A star-studded life is up for auction
Late, great Vancouver impresario Hugh Pickett’s extensive collection is full of treasures
The late Hugh Pickett liked to collect stuff. Antiques, art, movie posters, autographed photos of Hollywood stars — his Kerrisdale home brimmed with all sorts of treasures.
Nine years after Pickett’s death, it’s all going up for auction.
On Aug. 26, Love’s Auction in Richmond will sell the Hugh Pickett estate. Thousands of pieces will be up for grabs, reflecting the diverse tastes of the impresario who was Vancouver’s top promoter from the 1940s until the 1980s.
There is an autographed photograph of Elvis Presley, from the time Pickett brought him to Empire Stadium on Aug. 31, 1957. And an autographed Richard Avedon photo of Marlene Dietrich, who Pickett used to manage.
There is an original illustration of a costume for Mitzi Gaynor by Hollywood design legend Bob Mackie, signed by Mackie and Mitzi. A collection of beautiful art nouveau glass by Galle, Tiffany and Lalique.
A giant poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece Psycho warns “the manager of this theatre has been instructed, at the risk of his life, not to admit any persons after the picture starts. Any spurious attempts to enter by side doors, fire escapes, or ventilating shafts will be met by force.”
Believe it or not, Pickett owned every still photo from every Ginger Rogers movie ever made.
“Ginger sat on the floor in the living room of (Pickett’s) house going ‘Wow, never seen this one!’” relates Gordon Boyd, who was Pickett’s partner for three decades.
“He has virtually everything of Dietrich’s, as well, but I can’t say he has every one. I know he had every one of Ginger’s, because (her mother) Lela sent every portfolio, for every film.”
Love’s is still sorting through the 180 boxes of Pickett’s stuff that have come in. But you can get an idea of the scope of the collection on the Love’s Auction website, which has 897 photos of the items that will go up for sale. Love’s also has a list of his autographed eight-by-10 glossies, many of which used to hang in the “stairway to the stars” between the first and second floor of Pickett’s home.
Mary Pickford, Bette Davis, Mae West, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Tyrone Power, Lillian Gish, Katharine Hepburn, Phyllis Diller, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, Margot Fonteyn, Mischa Baryshnikov, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Igor Stravinsky, Arthur Rubenstein, Maria Callas, Leonard Bernstein — the eight-by-10s are a veritable history of 20th-century entertainment.
Many of the photos are personally dedicated to Pickett, whose sparkling wit and wicked sense of humour endeared him to his friends.
It is hard to overestimate Hugh Pickett’s impact on Vancouver. Pickett led the fight to save the Orpheum Theatre when it was threatened with demolition in the 1970s. He talked the manager at the Hotel Georgia into letting Nat King Cole stay there in the 1950s, breaking the colour barrier at the big downtown hotels. He was the promoter behind the Rolling Stones show that turned into a riot in 1972.
Pickett died on Feb. 13, 2006, at the age of 92. He dreamed of having “a wild Hugh Pickett garage sale” to dispense his stuff after he died, but in the wake of his death, Boyd couldn’t “even contemplate” selling anything.
This spring, Boyd decided to sell the house and downsize to an apartment. And that meant dealing with Pickett’s collection.
“After rambling around in the place for nine years, I decided it was time, I needed to deal with the contents,” he said.
His first call was to the Vancouver Archives, which now has Pickett’s extensive local theatre collection.
“I got the ball rolling by working with the Vancouver Archives, because there was so much theatre history, both Theatre Under The Stars and civic theatres where Hugh presented productions,” said Boyd.
“That was a dozen filing cabinets. The basement was wall-towall filing cabinets. You couldn’t walk in there.”
The Archives also acquired photos and scrapbooks from Pickett’s family, along with his personal correspondence.
“It’ll be available to anybody that wants to read about Ginger or Marlene or Mitzi,” said Boyd.
“Mitzi’s the only individual that’s alive that Hugh corresponded with regularly. Hepburn’s gone, they’re all gone.”
The biggest collection was sheet music, which has gone to Langara Community College.
“It was probably the largest personal collection of sheet music in Canada, 15 filing cabinets,” said Boyd.
“It’s available at Langara, the theatre department’s using it. They were thrilled to have it.”
Knowing the lovely 1925 home he shared with Pickett would probably be bulldozed after he sold it, he took out the home’s leaded and stained glass and donated it to the Vancouver Heritage Foundation.
“The one thing that was clearly evident after all the glass was removed was just how little we really saw in that house,” said Boyd.
“It was everywhere, and was really colourful. But you had to use 150-watt bulbs to see anything. When we had them all removed I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it.”
Some of the Hollywood memorabilia would probably fetch a fair penny in New York or Los Angeles. But when he decided to sell it, he went local.
“I decided to find a home for as much of what Hugh loved to collect locally, and Love’s were the fit for that,” he said.
“They’re kind of a grassroots, family-owned business. They reach out to the general public at large that likes to buy a little of this and a little of that.”
There will be a lot of a little bit of this and that on sale. Tiny movie star cards from the 1930s that used to come in cigarette packs. Limited edition Picasso prints. Souvenirs of the luxury liner Normandie, which took Pickett from New York to Europe when he was 20.
Pretty much everything that was in Pickett’s home is for sale, from the furniture down to the most personal items.
“The biggest excitement after nine years was going to the vault at the Royal Bank at Granville and Broadway, to the safety deposit box,” said Boyd, choking up at the memory.
“The crown jewels were in there. Hugh never accepted money for all the work that he did, so he got gifts instead. And they were unbelievable. Jewelry, all kinds of stuff.”
Among the gifts were gold cufflinks that read “Phyllis,” “Mitzi” and “Marlene,” given to Pickett by his close friends Phyllis Diller, Mitzi Gaynor and Marlene Dietrich. “People would go to Tony
Cavelti and say ‘I need this for Hugh Pickett, can you make it for me?’ ” says Boyd.
“Sadly they were in the safety deposit box for reasons of value. (And) who wears French cuff long-sleeve shirts these days?”
There will be reserves put on some items.
“I’ve got two silent three sheets (posters) that are Lillian Gish,” said Boyd.
“I know in New York 10 years ago they could have fetched 10 grand apiece, U.S. They’re framed, they’re pretty special. I’ve got some Marlene that’s pretty rare.”
But with this much stuff, some people are bound to walk away with some bargains. Which is the way Hugh Pickett would have wanted it.
“I was a little bit concerned about the marketability on the local market, but at the end of the day I still had in the back of my mind Hugh’s love for garage sales,” said Boyd.
“There’s going to be some bargains there, there’s going to be some wonderful bargains.”