Tuesday, August 02, 2005

saw STEALTH today...

New Home Off Broadway
By WILLIAM NEUMAN (The New York Times) May 29, 2005
The actress Jessica Lange and the actor and playwright Sam Shepard are settling into an apartment they bought last month in a co-op building on lower Fifth Avenue, near Washington Square Park. The couple, who closed on the deal on April 7, got a corner apartment that was combined from two original units, a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom, with a total of three bathrooms. It was on the market for $3.495 million.
Ms. Lange and Mr. Shepard, who have had homes together in New Mexico, Minnesota and Virginia, moved to New York last summer and had been living in a smaller apartment in the Village, according to Ms. Lange's publicist, Leslee Dart.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/jlnews.htm

Going, going, gone …
Actress Jessica Lange sells items at auction
BY MOLLY MILLETTPioneer Press
Movie star Jessica Lange might be moving to New York, but at least we'll still have her 18th century commode stand to remember her by.
The Stillwater actress put about 40 of her antiques and paintings on the auction block at a Roseville auction house. Watching them sell Wednesday evening — for about $27,000 — was the hottest ticket in town.
About 300 people attended the sold-out, standing-room-only event at Rose Galleries, and still more put in bids over the telephone. Lange's items were interspersed throughout the general arts auction and generated a buzz when they were offered.
"She has really beautiful things — not that I can afford them," said Gina Munter, an auction regular. "I'm waiting to bid on some paperweights."
Lange's collection included hand-colored French lithographs, a metal birdcage, Oriental rugs, that 18th century English mahogany commode stand (which sold for $1,000), and several paintings. "Cows and sheep are a big theme for her," Sonia Vacinek, one of the auction house owners, said of Lange's Victorian-era paintings. The most expensive piece sold was a Daum Nancy cameo glass lamp for $9,500; the least, a pair of matching Oriental vases mounted as lamps, for $90 each.
The crowd consisted of antiques and art dealers, looky-loos and lots of gray-haired types with reading glasses. No one started fierce bidding wars over Lange's items. Then again, sniffed some of the regulars, it's not exactly like Lange is Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who's estate auction was held at Sotheby's.
"Now, I can see if it was Charlie Chaplin's hat or something … ," said Bob Hewblein of Arden Hills before the auction began. "But just because it belonged to Jessica Lange — I think celebrities are overrated. But you know what I'd like? That soccer ball that Tom Hanks talked to in the movie 'Cast Away.' "
Yet, Pat Arscott of Minneapolis said she understood the appeal of celebrity. "You know, when they auctioned off Marilyn Monroe's things, I read they even sold her old, chipped dishes from her kitchen for lots of money," Arscott said. "I mean, forever after you could say, 'I'm serving these cheese and crackers on Marilyn Monroe's dishes.' It's the cachet."
Auctioneer Jerry Kaufhold told the crowd he was sure Lange's items were authentic. She only purchased from reputable dealers, he noted. He also joked around, saying that Lange had dropped her Waterbury walnut clock onto her ankle when she brought it to the auction house. "There's probably some Jessica Lange DNA on it," he said. It sold for $225.
However, no one who purchased anything of Lange's will receive any paperwork stating that it really, truly, honestly belonged to the Oscar-winning actress. "We're not offering any certificates of authenticity," Vacinek said.
That didn't matter to Don Wahlberg of Arden Hills, who purchased one of Lange's Oriental rugs for $199. He blushed when admitting he showed up because he's a fan of the actress. The rug, he said, "will make a nice addition to my home."
But Wahlberg wasn't as giddy as Stacy Schuna of St. Paul, who bid $160 on Lange's mahogany chair with needlepoint upholstery. "This is going in my bedroom, where I can admire it. No one will be allowed to sit on it but me," Schuna said.
For those who missed out on this auction, you can still buy Lange's house (providing you win the lottery first). The Stillwater estate includes a library, a pool and some lovely gardens. Asking price: $3.3 million.
Lange, 55, a Minnesota native, told More magazine last year that she and her partner, actor and playwright Sam Shepard, moved their family to Minnesota in the 1990s to be closer to her mother, who died in 1997. The couple's 18-year-old daughter recently graduated from Stillwater Area High School; their 17-year-old son reportedly will finish high school in New York. The actress told the magazine: "I'm ready to move back to New York. This is a nice place to raise children. But there's no reason for me to be here anymore."
At least the movie star's art nouveau newel post lamp, which sold for $850, will still be among us (it was a prop in one of her movies).
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Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard to sell Victorian mansion
THE CANADIAN PRESSJune 26, 2004
STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) - Oscar winner Jessica Lange and her companion, the playwright Sam Shepard, are selling the estate where they have lived for nine years. The 12-room Victorian mansion, which sits on a one-hectare site overlooking the St. Croix River, has been on the market since mid-May with an asking price of $3.3 million US.
"It's a remarkable property in every respect," said real estate agent Sharon O'Flannigan, who is handling the sale.
In 1995, Lange and Shepard paid $415,000 for the house - a former bed-and-breakfast built in 1892 atop one of Stillwater's highest points - and $125,000 for adjoining property.
Shepard also has land across the St. Croix near River Falls, Wis. Lange was born and grew up in northern Minnesota.