my movie stuff

back a couple years some friends & favorite classic movie bloggers were showing off their collections, it’s funny how collectors love to see what other people have and how they organize, probably because we are all voyeurs and frustrated librarians, so here’s mine, for anyone interested. Laura of Misc Movie/musings fame (link goes to her post about her collection) has encouraged me to share, so here goes.

Whoops, sorry, no that’s not my collection, (i Wish! bonus points if you know whose place this really is, though– it’s a famous director) mine is as follows…

As of jan 2013  i have over 5000 movies. Due to a tight budget and being kind of a cheapskate :) ,  I don’t buy that many DVDs at all, and mainly have recordings. I managed over the last few yrs to transfer all my family’s old collection of VHS tapes to DVD-r.

The filing system is so simple and quick it almost isn’t worth talking about, but I will, otherwise, no post:

No database, no computer (no patience!), no list, no problem. it all goes alphabetically in simple white envelopes and when I have to record 2 or 3 movies on one disc, i file it by the first title, then make a 5×5 index card (cut a 5×8), jot whatever the 2nd & 3rd title are, a note re: which main dvd those are found on, and then file the cards alphabetically. Easy fast way to find what i have/need, pull it, and pop it back. So in this pic/example I would have a card filed in C for Captain Blood (good thing I majored in English the alphabet sure comes in handy at times like these), saying “on Little Foxes”.

here’s the collection (it’s normally hidden behind a curtain which matches the drapes in TV room pic, up next) It doesn’t look like much, which is my goal. I have everything in a combo of black wire mesh boxes and plastic minicrates, got from the dollar store, and with an index card popped down the side to mark them encyclopedia style. Lots of room for expansion and reorganizing. In the rare case I buy something, if it’s in cheap packaging, I just pop the disc in an envelope, sort them in my way and chuck the cases.
I have TV shows, serials, documentaries, and biography specials (lots of old A&E bios) in dedicated boxes, and tons of music/concerts. The better DVDs are piled down below, special universal monster sets, stuff that came in pretty boxes, sets like cary grant, marlene dietrich, lombard, vintage disney and silent comedy and muppets & so on like that. Other stuff includes some peanuts and superman collectibles, treasured Elvis box sets, rockabilly cds of every stripe, and all those giant black binders below left are my old CDs.

Everything is organized to save as much space as possible. This big area pictured above is where I stash movies once I’ve watched them– but next to the TV I have a bunch of nice Pleather decorative longboxes where all the stuff i haventwatched yet is filed alphabetically. Easier to keep them apart, and feels like a treasure trove to just randomly pull from, when it’s movie night.

Here’s the nerve center of the TV room, with a glimpse of some of my movie books behind, flanking the patio door. The monolithic 11- old rear projection TV is in danger of teetering over from all the gear  :-) billy currington is pretty good at drinking beer, by the way.

update: a moment of silence, please, for the old plywood jumbotron pictured above which I loved, but which died a mercifully quick death back a few months. Luckily there was a perfect combination of full piggybank and great sale which enabled me to rebuild the movie room nerve center to look like this.  

  so, so pretty. I love it. Instead of drinking beer, the guy on screen this time is obviously telling me I need to build more shelves. It’s a sign and who am I to argue ? Finally, a proper stand holds all my gear and speakers– safer and nicer on the eyeballs.  However now that I can see clear through to one of my shelves I noticed I have 2 copies of TCM Greatest Couples, which is kind of appropriate, a couple, get it?  

here’s a closer look at that shelf behind the telly, which like Churchill’s pudding, has no theme, other than the top shelf, which is only books about actresses. I need to work on this one as I spend way too much time looking for a book : 

now  the next few pix are yet another side of the same TV room, with top rows all movie star bios, intermingled with a family cookbook collection started yrs ago. 

So movie books are shelved wherever they fit in A-Z order, also all across the bottom 2 rows,  behind the comfy sofa are all these: 

closer look at that skinny little side shelf now, for paperbacks or other smallish books, mostly bios, A-Z :

and here’s the ugly stuff, down in the basement, on those garage style quick click-together plastic shelves. …

There are decades of Classic Images and other newsprint type mags in the bankers boxes, filed by issue number. On the other shelf are blue plastic boxes full of various other old movie mags collected over the past few years from elderly friends/neighbors who know I love movies and give their junk to me, or finds from thrift shops, yard sales, etc. The binders are full  of a-z clippings like obits and printouts, plus a lot of Hollywood studio mags. This stuff is all amazingly handy for research.

Last year I decided to focus on my movie stuff and so have been selling off tons of music rock/metal mags and collectibles, posters, keeping only my Peanuts and Mickey Mouse & the odd other fun stuff which I started gathering as a little kid. Hope you enjoyed this tour of my classic movie hoard, I mean collection. I am a firm believer that the purpose of a collection is to share, so if you are reading this and are a classic movie fan looking for some unusual title, scroll down to the bottom there, find out how to contact me, then just ask. And ask nicely.

update: here’s the rest of Laura’s collection and this link takes you to the other bloggers’ stashes

Raquelle at Out of the Past shared hers, which led to Karen at Shadows & Satin (this space waiting for her collection to be posted so I can link it!) giving me this link to check out Artman’s awe-inspiring setup , all of which further inspired me to add more pix to this page

took some hunting, but I found the movie collection post I remembered seeing at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear! and that post leads to more nice collection posts that will impress you at Out of the Past, Noir Girl, All Talking…

I am going to start plucking random items from my collection for spotlighting, including the LPs living at the bottom of the hall closets. Stay tuned. ;) 

on my regular googles for cool home theater pix, I found  this awesome basement movie room!!