[Dixielandjazz] Lena Horne estate auction

[Robert Ringwald]

Fans Pack Auction House to Bid On Lena Horne's Estate
WNYC.org, February 23, 2011

On Wednesday afternoon, some 150 fans tried to get a piece of the legendary Hollywood
star from Brooklyn -- Lena Horne -- at Doyle New York. For three hours, they bid
on everything from inscribed Langston Hughes books to a painting ("Abstract") by
Horne's friend Charles Alston to a pair of cuffs that Jenny Lumet (Horne's granddaughter)
will wear to the Oscars.
The afternoon's first surprising sale was a $7,000 bid from one fan for a group of
five of Richard Avedon's contact sheets featuring Horne dancing. The sheets were
estimated to be worth $150.
"$7,000 I have," said Doyle's auctioneer. "Do I hear $7,500?"
"Yes!" shouted a thin blonde woman in front after hearing that she had won the contact
sheets.
James Gavin, who wrote "Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne," was also at the
auction. He noted that furniture and generic household items did not sell as much
as items with Horne's likeness on them. "Things that were distinctively 'Lena,' especially
images of her face, photographs that are not even necessarily one-of-a-kind -- a
Blue Note publicity photo that I would have thought worthless -- went for $3,000,"
Gavin said.
Doyle New York worked with Horne's daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, to organize today's
sale. "She was a great political activist, she was a great beauty, she was a great
singer," Buckley said of her mother. "She lived a great age, so she saw history.
She helped make history in America."
She added: "Truman Capote called her one of his swans she was so stylish." Horne,
who died last May at age 92, will be honored at the Oscars on Sunday.
At press time, Doyle New York had made nearly $150,000 from the sale. The American
opera soprano Jessye Norman was one of the fans in attendance.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

"First Lady Michelle Obama told 'Regis & Kelly' she was expecting jewelry on Valentine's
Day. She said it wouldn't be anything extravagant because Barack tends to be responsible
when he's spending his own money." -Jay Leno