|
Hollywood memorabilia sold by Bonham's auction house on
Monday night also included a piano featured in the 1942 classic
"Casablanca," which fetched more than $3.4 million, Bonham's
spokeswoman Vyoma Venkataraman said on Tuesday.
The winning bid for the lion costume - worn by Lahr in the 1939
film - was $3,077,000, Venkataraman said.
"It was created from real lion hide," she said.
She said the model for the face mask sold with the costume was
actually the late actor's son.
The lion costume sold on Monday was worn more frequently than a
second lion suit used during the filming of the adventures of a
young girl named Dorothy Gale, played by Judy Garland, and her
three friends, played by Lahr, Jack Haley as the Tin Man and Ray
Bolger as the Scarecrow, in their search for home, courage, love
and knowledge.
The upright piano featured in Rick's Cafe Americain is one of
two from the film in which actor and singer Dooley Wilson sang
"As Time Goes By," the signature song for lovers played by
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
The piano, which Bogart's character Rick used as a hiding place
for illegal transit papers, sold for $3,413,000, Venkataraman
said.
The movie's other piano, which was shown in flashback scenes in
Paris, brought $602,500 when it was sold at auction in 2012.
Monday night's buyers also snapped up the production house-made
letters of transit for $118,750 and the exterior doors of Rick's
Casablanca cafe for $115,000.
"They are instantly recognizable," Venkataraman said. "They are
the doors through which all of the main characters passed."
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
'Wizard
of Oz' Cowardly Lion suit, Casablanca piano go for millions
