Note not talking about randomly finding them on the street, rather at conventions or other public signing events.
Though I never went to them prior to the 2000s seeing them in media it didn’t really seem like the celebrities charged for autographs, rather their “appearance fee” at the convention paid by the organizers made it free. A recent RedLetterMedia episode talks about how in the 90s at Star Trek conventions the celebrity guests wouldn’t charge for autographs which inspired this.
Nowadays when I go to cons it’s not unusual to find celebrities asking for $100 an autograph and still have lines 100 deep.
Is it simply because fan culture became such a thing in the past 30 years that the celebs realized they could be making a ton of money on this?
I believe it started with sport memorabilia events, often held in malls. When the signings were still generally free at conventions like Star Trek, there was already memorabilia events where athletes would charge for their signatures. So at least back to the early 80s.
Indirectly, book signings go back much longer. Not that you technically paid for the signature, but you did buy the hardcover copy of the book to get it signed at bookstore events. This might have started in the 1800s.
I think perhaps the rise in celebs charging for autographs is aligned with the rise of people making a living or side-gig out of selling this stuff online.
IOW, when the ordinary-looking schmoe getting the autograph is just going to sell it, and may have another dozen shills in line to bring him more product to sell, the celebs decided that handing out free product doesn’t make much sense.
Which is very different from e.g. some baseball player in 1960 autographing a ball for little Timmy and that will be his most prized possession throughout his school years.
I think that some people charging for autographs goes way back. I’d heard that Ty Cobb charged for his, but a quick internet search shows that there’s little to nothing to back his up.
On the other hand, here’s a claim that Geronimo (Goyaale, the Apache leader) charged for his autograph back in 1904. I can’t blame him – he probably needed the money.
According to this site, people began selling autographs in 1822. But these were collected autographs, sold by the collector, not the actual signer. Still once you know they’re worth money and can be sold, it’s not a big step to the actual celebrity charging for them:
Author book signings seem to be more of a publicity event meant to increase overall sales rather than the actual books at the event itself.
It seems common for A-list celebrities to express displeasure on talk shows with autograph requests during their day to day lives. And I can see how it could be bothersome. But even A-list celebs will do some autographs during a publicity event. Like walking down the red carpet at their movie premiere.
I’m not into going to these conventions myself though I vaguely know they exist. I’m sure people enjoy themselves and nothing wrong with that.
But my impression has always been you are getting into C-List celebs at these events. Celebs who made some bad financial decisions and now need money. Or had one minor role in their fledgling career, which did not pay as much as people might think.
I don’t know if they get paid per autograph or the event organizers pay a flat fee.
I don’t fault the “celebs” for wanting to make a few bucks. Not everyone who was on tv/movies is a millionaire.
Which part don’t you understand: someone thinking it’s kinda cool to have something signed by a celebrity, or someone willing to pay for something they think is kinda cool?
I don’t see anything wrong with it. People are willing to pay $20-50 for an autograph and $100+ for a photo op with celebrities at conventions. They are basically buying that persons time for a few minutes and you get a souvenir that you can put on your wall.
For a lot of celebrities, who’s last major IMDB listing was a part on Star Trek Voyager or Battlestar Galactica, the convention circuit probably makes up a significant portion of their annual income.
This reminds me that William Poundstone reported in his1983 book Big Secrets that baseball teams would regularly get requests for signed balls and/or bats and THAT they would have the team secretary or manager sign items as players.
I agree with you. Furthermore I never understood the appeal of collecting of autographs from celebrities or athletes. The idea of joining a throng of fans waiting in line for the momentous occasion of getting an autograph from their idol is absolutely foreign to me.and paying for the privilege?
I wonder if we can lay some percentage of blame on Joe DiMaggio. There was a biography some years ago that described him milking every last penny from the memorabilia business, and him being quite rude to some of his customers. Apparently, he was a very unpleasant person. But irrespective of that, I wonder if the example of making big money with his autograph got other people thinking.
I was just listening to a podcast and coincidentally heard this story.
There was a recent HorrorCon where Alec Baldwin was there for photos. He was charging $130 per photo and a brief 30 second chat. I don’t know how much he was charging for an individual autograph but $100 sounds in line.
