[caption id="attachment_5180" align="alignleft" width="179" caption="Andrea "The Diva" Simakis"][/caption]
Andrea "The Diva" Simakis discusses what's on her wish list this Holiday season in her article Liz Taylor's stuff goes up for auction, but the Pop Diva has Joan Crawford's loot on her wish list:
When she was but a junior Diva, yours truly once trod the boards so far off-Broadway that playing a brothel in Guam would have been more prestigious.
As Madame Arcati, the daffy medium in Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," I carried a beaded purse lent to me by a fellow cast member. He claimed the bag had once belonged to Helen Hayes -- and I was not only convinced that the actress had actually held it in her tiny hands, but that her thespian essence, still trapped in its threads, would improve my performance.
(While the sacred object did not deliver me a Tony, on opening night, a heavy pin affixed to my turban mysteriously fell like a poisoned pigeon into a potted plant, which crashed to the stage floor.)
It's no secret we have an almost religious fascination with the bric-a-brac collected by celebrities. Beginning Tuesday, Dec. 13, Christie's will auction Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry, couture and art in a historic sale that is expected to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million.
But we're even willing to shell out cash for a star's trash.
In 2008, Scarlett Johansson honked into a Kleenex whilst sitting on "The Tonight Show" couch, and it fetched $5,300 on eBay. Last year, a pair of Marilyn Monroe's empty prescription pill bottles sold for $18,750.
A personal favorite? The quart-size Mason jar held open at the 2005 premiere of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," then sealed. Headliners Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were "photographed in proximity of the 'Celebrity Jar,' " and thus, the seller theorized, "the air molecules captured inside are the same air molecules that were zipping around those in attendance at the premiere." Selling price: $529.99.
While the hawking of Liz's loot is arguably the most hotly anticipated star auction of the year, the Diva says don't bother.
The sale with the most pop-culture fizz will be at auction house Doyle New York beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, when goods from the estate of Joan Crawford will be offered to her fans worldwide.
Read more at The Cleveland Plain Dealer