What is it about getting an autograph that is so thrilling? I don’t get it. Is it just so you can have proof that you met somebody famous? Half the time that’s bullshit anyway.
I was watching tennis on TV and the players were signing autographs, which consisted of standing in front of a thousand drooling fans, accepting whatever was thrust into their hands and scribbling the first letter of the first name followed by some vague loops and squiggly lines. All the while never making eye contact with the people for whom they were signing.
Why is this piece of paper with what basically resembles a 5-year-old’s drawing so frickin’ valuable to people.
Seriously, enlighten me, I don’t get it.
I can understand having your picture taken with a famous person for proof you met them, but if I ever met someone famous, I would much rather have a conversation with them, rather than collecting some meaningless written/photographic trinket. I wouldn’t care if anyone believed if I’d met him or not; I’d know the truth.
[sub]Thank you for your kind attention: This thread was born out of boredom[/sub]
Jeeze, I’ve never understood this either. I’ve met a few celebrities (OK, nobody major…mostly sports figures and such) and my friends always ask the same question: “So, did you get an autograph?”
Well, no I didn’t. What would I do with it? It’s just a scrawl of ink that the person gave you because that is his/her conditioned response. And don’t even get me started on sports stars charging for their scribbles…
I dunno why some autographs are special and some aren’t. My sis-in-law has a letter to a relative from Sigmund Freud, which he signed. Kind of cool for her, as she is a shrink.
We have quite a bit of baseball stuff- Mickey Mantle signed bat, some other bats & balls, that kind of thing. I hope that if my kid is a baseball fan, he digs 'em, but it’s not like we’re freaks about it or anything.
I know that many athletes will no longer sign anything except for kids, for fear of adults getting the sigs just to sell them & make money. I guess I can agree with that. Some of our stuff was purchased, because frankly I was never going to get close enough to Mantle to ask him, and I sure as hell can’t now.
We’re just middle-of-the-road fans, I guess. I mean, you won’t see my shit on e-bay ever. It’s not about the money or value, it’s just a lttle piece of a sport we love.
I have all of the autographs from the guys in Bon Jovi. I took pictures too. They’re somewhere in a box. I saw them when we moved a couple of years ago. I’m hoping that they die in some tragic circumstance so it will worth lots of money. NOT REALLY!
Seriously though, it was an excuse to say a few words to them. They were all very nice, BTW. Everytime I see them on TV, I think about how nice they were that day. Very nice fellows. Poor Jon looked a little stressed out, but there were like “business” people pestering him while he was trying to sign autographs.
Now, if I had the autographs (signed to me personally) and pictures of Cheap Trick, they would be hanging in a frame behind protective glass and insured for enough money to make me feel better if I lost it.
I have no explanation. It’s just paper and ink. It doesn’t move or make sounds. Hmm, maybe just to have something of a person that you admire, even if it’s just a signature? Good question.
I don’t get it either. When I worked at Wrigley Field, I never asked for autographs, from the players or from the famous people I babysat. Michael Jordan actually commented to me that I was the first security person in Chicago not to grovel for a autograph or other memento. I simply said "Thanks,are you going to eat that shrimp cocktail :d "
HOWEVER; I have had Ian Anderson sign both my tinwhistles and my flutes- I’m no fool! There might be something to thatsympathetic magic!
I don’t think it’s a character flaw to think that an autograph is kind of neato, although I wouldn’t press it much further than kind of neato.
I met the drummer from Superchunk once before one of the band’s shows. He allowed me a few minutes to gush like a goofy dedicated fan. He signed an album for me. Kind of neato.
I was about 13. The Guess Who (sans Burton Cummings) was playing at the Acadian Festival in my extremely tiny northern Maine town. It was cool for us, but in retrospect - how friggin’ in the crapper must their careers have been to take that gig? But I digress.
Anyway, at the end of the show, my friends and I stuck around to try to meet the band. The guitarist came out to chat. I didn’t even know his name, but everybody was asking for his autograph. So I hunted around on the floor and found the remains of a Kodak film box. He signed it for me and I stuffed it in my pocket.
About three days later, I found it in my pocket, looked at it, and realized how perfectly worthless it was.
I was young and following the crowd. I don’t particularly admire that quality of my youth.
Hmm, perhaps that’s why I’m soured on autographs.
oh come on, people! you mean to tell me that there isn’t anyone special who’s hand you would like to shake, or get a memento from? the autograph is two things: a reminder of that brief instant in time when you interacted with the person, and a representation of the interaction itself.
one of my prize possessions is an autograph of Thom Yorke, lead singer of radiohead. I would never sell it, so it’s not like a collector’s item or anything. It’s an artifact of the man, and a flashback to the concert and meeting him.
Jack, I’m with ya man. Autographs are weak. They seem so commercial and vain. Autograph “collectors” scare me, as do star hunters. I have known two people in my life whose main hobbie is to try to get pictures/autographs with as many famous people as they can. It just seems so trivial and pointless to me. Oh well, to each his own.
There are many people I would love to shake hands with, and talk to. But I don’t know if I want a momento. Maybe a nice cozy photo. But I’m so much of an unorganized pack-rat type, I know anything signed for me by a celebrity would be first ignored, then stored in a shoebox in the back of the closet, and then thrown out after several years in a fit of spring cleaning.
I’d rather cling to the memory than a scribble.
** I have known two people in my life whose main hobbie is to try to get
pictures/autographs with as many famous people as they can.**
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I hear ya woofin’. There was this bagel shop in Portland ME I used to go to that had the walls covered with photos of the owner and his wife standing arm in arm with a slew of famous people - of course they were all autographed too. But you could tell by the pics that they were all from seminars, or celebrity golf outings or something, where these poor famous schmucks have to pose with any dope who walks up and pretends to be their best friend. The one that stands out is one with Dan Marino - he looks like he hasn’t slept for weeks, and if one more person asks for a picture, he’ll drop-kick him.
It’s fraud! Fraud, I say! These bagel schillers obviously don’t “know” any of those people.
I always thought autographs were so “Great” or had such a high value because of the high value society places on signatures in general. When you enter into a contract etc etc, you are bound by your signature. It’s probably natural for the imporatance of signatures to carry over into other areas, such as celebrity memento.
I believe in autographs as something kinda keen, as a reminder/physical memento of meeting a person. Thus, I treasure my autographed hat from Elliott Sadler and signed 5x7 photo of Jerry Nadeau, even though to anyone else it’s just a scribble from someone they’ve never heard of. I also pose for pictures with each “famous” person I meet, for the same reason, and also because my mother jokes that the only way I will pose for a picture is if Jerry, Elliott or one of the other three drivers I have a crush on is in it. OK, so I’m a loser.
However, I have only received the seven autographs I have, for free, in person. I almost had the opportunity to go and get another autograph from somebody else I have a crush on, but then I found out that the person in question and his tag-team partner were charging $30. SO NO WAY.
An autograph practice taht makes no sense: Between myself, my father, and my best friend, we are enrolled in the fan clubs of seven or eight different NASCAR drivers. Each fan club sent us an autographed 8x10 picture. First of all, what’s the point of having an autograph if you haven’t met the person? ANd second of all, if you didn’t see them sign it how do you know it was actually them?
Incidentally, my boss at the NASCAR store has a “wall of fame” of autographed 8x10s, but all of them are personalized. “Good Luck Brenda and Jeff” or “Speedwear USA”, etc.
Actually I kinda would like to have an autograph from a NASCAR driver or a Wrestler. Specifically because I never knew they were capable of writing their own names.
I have one autographed photo - Mel Blanc. He was a very nice person to talk to, and he even spelled my name correctly.
It’s a momento that reminds me of a very nice person who took time out of his day to talk to me about voice-overs and cartoons. I never even asked for an autograph (I didn’t want to seem pushy); he offered it to me.
Hell yes I took it!
Autographs: symbolism that reflects a shared experience or interaction with an admired personality, however brief or impersonal it might have been. It reminds its owner of the special moment when they met a particular hero of them. It is just like a picture, its value resides in the memory of the event and not on the physical representation of it.
As such, autographs carry sentimental value that depends both on the situation upon they were collected and on the collector’s perception regarding the experience. If, as alluded on a previous post, you get Pete Sampras signature and he doesn’t even throw a glance back at you, it cant carry much meaning besides you telling your friends: Look dude, I was this close to Pistol Pete! See, this blot of ink came from his own pen! But for a true Sampras fan the same memento can stand as a memory that lasts a lifetime, a recollection of a particular juncture in time when he was right there, face to face with his idol.
It is not the fuzzy signature per se the one that one attributes value to, but the memory and the satisfaction of what, to some people, is a transcendental experience. As such, if greed and profit-making intent are not the relevant criteria for seeking and autograph, criticizing the sentimental value of such souvenirs would be so far besides the point as objecting people taking pictures of their vacations or other experiences they would like to remember for posterity.
As for the person I would most like to meet: Ted Williams. Would I care for his autograph? Only to validate my claim to my friends, but the sentimental value would reside totally on the recollection of such a special moment, not in the autograph itself.
That been said, I will gladly give my autograph to anyone of you guys…
OK, so I’m a loser.
