How to Murder a Rich Uncle: Charles Addams Preliminary Art

An original drawing by Charles Addams is currently listed on eBay by an established seller with the all-too-convenient name masteraddamsgreatescape. The 15" x 16" (by sight) work is framed and double-matted. It carries the hefty asking price of $35,000. The seller lists it as PUBLISHED—just like that, in all caps—but has not backed up that assertion with any evidence, even in lower-case.

Now, Addams's classic published cartoon panels are usually in the medium of ink and wash en grisaille on paper. The work in question is a detailed pencil drawing far more typical of an Addams rough.

Of course, this might not be a freestanding cartoon panel at all. The two malevolent onlookers are in no way essential to the humor of the piece. What we have here must be a story illustration of some sort.

The cutaway wall is a seldom-used device in cartoons coming, perhaps, from the stage. It is hard to visualize how this drawing might have been done without it.

Charles Addams
eBay listing accessed May 28, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/116492511122?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20250324084321%26meid%3D874440461ddb4618aa5b900beaba9986%26pid%3D101949%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D116492511122%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRPboosterAndUpdatedFeatures_BP&_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918&_trkparms=parentrq%3A19dcb5701970a62e2b65507cffffcd12%7Cpageci%3A50fa6bf5-3c34-11f0-bbfa-0af78e789258%7Ciid%3A1%7Cvlpname%3Avlp_homepage

Charles Addams
eBay item description
"Looks incredible hanging on the wall or in the mancave . . . "

Just maybe the seller is aware that the asking price is on the high side. I received a "special offer" to buy the item at a discount. The deal, alas, is expiring today:

Why then have a pencil drawing so detailed that the seller believes it was actually published in this form? The answer is that this is a preliminary design for a movie poster. As such, it would have had to go through a thorough approval process with the studio. Here is the finished version of the poster art:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050527/

"How to Murder a Rich Uncle"
Charles Addams
Preliminary poster art
1957

The finished art was also printed on a lobby card. This one is currently listed on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/401054484780

The movie used another Addams design as well:

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0050527/mediaviewer/rm933018625/

August 17, 2025 Update:  The eBay seller must have seen my post. Now he knows this was created for a movie and he almost has the title right. He bought a set of lobby cards to include with the framed art. He still calls this a published pencil drawing—and it is still a rough. He has made the 12% discount available to all comers, but the price still seems on the high side.

Note:  If you have some original Charles Addams art of your own hanging in the mancave and you can think of a blog more worthy of posting it than this one, by all means forward your images there. Otherwise, I await your submission.

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A Popeye Poster

This one-sheet film poster featuring Popeye was published in 1950. It publicizes the cartoon shorts that were being made at the time by Famous Studios.

Popeye poster, 1950

Profiles in History Popeye Poster Listing

http://bid.profilesinhistory.com/Popeye-Cartoon-mint-condition-1950-color-stock-1-sheet-poster_i11537936

Popeye poster, 1950

Popeye the Sailor - 

Beach Peach (1950)

Note: My last Popeye post can be found here.

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Some Like it Hot Film Poster

What's in a title? Writers Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond were not native speakers of English, yet they understood the nuances of the language so well that they could deftly produce brilliant screenplays. I doubt that either of them could have heard the nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge Hot" while growing up, yet the title of "Some Like it Hot," one of the funniest movies ever, is certainly derived from this. In the dialogue from the movie, though, the title phrase specifically refers to a musical preference for syncopated jazz. Or does it?

The vintage 1959 film poster from Billy Wilder's "Some Like it Hot" tells a different story about the title's meaning, one that has nothing to do with peas porridge or syncopated rhythms. Mother Goose would be proud.

Some Like It Hot 

1959, United Artists, U.S. one-sheet -- 41 x 27 in. (104 x 69 cm.), linen-backed, (A-)

Price Realized May 2, 2012

£1,375
• ($2,229)
• Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.

Estimate 

£700 - £900
• ($1,114 - $1,432)
• 
  
• Sale Information

Sale 6887 Lot 569
Christie's Interiors including Vintage Film Posters 
2 May 2012
London, South Kensington 

Marilyn Monroe - Shell Oil

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Movie Review: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Fast? Certainly. Furious? Yes, but not in a way that's consistent with staying alive for more than a few weeks. Believable? I don't think very many people could maintain such an expensive hobby as customizing race cars while perpetually crashing and trashing them. Not even an outlandish criminal scheme could support that kind of colossal waste. 


Interesting? Not terribly. But many folks must disagree with me. After all, they made a sequel...and then some.

"The Fast and the Furious" - Trailer

Video trailer of the 2006 re-release added May 27, 2012

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Movie Review: "Megamind" (2010)

"Megamind" (2010)


"Megamind" is very entertaining and very funny. It has a good story and outstanding voice talents. It seems to me to be better than the usual Dreamworks Animation SKG fare, thank goodness. It is directed by Tom McGrath, who codirected the so-so Madagascar and who once worked on the awful Ren & Stimpy Show. He redeems himself quite a bit here.

Will Ferrell is the voice of Megamind and he really makes the movie work. My general opinion of Ferrell is that he's incredibly gifted, but his movies often aren't as funny as they're meant to be. Megamind is a happy exception to this. Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and someone named Brad Pitt round out the voice talents.

I saw the movie in 3D, not really by choice. Our local newspaper listed 25 theatres showing the 3D version, and only one showing it in 2D. The computer animation is reasonably proficient.

A parody of the famous Obama Yes We Can poster, below

Shepard Fairey after an AP photograph by Mannie Garcia,
 Yes We Can poster from the 2008 Presidential election

Image added May 27, 2012
http://www.blogtap.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/obama-yes-we-can.jpg

Megamind - Official Trailer

Video added May 26, 2012

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Movie Review: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" (2010)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" (2010)

3.5/5 Stars

From the very first of the seven movies now in this series, it has seemed to me that the target audience was those who already had read and possibly reread J. K. Rowling's exciting and inventive Harry Potter books. As a result, I felt and still feel that the filmmakers absolved themselves from the ordinary duties of storytelling, concentrating instead on visualizing highlights from the books for fans who know the story inside-out already.

Rowling's novels are too complex to have all their ideas transported into the standard two to three hour film format, so it made at least some sense in adapting the final volume to present the movie in two parts. The extra time could then presumably be used to make the movie less of a gloss on the book than the earlier episodes had been.

Despite the extra time allotted, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" is still not all that it should be. Like the earlier films, this one benefits from its near-perfect casting and lavish budget. Like the earlier films, it fails to capture fully the suspense, the thrill, and, yes, the magic of the books. Do we really need to see a three-minute dance between Harry and Hermione that isn't part of the book? It's done well, but it doesn't add much, other than giving the director the feeling of accomplishment that comes from slipping something of his own into the works. Ms. Rowling, as producer, evidently was willing to go along with the digression. But why leave out what happens to Peter Pettigrew during the battle of Malfoy Manor when he has his crucial moment of hesitation? Anyone who read the book would recall that event vividly. Why omit Ginny Weasley's equally memorable birthday offer to Harry? In all fairness, it might take ten hours to tell the whole story, but my complaint is more that the movie doesn't make the best use of the time it does have.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 

Part I Official Trailer #1 - (2010) HD

Video added May 27, 2012

Note:  My brief movie review of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" can be found here.

Blog Updates:

I have updated the post on Timothy Q. Mouse with the sale result here. And I never leave out the Q.

I have updated the post on George Booth  here with a new contest proposal from James Gurney.

I have updated the post on Whistler's "Upright Venice" with the sale result here.

I have updated the post on Pablo Picasso's "Visage" with the sale result here.

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Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009)

My opinion of the Harry Potter movies hasn't changed very much through the years.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth book in J. K. Rowling's series and is absolutely essential.  It is the book which answers a great many of the vexing questions about Lord Voldemort, the tale's embodiment of evil.  We see, through the magic of the Pensieve, many memories of Voldemort's life back when he was called Tom Riddle, a schoolboy eager to master the ways of dark magic.  We are also introduced in this volume to the concept of horcruxes, one of Rowling's many beguiling inventions.  Finally, there is a truly devastating conclusion.

The movie has a lot of information to condense, and this it does in a manner similar to the previous movies in the series, occasionally  for no apparent reason adding something that wasn't in the book.  Those who liked the first five movies will no doubt still like this one.  It continues to flaunt its dream cast and dream budget, and it allows one to visualize the incredible world of Harry Potter.  It falls short, as the other films have, in the areas of narrative and suspense, and it dumbs down the story to some degree.  How could it not?  As with the other movies, it's worth seeing, but it's a supplement to the books, and not a substitute.

HP6

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 
Official Trailer (HD - Best Quality)

Video added May 27, 2012

Note:  My brief movie review of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" can be found here.

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Movie Review: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001)

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001)

As we all get ready for the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2," I'm posting my reviews of three earlier films in the popular series. 


"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001)




I've never been a huge fan of the Harry Potter movies, although I've seen them all dutifully.  These films come to us in deluxe packages with dream budgets and dream casts.  They accomplish the nearly impossible task of allowing us to visualize Harry Potter's world, with its fabulous characters and magical settings.  For this reason alone, I think they deserve to be seen.


But where they fall short is on storytelling.  J. K. Rowling's books, to be sure, set the bar very high.  She maintains an uncanny level of mystery and suspense throughout the seven books.  The films, for me, can't match that.  Plenty of plot is churned out on cue, and plenty more just has to be left out, but the intoxicating thrill of the books just isn't here.


I know there are legions of people who know Harry Potter through the movies only, and many of them are devoted fans.  To my mind, the movies by themselves don't really make all that compelling a case for Harry.  But they do get him up on the big screen and, imperfect though it is, it's far better than not having Harry Potter up there at all.

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (2001)

Image added July 5, 2014

http://www.flicks.co.nz/movie/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone/poster/

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"Official Trailer 2 (2001)

Video added May 27, 2012

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