OAKLAND, Calif. – Goggles worn by Amelia Earhart and photographs of the famed aviator pulled in more than $31,000 at an auction here.
A spokesman for Clars Auction Gallery said the winning bid for the set of 1920s Luxor aviator goggles with a cracked left lens was $17,775.
Additional Photos
The goggles previously were owned by Barbara Englehardt, a Contra Costa County resident who got them from a friend about 20 years ago.
In addition to the goggles, 24 photographs were auctioned off Sunday morning for a total of $13,509.
The photographs included shots of Earhart making preparations for her round-the-world flight, as well as her plane taking off on March 17, 1937.
The March flight was one of two attempts Earhart made that year to circumnavigate the globe. Her plane disappeared in the Pacific during the second attempt a few months later.
Comedy Central ‘wins’ as Sheen offers plenty of roast fodder
CULVER CITY, Calif. – Charlie Sheen smiled through a Comedy Central roast as Mike Tyson, William Shatner, actress Kate Walsh and half a dozen comedians riffed on his high-profile year.
Sheen was famously fired from his sitcom “Two and a Half Men” in March after a very public meltdown during which he claimed to be a “rock star from Mars” who has “tiger blood” and “Adonis DNA.”
The 46-year-old actor is the subject of the latest roast, which was taped Saturday night at Sony Studios and will air Sept. 19 on Comedy Central.
Sheen took the stage in true rock-star fashion, as rock ‘n’ roll guitarist Slash heralded his introduction. The actor, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, smiled and laughed as roasters jabbed at his famous family, his notorious taste for drugs and prostitutes and his prime-time firing.
“Charlie’s meltdown was so bad, Al Gore’s making a documentary about it,” quipped comedian Jeffrey Ross.
Jackson escape plan revealed
LONDON – Jermaine Jackson says his family had secretly arranged to fly Michael to Bahrain if the pop icon was found guilty of child molestation.
Jermaine was quoted as telling The Times magazine out Saturday that a private jet financed by a friend was on standby to whisk his brother to the Gulf emirate if the 2005 court case ended with a conviction.
Bahrain does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Jermaine said his brother did not know of the escape plan but Michael would have “done it in a heartbeat” because “why should he go to jail for something he didn’t do?”
The singer was found not guilty on all charges. He died Aug. 29, 2009.
‘Contagion’ spreads
LOS ANGELES – “Contagion” infected enough moviegoers to catch the top spot at the box office.
The Warner Bros. pandemic thriller starring an A-list cast that includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow coughed up $23.1 million in its first weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The film’s opening marked the beginning of the fall movie season by exceeding the studio’s estimates.
But it was the lowest-grossing weekend of the year so far for the film industry, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. He said that’s typical for the weekend after Labor Day.
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