Halfpenny Kisses

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 442, 25 August 1928, Page 25

Halfpenny Kisses

Buyer Secures Unique Auction-Room Bargain FILMS AT £2 9/- EACH Two kisses of the ■maximum, length allowed by the American censors have been bought in a Sydney auction rooms for the magnificent sum of one ■penny. The buyer was a little man , wearing a frayed bowler hat , and his only competitor was a fashionably-dressed woman who left a smart roadster at the doorway. It all happened as a result of a writ issued against Selznick Pictures (Aus.). Ltd. This made it necessary that the company’s stock should be sold by auction. •Although there is at present a film war between the two big exhibiting companies in Australia, there was little competition for the 65 feature films that were under the hammer. The only people present were the little man and the fashionable woman. The auctioneer tried to commence bidding at £SO for each film. He got no response, and when the little man with the frayed hard-hitter suggested £lO for the lot he became bitterly sarcastic. He took up the woman’s offer of 10s each. Steadily the bidding mounted until £2 9s a picture was reached. The auctioneer asked the sheriff’s advice, and was told to let them go. The man then became the owner of 400,000 ft of melodrama, romance, lurid love and comedy. Mixed up with mediocre productions were some starring such well-known artists as Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Colleen Moore, Edith Roberts and John Bowers. The bargain that the little man secured must constitute a record. He bought new and up-to-date film at the rate of 10ft for a penny, and as American censor-length kisses are allowed to occupy sft of celluloid, he secured kisses at a halfpenny each. He became the owner of 65 feature films—produced at an average cost of £IO,OOO each—for approximately £l6O. In the deal, close on 400,000 ft of film changed hands. It is to be wondered what directors who made the pictures, and stars who appeared in them, would have offered had they been present, to prevent the sacrilege of a £IO,OOO picture being sold for £2 9s!