their precious possessions are cashed in by those left behind.

The jewels Taylor loved so much.  The eye patch Wayne wore in "True Grit," and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Now the not-so-wanted spotlight falls on the late Tony Curtis, the "Some Like It Hot" prolific actor/movie star who died Sept. 29 last year in Las Vegas.

Hollywood memorabilia, jewelry and art owned by Curtis went for over a million bucks Sept. 17 in L.A., including the yachtsman jacket Curtis wore to woo Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot"

 As is often the case, the heirs, or in this case the jilted heirs, air more than a little dirty laundry when it's time to divvy up the spoils of celebrity war.

The Hollywood Reporter website posted an item saying Curtis's children were even caught off guard that the actor's widow -- sixth and final wife Jill -- had put the items up for auction, according to daughter Allegra. 

"Jill Curtis is the only beneficiary of this auction. She did not consult us. This is not what my dad would have wanted. Jill's even selling off credit cards and driver licenses. She's also selling my dad's letters to Cary Grant, Jerry Lewis, Picasso -- these belong in a museum. It's the dissemination of the estate of Tony Curtis. He deserves better," Allegra said.

"Meanwhile, Julien's Auctions owner Darren Julien says: 'Tony came to many of our auctions with Jill and said he wanted Julien's to handle his auction after he died. I know this is exactly what he wanted,'" the Hollywood Reporter article stated.

Looking for something to read?

One of the reasons book lovers are often disappointed when one of their favorites is turned into a movie is that movies (like "The Help," for instance) have to condense plot-lines, dispense with some subplots and sometimes even combine characters.

So I'd like to recommend a couple of books by authors you'll no doubt recognize that have not, at this point anyway, made it to the big screen.

Steve Martin's "An Object of Beauty" (Grand Central Publishing, $14.20 in hardback on Amazon) is a clever, sexy novel set behind the scenes of New York art galleries.  It's an extremely entertaining read.

And so is "I Remember Nothing:  And Other Reflections" (Alfred A. Knopf, $13.49 in hardback on Amazon), Nora Ephron's funny, revealing insights into her life and her struggles to remember faces, places and things.

Recently added presentations

Those of you who visit this Web page regularly probably know that you can click on the list of Movie Memories presentations on the top left portion of the page for a description of each presentation.

There may be some new additions since you last perused them.  And recently, we added "Life Lessons I've Learned at the Movies" to the mix. 

If you have a club, group or gathering of weary senators and/or congresspersons looking for a little fun after debating the debt ceiling debacle for way too long, check out the description of "Life Lessons I've Learned at the Movies" and give us a call at 972-599-2150 to book your presentation

(Tony Curtis photo courtesy:  starpulse.com)