Signed Books, and Barry Manilow
Dec. 15th, 2008 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j_cheneyI told MP that I would probably be posting this, so first, let me begin by saying how I feel about getting signatures.
I've never been the kind who cares much about celebrity. Those people who ooooh and ahhhh over Tom Cruise or Brittany Spears? They're just people, folks. They get paid more than us, but they're still just people. I'm more interested in whether or not they're nice to other people.
Authors can be the same way. I'm not going to stand in line to get Dan Brown's signature. Yeah, he's famous. He makes more money than I do. Woo. Do I respect him or his work? Well, I've never read anything of his yet, and I don't know him at all.
I do have some signed books....but they're mostly signed by people I know and like. That has some meaning to me. (I also have a book signed by PD James, whose work I do admire, but I seem to have purchased it that way.) Collecting signatures just for the sake of signatures is...odd...to me.
So, I present for your perusal, two incidents in my personal life, the polar ends of fame, both of which really stuck with me.
Item 1: In which I do not collect a signature.
Famous Author is speaking to a group of people and hands out copies of one of their books to everyone. Leaves quickly, so no one gets to talk to FA afterward. Later, at dinner, one person comes by with said free book and asks FA to sign it. FA does so and then turns to me and says something like "I can't believe that X is the only one who asked me to sign my book. When someone gives you a book, it's an insult not to ask them to sign it." (insert lofty tone)
I recall mumbling something about not thinking of this (dinner) as a proper venue, and would they be available to do signings later?
But I was thinking....I didn't even ask you to give me one of your books, I've never read one of your books, and now I'm pretty certain I can carry on without ever reading one. I was quite put off by the implication that I supposedly owed the FA homage of some sort simply because they'd given me a copy of their remaindered novel.
It was....weird.
Item 2: In which I do collect a signature....but not for me.
One night in Manhattan, I was at Club 44 with a bunch of other buyers eating dinner when Barry Manilow walks in with his bodyguard (back in the early 90s)
OK, I'm not a Manilow fan. His music was never to my taste, but....
One of the buyers in the children's division (we'll call her Mary R.) was. Mary R. was a HUGE Manilow fan, and the true irony of this was that she would have been with us that night, except for the fact that she'd decided at the last moment that she didn't have enough money to spend to warrant the expense of 10 days in NY...so she cancelled.
Manilow was sitting alone by himself over at the bar (it was early, so there weren't any bar patrons yet). And, thinking that this would be a chance I shouldn't pass up, I grabbed up a napkin, surreptitiously walked over there (hoping not to draw attention to him), and I quietly explained about Mary and how much it would mean to her to have his autograph. (He probably did believe it was for someone else--not me--because the other girl had a clrearly hispanic surname, whereas I am clearly not hispanic in appearance.)
Mr. Manilow was sooooooooo nice about it. He wrote a little note to Mary R. on the napkin, saying how sorry he was that they didn't get to meet, and then gave it back to me. He was polite, friendly, and not at all condescending.
I was about to sneak away and leave him in peace when I saw that the other 4 girls from my table had spotted him as well.....and descended on him en masse. After a bit of polite chat, he took his drink and left. (I'd actually been talking to the bodyguard during that time, apologizing profusely for drawing attention to him and ruining his quiet...the bodyguard said it happened all the time, not to worry.) Yes, I ruined Barry Manilow's night.
Anyhow, these are my two most notable celebrity signature experiences. They are the two opposite ends of the spectrum, I think....but both really stuck in my mind. How a celebrity should act, how a celebrity should not act, from my POV.
So, I'm not saying I don't believe in signed things. I just don't think that I understand the drive that pushes some people to get things signed by someone just because that person is famous. There should be more to it than that, I think.
In fact I'm bidding on some signed books on the HelpVera site. Because I know, like, and admire the author...and this is a good way to both contribute and get something cool at the same time. And my old copies of the books? I'll pass them on to someone else....
I've never been the kind who cares much about celebrity. Those people who ooooh and ahhhh over Tom Cruise or Brittany Spears? They're just people, folks. They get paid more than us, but they're still just people. I'm more interested in whether or not they're nice to other people.
Authors can be the same way. I'm not going to stand in line to get Dan Brown's signature. Yeah, he's famous. He makes more money than I do. Woo. Do I respect him or his work? Well, I've never read anything of his yet, and I don't know him at all.
I do have some signed books....but they're mostly signed by people I know and like. That has some meaning to me. (I also have a book signed by PD James, whose work I do admire, but I seem to have purchased it that way.) Collecting signatures just for the sake of signatures is...odd...to me.
So, I present for your perusal, two incidents in my personal life, the polar ends of fame, both of which really stuck with me.
Item 1: In which I do not collect a signature.
Famous Author is speaking to a group of people and hands out copies of one of their books to everyone. Leaves quickly, so no one gets to talk to FA afterward. Later, at dinner, one person comes by with said free book and asks FA to sign it. FA does so and then turns to me and says something like "I can't believe that X is the only one who asked me to sign my book. When someone gives you a book, it's an insult not to ask them to sign it." (insert lofty tone)
I recall mumbling something about not thinking of this (dinner) as a proper venue, and would they be available to do signings later?
But I was thinking....I didn't even ask you to give me one of your books, I've never read one of your books, and now I'm pretty certain I can carry on without ever reading one. I was quite put off by the implication that I supposedly owed the FA homage of some sort simply because they'd given me a copy of their remaindered novel.
It was....weird.
Item 2: In which I do collect a signature....but not for me.
One night in Manhattan, I was at Club 44 with a bunch of other buyers eating dinner when Barry Manilow walks in with his bodyguard (back in the early 90s)
OK, I'm not a Manilow fan. His music was never to my taste, but....
One of the buyers in the children's division (we'll call her Mary R.) was. Mary R. was a HUGE Manilow fan, and the true irony of this was that she would have been with us that night, except for the fact that she'd decided at the last moment that she didn't have enough money to spend to warrant the expense of 10 days in NY...so she cancelled.
Manilow was sitting alone by himself over at the bar (it was early, so there weren't any bar patrons yet). And, thinking that this would be a chance I shouldn't pass up, I grabbed up a napkin, surreptitiously walked over there (hoping not to draw attention to him), and I quietly explained about Mary and how much it would mean to her to have his autograph. (He probably did believe it was for someone else--not me--because the other girl had a clrearly hispanic surname, whereas I am clearly not hispanic in appearance.)
Mr. Manilow was sooooooooo nice about it. He wrote a little note to Mary R. on the napkin, saying how sorry he was that they didn't get to meet, and then gave it back to me. He was polite, friendly, and not at all condescending.
I was about to sneak away and leave him in peace when I saw that the other 4 girls from my table had spotted him as well.....and descended on him en masse. After a bit of polite chat, he took his drink and left. (I'd actually been talking to the bodyguard during that time, apologizing profusely for drawing attention to him and ruining his quiet...the bodyguard said it happened all the time, not to worry.) Yes, I ruined Barry Manilow's night.
Anyhow, these are my two most notable celebrity signature experiences. They are the two opposite ends of the spectrum, I think....but both really stuck in my mind. How a celebrity should act, how a celebrity should not act, from my POV.
So, I'm not saying I don't believe in signed things. I just don't think that I understand the drive that pushes some people to get things signed by someone just because that person is famous. There should be more to it than that, I think.
In fact I'm bidding on some signed books on the HelpVera site. Because I know, like, and admire the author...and this is a good way to both contribute and get something cool at the same time. And my old copies of the books? I'll pass them on to someone else....
