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New items will be regularly added to the Estate Sale. Please keep checking back for more great things from The Estate of Rue!Featured Items
ESTATE NUMBERED COPY of Rue's Original "Golden Girls" Contract
You might recall, we had listed Rue’s original signed “Golden Girls” contract for $2,500, which we admit, was alot of dough. Many fans asked if they could buy a copy of the document and after consulting with Rue’s family, we are now able to offer some numbered copies for a much more affordable price. The bundle includes the following: a copy of the little 4″ x 6″ note card that was attached to the stack of papers when they were forwarded from Rue’s agent to her home; a copy of the letter from the lawyers who prepared the documents to the agents at I.C.M.; a copy of the original 2-paged basic agreement; a copy of the 1-page “Inducement Letter;” a copy of the original 9-paged contract that includes the schedules and attachments; and finally a copy of the signed pick up letter when the producers exercised their “option” after the success of “The Golden Girls” pilot. The contract has all the details for the pilot and Rue’s compensation for many seasons. Of course, after the huge success of the show, Rue hired a pitbull lawyer – who she got from Jean Stapleton, but the way – and broke her contract so she could make some BIG MONEY! Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Estate of Rue.
$225
Rue's Golden Depression Era Candlestick (FIRST FROM TEXAS HOUSE!) [On Hold]
We’re listing this under “Manhattan Apartment” because that is the only house category we have here on estateofrue.com – and we have no idea how one goes about adding another category to the page – but this piece actually came from Rue’s California house via her Texas house. This is the first item we are posting from Rue’s Texas house, too! After six years we are FINALLY ready to start digging into that mountain of stuff. What happened is when Rue sold her California house, she shipped the contents down to her Texas house in an 18-wheeler truck; and to this day much of it is still in the boxes she and a friend packed almost 20-years ago! Get ready for a whole new supply of Rue McClanahan treasures. First up is this golden Depression Glass candlestick. It is 2.25″ tall and has a 3.5″ base. Rue’s candlestick comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Estate of Rue.
$175
Rue's Black And Gold Caftan [On Hold]
Oh, please don’t think that Rue McClanahan suffered from dandruff when you look at the shoulders of her black caftan, because it is absolutely not true, those white specks are actually plaster dust. You see, since we had already rented the space for Rue’s café, and since they hadn’t started on construction yet, we decided to use the space for this quarter’s photo shoots. Well, Julio, Rue’s handyman, was doing some core samples under the existing drywall in the space to see what was underneath – by the way, he found MARBLE SLABS(!) – anyway, when he dug into the plasterboard, a cloud of plaster dust settled on everything. Rue’s black and gold caftan was made by “Santé Classics,” it is a size “L,” it will be dusted before we send it to you, and it will come with a Certificate of Authenticity from Estate of Rue.
$275 NOW $137.50
Rue's Hardbound and Soft Cover Albee Play [On Hold]
Rue was a fan of Edward Albee; who isn’t? She knew Mr. Albee personally, and actually introduced me to him at the Drama Desk Awards one year. I had read some of his early work in the ’70s and thought he must be a mad man, so it was a pleasant surprise to find him completely normal and seemingly sane. Here are two versions of the same play from Rue’s library, one softcover and the other hard. The hardbound volume belonged to someone Rue worked with on a project and she signed it over to Rue – there is in inscription in the front, as you can see – and that was when Rue first came to know the work of the writer many consider to be the best living playwright alive today. Rue’s pair of Albee plays come on the same Certificate of Authenticity from Estate of Rue.
$99 NOW $49.50
Black and White Original Cardboard Mounted Rue Portrait From 1967 [On Hold]
Rue owned two of these blow ups from a 1967 portrait shot by Jacques Cartier; he was the founder of The Hartford Stage Company where she performed for a season. We already posted the framed one that hung in Rue’s home office – you can see that one in the photos posted – but this is probably the one you can see without a frame in the photo taken in Rue’s Cloisters of Fort Lee home in 1972. This is a large piece – it measures 13.75″ high and 10.5″ wide, and it comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Estate of Rue.
$375 NOW $187.50
Rue's $1.69 Notebook That We Have Priced at $2,500 (WHAT!?) [On Hold]
We found this old notebook in a stack of Rue’s papers at the bottom of one of her file cabinets in the home office of her Manhattan apartment. The first thing we noticed is the coffee splatter marks on the cover and that let us know it was DEFINITELY Rue McClanahan’s! Before the old notebook hit the trashcan someone opened it up and just look at what was discovered – it is a treasure chest with over half a dozen of Rue’s “doodles” inside. If we had to assign levels to Rue’s “doodles” we’d have to say this notebook has a couple minor ones, a couple more that are pretty good examples of her work, and three that are unquestionably MAJOR! All the “doodles” are worthy of framing, even some of the little sketches in pencil, but that will be up to you. We were going to break the thing up and do the framing ourselves, but we decided to keep the piece intact, just as we found it. Rue’s “doodle” notebook comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Estate of Rue.
$2,500 NOW $1,250