Over the years I have been very fortunate, largely because of where we are locate, to have come in contact with quite a few people in the entertainment industry. In that period of time we have sold iron beds to more celebrities than I can remember. The fun thing about watching the Oscars is seeing people every year that we have sold beds to more than once.
There is a tinge of sadness to each successive Oscar year when they do the segment of those who are no longer with us.
Paul Newman and his wife Joann Woodward were one of the first larger than life celebrities to buy a bed from me. Walter Mathau and his wife Carol…..two sweeter people you’ll never come across, were two of my favorite clients.
One of the very fortunate things for me have been how considerate the celebrities I’ve sold beds to have been over the years. Because they tend to entertain on a regular basis more than most people, the interiors of the homes are seen by more and more people, who are also in the entertainment industry. Their homes are photographed for decorating magazines like Architectural Digest , Metropolitan Home, Veranda, House Beautiful, etc. They are known as trend setters……….so when an bed of ours is photographed and we’re given credit for it, you couldn’t ask for better advertising or exposure.
I have had one beautiful bed we sold a celebrity, I’m not at liberty to say who, result in the sale of a total of 12 iron beds, that I know of, and there were probably more than that. The referrals to his friends, and exposure we received upon his house being photographed in Architectural Digest, certainly helped.
One of the things that have made our antique iron beds so popular with the entertainment community is their individual uniqueness and near “one of a kind” nature. These people would no sooner buy a “reproduction”, than wear the same pair of socks two days in a row. They take great pride in owning something now one else has and many of our beds have only ever been seen once, or in such limited numbers that there’s no fear of walking into a friends house and seeing the same one.
We have continually sold our old original beds to set designers and prop houses because the last thing they’d want to do is use another one like they may have used in a period piece film and see the same one pop up in another movie or production. I’ve actually have had movies like the western “Silverado”, that bought 6 beds from me for the movie. Those beds gave a continuous look and feel to the movie.
The entertainment community has been very good to me and my business……I thank them for their patronage over the years.
I hope you’ve found this blog informative . I invite you to revisit my website
to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.
I also invite you to take a look at our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.
