Do you ever feel 'cheated' by an autograph?

[James]

Yes- I aggree with you also.

I am going on holiday now till Friday- bye!

[merseaboy]

I think a bigger problem than PP's and AP's is the stars who make you believe that what you are actually getting is a genuine autograph. Over the years I had a number of autographs through the post and when you compare them to examples in books you can see that there not real and yes I do feel upset that the person was not honest enough to get it sent back with a letter saying owing to the sheer volume of requests they don't sign. I've been collecting for a long time and it seems to be a trend over recent years that the stars, particularly film stars have less and less time for their fans, they employ people to deal with their mail and the only contact they have with the fans is when they meet they at premieres etc. The problem is that even here your never garuanteed anything, I've waited for hours, sometimes 8 plus, for the stars to turn up at premieres just to have them walk past and blank the crowd or be dragged away to talk to the press, something they have probably been doing in their hotel all day. That's the disappointing thing, some actors are paid so much money that they forget that it's the fans who buy the tickets who make them what they are.

Merseaboy

[YOURS_SINCERELY]

It is definately disappointing when you receive a PP. I used to only collect sports players and have never experienced anything but the real autograph through the mail, however, now I am starting to send out to Actors/ Actresses and the like I am sure I will come across very often!
I have only received one pre-print (that I know of) from the 3 letters (to actors) received, I guess the trick may be to SEND THEM a photograph to sign.

To all you veteran Celebrity collectors (for want of a better phrase) Are your successes different when you send an item for them to sign- as opposed to asking for a signed item?

Interested in hearing your feedback

Good luck with all your collections.

YOURS_SINCERELY

[merseaboy]

Hi Yours Sincerely,

In answer to your question, not really. You send out a photo and get something back that looks great and turns out to be a secreterial signature or in the case of Denzel Washington a stamp. With some people it's the other way, for example Charlton Heston used to be great if you sent 1 picture you'd get yours and another signed by him back. It really is swings and roundabouts as I think this forum shows some people are great signers and some people just don't answer mail though they sign in person.

Merseaboy

[Crouching Tiger]

Would I feel cheated in getting an AP or PP? No, I would not feel cheated, but I would feel slightly disappointed, unless I knew that was what I was going to get (ala Studio Mail or known PP sender). However, like ‘YOURS_SINCERELY, I generally stick to sports personalities rather than Bands or Movie Stars and Directors, and have yet to receive a PP, that I wasn’t expecting (I have several Studio Mail Photos at home)

However, I do feel cheated by those individuals who have gone out of their way to make celebrities even less likely to respond to their fans, and these people are usually doing it to make a buck or two at the celebtrities expense. So I guess we are pretty lucky that so many celebrities are willing to send something (even if it is a PP or AP) through the mail, and don’t charge an arm and a leg for doing it.

This would my list of the sort of people who have ‘cheated’ me out of some of the autographs that I would love to get: -

Agents
Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of good agencies out there, who are helpful and pass on requests, but it annoys the hell out of me that a number of agencies prove to be nothing more than a black hole for all fan mail sent to them. If they don’t want to pass it on or provide a response, at least return it to the sender as I always include a SASE, and I could reuse this rather than let them waste my money by chucking it, unopened, into the bin.

Autograph Sellers
These guys are the main reason that a lot of big name stars now charge for autographs, and can throw a real spanner in the works for the casual collector, or even the charity collectors. There are honest sellers, who just trade unwanted autographs (maybe have received more than one), who have out-grown the hobby, or even just want to cash in on having an autograph of a famous dead celebrity, and I have no problem with them, but it is the less scrupulous sellers out there who hound the celebrities to get signed merchandise to sell (often pretending to be doing it for charity or even produce fakes to cash in on a star’s popularity) that annoy me. If I was a celebrity, and I sent out an autograph to a ‘so-called’ fan, only to see it appear on ebay next week, I would certainly think twice about whether to sign anymore in future.

‘Any Autograph’ Collectors
This is my term for another group of collectors out there, who help to reduce the probability that true fans will get an autograph from their favourite personality. This type of collector, usually uses form letters and will blanket issue letters (or especially e-mails) to any address that proves successful in order to boost the number of autos in their collection, regardless if they like (or sometimes even know who) a star is or has done. The usual result is inundated e-mail or mail addresses within a couple of weeks of the success becoming common knowledge, and the source often dries up (I am thinking of the Frank Abagnale e-mail or Michael Owen e-mail addresses as recent examples. I only send out letters to those people that I have a true respect for, and never just to increase my talley, and I urge all collectors to do the same, so that we don’t unnecessarily block autograph routes for true fans.

Stalkers and over obsessive fans
Think about Steven King’s book Misery, where the writer gets stuck with his most obsessive fan and she nearly kills him!!! Unfortunately, whilst most fans don’t cross the line, there are some who sadly do. Stalkers can be extremely dangerous (Steffi Graff’s fan who stalked then stabbed Monica Seles) and obsessive fans who writes obscene or disturbing fanmail will definitely have a negative effect on a celebrities thoughts regarding fans and fanmail. This can be expanded to include those who will blatantly interrupt a celebritiy who is having a meal with his or her family and demand an authograph. Celebrities need their private time as much as we do, so only approach them at the proper time.

Papparazzi
Following on from the previous category, the only thing worse than an obsessive fan, in my mind, would be a horde of those scum paid to make a celebrity’s life a misery! We have seen the results that this can have, when Princess Diana lost her life in an attempt to evade the Papparrazi, but this has not stopped these guys in dull anoraks and with long lense cameras, who will go to any extent to capture that candid picture of a celebrity with a new lover, or in a new home. This causes top celebrities to disappear from the public eye and hide in mansions tucked away behind high walls and only come out to do films and attend premieres.

If less people went out of their way to profit from a celebrities willingness to respond to the fans, I am sure more celebrities would respond , but human nature will not allow this to be the case, so we must continue to try and track down more and more addresses for those ever more popular celebrities.

Good luck everybody….and please don’t take advantage of those fans willing to sign, for the sake of others

CT

[lilmrhardcore]

i sent a card and a sase to him and he sent back my cards and a folded up pp picture and sent it to me. i was cheated and i have never tried him again since :x

[quasarboy21]

Thanks for your comments guys. It's interesting to note that a signature being a PP or AP is not as big an issue as I thought it might be.

Incidently, if I've got a celebrity doing a premiere, I try to arrange their day so that their main 'appointment' is the premiere. This hopefully means that the trade off for them having a clear day is that they spend time with the fans at the premiere. Unfortunately Agents can sometimes scupper these plans.

Also, believe it or not, many actors and actresses are incredibly insecure people that find it difficult to interact with strangers cos they haven't got a character to play or a script to follow.