VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[billelder]

Heeeeere's Johnny Carson's microphone.



The 10-pound microphone displayed on Carson's "The Tonight Show" desk

in the 1960s and 1970s will be offered next month during an auction by

Heritage Galleries in Dallas.



The label on the mic, which still works, reads, "JOHNNY'S MIC... NOT

ED'S... NOT FRED'S..." - references to co-host Ed McMahon and

producer Fred de Cordova.



Doug Norwine, Heritage Galleries' music and entertainment auctions

director, told The Associated Press Wednesday that he had no idea what

the microphone will bring at the auction, to be held April 21-22.



"It will be a complete wild card," Norwine said. "I think the thing

should start around $20,000, but it could hit six figures. There are so

many people that got their start on `The Tonight Show'; it's such an

important piece of Americana."



The auction also will include a Grammy Award won by The Rolling Stones

and contracts signed by Elvis Presley.



Norwine said Stan Sweeney, chief boom operator of "The Tonight Show,"

saved the mic when crew members were told they could "take a memento or

two" during a period of technical upgrades in the 1980s.



"I think he had it in his house years and years and probably after

Carson's passing thought this would be a good time to make it available

to collectors and fans," Norwine said.



Carson hosted "The Tonight Show" for 30 years before retiring in 1992.

He died Jan. 23 at age 79.



Norwine was once a substitute saxophone player on "The Tonight Show."



article

[kgenus]

One of the mics Elvis Presley used at a fair, which was later published in pictures the world over, was acutioned off on Ebay, an RCA 44BX I believe, that started at US$37,000. These auctions are really amazing!



Kevin
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Genus

[Debbie]

G'day,



I'm watching the auction with only 3 hours to go! How exciting!



The reserve has been met and the current bid is $42,500 ($50,787.50 with the buyers premium)



Below is copy from the auction page:



(The floor auction is being held in Dallas, TX on April 21-22, 2005. Online bidding ends at 10:00PM CT the night before the floor session for this lot. Your secret maximum bid will compete for you during the floor auction, and it is possible that you may be outbid on the floor after internet bidding closes.)



I didn't realise that it would be an online and floor auction. I guess it makes sense really but how annoying if you were the winning bidder from the online auction and lost out the following day. It would peeve me off for sure.



I wonder what the final price will be ...



Deb

[audio'connell]

The Associated Press

Updated: 2:01 p.m. ET April 23, 2005



DALLAS - An anonymous bidder Friday snatched a piece of TV history, offering $50,787 for the microphone that sat prominently on the desk of late-night king Johnny Carson until the 1980s. The offer was about twice that expected at auction.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7611979/
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- Peter
audioconnell Voice Over Talent
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