Diahann Carroll in Sunset Blvd- Page 2

[Lot666]

Posted: 7/28/17 at 8:45am

Bettyboy72 said: "Normas are like pizza to me. Even when its not great, I still like it."

This should be a meme! 

[David10086]

Posted: 7/28/17 at 4:04pm

castlestreet said: "All of the Livent shows had great merchandise-I still have that beautiful program and the TY Beanie Baby "Nuts" the squirrel that was sold at the theater."

 

I used to sell Beanie Babies (I owned a gift store once), from 1996-2001. I don't remember 'Nuts' the squirrel. Was this done just for the Canadian show? Was the squirrel in a turban like Norma? 

 

[castlestreet]

Posted: 7/28/17 at 7:11pm

Nuts was a Sunset exclusive item in Canada.  I'm not sure if anyone remembers the Theater Souvenir shop Livent owned as well-but they had the greatest merchandise in that place!

[kevinr]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 9:56am

They even made up their own Sunset Blvd program featuring Diahann Carroll which I still have.  I also kept my playbill as well as the newspaper ad advertising the show.

[David10086]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 10:15am

castlestreet said: "Nuts was a Sunset exclusive item in Canada.  I'm not sure if anyone remembers the Theater Souvenir shop Livent owned as well-but they had the greatest merchandise in that place!

 

"

WOW! Thanks for telling me that. At the time, I used to carry a lot of B'way memorabilia in my store, which my customers loved (they were very wealthy and would go to B'way musicals often in the 80s and 90s). I used to carry the limited edition 'Phantom' doll which was animated on it's music box ('Music of the Night', by Enesco. I think it retailed for about $250 back then, and I couldn't keep it in stock.

I remember at one of the January gift shows in the mid-90s, Enesco had a prototype of another similar doll as 'Norma Desmond' (looking very much like Glenn Close) in the turban / cape and the music was 'With One Look'. (They probably took the same doll figure from 'Phantom' and made the slight changes to the face). They were taking pre-orders of the doll for that coming Christmas, and I placed my order for 6 of them - the doll was stunning. Something went on with licensing of the image in the months which followed, and it was never produced in time, and the production dragged. Enesco ended up aborting their plans for this and other SB memorabilia (I did carry the mugs and Tee Shirts, though, from De Wynters).  Would love to know what happened to that prototype! (I never got any answers from the company, which is now owned by Disney I believe - lots of changes in the past 20 years,)

I also carried the animated 'CATS' dolls (which played 'Memory' from Clay Art - they were big sellers, too.

[mc1227]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 10:15am

A bit off topic but since it deals with SB, I thought it would be ok to ask the question here.  After seeing the most recent production twice this year, I recently went back and watched the movie just as a comparison.  I am puzzled as why in the movie, the screenplay that Joe and Betty are working on is called "Dark Windows" but in the stage version it's changed to "Blind Windows".  A minor point but just curious to see if anyone would know or have a guess as to the change.  Aside from that and a couple of minor changes, I found it to be remarkably in tact to the movie.  

[chernjam]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 10:58am

David10086 said: "castlestreet said: "Nuts was a Sunset exclusive item in Canada.  I'm not sure if anyone remembers the Theater Souvenir shop Livent owned as well-but they had the greatest merchandise in that place!

 

"

WOW! Thanks for telling me that. At the time, I used to carry a lot of B'way memorabilia in my store, which my customers loved (they were very wealthy and would go to B'way musicals often in the 80s and 90s). I used to carry the limited edition 'Phantom' doll which was animated on it's music box ('Music of the Night', by Enesco. I think it retailed for about $250 back then, and I couldn't keep it in stock.

I remember at one of the January gift shows in the mid-90s, Enesco had a prototype of another similar doll as 'Norma Desmond' (looking very much like Glenn Close) in the turban / cape and the music was 'With One Look'. (They probably took the same doll figure from 'Phantom' and made the slight changes to the face). They were taking pre-orders of the doll for that coming Christmas, and I placed my order for 6 of them - the doll was stunning. Something went on with licensing of the image in the months which followed, and it was never produced in time, and the production dragged. Enesco ended up aborting their plans for this and other SB memorabilia (I did carry the mugs and Tee Shirts, though, from De Wynters).  Would love to know what happened to that prototype! (I never got any answers from the company, which is now owned by Disney I believe - lots of changes in the past 20 years,)

I also carried the animated 'CATS' dolls (which played 'Memory' from Clay Art - they were big sellers, too.

 

"

That really sucks about the Norma Desmond doll and the merchandise.   If I had to guess... there was probably an issue between RUG and livenet in terms of what they could and could not sell (and who got the profits) 

[David10086]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 11:51am

chernjam, I always thought the issue was with DeWynters group, who had most of the licensing for RUG shows (and other B'way shows). They did some POTO memorabilia, and Enesco (and San Francisco Music Box, Clay Art) did other items. I know my Enesco contact (at that time) had said that DeWynters was rather strict on what they would permit for other vendors. It was very common to see prototypes of future products - for these musicals and other licensed items - only for the product never to come to fruition due to licensing agreements, or cost. I know the Norma Desmond doll would have been a huge hit - at least with my customer base.

 (Keep in mind, my store was in America, not Canada, so I'm not sure what the licensing agreements were with Livent). 

[Lot666]

Posted: 7/31/17 at 9:19am

mc1227 said: "I am puzzled as why in the movie, the screenplay that Joe and Betty are working on is called "Dark Windows" but in the stage version it's changed to "Blind Windows"."

I wondered about that as well.