{"id":4963,"date":"2011-04-14T20:52:19","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T00:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviepropcollectors.com\/magazine\/?p=4963"},"modified":"2011-04-16T01:23:34","modified_gmt":"2011-04-16T05:23:34","slug":"rocky-gloves-tmz-prop-blogs-questions-answers-an-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviepropcollectors.com\/magazine\/rocky-gloves-tmz-prop-blogs-questions-answers-an-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Gloves,TMZ & Prop Blogs,…questions, answers, & an update."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Recently a pair of boxing gloves attributed to the Academy Award<\/em> winning 1976 Sylvester Stallone<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>film, Rocky<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, have been in the news.<\/p>\n

Auction house, Profiles in History<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, well known for having some of the biggest and the best in original Hollywood props, costumes, and artwork,\u00a0was featuring lot #1069, which consists of\u00a0one of the pairs of Rocky’s<\/em> training gloves, jump rope, speed bag, and button from the 1976 film, in their Hollywood Auction 44<\/strong><\/em> <\/a>on May 14th and 15th in Beverly Hills CA.<\/p>\n

Web site TMZ<\/strong><\/em> <\/a>received a letter written to Profiles in Histor<\/em>y\u00a0from Mr. Stallone’s<\/em> attorney’s, Lavely & Singer<\/a><\/strong><\/em> stating that the gloves\u00a0were not authentic and wanted them pulled from the auction.\u00a0Within the letter however is no reason as to why\u00a0Mr. Stallone<\/em>\u00a0believes the gloves are not from the film. Earlier today\u00a0I emailed Martin Singer <\/em>from the law firm asking if he could provide the reason(s) as to why his client believed the boxing gloves\u00a0are not from Rocky and have not yet received a response.\u00a0I also asked\u00a0Lavely & Singer’s <\/em>why <\/em>only the boxing gloves\u00a0authenticity\u00a0was\u00a0questioned and\u00a0not the speed bag, jump rope, or buttons.<\/p>\n

Upon\u00a0receiving Lavely and Singer’s<\/em> letter, Profiles<\/em> properly withdrew the lot pending further research.<\/p>\n

After reviewing articles about this story\u00a0from blogs and a few\u00a0other news outlets, I contacted Profiles<\/em>\u00a0for more information. Though Joe Maddalena<\/em>, President and CEO of Profiles<\/em> was busy with his two upcoming auctions and television show, he\u00a0had no problem\u00a0answering\u00a0my questions\u00a0about the gloves.<\/p>\n

Joe<\/em>\u00a0told me\u00a0the gloves were consigned by Ronnie Cunningham<\/em>, who served as\u00a0the Executive director-business\u00a0agent of IATSE<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 Local 44 Hollywood Affiliated Property Crafts Persons Union<\/em> for movies, television, and commercials for 16 years.<\/p>\n

I asked Joe<\/em> if he could\u00a0provided me with\u00a0a copy of the letter of authenticity (LOA), the consignor (Mr. Cunningham),\u00a0included with the lot and\u00a0Joe<\/em> said, “sure no problem”.<\/p>\n

Joe<\/em> told me the\u00a0same LOA below was sent to Mr. Stallone’s <\/em>law firm, who\u00a0as of\u00a0this writing, have\u00a0not\u00a0responded.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to my research, Mike Miner<\/em><\/a>\u00a0was the property master of the first Rocky<\/a><\/em> film in 1976 and would have had access to, and handled, the props and\u00a0costume pieces\u00a0for the film.<\/p>\n

The gloves appear<\/em> to be consistent with the training gloves<\/em> Rocky<\/a><\/em> uses in the training sequences.<\/em> The speed-bag, jump-rope and buttons also seem<\/em> to be consistent with those from the film.<\/p>\n

Again I am not an expert on\u00a0the props used in Rocky<\/em>, nor was I present during filming.\u00a0Only those who were there and part of the film at the time\u00a0could possibly remember specifics.\u00a0I do know as\u00a0property (prop) master,\u00a0Mr. Miner<\/em>\u00a0was\u00a0one of those people,\u00a0as well\u00a0as others\u00a0who\u00a0were part of the production.<\/p>\n

Joe<\/em> told me that\u00a0neither Sylvester Stallone<\/em> nor his attorney’s\u00a0asked to examine\u00a0the gloves, other items in the lot,\u00a0or the\u00a0documentation above\u00a0included with the lot. I do not see how\u00a0anyone could definitively claim the items\u00a0were not made for the film without at least examining the items personally.<\/p>\n

A few\u00a0movie related prop blogs jumped on this story and seemed to\u00a0make assumptions without contacting either party involved.\u00a0It was very easy for me to call Profiles in History<\/em> and get more information before\u00a0writing anything on this subject. I don’t know why others\u00a0couldn’t do the same.<\/p>\n

Before\u00a0a news article is written, the writer should always try to contact those involved in the story for accurate information.\u00a0Making possibly baseless and sometimes libelous claims against an individual or company serves no one.<\/p>\n