1933 Hollywood Movie Star Token - Claudette Colbert In " Torch Singer "
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:35111511 |
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS - THIS IS JUST ONE OF 10HOLLYWOOD/SO-CAL AND OTHER TOKENS BEING LISTED, AND MORE WILL BE LISTED AFTERTHESE SALESDescription: Obverse: CLAUDETTE COLBERT (at left edge) / (Colbert facing left) Reverse: PARAMOUNT STAR / IN / "TORCH SINGER" Aluminum. About 25mm in diameter. Catalog number: Kappen - Hollywood, CA K-126. High grade with a few minor scuffs consistent with age.This is one in a series of tokens depicting... famous movie stars of the 1930s and naming a current movie in which they star. A nice addition to any collection of vintage movie memorabilia. Kappen lists this series of tokens under the California city where the individual studio was located (M-G-M = Culver City, Paramount & R.K.O. = Hollywood)While the majority of these tokens are struck in aluminum, some are also struck in brass. They all range in size from about 23 to 25mm in diameter. An additional set in brass was looped for suspension on a necklace or a charm bracelet. This token is not listed in Richard Greever's online token database.
Background information:From Wikipedia (in part) Torch Singer is a 1933 American Pre-Code Paramount Pictures film starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez, David Manners, and Lyda Roberti. The story is based on the short story Mike by Grace Perkins, which was published in Liberty magazine (May 20–27, 1933). It was released on DVD (as part of a six disc set entitled "Pre-Code Hollywood Collection") on April 7, 2009. The storyline of the film: Sally Trent has an illegitimate child, but cannot support her and gives the baby up for adoption. The father, Michael Gardner, leaves for China not knowing about the baby, and she assumes he has abandoned her for life. She gets a job as a torch singer, changes her name to Mimi Benton, and becomes notorious for her drinking and philandering. Mimi fills in on a children's radio program as the character "Aunt Jenny, " singing and telling bedtime stories, and eventually uses the airtime to find her long lost daughter, part with her wild lifestyle, and reunite with Michael. Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-born American stage and film actress.She began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to motion pictures with the advent of talking pictures. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, she gradually shifted to working as a freelance actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in It Happened One Night (1934), and received two other Academy Award nominations. Other notable films include Cleopatra (1934) and The Palm Beach Story (1942).With her round face, big eyes, charming, aristocratic manner, and flair for light comedy, as well as emotional drama, Colbert was known for a versatility that led to her becoming one of the industry's best-paid stars of the 1930s and 1940s and, in 1938 and 1942, the highest-paid star. During her career, Colbert starred in more than 60 movies. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray in seven films (1935−49), and Fredric March in four films (1930−33).By the early 1950s, Colbert had basically retired from the screen in favor of television and stage work, and she earned a Tony Award nomination for The Marriage-Go-Round in 1959. Her career tapered off during the early 1960s, but in the late 1970s she experienced a career resurgence in theater, earning a Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago theater work in 1980. For her television work in The Two Mrs. Grenvelles (1987), she won a Golden Globe Award and received an Emmy Award nomination.In 1999, the American Film Institute voted Colbert the 12th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema.In her later years, Colbert divided her time between her apartment in Manhattan and her vacation home in Speightstown Barbados. However, her permanent address remained Manhattan. She sustained a series of small strokes during the last three years of her life, and died in 1996 at her home in Barbados. She was 92. Colbert's remains were transported to New York City for cremation and funeral services. Her ashes are laid to rest in the Godings Bay Church Cemetery, Speightstown, Barbados, alongside her mother and second husband, Dr. Joel Pressman.Colbert never had children. She left most of her estate, estimated at $3.5 million and including her Manhattan apartment and her Barbados estate, to a long-time friend, Helen O'Hagan, a retired director of corporate relations at Saks Fifth Avenue. Colbert met O'Hagan in 1961 on the set of Parish, her last film, and the pair became best friends around 1970.After the death of her husband, Colbert instructed her friends to treat O'Hagan as they had Pressman, "as her spouse". Although O'Hagan was financially comfortable without the generous bequest, the Barbados estate was sold for over $2 million to David Geffen, an American business magnate, producer, film studio executive, and philanthropist. Colbert's remaining assets were distributed among three heirs: $150, 000 to her niece Coco Lewis; a trust worth more than $100, 000 to UCLA for Pressman's memory; and $75, 000 to Marie Corbin, Colbert's Barbadian housekeeper.My seller info: My father, who is a retired coin dealer, has for years beensending me old tokens and medals from Hollywood and the Los Angeles area as heran across them. He figured that they would be of more interest to people in myarea than in Oregon where he currently resides. It is now time for me to partwith some of these interesting and historic items. Some of them picture moviestars of bygone days. Others are vintage "movie money" used by theproduction companies to represent coins in their movies, and still others areadvertising or employee tokens used at Paramount and other famous studios. Afew of the tokens are from businesses that operated in the Los Angeles areafrom the early 1900s to the 1960s. He also has a passion for other interestingU.S. and world tokens and medals issued before 1900 so some of my listings mayinclude a few of those items.I'll be starting my auctions at the price my father paid for themyears ago, and let the market take them where it will.All items are guaranteed genuine, unless otherwisestated. You will receive the exact item(s) pictured on my auction. Actualcolor of the item(s) being auctioned is often a little different from thecolor on my pictures. Some items just don't photograph as well as others.Since I am not a coin dealer, I will not attempt to grade the item(s). I'vetried to make the pictures as clear as possible so you may use them todetermine the grade for yourself. Obvious damage will be noted, but minor marksand wear due to age will not. Please contact me with your questions beforebidding.I do combine shipping for auctions won within a three day period.Please contact me if you intend to bid on auctions closing on different days.Items won will usually be mailed housed in my father's original package unlessthe package has been damaged. I would love to see these items go to a newhome where there is the same appreciation for their historic significance as myfather and I have had for them.Mailing via first class USPS envelope inside a firm cardstocksleeve. Undercurrent Post Office slowdowns, other mailing options are available and otherscan be requested.Internationalbuyers: Message me after bidding to discuss shipping.
Background information:From Wikipedia (in part) Torch Singer is a 1933 American Pre-Code Paramount Pictures film starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez, David Manners, and Lyda Roberti. The story is based on the short story Mike by Grace Perkins, which was published in Liberty magazine (May 20–27, 1933). It was released on DVD (as part of a six disc set entitled "Pre-Code Hollywood Collection") on April 7, 2009. The storyline of the film: Sally Trent has an illegitimate child, but cannot support her and gives the baby up for adoption. The father, Michael Gardner, leaves for China not knowing about the baby, and she assumes he has abandoned her for life. She gets a job as a torch singer, changes her name to Mimi Benton, and becomes notorious for her drinking and philandering. Mimi fills in on a children's radio program as the character "Aunt Jenny, " singing and telling bedtime stories, and eventually uses the airtime to find her long lost daughter, part with her wild lifestyle, and reunite with Michael. Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-born American stage and film actress.She began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to motion pictures with the advent of talking pictures. Initially associated with Paramount Pictures, she gradually shifted to working as a freelance actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in It Happened One Night (1934), and received two other Academy Award nominations. Other notable films include Cleopatra (1934) and The Palm Beach Story (1942).With her round face, big eyes, charming, aristocratic manner, and flair for light comedy, as well as emotional drama, Colbert was known for a versatility that led to her becoming one of the industry's best-paid stars of the 1930s and 1940s and, in 1938 and 1942, the highest-paid star. During her career, Colbert starred in more than 60 movies. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray in seven films (1935−49), and Fredric March in four films (1930−33).By the early 1950s, Colbert had basically retired from the screen in favor of television and stage work, and she earned a Tony Award nomination for The Marriage-Go-Round in 1959. Her career tapered off during the early 1960s, but in the late 1970s she experienced a career resurgence in theater, earning a Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago theater work in 1980. For her television work in The Two Mrs. Grenvelles (1987), she won a Golden Globe Award and received an Emmy Award nomination.In 1999, the American Film Institute voted Colbert the 12th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema.In her later years, Colbert divided her time between her apartment in Manhattan and her vacation home in Speightstown Barbados. However, her permanent address remained Manhattan. She sustained a series of small strokes during the last three years of her life, and died in 1996 at her home in Barbados. She was 92. Colbert's remains were transported to New York City for cremation and funeral services. Her ashes are laid to rest in the Godings Bay Church Cemetery, Speightstown, Barbados, alongside her mother and second husband, Dr. Joel Pressman.Colbert never had children. She left most of her estate, estimated at $3.5 million and including her Manhattan apartment and her Barbados estate, to a long-time friend, Helen O'Hagan, a retired director of corporate relations at Saks Fifth Avenue. Colbert met O'Hagan in 1961 on the set of Parish, her last film, and the pair became best friends around 1970.After the death of her husband, Colbert instructed her friends to treat O'Hagan as they had Pressman, "as her spouse". Although O'Hagan was financially comfortable without the generous bequest, the Barbados estate was sold for over $2 million to David Geffen, an American business magnate, producer, film studio executive, and philanthropist. Colbert's remaining assets were distributed among three heirs: $150, 000 to her niece Coco Lewis; a trust worth more than $100, 000 to UCLA for Pressman's memory; and $75, 000 to Marie Corbin, Colbert's Barbadian housekeeper.My seller info: My father, who is a retired coin dealer, has for years beensending me old tokens and medals from Hollywood and the Los Angeles area as heran across them. He figured that they would be of more interest to people in myarea than in Oregon where he currently resides. It is now time for me to partwith some of these interesting and historic items. Some of them picture moviestars of bygone days. Others are vintage "movie money" used by theproduction companies to represent coins in their movies, and still others areadvertising or employee tokens used at Paramount and other famous studios. Afew of the tokens are from businesses that operated in the Los Angeles areafrom the early 1900s to the 1960s. He also has a passion for other interestingU.S. and world tokens and medals issued before 1900 so some of my listings mayinclude a few of those items.I'll be starting my auctions at the price my father paid for themyears ago, and let the market take them where it will.All items are guaranteed genuine, unless otherwisestated. You will receive the exact item(s) pictured on my auction. Actualcolor of the item(s) being auctioned is often a little different from thecolor on my pictures. Some items just don't photograph as well as others.Since I am not a coin dealer, I will not attempt to grade the item(s). I'vetried to make the pictures as clear as possible so you may use them todetermine the grade for yourself. Obvious damage will be noted, but minor marksand wear due to age will not. Please contact me with your questions beforebidding.I do combine shipping for auctions won within a three day period.Please contact me if you intend to bid on auctions closing on different days.Items won will usually be mailed housed in my father's original package unlessthe package has been damaged. I would love to see these items go to a newhome where there is the same appreciation for their historic significance as myfather and I have had for them.Mailing via first class USPS envelope inside a firm cardstocksleeve. Undercurrent Post Office slowdowns, other mailing options are available and otherscan be requested.Internationalbuyers: Message me after bidding to discuss shipping.
