'This is the hat that Harrison Ford wore in `Raiders of the Lost Ark.' Actually, there were 12 and this is hat No. 7. Spielberg has one. Lucas has one. The Smithsonian has one. And now I have one.
'See how it's marked? See the `IJ7'? I bought it for $25,000 two weeks ago from the doctor who was on call on the set for the `Raiders' movies. It's the ruby slippers of my generation. Here's the letter from the doctor's son, who sold it to me. I made four phone calls and sold the hat to a collector in Chicago for $40,000. I'm not an auction person. I'm not trying to sell things to the person who has the most money. I'm trying to get these things to people who really want them. And this guy buys most of my Indiana Jones stuff.
'You want to see my prize possession? This is Cyrax from `Mortal Kombat 2.' I got this guy for $1,000. He was so mistreated. I actually spent another $2,000 and four months restoring him. You're giving me this look. This is a piece of history! And, over there, that's Liam Neeson's fighting light saber from `Phantom Menace.' What did I pay for that? Let's just say I couldn't part with that light saber for any less than a half a million dollars.
'But it's not like I'm making any money doing this. I work part time for my father and I also work a few hours a week at the Toys 'R' Us by Ridgedale. I do it because I have to get out of my room. And I need to be with toys.'
His name is William Brewster Hubbard IV. He buys and sells movie props. He's 31, lives in Wayzata and he'd do almost anything to have Rick Moranis' dark helmet from 'Spaceballs.'
'I've got stuff here that's rare on rare. I have the largest `Saving Private Ryan' collection in the world. I have more props and wardrobe from that movie than anyone else. I probably paid a total of $9,000 for the full `Saving Private Ryan' outfit. I have 46 complete pieces. These are wet suits. This is what everybody wore during the D-Day scene. They had to or they would have froze. This is Tom Sizemore's. He's a big guy, huh? Generally, nobody knew about the wet suit. They got chucked. Because who's going to buy a wet suit ... especially a wet suit with no neck?
'This is Tom Hanks' pistol. I'm actually getting the second one. So I'll have both of them. I got this one from the armory that dealt with the movie. And this is Natalie Portman's outfit from `Where the Heart Is.' This [Sports Almanac] is from `Back to the Future II.' Look at this gun prop from `Die Hard 2.' It's all rubber. It has to be. Have you ever taken a real gun, shoved it down your pants like they do in the movies, and then gone running?
'This South Glen jacket is the one David Arquette wore in `Never Been Kissed.' This is a bomb from `Chill Factor.' That's Laurence Fishburne's outfit from `Event Horizon.' '
View from the vault
Let's go to the videotape. For every 'Titanic' dinner plate, Freddy Krueger hand or coat worn by Denzel Washington that he's owned or sold, Hubbard has a videocassette set to the exact scene in which the prop appears. Hubbard also has videocassettes of all 178 episodes of 'Star Trek, the Next Generation,' but that's another story.
He doesn't eat meals on the 'Titanic' dinner plates, by the way. They're worth $1,500 apiece. Most of what he calls the Williams Collection - the really valuable stuff - sits in a huge vault in Minneapolis. Hubbard's dad, an architect from Pennsylvania who moved to Minnesota in 1965, got into the ministorage and record storage business 29 years ago. So Bruce has lots of space for his stuff. And when you're the head of the American Movie Prop Association, as he is, with people from Japan, Germany and Australia reading your Web site, and movie studios calling your answering machine 24 hours a day, you need lots of space. After 14 years buying and selling, Hubbard has made lots of connections. Who knows? Somebody may be offering to sell the chicken salad sandwich from 'Five Easy Pieces.'
'I've never been to California. Never considered it. I don't like earthquakes. I think tornadoes are more survivable. So I just stay here. But I know people. And they know me.
'You see this crate. That's Catzilla's Crate from `Mouse Hunt.' Have you seen `Mouse Hunt'? If you've seen it, this means so much more. This is not for sale. I'll be buried with that crate. It's one of three. And it's been around Nathan Lane. Nathan Lane! I love him. Forget it.
'So you're probably wondering why I have the decal that goes on the side of all the `Ghostbusters' cars. And Tracey Ullman's shoes from `Robin Hood: Men in Tights.' And this book [`Weird Tales by Martin Weir' from `Get Shorty']. Look, it's not even a book. Just a cover wrapped around two pieces of Styrofoam.
'It all started with comic books. I started collecting when I was 7. Then I really started collecting when I was 16 to 20. Then I met a guy who was doing props. I bought a few things and said, `This is it! This is completely what I want to do.'
'I actually did want to go into the movies, but it didn't work out. I'm ADD [attention-deficit disorder] and dyslexic. This is the house I grew up in, but at the time there wasn't a school here we felt that could help me with my dyslexia. So I went to the Forman School in Litchfield, Conn. You know the design on the back of the Connecticut quarter? The tree? That's my graduation tree. You can actually see its shadow in pictures I have of my graduation.'
Signed and sealed
After Hubbard spent more than $5,000 on frames, he stopped framing prized possessions, said his mother, Donna. (While he awaits word on a condo in Plymouth, Hubbard lives with his parents; his cocker spaniel, Cornwall; his parents' two Cavalier King Charles spaniels, Duncan and Bailey, and Yago the parrot.)
It's not as if Hubbard has no autographed items worthy of frames. But here's his rule: If it wasn't autographed right in front of him, he doesn't want it. So every autograph he's collected has sentimental value: He's had two record albums autographed by Michael Jackson, for whom he briefly worked as a roadie and calls 'Mike.' There are autographed pictures of Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Brooklyn Dodger great Duke Snyder, Billy Joel, Eddie Murphy, favorite comedian George Carlin, Sinbad, Penn and Teller, Monty Python's John Cleese, Howie Mandel and Ashley something or other. He forgot her name and can't read her writing.
The autograph he values most?
Joe Bouchard. The bass player from Blue Oyster Cult.
'Joe was my music teacher at Forman. I actually have every single CD, every single Blue Oyster Cult record signed by Joe. Because I could.
'Let me tell you something. Cuba Gooding has the biggest feet. Huge. Look at these. And `Volcano.' I love that movie. This is Tommy Lee Jones' [burn-free] outfit from `Volcano.' Very fussy about clothes, Tommy Lee Jones. He's got 36-by-36 jeans. See how the Wrangler tag was actually removed. And look at the label of this custom-made shirt. `Distinctive Shirtmakers, Anto of Beverly Hills, Aug. 1996, TLJ.' Custom made. I can say I own this.
'My favorite characters are Bruce Willis in `The Jackal' and Dr. Evil. You know in `Austin Powers' ... some of Dr. Evil's crew wear buttons. They don't say `Dr. Evil.' They say `Beevis and Butthead' or `Clinton' or `Piss Off.' They knew the camera wouldn't pick it up. Just Mike Meyers having some fun.'
It's in the cards
When he makes presentations at schools - and he loves showing kids samples from his collection - Hubbard doesn't bother with trivialities such as the wig worn by Charlie Sheen in 'Hot Shots! Part Deux' that he's mailing to a customer in Germany. Or that he has 390 pages of prop information in his computer. Or that he gets $400 offers for the MIB card Will Smith flashes in the music video for 'Men in Black' - the one Hubbard paid $10 for. Or that his favorite movies are 'Cube,' which never played in the United States, and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.' But he might tell them about the 11-foot alligator prop used in the second 'Ace Ventura' movie that now sits in his vault.
'I don't make money. Any profit I make selling one prop I take and spend on another. So why do I do this? Two reasons. I love the chase. I love searching for that special item, finding it, and then seeing if I can actually get it. Once I get it, then it doesn't matter whether I keep it or sell it. Because it's over.
'The other reason? I could wear these clothes if I wanted - and nobody would know but me. It's not something I would do often.
'But it would be my little secret.'
- Paul Levy is at plevy@startribune.com.
Information concerning the Williams Collection can be found at http://www.bedlum.net. Schools interested in Hubbard's presentations should call 952-473-9591.
