Speaking of Autographs...

[TheatreLover76]

Posted: 11/24/08 at 7:44pm

How did this ritual, so to speak, become a practice? Was it done since the first day Broadway "started?" I'm just curious behind the mentality of it....is it just our feeling of recognition of some sort, that the actor "stamped" their name on something that we can "keep forever?"

[cactusb]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:29pm

I'm not sure exactly HOW it all started but I do know it's been going on for longer than I have been in existence.

An acquaintance of mine has lived in NYC for over 70 years and he always talks about the days when he was able to get stars from Marilyn Monroe to Marlon Brando to Ethel Merman with no hassle and with no second thoughts from the stars.

Unfortuantely, those times have changed and with the number of autograph dealers that attack the stage doors it makes it very difficult for some true fans to get autographs these days.

[morosco]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:34pm

ebay has made performers question if one's request for an autograph is genuine or just something they want to sell online.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:38pm

The upside is that the sellers are, often, easily distinguished from someone who genuinely wants an autograph. The downside is that the sellers do make it a lot harder and are, often, rude. Just because it's how you make your living doesn't mean you deserve an autograph.

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:40pm

i think thats also why its easier to get autographs on tours... most of the time, they people aren't as big of names and so when you ask them by name and stuff they really appreciate someone caring and knowing who they are for their singing/dancing/whatever

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:51pm

Back in the "good old days" guys would wait for the chorus girls and take them out after the shows. Eugene O'Neill and his brother were big into this.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 12:55pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFnrIbRkBm4

[faith587]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 1:49pm

I like to ask for autographs from the bigger stars by asking if they can sign it "To Chrissy"...it's a little more personal and it's nice for the bigger stars to know their signatures won't be sold.

[NGD2225]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 1:55pm

I had a dream last night, in which Patti & I went on a quest to find her stash of autographed headshots. It was VERY weird, Patti released an entire swarm of bees into a theatre & she turned into a little bug.

[Mamie]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 2:04pm

What makes you think it has anything to do with Broadway? People have been collecting autographs from other, more famous people, for a long, long time. I recently saw an autograph album being examined on Antiques Roadshow and it was full of autographs of famous military and political persons from the Civil War. The collector wrote to these people - both in the North and the South - and they sent him their autographs to add to his book. He had EVERYBODY in that book. Lincoln and Davis and Grant and Lee on the same page, as well as Sherman, McClellan, Jackson, you name it. And then the abolitionists, freed slaves, and on and on. He had included the letters he got back from each of them and not one thought it was unusual that he'd asked for their autographs! Standing at stage doors and asking for autographs is as old fashioned and normal as pie.

Updated On: 11/26/08 at 02:04 PM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 2:25pm

I agree with you Mamie. Heck, you can get all sorts of interesting autographs if you know where to go. When I was in elementary school, there was some article in a magazine, I believe, where you could write to President Clinton's cat, Socks. Of course I found that to be awesome, so I did it and got a little post card with the cat's picture on it and a copy of his paw print on it. There was a little message too. Even though it is juvenile now, I really wish I still had that card.

[winter_sky]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 3:28pm

I honestly don't care about signatures in and of themselves. It's hard to remember whose squiggle is whose anyway.