Stamp Collecting and the Pursuit of the Desirable and the Pursuit by Paul Albright
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Vol. 26 - No. 3 2038 South Pontiac Way, Denver, CO 80224-2412 May/June 2018 www.rmpldenver.org (303) 759-9921 Email - [email protected] IN THIS ISSUE Stamp Collecting Stamp Collecting and the Pursuit of the Desirable and the Pursuit by Paul Albright .................. 1 of the Desirable By Paul Albright The “ Marriage is Like Stamp Collect- ing…” headline topped an Associated Press article datelined from Chicago and pub- lished in 1939. The President’s Message clipping (Fig. 1) by Tonny Van Loij.............. 2 emerged from a box Rocky Mountain Stamp Show of covers, cancels, Silent Auction Has Some Key and paper ephemera Items by David Weisberg ... 4 donated to the Rocky Closed Album-William E. Mountain Stamp Li- “Bill” Crabbs, 1951 – 2018 brary (RMPL). by John Bloor ...................... 5 Background In 1939, the re- nowned John Barry- more, a famed actor Fig. 2. This was Barry- of the stage, screen, more’s favorite photo of and radio (Fig. 2), himself, taken in 1925 was embroiled in a when he was 43 years old. contentious legal He gave this photo only to personal friends. (Photo dispute with his es- in Gene Fowler collec- tranged fourth wife, 100 years of Government tion, University of Colo- the actress Elaine Scheduled Airmail-May 15, rado-Boulder.) Barrie. A focus at the 1918 to 2018 by Russell time involved the “Rusty” Morse .................... 6 division of the Barrymore financial assets as part of what proved to be an “on-again, off- Columbine Library RMPL again” divorce proceeding. Exhibit by John Blanyer and When interviewed in Chicago, Barrymore Dan Nieuwlandt .................. 7 was leading the cast of a farcical play, “My New on the Shelves ............. 9 Dear Children,” that had been touring the Join the Video Community Midwest before moving on to the stage in by Joe Lanotte .................. 13 New York City. Using witticisms, “sometimes Second Saturday Programs sprinkled with Elizabethan raciness,” Barry- by Nadler & Weisberg ...... 14 (Continued on page 3) New Members ................... 15 Donations .......................... 15 Fig. 1. Newspaper clipping from 1939 that started Board Meeting Summary .. 15 the writer’s search for the phantom Activities Calendar ........... 16 “Ecuadorian blue” stamp. Scribblings Scribblings As incoming president, I thank all of you who voted for me and the chang- es I proposed to implement as your new president. A lot has happened in the last three months in the way of losing valu- able members/volunteers, even since the elections. My personal life is being tested with the illness of my wife, Geri. I may need a little more time to imple- ment promises that I made, but they will happen. We lost Bill Crabbs in February shortly after he had Editor been elected to the Board. The Board decided that the best replacement would be his long-time friend and RMPL vol- unteer Richard Palestro who graciously agreed to the ap- Copy Editors / Proofreaders pointment. Don Beuthel, Ellengail Beuthel Despite the sad loses experienced by the RMPL mem- John Bloor, Sergio Lugo bership, we continue to move ahead. Internet speed has Roger Rydberg, Steve Schweighofer been increased from 1.5Mb to 40Mb, which hopefully will cut back on the many hours lost waiting for computer up- Librarian dates by our IT specialists, always available and never com- Ellengail Beuthel plaining Chuck Baker and Roger Rydberg. Thank you Chuck and Roger! Scribblings is published bimonthly by the Rocky We hope to see a lot of our membership at Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library. The RMPL is a char- Mountain Stamp Show as volunteers or at the dealer tables tered Colorado nonprofit corporation and is an IRS- expanding their collections. This year’s silent auction will designated 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Mem- have some extraordinary items with low starting bids. The auction catalog is included with this month’s Scribblings. bership subscriptions over that for the contributing In closing, I look forward to working with our many membership, and donations of appropriate philatelic RMPL volunteers to grow and strengthen one of this coun- materials, are deductible for US income tax purpos- try’s finest philatelic organizations. Thanks for all your help es. The Library is a volunteer organization. Finan- and, if you need my attention, you will get it. cial donations, philatelic books, stamps, supplies Tonny Van Loij and donations of your time, are welcome. A basic membership with the RMPL is $25 per year, and includes checkout privileges and Scrib- blings. Call for more information. HELP WANTED Knowledge is better when shared. Consider We need additional help at the front writing an article for Scribblings about your favor- desk Monday and Tuesday. Addition- ite philatelic topic. ally, we need stamp sorters. Our volun- teers at the front desk usually work a President ........................ Tonny Van Loij half-day (10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 1:00 Operations Manager ........... Dasa Metzler p.m. to 4:00 p.m.). It is a great way to Vice President ...................... Jim Kilbane Corresponding Secretary....... Bill Plachte get to know the membership, as well as Recording Secretary ................... Paul Lee the library’s reference material. The Treasurer ....................... Tim Heins, CPA work load is usually light with time for socializing, research, or working on your Directors: John Bloor, Steve McGill, collection. Primary duties include check- Richard Palestro, David Weisberg. ing books in and out and taking payment Ex-officio member: Ellengail Beuthel. for purchased materials. Sorters work Director Emeritus: Dalene Thomas, Director Emeritus: Don Dhonau. their own hours. Training is provided. Contact Tonny Van Loij or Dasa Officers and Directors may be contacted Metzler. through the RMPL. 303-759-9921 Web page — www.rmpldenver.org Page 2 Scribblings (Continued from page 1) tions, or reference books that meshed with Barrymore’s more told mem- declaration of being the “rarest and most precious item” in bers of the media a stamp collector’s world. that despite three Next, I turned to reading about Barrymore and his previously failed then-estranged wife, Elaine Barrie. While I learned a great marriages, no deal about these unpredictable personalities and their sev- man should feel en turbulent years of marriage, I found nothing in either unduly de- Barrymore’s biography or Barrie’s autobiography con- pressed. And cerning philatelic matters. On one visit to the Special Col- then he tied his lections and Archives Department at the University of desire for marital Colorado-Boulder (CU), I noticed a large photo of Barry- bliss to stamp more in his famous role as Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Why collecting: was that photo of Barrymore so prominently displayed at “I am told the CU library? that among The response led me to the archival papers at CU that stamp collectors belonged to author Gene Fowler who wrote Barrymore’s the rarest and biography, Good Night Sweet Prince, after the thespian’s most precious decline and death in 1942 from what the New Y ork Times item is the described as the “ravages of alcoholism.” The several box- ‘Ecuadorian es of Fowler’s papers included a multitude of photographs, blue.’ Does the letters, notes, newspaper clippings, and other material con- The brilliant blue color on this stamp is collector stop cerning Barrymore, including the contents of his wallet on known as Ecuadorian blue, but the writer collecting simply the day he died in a hospital at the age of 60. But nothing was unable to identify any rare stamp because he fails about any rare Ecuadorian blue postage stamp. known as the “Ecuadorian blue.” This repeatedly to get Neither was there anything related to philately in Bar- stamp (Scott Ecuador 373) was issued in that most desira- rie’s recounting of her stormy years with Barrymore pub- 1938 in connection with a “Progress of ble of all stamps? lished 24 years after his death. Ecuador Exhibition.” No, he carries on the pursuit. He The Conclusion – and then a New Challenge knows that there are ‘Ecuadorian blues.’ That’s the way it My search for a philatelic gem had reached a dead is with marriage. Perhaps I shall be married many more end. I had learned a great deal about the soaring heights times before I die. Who knows?” and despairing declines of one of America’s greatest ac- What! The “Ecuadorian blue!” What is that about, I tors. But then I asked myself? And was the famous actor John Barrymore reached the final page into collecting, or at least had friends who were stamp col- of Elaine Barrie’s au- lectors? tobiography where The Search new hope surged up. In the final para- Barrymore’s off-the-cuff remark set me off on a treas- graphs of her book, ure hunt for the Ecuadorian blue stamp. The search ex- All My Sins Remem- tended from the reference shelves of the RMPL, to the bered, she told of her digital Union Philatelic Catalog, to the World Wide Web, self-imposed exile in to the library stacks of the University of Colorado, and Haiti after Barry- eventually to the archival papers of Barrymore’s friend more’s death. “He and biographer, Gene Fowler. always wanted us to My initial reaction was that Barrymore must have go there together and been referring to the famous one-cent magenta. But wait! we never did,” Barrie The one-cent magenta is purplish-red, not blue. And it is recalled. “John always from British Guiana, not Ecuador. So, there was not going spoke of it as an en- to be a quick resolution to this mystery. chanted place. He was In my ensuing quest, I failed to find any particularly sure there was buried rare or extremely high-priced stamps from Ecuador listed treasure there.” And in either catalogs or in other philatelic literature.