Per the Lake County News-Sun (LINK), Warner Brothers donated Christmas decorations and set pieces from the film “Fred Claus” to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Lake Forest, Illinois.
ReStore registers jingle all the way
November 10, 2007
By DAN MORAN [email protected]GURNEE — Christmas arrived at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore way back in April, when Warner Bros. Pictures donated decorations and props from the film “Fred Claus” for sale to the public.
Somehow, Habitat Lake County officials resisted the urge to unwrap the presents early, hiding them behind tarps with the sign “keep out” in the back of their Grand Avenue facility.
“They contacted us out of the blue,” said Executive Director Julie Donovan. “Then everything came out in one big truckload, (and) we debated when to sell it. We thought about doing ‘Christmas in July.'”
On Friday, the wait was finally over. A crowd of ReStore regulars and Christmas fans in general lined up outside before the doors opened at 9 a.m., angling for the first crack at everything from strands of garland and glass ornaments to life-size figurines of elves and reindeer.
“There’s actually stuff we’re still pulling out,” said ReStore manager Tim Ammons as customers continued to stream in and collect their bounty at 10 a.m. “We just ran out of places to put it out here.”
“Fred Claus” filmed scenes in Chicago earlier this year, reportedly at the specific request of Vaughn, who grew up in Lake Forest. Donovan said the ReStore was hoping to have Vaughn come out for Friday’s sale, but he was preoccupied — in fact, as the doors opened in Gurnee, he could be seen guest-hosting “Live With Regis & Kelly” from New York City.
With the film opening nationwide on Friday, Joy and Doug Sjostrom of Fox Lake started the day picking up $150 worth of decorations (“We got a little bit of everything,” said Joy) and planned to head for a theater later. While most filmgoers might be focusing on Vaughn or Paul Giammati, the Sjostroms said they’d have an eye out for people in the background of the Chicago scenes.
“Our daughter, her husband and their three children are extras,” Joy said. “She just saw this thing in the paper, so they went down and got in … I guess they’re opening presents or something — that’s all we know until we see the movie.”
“She was in Vince’s last movie, too,” said Doug, referring to 2006’s “The Break-Up.” “You could see her on top of one of the tour buses that he had in there.”
Ammons said he has already spotted one of the ReStore’s three-foot snowmen in trailers for the movie. Three different snowmen were among the items in a silent auction conducted on Friday, with a second round with new items to be staged today through 5 p.m.
The items up for bid on Friday also included a four-foot toy solider (with a minimum starting bid of $25), a pair of prop reindeer ($75) and two elves dubbed Jingles and Speedy ($100 each). While the auction items will be gone by today, the ReStore’s “Fred Claus” sale is scheduled to run as long as the goods hold out.
“You couldn’t get in here this morning, there were so many people. It was really exciting,” Donovan said. “And some people have already told me they’ll be back.”
Jason De Bord