Paying for autographs at conventions

[Khan 2.0]

agree with all of this *nods solemnly with hands crossed in front of face spock like** (cue 2016 Birmingham con - 'OMG its shatner!' *faints then gets up and pays him hundreds of £ to sign everything*)

 

[Kor]

I've never sought autographs from actors, sports stars, authors, singers, etc.

I suppose if I paid for an autograph, I could go and price it slightly higher on ebay and somebody would likely buy it. But it would be too much effort to try to turn that into a real endeavor.

If I met one at an event or something and they seemed open to a brief chat, I would certainly say I enjoyed their work (that is, if I actually did), and I might express some polite curiousity about how they got into their particular field, and so on... just like I would with anybody else I meet.

Kor

 

[Spot261]

glad you approve

 

[Elder Knight]

I've met just a few celebrities, and I try to tell them about things they've done that I enjoyed, preferably not the obvious choices. (The best memories are the nice ones who asked what I do, as if they were really interested!) Asking for an autograph would ruin the exchange, in my opinion.

At a convention, paying a few dollars to a peripheral player would be rather sad, and it would pain me in more ways than one to pay a lot to a bigger star.

So, I don't.

 

[Timewalker]

I've been on the receiving end of an autograph request. It felt odd, particularly as I wasn't one of the people who sang, acted, or danced, and I wasn't even part of the orchestra (this happened when I was working in musical theatre). But the person asking wanted as many autographs as he could get, and didn't care that I wasn't one of the performers (I did tell him that I was a backstage worker). Since it was a novelty for me - as one of the props crew - to be asked for an autograph, I signed his program, and he went in search of more people.

 

[Forbin]

The way I heard it, the whole thing started with Marina Sirtis. She was supposedly the first to charge for her sig, then everybody else hopped on the bandwagon.

I've always bee too nervous/antisocial to meet celebs (why the hell would they want to meet me!?), but I made a few exceptions for actors I thought i'd really like as people. Pat Tallman and Suzie Plakson, for example, are both absolute dolls, and I loved just talking with them each for a few minutes. The picture and sig was so secondary to my mind that I almost forget to get them.

 

[cultcross]

I'm too young to remember not paying for autographs, although some are now charging more than 5 times what they were when I were a lad.

 

[Timewalker]

The only time I ever paid for autographs was when David Gerrold was a GoH at a convention in Calgary. The only reason I paid was because the money was going to charity. The other GoH was Frederik Pohl (a contemporary of Isaac Asimov), and he didn't have the arrogance to charge for his autograph.

 

[Kor]

I've been on the receiving end of an autograph request. It felt odd, particularly as I wasn't one of the people who sang, acted, or danced, and I wasn't even part of the orchestra (this happened when I was working in musical theatre). But the person asking wanted as many autographs as he could get, and didn't care that I wasn't one of the performers (I did tell him that I was a backstage worker). Since it was a novelty for me - as one of the props crew - to be asked for an autograph, I signed his program, and he went in search of more people.

I would have signed a fake name and written some snide remark, without mentioning who I was.

Kor

 

[Timewalker]

I would have signed a fake name and written some snide remark, without mentioning who I was.

Kor

And why would I do such a rude, inconsiderate thing?

Orson Scott Card once wrote something snide in a book he autographed for me. That's an excellent way to get people to stop buying your books. In my own case, it would have been an excellent way to antagonize someone who supported musical theatre.

 

[Kor]

Heck, if I had a snide remark written by a celebrity, I would put it in a frame, hang it on my wall, and laugh at it every day!
Sarcasm is the stuff that dreams are made of. But then, I do tend to enjoy humor that's darker and a little outside of the mainstream.

Kor

 

[Griffeytrek]

I agree on watching sports, I'd much sooner do them, if admittedly not as well. I suppose the difference is that I don't hero worship actors, merely appreciate the product they help create. In fact I'd be hard pressed to think of ANYONE to whom I would pay that level of deference, be it celebrities, politicians, royalty.

I have (sort of) met the Queen of England. I was part of the medical detail for a visit to Liverpool. The only time I spoke to her or her entourage was to say excuse me whilst (politely) pushing past on the way to an emergency, which is exactly the way I would have treated any member of the public.

I was informed later that security were bewildered, but the lady who had collapsed 20 feet away seemed more important at that point. Had I not been in uniform with a clear reason for acting the way I did, they might have been less forgiving. Crucially to the point though, I have no strong feelings about the royal family, but nor do I see them as more important than any other human being.

I've been part of ambulance crews at quite a few public events, with all areas access. I've even treated a few celebrities, not one of whom I acted any differently towards than I would a nameless member of the public. Had they expected otherwise and took offence they would have got the same treatment any other rude person would get. That is, be told to behave themselves or leave my bus.

Weirdly I have had an almost an identical experience with Ronald Reagan back in '87. Same sort of thing. Was part of the Ambulance standby for a large capacity speech. We had a little old lady have resp distress and had to more or less charge past the President to deal with it. Thankfully it was campaign season and the third speech in 4 or 5 weeks that we worked with Secret Service, (Also did Bush Sr and Jesse Jackson) so they knew us and weren't too jumpy. I didn't even realize Reagan was there watching us until he walked up behind us. (The patient had been adamant about not wanting to go until she heard HER President speak.) The squad got a very nice handwritten letter from him thanking us. I think they still have it on a wall at the University.

And yeah you are right about how normal some celebrities can be. We used to do extra duty as backstage medical for the Wrestling events. Got to meet and treat a lot of the classic guys back in the day. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, the Samoan Brothers, Sgt Slaughter, etc. really really nice people. Also did a lot of concerts. The Kinks and The Cars really stood out for being just nice normal polite people. Not so much a few of the 80's Metal Hairbands.

As for the OP's question about when did celebs start charging for autographs? About the same time E-Bay came into being and the people they signed them for started selling them online as soon as they cleared the building.

 

[tharpdevenport]

One of my issues with conventions is the 'meet the actors/get an autograph/talk to them' thing. It's part of the reason I don't go. I love the CHARACTERS these actors played, and I will be forever grateful to them for their performances, but it is typical of fandom [and the cult of celebrity in popular culture] for people to confuse actors for characters.

There are always threads [and there is one right now] of people being disappointed with an actors attitude etc when they met them [and I am in no way excusing or condoning arrogant/ignorant behaviour] but I always cant help but think, the guy whose autograph you are asking for isn't the character. Kaley Cuoco isn't Penny just as Brent Spiner isn't Data. I have never really felt a desire to meet the actors, perhaps for fear that it removes the shine from their performances.

Well, I can't say I'm an expert on people's behavior at multiple conventions over the years, but there are actors and non actors that are fun as hell to watch, and evne interact with the audience tovarious degrees.

All the main cast of "Firefly" (except the guy who plays Book) is lively, funny, and always a pleasure to watch in each youtube convention video I have seen. I remember this one time a little girl came dressed as Kaylee, so the actress who played Kaylee got her up on stage and took a photo and told her how adorable she was -- and I believed it. And it's always amusing when Fillian (Mal) and Baldwin (Jayne) run out of thigns to give away (they like to give stuff away), so they start searchign their pockets and what not and start hading junk out, even signing it.

The actors who played Kryton and Lister on "Red Dwarf" are also fun to watch, and they give the audience plenty of laughs.

Even the creators and [some] voices of "The Venture Bros." are fun, to a degree, though they're a little too self absorbed to be truly be really fun.

And the cast of "Mythbusters" can be fun, too, especially Adam 'cause he likes to tell stories.


Brent may have his off days, but when he's bothering Patrick Stewart or doing an impression of Stewart, it's hilarious.

 

[Frontier]

Well, I love autographs. And I've got a boat load of them. And I've paid for most of them, whether by paying for a VIP type ticket or forking out for a signature itself. The most I've ever paid was about $100 for Scott Bakula I think. I'll shortly be paying that much for David Duchovny. But that is my maximum limit; I've seen actors charging $125, $150, even $200-300 and I won't touch that with a ten foot pole.

As far as I know, autographs have never been "free" - maybe in the 70s when it all began? - but not since. I've got a friend whose 60, been doing conventions since the 2nd or 3rd one when he was just a kid in early 70s, and it always cost you something.

Prices sure have risen a lot in the last 20 years. And I get sick seeing things like the Las Vegas convention where they rob you blind; I can buy a legit George Takei as Sulu for $15 and when I met him 10-15 years ago he was charging $20-30 - but at Vegas he wants $75! And it isn't just him!

But anyway... I like autographs. I like having them, I like collecting them. Not everyone does, and so, to each their own. We all have our limits on "silly" things. A lot of people like sports. Personally, I think sports are a massive waste of time and money. To me, autographs are... well, like a tangible handshake or something, you know? An echo of the person. A fingerprint you can keep? Strange, I know. But if you found an old letter signed by JFK or Einstein or Edison, you'd think it was cool no matter your stance on paying for pop culture stuff now. You'd probably sell it to someone willing to pay you $100s or $1000s too!

When I look at some of the more "wow" things I've got - like James Earl Jones signed Darth Vader photo, or Arnold Schwarzenegger from Terminator 2 - I'm still a little in awe of how neat that is.

 

[Khan 2.0]

I'm toying with the idea of getting CLloyd to sign my BTTF2 Almanac and then signing something from Trek III (maybe the starlog movie magazine) then getting it signed by Shatner as well. probably have to take out a loan for all that so I dunno

 

[Amaris]

I'm toying with the idea of getting CLloyd to sign my BTTF2 Almanac and then signing something from Trek III (maybe the starlog movie magazine) then getting it signed by Shatner as well. probably have to take out a loan for all that so I dunno

It's worth it, I think. I have Christopher Lloyd's autograph, and meeting him was pretty cool.