DEBBIE'S ONE BIG SPENDER FOR MEMORABILIA

By Sarah Gilbert

The New York Post

December 15, 2002

Debbie Reynolds is one big spender. 

She splurged around $200,000 yesterday at Sotheby's auction of more than 300 pieces from Planet Hollywood's enormous collection of movie and TV memorabilia. The co-star of "Singin' in the Rain" bought at least 30 items for her Hollywood Motion Picture Museum, set to open next summer. 

Her biggest single purchase was Rudolph Valentino's toreador costume from "Blood and Sand" (at $32,862, the third most expensive item of the day), followed by Marlene Dietrich's cowgirl outfit from "Destry Rides Again" (at $19,120). 

Reynolds' collection of film memorabilia is by far the largest in the world, numbering some 3,500 costumes, about 20,000 square feet of props and furniture, all adding up to around $50 million, said her son and CEO of the museum, Todd Fisher. "No one else comes close," he added. "Any time we can get something off the market and get it into a proper environment and put it on public display - that's what we're all about," said Fisher, who, along with his mother, bidded over the phone through an agent at Sotheby's Upper East Side auction rooms. 

Planet Hollywood, which is going broke, is raising cash by selling off its collection of more than 40,000 items.