Per Courthouse News Service, Richard Abrahamson (a former owner of Toon Art) has filed a lawsuit against John LeBold and Americana Dance Theatre, Inc. over the sale of a number of wardrobe pieces attributed to use in various Hollywood films. The complaint was filed in the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Ohio last week, and “Abrahamson seeks $90,000 for breach of contract and fraud, and punitive damages“, per the CNS report. One of the pieces purchased by Abrahamson (via Toon Art) from LeBold in 1999 was Elizabeth Taylor’s costume from Cleopatra (1963), which Abrahamson recently attempted to resell through Profiles in History. The report claims, “[u]pon publication of the [auction] catalogue [sic], the owner of the authentic ‘Cleopatra’ dress contacted Profiles in History to notify them of the fraudulent representation in their catalog“.
The full story by Kevin Koeninger can be read at Courthouse News Service – see “$90,000 for a Bogus Liz Dress, Collector Says“.
The court filing (case number A 1207187) can be viewed at the official Hamilton County Courthouse site at CourtClerk.org – see “RICHARD ABRAHAMSON vs. AMERICANA DANCE THEATRE INC“.
Below is a copy of the original complaint filed with the court on September 12, 2012:
Per the complaint, Abrahamson’s Toon Art, Inc. purchased the following memorabilia items from John LeBold and his Americana Dance Theatre, Inc. for $100,000.00:
- Elizabeth Taylor’s costume from “Cleopatra”
- James Dean’s pants from “Giant”
- Betty Davis’ jacket and cape from “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex”
- Frank Sinatra’s pants from “Anchors Aweigh”
- Susan Hayward’s dress from “Untamed”
- Erroll Flynn’s jacket from “The Adventures of Don Juan”
- Fred Astaire’s tuxedo shirt and pants from “A Royal Wedding”
- Greta Garbo’s cape from “Queen Christina”
The complaint charges two causes of action.
The first is breach of contract, charging that Defendants sold “false garments” which “is a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing“, and further requests attorney fees and punitive damages in addition to the loss of $90,000 as “the breach was malicious, and not done in good faith“.
The second cause of action named in the lawsuit is fraud, in that Defendant’s “furnishing of spurious memorabilia was tantamount to fraud“. Again Plaintiff seeks attorney fees and costs and punitive damages.
The complaint states that Plaintiff “reasonably discovered the fraud in 2011, as a result of the owner of an authentic garment identifying the falseness of the garment that had been sold by Defendants“.
Below is an archive from the Profiles in History Catalog for Hollywood Auction 47 held on December 15-16, 2011, Lot 756 – Elizabeth Taylor “Cleopatra” Gold Ceremonial Dress from Cleopatra (TCE, 1963):
The costume seen above – Lot 756 – was withdrawn from the Profiles in History auction after the publication of their catalog, as can be seen from the online archive of the sale below (which skips Lot 756), though I do not have any confirmation that this is the dress that is the subject of this lawsuit, only that it is a Cleopatra dress listed for sale by Profiles in History in 2011 that was subsequently pulled from the auction prior to the sale date (the complaint does not provide any further specificity in identifying the garment):
John LeBold has been in the news with regards to Hollywood costumes going back several decades.
The Los Angeles Times published a two-part series in 1988, written by Rhys Thomas, who they at the time described as the producer of a television magazine series called “Hollywood Closeup”. These articles can still be read in their entirety on the official L.A. Times website:
- Part 1 – The Ruby Slippers: A Journey to the Land of Oz (March 13, 1988)
- Part 2 – The Ruby Slippers: The Search for Sole Survivors (March 20, 1988)
Excerpt from the articles above (Part 2, Page 3):
At one point, Reynolds met with then Burbank Studios president Robert Hagel, hoping the facility would donate star clothing. Apparently persuaded, Hagel allowed a man named John Raymond LeBold to make an inventory of the studio’s star wardrobe. About that time, items allegedly began to disappear.
On Jan. 2, 1980, Sgt. Robert Kight of the Burbank Police Department served a search warrant on LeBold at 6514 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood–Debbie Reynolds’ Professional Rehearsal Studio. Police confiscated 667 costumes and props allegedly stolen from the Burbank Studios between November, 1978, and January, 1980.
“Debbie Reynolds doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Kight said recently. “She wasn’t involved.”
According to the transcript from LeBold’s preliminary hearing in Pasadena Superior Court, Kight questioned LeBold at Reynolds’ studio on Dec. 27, 1979, a few days before the search. Kight overheard “a conversation (with LeBold) . . . that this was Debbie Reynolds’ studio, and they were putting together a memorabilia of costumes, and he related some of the costumes were his and some of the costumes belonged to Debbie Reynolds which was evident by inspection of the costumes in the storage room.”
LeBold’s defense counselor objected “to all of that testimony . . . about costumes belonging to him and Miss Reynolds” but the court overruled. Other court witnesses already established that Reynolds knew John LeBold and together they were engaged in a museum venture.
Jack Delaney, the former manager of the Wardrobe Department at Warner Bros. and the first to notice the missing clothes, testified that LeBold had been allowed on the Burbank Studios lot with free access to the wardrobe department’s storage areas. “He spent several months selecting wardrobe, tagging it, identifying it, looking at the labels and putting it on a rack.” He was researching clothes for Reynolds’ museum, according to the court transcript.
Kight said later: “The primary problem with the case was that the record keeping at the Burbank Studios came down to one dedicated man (Jack Delaney) who knew where everything was but had no inventory. Due to the lack of documentation, we were unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that LeBold had committed a crime.”
On March 25, 1981, the 49-day-old trial ended in deadlock, its jury hung in favor of conviction, according to jurors. “The guy didn’t deserve to go to state prison,” said Kight. “He wouldn’t have survived it. He just had a fetish about clothes.”
The next day, the judge declared a mistrial and on July 16, the case was dismissed at the request of the Burbank Studios. Of the 667 items confiscated, only 26 were returned to LeBold, including Sally Field’s “Flying Nun” hat; the remaining items were returned to the Burbank Studios.
When contacted, LeBold told Calendar he “was like a scapegoat,” referring to the studios’ efforts to tighten security on star wardrobe collections. His defense was that the studios often traded costumes back and forth, counting hangers but not ownership labels. Because of this, he said, many costumes he bought at the MGM auction originally came from Warner Bros. “It cost me thousands and thousands of dollars and I was proved innocent.”
Reynolds also talked recently about the court case and John LeBold. “I think he was a very lucky boy to get off,” the actress said. “I was allowed to go into Warners and catalogue and they were going to donate to the museum. All we were in there for was to be like students and assist . . . them with their inventory.”
LeBold, Reynolds said, had worked for her since the MGM auction. “He walked up to me and said, ‘We have the same dream.’ I took him on at that time to help me to preserve my costumes. Somehow along the way he lost his dream of a Hollywood museum and it became a business. I have never lost my dream. I firmly believe we will have our museum.”
Reynolds acknowledged the avaricious side of the memorabilia collecting business: “Someone stole 20 boxes of my memorabilia. Someone made a very good haul.” She says she did not file a report with the police. “I didn’t want to get anybody in trouble.
“It’s very sad,” she said philosophically. “As long as people want to collect, they become passionate, and any excuse is good enough. Stealing, hiding, borrowing, permanently borrowing.”
On the issue of disappearing costumes, Ed Medman, Burbank Studios’ vice president of legal and business affairs, said that “we had a problem, which has been resolved.”
(But not before 1984, when the Burbank Studios prevented a Los Angeles collector from auctioning certain Warner Bros. costumes at Sotheby’s in New York. While the auction was not blocked, the Burbank Studios held an option to collect purchase money from the consignor for the specific items. The matter was settled without litigation.)
Rhys Thomas went on a year or so later to publish his much more extensive accounting in his book, The Ruby Slippers of Oz.
Twelve years later, Debbie Reynolds and John LeBold were again in the news, this time with regards to separate lawsuits filed against LeBold by Ms. Reynolds and Warner Bros. studios. The following story was by a Boston Globe writer and still online on the Chicago Tribune website:
Excerpt from the article above:
In a spat of Hollywood-esque proportions, Warner Bros. studios and entertainer Debbie Reynolds have filed separate lawsuits in a Massachusetts court, charging that a collector has taken as many as 250 famous movie costumes and props worth a total of $3 million from their private collections.
The movie studio and Reynolds, a longtime collector and memorabilia preservationist, say they were stunned and horrified to see their prized possessions among 1,178 items that collector John Lebold was offering for auction on the Internet. Minimum bid for the lot: $2.5 million.
“I am shocked and astounded by the claims made against me in this case,” Lebold said in an affidavit filed in the two Middlesex (Mass.) Superior Court cases. “I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours maintaining, repairing, and preserving these costumes. They are mine.”
Lebold’s proposed auction on the Internet site Auctionfun.com was billed as one of the largest and most significant private collections of Hollywood memorabiliaever offered.
Among the advertised items were the “The Sound of Music” jumper and guitar, stone tablets carried by Charlton Heston in “The Ten Commandments,” jeans and a T-shirt worn by James Dean in “Giant,” and the gingham dress worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Warner Bros. filed the first lawsuit last month alleging that the James Dean clothing, the Maltese Falcon statue, and 148 other items in the auction were missing from its inventory.
Reynolds followed with her own lawsuit two weeks ago, saying that the Julie Andrews jumper and guitar, the Grable bathing suit, the Marilyn Monroe dress, and other items were missing from her extensive collection.
The American Textile History Museum, which recently showcased dozens of costumes from Lebold’s collection in Lowell, Mass., has become a neutral party in the dispute, caring for the items in question until the court cases are resolved.
Lebold insists he has receipts for all but a few of the items. The confusion, he alleges, has been caused by the fact that multiple copies of the costume or prop were often made, so that when one became ripped or soiled, it could be quickly substituted, saving expensive studio time.
Debbie Reynolds famously sold much of her own collection at auction last year through Profiles in History (see Debbie Reynolds, The Auction Part 1 and Debbie Reynolds, The Auction Part 2), following her lack of success in launching her museum at Belle Island Village.
John LeBold has had his own collection on tour as “The Silver Screen and the Motion Picture Dynasty”. Below is a description of this tour by the Aimée Entertainment Agency:
An overview of some of the major costume displays Americana has exhibited throughout the world.
These highly successful award-winning exhibitions have taken place in malls, shopping centers, department stores, theatres, museums, and other unique venues attracting millions of visitors while bringing a great deal of image and revenue to each site.
Our sponsors have been: Princess Alexandra Borghese of Rome, the late Emperor of Japan, the US Information Agency which conceived a 7 year tour throughout Russia, Bloomingdales 50th Anniversary, the Motion Picture Academy as well as many Foundation fundraising events including Elton John’s AIDS Foundation, annual Oscar party, Planet Hollywood (furnished costumes and memorabilia for most of their restaurants), the Museum of Science and Industry – Los Angeles, The Century City Shopping Center, the shops at Riverside, New Jersey, etc. to mention a few of the production highlights of this extraordinary collection.
The costumes, small props and rare memorabilia have been collected over a period of 50 years and include designs by world-famous Oscar winning coutouriers – i.e.: Edith Head, Adrian, Helen Rose, Travilla, Oleg Cassini – as well as extraordinary production designs, by Dan Sayre Groesbeck, Arnold Friberg and more.
The costumes include such icons as Judy Garland’s pinafore from the Wizard of Oz, Vivien Leigh’s drapery dress from Gone With the Wind, Marilyn Monroe’s gown in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator 2 outfit, and Elizabeth Taylor’s classic strapless gown from A Place in the Sun, plus hundreds more.
Among the interesting props are the glamorous jewelry worn by Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, the Golden Idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark, the tablets from the Ten Commandments carried by Charlton Heston as Moses. In addition there are literally thousands of posters, lobby cards and rare still photos.
And the legendary collection goes on and on. We would enjoy discussing further possibilities of displaying this superb, audience-friendly show at your venue. It is the type of production that appeals to a very broad demographic and will customize the Exhibit to your dimensions.
The same site has published a biography for John LeBold:
John LeBold is the owner and manager of one of the world’s largest private collections of elite Hollywood memorabilia. Forty-five years in the making, John LeBold’s collection features more than 1,500 articles of costumes, film props and accessories, as well as 3.5 million photographic stills and 50,000 posters and lobby cards from Hollywood’s greatest films.
LeBold leased part of his famous collection to Planet Hollywood for four years and serves as artistic advisor and researcher for the company. Additionally, items from his collection have been viewed by millions of film enthusiasts and officials on several prominent worldwide tours and exhibits, such as at the Princess Borghese Museum of Film exhibit in Rome, Italy. LeBold toured through Japan with his collection upon request of the Emperor, and the collection also toured Russia for seven years at the United States Information Agency’s request. This project received wide acclaim and resulted in the exchange of treasured Faberge` eggs. For Bloomingdale’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, LeBold showcased more than 200 costumes in 11 stores, with more than 11 million people visiting the costumes nationwide.
Previously, LeBold worked as an advisor and consultant to eight-time Academy Award-winning costume designer Edith Head. LeBold also worked with actress Debbie Reynolds as an organizer and costume purchaser for her upcoming Hollywood Museum.
In addition to managing his collection, LeBold regularly designs shows for organizations including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Heart Fund, The Cancer Foundation and The Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Per CorporationWiki, Joyce Aimée of the Aimée Entertainment Agency is also President of Americana Dance Theatre, Inc. which is a co-defendant with John LeBold in the lawsuit that is the subject of this article.
Le Podcast Journal published an article on their site in December 2011 about the auction/sale of “The Hollywood Legends Collection” for bids starting at $10 million dollars. I had not heard of this at the time, but the website created to facilitate the auction/sale, www.HollywoodLegendsCollection.org, is currently defunct (with no records maintained at Archive.org).
The full article can be read at the Le Podcast Journal site:
Excerpt from the article above:
Based on its aggregate value, bids starting at $10 million will be considered for the Collection; to date, a number of potential buyers have offered between $3-5 million for individual pieces, but the owner of the Collection, former costume professional John LeBold, who assembled and painstakingly preserved it over nearly seven decades, wishes for it to be sold in its entirety and remain accessible to the public for the sake of American cinematic history.
The $10 million starting price for the extensive Hollywood Legends Collection makes this an exceptional opportunity for one buyer when compared to prices paid for single items recently auctioned from Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds. They include $4.6 million for the “subway dress” worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (the Hollywood Legends Collection has Monroe’s gold lamé gown from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), $1.1 million for Judy Garland’s blue cotton “test dress” from The Wizard of Oz (the Collection has the actual blue-checkered pinafore & white blouse featured in the movie) and $4.4 million for the Ascot dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (the Collection has Hepburn’s white chiffon gown from Sabrina, among other Hepburn apparel). For Elizabeth Taylor fans, the Collection includes her famous strapless, off-white gown from A Place in the Sun, which Los Angeles Times Magazine called “the prototype of the perfect debutante dress… the most copied dress of its time,” as well as Taylor’s ornate falcon headdress and jewelry from Cleopatra.
Included in the article is a video talking about the proposed sale of the collection. One of the two charities named as beneficiaries of the sale of the collection is the Americana Dance Theatre, Inc.. Learn more about the Americana Dance Theatre, Inc. from the Aimée Entertainment Agency, which is described as “a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) arts organization, founded in 1972 by Joyce Aimee, to preserve American Folk History through the arts“:
Jason DeBord