A convention I am involved with (Orycon) wants to honor him as a “Ghost of Honor”, and would like to know who to contact for permission to use his name and image.
I read at Vincent Price.com the estate is managed by his family. It was a website so veracity is suspect.
Simpsons did it!
Pretty close, anyway: A fictional depiction of Price’s next of kin, taking carebof business. Sorry for the sketchy vid quality.
Also, I can’t imagine anyone would care if you used a picture of him and gave him an honor no one but you guys care about. I say do it in good conscience.
We are a polite group-We always attempt to use images with the proper permission whenever possible.
Googling, it might be this company, which says it “negotiates licences for the commercial use of photography, film & video images of legendary movie & historical icons for advertising, product endorsement & merchandising.” Calling him a “ghost of honor” might be viewed as a product endorsement.
It never hurts to be polite. Growing up, I was a big fan of his movies. I hope you have luck contacting whomever you need to in order to make Price your Ghost of Honor.
What is Orycon?
If you could contact the studio he worked at I bet they have an office just for this kinda thing. I don’t remember who he worked for.
Even if it’s not in business anymore there’s gotta be a historical or legal department at the parent company.
It is a regional non-profit science fiction and fantasy convention.
orycon.org
I just looked at a recording I have of Masque of the Red death.
It’s American International Pictures, Inc.
Now owned by " Filmways" presentations dahling☺️
(In LA)
I’m afraid he worked for many different studios, both before, and after, The Red Death.
You might want to reach out to his daughter. From her Wikipedia page:
Although Victoria is the daughter of a horror icon, she is not a fan of horror films, but she is a fan of horror film fans. She often attends and speaks at horror conventions.
Victoria Price - Wikipedia
Victoria Price is a delight. Very much her father’s daughter, in terms of wit, elegance, and a hearty sense of humor.
For an example of her ebullience and savoir-faire, she was the guest of honor during a MST3K-related event, namely, when “The Mads Are Back” aired and riffed the classic film The Tingler, and she was charming and candid.
I would ask her, and she would say “yes,” almost certainly, although she may have questions about the nature of this little group, perhaps because of the extremely odd name.
If some corporation thinks they are owed a piece, she would likely say “Yeah, and? Tell you what, buy some of my hand-knitted Tingler toys and we’ll call it good.” (Yes, she was lightly flogging some toy/thing based on the Tingler creature she’d made, although I don’t remember if it is knitted or grown).
My thanks to the both of you. Letter sent.
Do let us know if he contacts you.
If he contacts me, I’ll be sure to let the whole damn world know!
Just a note about legalities. Although it’s nice to be polite, I don’t think there is any legal or even moral necessity to obtain permission to honor a dead celebrity.
However, as for use of an image, legally speaking, only the copyright holder can grant permission to make copies of a photograph, painting, or other image. If Price’s daughter has an image whose copyright she owns, she can give you permission to use it. But if you want to use an image from a film, or some random publicity photo, her permission means nothing.
Practically speaking, there’s a good chance that if you don’t go overboard, you could reproduce a copyrighted image without permission and get away with it. Using a studio publicity picture might arguably be acceptable, since they were created and distributed specifically to be reproduced, and you could argue that you are promoting the Vincent Price film in question.
But if you want to be completely above board, you’ll need permission from the copyright holder. So the safest course would be to go to an agency like Getty Images, and pay the fee to use one their pictures.
From this webpage, “California provides a civil claim for the unauthorized use of another’s ‘name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness’ on products or merchandise, or for the purposes of advertising or promotion.”
I think what the OP is proposing could be considered advertising or promotion, so they should seek permission. The daughter is a good place to start; either she can grant permission or she can direct the OP to whatever agency is authorized to do so.
I disagree. The con is simply honoring Price. They are not promoting or advertising a product using his image, as if he were endorsing it, or otherwise attempting to profit from using Price’s name or likeness.
When IP nerds unite for a common cause on the Reddit-Quora channel.
Actually, who gives a shit. Talk to Victoria Price, and call it good.
If it is a precious moment photograph or figurine, then the creator of that artifact should be known and credited and compensated. Without question.
I’m enjoying the Alpine Boy righteous nerd flameout here.
By all means attempt to find out who created the image of Mr. Price. If no response, by all means contact his daughter, who is alive and well.