Here is Part 4 of our 9 part series on the 2010 Syfy Channel's Digital Press Tour.  This week we will be discussing our time with the host from Syfy's Hollywood Treasure, Joe Maddalena.  Hollywood Treasure is on the Syfy Channel every Wednesday at 10pm eastern/9pm central.

MARK STERN:  So I think, Joe, just before we start, do
you want to just give us a bit of an overview and
"Profiles in History" and what you do?

JOE MADDALENA:  Yeah.  I've been a dealer of
historical documents for 26 years.  Letters of
Jefferson, Beethoven, and Mozart.  And then in 1996 we
started selling Hollywood props and memorabilia
basically when the field didn't exist.  So I've been
doing both these things for the past 26 years.

QUESTION:  With the "Mary Poppins" bag, can you talk
about how you find these items such as this and other
ones, how you come in contact with them?

JOE MADDALENA:  Yeah.  The "Mary Poppins" bag was a
fantastic story.  The family that had it kind of was
doing a search on their own to try to find out what it
was worth.  And they went to a blogger, who referred
them to me.  And this kid, Eric Rosen -- I think he's
in his early twenties -- called up and said, "You
know, we inherited this bag."  And you're always a
little skeptical.  "Where did you get it?"  And back
in the day when "Mary Poppins" came out, part of the
marketing campaign was they were working with Kraft,
which was one of their big advertisers, and they
basically gave the bag away in a raffle.  The bag was
full of cash back then.  It was stuffed with
hundred-dollar bills.  So the family won it, and one
relative took the cash; the other relative took the
bag.  So all these years later, the guy called up and
said, "You know, this is really the bag."  So you're
always skeptical.  Flew out, looked at the bag.  And
because the bag is made of carpet, it's actually --
the way it's constructed, no two would ever be the
same.  So it was easy to go back and screen-match it
and actually match up the pattern of the bag.  And
it's definitely the bag.  And we estimated it at 10-
to $15,000, and it sold for $95,000.  So that's what
we do.  We travel all over the world, and we look for
these objects that are lost because, see, most people
know if you have a coin, a baseball card, a stamp, by
now you've taken it out and sold it.  People know it's
worth something.  This stuff, other than comic books,
people have no idea still.  There are so many people
who have these things in their homes.  They just have
no idea what they're worth.

QUESTION:  I'd like to know what is your dream
item that you'd love to find.

JOE MADDALENA:  My dream item is the ruby slippers
from "The Wizard of Oz."  There's a fable --
we don't know how many pairs they actually made.
There could have been five or six pairs.  Four of them
are accounted for.  There's a rumor that Toto ate one
pair on the set, and there's possibly another pair.
So my quest is to find a pair of the ruby slippers.
They've eluded me.

QUESTION:  What's been your favorite thing that you've
found and also that's been sold for the most money?
 
JOE MADDALENA:  The thing I've sold for the most money
is Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion costume.  I sold that
for, I think, $865,000.  What's the favorite thing?
Geesh, that's a tough one.  I think my
favorite experience was -- I'm a huge fan of "Willy
Wonka & the Chocolate Factory."  And years ago I
sought Veruca, who is Julie Dawn Cole, and I sought
her out, and we started emailing.  And I bought her
"Willy Wonka" collection.  It was probably one of the
coolest things because they came directly from her.
And to get all the stories and all the -- when you get
something directly from a source like that -- you
know, her birthday was in the middle -- her 13th
birthday was in the middle of filming "Willy Wonka."
And they gave her a lot of these things as a birthday
present.  So she had the only Everlasting Gobstopper.
That was pretty cool.

QUESTION:  Actually, I really want to know about the
Superman comic book right there.

JOE MADDALENA:  You want to know about the comic book?

QUESTION:  Yes.

JOE MADDALENA:  Okay.  So "Superman" was created by
Simon & Schuster in the '30s.  Basically it was a
fanzine.  DC Comics put out a book called "Action"
number 1, which is the origin and first appearance of
Superman about six months before this book.  It became
so popular that they spun it off and gave Superman his
own comic book.  So this is not the first appearance,
but the number one issue of "Superman."  It's an
unrestored comic book.  In the '80s there was this
craze to restore everything, especially comic books.
        
So very few survive that are unrestored.  This
company -- actually, is based here in Florida -- CGC
graded this book.  It's the eighth best copy in the
world unrestored.  An "Action" 1 in this grade would
be worth about a million dollars.  This is worth about
a hundred thousand dollars.  So you can buy it.

QUESTION:  I was just curious about "Hollywood
Treasure" itself.  Is this something that you
approached Syfy about doing?  Did Syfy come to you?
What was kind of the genesis of bringing this all
together?

JOE MADDALENA:  For years I've done lots of
television, and people are always like, "Wow, you
should have your own show."  And I was fortunate
that -- years ago I used to do a show "Incurable
Collector" with Herst [phonetic].  And Shevick*Zupon,
the production company that produces my show for Syfy,
Jerry Shevick came to me -- and I hadn't talked to him
in ten years -- and was like, "Hey, we should get
together and see what you're up to."  And they
basically came up with the idea of doing a show around
my auction.

MARK STERN:  So they shot some footage of Joe.  We saw
it and immediately, I think, knew it was the right
kind of show for us.  We'd been looking to expand our
reality in general.  And I think you definitely want
to be very mindful of the type of show you're going to
do, that it feels right for our genre.  And this was
just one of those perfect fits.

QUESTION:  Have you come across anything yet that you
wanted to keep for yourself?

JOE MADDALENA:  Yes.  When I was -- it must have been
ten years ago.  Felix Silla, who was -- Buck Rogers;
okay?  So there was Twiki.  I don't know if you guys
remember Twiki or not, but he was Buck Rogers' little
sidekick, a robot.  And Felix Silla came to the
office, and he was Twiki.  He was actually the guy
inside the costume.  My son, at the time, was 6, and
he was this big.  And Felix was this big, so they
immediately bonded.  So my son said, "We have to get
this costume, Dad."  So in my office I have Twiki.
Felix sold it to us.  And around his neck is
Theopolis, the robot that ran the planet, the brain.
So that's something I would never sell.  It's just one
of my favorite things.

MARK STERN:  Is there something you've sold that you
really wish you could have kept for yourself but you
couldn't afford?

JOE MADDALENA:  Everything is -- I like.
That's the hardest part.  But what I do for a living,
what I always tell people is, it's not like I'm
serving some great dinner and it's gone.  It's all
going to live on.  The person that bought the "Mary
Poppins" bag, it's still out there.  I have a shot
some day at getting it back or maybe not.  But at
least you know where the things go on.  These things
are going to outlive all of us.  And that's the great
part about what I do.  There will be another life yet
to come for these be collectibles.  Sometimes I'll get
back things two and three times over a 15-year time
period.  It's really interesting.  And some things I
never see again.

QUESTION:  Have you had an item that has been most
requested that you haven't run across yet?

JOE MADDALENA:  Oh, yeah.  The number one -- I could
never sell it.  The number one requested item is an
Iron Man costume.  I get that once a day.  I represent
the Stan Winston family.  So when Stan was alive, I
was selling a lot of his "Jurassic Park" and
"Terminator" things.  And when Stan passed away, I was
fortunate; the family basically had me take over the
estate for them.  And I managed their assets, so
obviously I'm the person to go to Iron Man.  But you
can't get them.  But that, by far -- I would think a
Tony Stark hero Iron Man costume worn by Robert Downey
would bring $500,000.

QUESTION:  How much work goes into making sure the
item is actually real and not a replica?

JOE MADDALENA:  A lot of work. 
We're based in Los Angeles, so we work with a lot of
people in the film industry.  One of the great parts
about what we have is we've built this network of prop
makers, costume designers.  And they're out there.  So
when we do have a question, we go out there.  Most of
the people are alive or close enough they worked for
one of the houses that built these things.  So when
we're in doubt, we actually go right to the sources.

MARK STERN:  And I think authentication is actually a
big part -- you'll see it in our show.  It's a big
part of that show because it is -- there are times
when things come in and you have to figure out where
it came from.

JOE MADDALENA:  Yeah, where they came from, because --
like the "Mary Poppins" bag, we couldn't verify the
guy's story.  We couldn't find anywhere on the
Internet that this raffle ever took place.  So, you
know -- but because it was an obscure thing, there
probably was no article written.  So, a lot
more work had to go into it.  We spent three months
authenticating the "Mary Poppins" bag.  So you'll see
it on the show, but a lot of work goes into it.  We
sold the Wicked Witch's hat from the "Wizard of Oz."

That was sold in 1970 at the MGM auction when they
liquidated the lot.  Then it was resold in 19, I
think, '89 at Sotheby's in New York.  Then we recently
sold it for $230,000.  So some of these things have
built-in pedigree and providence, and some don't.

MARK STERN:  I think the other thing that I love about
this show, which is kind of different from a lot of --
like, "Pawn Stars" or "American Pickers" is you
actually see how much those things are worth as
opposed to what they're valued at.  You get the
luxury, I guess -- at the end of every episode, you
really do see what that object was sold for.  And I
think that's really satisfying.  In fact, you guys
have an auction at Universal on November 6th.
 
JOE MADDALENA:  Yeah, November 6th.  It's a great
thing we're doing.  We're working with Variety, which
is a children's charity of Southern California for
at-risk and abused kids.  And they've reached out to a
lot of the studios.  And we've got some great things
from "Tron" and "Narnia" and a lot of contemporary
films, "G.I. Joe," that we're selling.  But the
biggest thing we're doing is we're working with
Michael J. Fox's foundation, Team Fox, to raise money
for Parkinson's.  This "Sports Almanac" -- probably a
lot of you know what it is -- was one of the plot
devices of "Back to the Future."  This was Bob Gale's
copy; okay?  This was actually the copy that Biff took
out of the DeLorean and altered time, and Biff became
the zillionaire that Biff became.  So Bob Gale donated
this very almanac, and it's being sold to benefit
Michael J. Fox's foundation, among a lot of other
things, November 6.  So if you guys like to collect
things, great opportunity.

MARK STERN:  What are some of the other things you
have on that table?

JOE MADDALENA:  I'm just the biggest "Willy
Wonka" fan.  So Julie Dawn Cole, when she was 13, was
Veruca Salt.  She was allowed to take some things
home.  And she took home her golden ticket.  So to me,
it's one of the greatest plot devices of one of the
greatest films ever made because you sit there for
that 90 minutes of great television -- of movie, and
you watch them shucking candy bars to get this spoiled
girl her ticket.  And these are the iconic things.
These are what collectors like.  People always say,
"Why do people buy these things?"  They're buying
their memories.  It's nostalgia.  They're buying
things that made them happy.  And this is a great
moment in a great film.

QUESTION:  I know, like, probably up
until, maybe ten years ago, it
seemed that a lot of times when you had productions,
whether it be television or movies, usually once they
struck the sets, you tossed things.  They'd end up in
dumpsters.  Like I believe the set of -- the original
"Enterprise" bridge was, like, sitting outside of
UCLA, weathering out.  Is it easier, now that you have
a lot of programs such that when they strike sets -- I
know "Stargate" did that.  They strike sets, and all
of a sudden they save everything that they think might
have some value.  Does that help in your business in
trying to collect collectibles?  Because I'm assuming
that stuff from older times is a lot harder to get
because a lot of it got tossed.

JOE MADDALENA:  Yeah, well, and funny you mention
"Star Trek."  I got a phone call from George Takei,
who is a good friend.  And he said, "Hey, I was at
this convention, met this woman.  She says her husband
has the 'Enterprise' Captain Kirk's chair."  And he's
like, "Sounds legitimate."  So George and I went up to
this house in Pacoima.  We walk in, and there it is
sitting there, the "Enterprise" chair.  What happened
was they had given all the set to UCLA.  And when they
drove it over, UCLA people came out and said, "We
don't want this junk," and they literally put it out
on the curb.  So this guy took it home and used it as
his bar chair.

And he's a big Irish guy, and he used to sit in his
bar, look over the Pacoima, little valley,
his ravine, and would drink his shots.
And --

MARK STERN:  And say, "Engage."

JOE MADDALENA:  "Engage."  So I sold this chair for
$306,000.  But the studios now absolutely -- you've
got to realize the studios, by nature, when they broke
up the studios in the '60s and '70s, got rid of
everything.  Fox became Century City.  The MGM lot was
completely sold off.  So they sold off all their
assets when they broke up the studios.  So inherently
not a lot survived.  It went out there.  So a lot of
these things were sold, so we're tracking those down.
But I think now the studios are much more aware of
their heritage and the histories.  They have a lot
more active archives where they are archiving things
and actually buying things back for their archives
because they're realizing how important their history
is to them.

QUESTION:  Can you talk a little bit about where the
proceeds from the auctions go to?

JOE MADDALENA:  Well, like for this auction, the
proceeds from the first third of it go to the Variety
children's charity, Southern California.  The Michael
J. Fox proceeds go to benefit his foundation for
Parkinson's.  But our normal auctions, the money goes
to the consigner, whether it's a studio -- like six
weeks ago I sold all the assets for "Lost."  It was
the most successful probably -- it was probably the
most successful auction of its kind that's ever taken
place.  We broke so many world records.  We got
$47,000 for a Dharma van.  It was incredible.  So in
that regard I know they gave a percentage of the
proceeds to Hawaiian charities.  But every situation
is different.  We'll get -- going back to "Star Trek,"
when I found the "Enterprise" chair, I met this guy
named Matt Jeffries.  Matt was the set decorator and
basically this designer of all the sets for the
original series.  And Matt decided to sell his
collection.  Right before the catalog went to the
printer, Matt called me up, and he said, "I don't know
what to do."  I'm like, "What?"  He goes, "I don't
want the money."  So the auctioneer's biggest fear is
he's going to cancel the auction.  I'm like, "What are
you talking about?"  So he's like, "I just don't feel
right about it."  So Matt and I basically came up with
a plan, and we built the Matt and Marian Jeffries
Cancer Ward for Motion Picture Retirement Home with
all the assets from his auction.  So it just really
depends on the consigner.

MARK STERN:  I want that little Uhura's, like, thing
that she had in her ear.

JOE MADDALENA:  We sold one of those.  It was, like,
$40,000.  That's one of the things we look for on the
show is we're reaching out to a lot of these
celebrities who were on these hit television shows.
We're going back and visiting people, like Dawn Wells,
and just basically, "Hey, what did you keep?  What did
you have?  Who did you work with in production that
might have had something?"  I had Nichelle Nichols one
day call up, who was Uhura, and she said, "You know, I
know you sold everybody else's stuff, but, Joe, I
don't think I have anything."  She goes, "But come out
to the house anyway."  She lives close to the office.
        
We went through her house, and she had nothing.  And
as I'm leaving, we're in the garage.  And I said, "You
have nothing?"  And she's like, "Scripts.  I have
scripts."  So we're digging around in her garage, and
we start pulling out boxes of scripts.  She had every
script from every episode of the original "Star Trek"
series, every one, all her scripts from the movies.
She kept everything and didn't really think about it.
We sold her script collection for $46,000.  So that's
kind of the fun of the show.

QUESTION:  After a lot of the shows and movies, when
they wrap, you're seeing a lot of these auctions that
go -- some go to charities.  Some go to different
events.  Does that help or does it hinder the overall
value down the road?

JOE MADDALENA:  Everything helps because it brings
awareness to what I'm doing.  It's just a matter of
what you're collecting, because a lot of the times,
they're selling stuff, where you're just
kind of getting background pieces.  Most of the
people, when you're selling things for the bigger,
high-ticket items, they've got to be more iconic.

They've got to be primary wardrobe or main set pieces
or main props and stuff.  So that's always the
challenge because usually that's what the studio wants
to keep.  So when archives goes in after a production,
they'll pick out the hero wardrobe.  They'll pick out
the great props.  And kind of what's left is secondary
things.  So it's kind of a tough thing because it's
not really what is the most commercial, but it's good
because it satisfies another portion of the market.

QUESTION:  I have a friend that works in, like,
costuming at Paramount.  She's talked a lot about how
they sort of break up old props and stuff to make new
props.  Like the Cleopatra crown that Liz Taylor wore,
she's found that they've used it to piece together to
make other spots of jewelry.  Have you come across a
lot of, like, partial Hollywood treasures and --
 
JOE MADDALENA:  Oh, absolutely.  Western Costume is
one of the biggest costume companies in the world.
And even to this very day, there will be people going
in -- production will go in saying, "We need a black
tuxedo."  There's a mile of them.  And every now and
then they'll find one with "Clark Gable" in the pocket
because a lot of this stuff has been reused and reused
and reused.  It's the nature of how television and
movies work.  So we had a lady -- we did an appraisal
clinic for our show, and this woman came in and said,
"You know, in the '70s I worked at Warner Bros.  They
had a tag sale.  My husband was a pilot, so I bought
him this cool aviation hat.  We always wondered about
it.  It had this Warner Bros. label inside."  Well,
the label said "Charles Lindbergh Story, Jimmy
Stewart."  So this was the actual aviator
hat that he wore in the film.  We video-matched it in
screen caption, and it's the hat.  There's a perfect
example.  It just was probably sold on the table for a
dollar.

On the next show, I will talk about my convesation with Joe after this panel.  We discussed props from Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica and how to best preserve and display them. 

Be sure to keep checking back to see all of our exclusive coverage. 

Special thanks to our amazing partners at Syfy, Joe Maddalena and Mark Stern for their time and effort into making this happen.