Christie’s Goes West in Style

Christie’s didn’t just roll out the welcome mat, it also flew in the doorman. To make its major collectors and clients feel right at home in the international company’s new West Coast auction center, Gil Perez, a familiar figure in front of Christie’s New York premises, was on duty at 360 N. Camden Drive in Beverly Hills for the opening evening on Thursday.

His arm must have ached as a huge, lively crowd swarmed in and out, back and forth, spilling onto the sidewalk and cramming the showroom and the tent in the parking lot for a cocktail reception and a chance to view items from upcoming auctions, ranging from Andrew Wyeth paintings to Claudette Colbert’s Oscar from “It Happened One Night.”

“I can’t hear a word in here, can you?” asked Lord Hindlip, chairman of the international division of the 230-year-old British company.

“Very,” said Hindlip succinctly, when asked if the Hollywood crowd were good buyers and sellers.

He expanded his comments to talk about the interest West Coast collectors have in contemporary and l9th century art and the world’s continuing fascination with such movie star icons as Marilyn Monroe. A dress Monroe wore in “How to Marry a Millionaire” is in the upcoming Saturday auction of film and TV memorabilia.

That sale will be conducted by auctioneer Andrea Fiuczynski, who says that part of her job is to realize people “want to be entertained while spending their money.” The Monroe gown is estimated at $20,000, about the same sum as the Moroccan leather chair from “The Maltese Falcon” is expected to fetch, while the Colbert Oscar should go for up to $200,000--although last December Steven Spielberg paid $607,500 at a Christie’s auction for Clark Gable’s Oscar from the same l934 comedy. (He donated it to the Motion Picture Academy.)

Joining Hindlip in greeting guests were fellow Christie’s executives, including Christopher Burge, West Coast chairwoman Marcia Hobbs and international representative Terry Stanfill, and Dona Kendall, a trustee of the archives of American art, now part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Among the crowd were James Galanos, Phillipe Oates, Marilyn and Frasier Heston, Dennis Stanfill, Barbara and Richard Cohen, Peter and Eileen Norton, Wallis Annenberg, Alana and Michael Jackson, and Billy and Audrey Wilder.

An avid art collector, Wilder, noting the Hollywood items on sale, said it might be a good idea to “clean out my attic.”