Masks
I have a friend who goes by the LJ name setsyoustraight, a friend since high school, who is a passionate fan of "Babylon 5," with a special fondness for the character of G'Kar and the actor who played him, Andreas Katsulas. A couple of years ago she discovered, on eBay, that Marc Scott Zicree was selling the prosthetic mask worn by Katsulas during his years portraying G'Kar. The package included a lifemask made of Katsulas for fitting the prosthetic. setsyoustraight was determined that the mask not fall into the hands of a private collector who would hog it all to himself.
She pulled together a group of 10 other fans (myself included) and raised money to buy the mask, the idea being that we'd acquire it as a group and then donate it to a museum where many people could see and enjoy it. Sure enough, we scored. It took a while for the package to be delivered, and then another while to find a museum in which to place it (and we tried several including--first and foremost--the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle which didn't have room, much to my disappointment).
After a long search, I'm pleased to announce that the mask and prosthetic have found a home at New York's Museum of the Moving Image. You can see the mask and prosthetic and read the full story of the acquisition at the museum's Web site. We, all 11 of us, had to sign the museum's release, so the form has been winging its way from Pennsylvania to England to Alabama to Seattle--all over the place--so the paperwork would be in order. It's been a heckuva ride. (Of course, I'm the one who screwed up--missed signing one of the pages, so it has to come back to me once everyone else is done with it. Ah well.)
And in a nice little extra, the acquisition got a mention in the New York Times today.
ETA: More press coverage: SFSite.com, New York Press, io9.com, FindingDulcinea.com, SF Scope (in which I am quoted!), CinemaBlend.com and AM New York's Urbanite blog. I suspect there's more coverage, and as it's discovered, I'll add it to the list.
She pulled together a group of 10 other fans (myself included) and raised money to buy the mask, the idea being that we'd acquire it as a group and then donate it to a museum where many people could see and enjoy it. Sure enough, we scored. It took a while for the package to be delivered, and then another while to find a museum in which to place it (and we tried several including--first and foremost--the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle which didn't have room, much to my disappointment).
After a long search, I'm pleased to announce that the mask and prosthetic have found a home at New York's Museum of the Moving Image. You can see the mask and prosthetic and read the full story of the acquisition at the museum's Web site. We, all 11 of us, had to sign the museum's release, so the form has been winging its way from Pennsylvania to England to Alabama to Seattle--all over the place--so the paperwork would be in order. It's been a heckuva ride. (Of course, I'm the one who screwed up--missed signing one of the pages, so it has to come back to me once everyone else is done with it. Ah well.)
And in a nice little extra, the acquisition got a mention in the New York Times today.
ETA: More press coverage: SFSite.com, New York Press, io9.com, FindingDulcinea.com, SF Scope (in which I am quoted!), CinemaBlend.com and AM New York's Urbanite blog. I suspect there's more coverage, and as it's discovered, I'll add it to the list.