BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The contents of the home where Michael Jackson lived with his three children at the time of his death have sold for nearly $1 million at auction.
Though specific numbers were not yet available, the daylong auction Saturday brought in nearly triple the company’s pre-auction estimate of $200,000 to $400,000, said Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions.
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Among the highlights: A kitchen chalkboard where Jackson’s children wrote “I love Daddy,” which sold for $5,000, and an armoire upon which Jackson wrote a message to himself on the mirror that fetched $25,750.
It was not known which child — Blanket, Paris or Prince — wrote the chalk note, but Julien’s executive director Martin Nolan told CNN that his research suggested it was from Paris, who was 11 when her father died.
The auction also included furniture, artwork and other items from the rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive, where Jackson lived as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts in London before his death in June 2009.
The headboard from the bed where Jackson died at age 50 was removed from the auction at the family’s request, but the rug that was beneath the bed sold for $15,360. The estimate had been $400 to $600.
Julien’s Auctions re-created the mansion inside its Beverly Hills showroom and invited fans to fill the space where the bed would have been with a tribute to the late King of Pop. Julien promised to deliver all of the tribute items to Jackson’s children and family matriarch Katherine Jackson.
“Michael Jackson has the greatest fans in the world. I can see why he lived for them,” Julien said Saturday. “They came out every day this week to bring gifts. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen as it relates to a celebrity and their fans.”
Julien’s Auctions has conducted auctions for celebrities including Cher, Barbra Streisand, William Shatner and Slash.
Jackson commissioned the company to sell the contents of his Neverland Ranch before the auction was called off in early 2009. Julien’s also sold Jackson’s famous “Thriller” jacket for $1.8 million earlier this year.
Med student wins $1 million ‘Survivor’ prize
LOS ANGELES — Sophie Clarke slayed the competition on “Survivor: South Pacific.”
The brainy 22-year-old medical student from Willsboro, N.Y., overcame “Survivor” veteran Benjamin “Coach” Wade, 39, of Susanville, Calif., and high school baseball coach Albert Destrade, 26, of Plantation, Fla., to win the CBS reality competition’s $1 million grand prize Sunday. Clarke earned six votes from the nine-person jury of former players.
“I think I had my finger on the pulse of the game the whole time,” said Clarke after it was announced she won.
Clarke secured her place among the final three contestants on the 23rd edition of “Survivor” by forging a strong alliance from the outset and winning three individual immunity challenges, including the final physical competition, which ousted from the 39-day survival contest “Survivor” veteran Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth, 30, of Venice, Calif.
Wade and Lusth led opposing tribes at the game’s start, forming alliances with new contestants, though Lusth spent most of the game’s second half battling fellow voted-off castaways.
Movie-going decline hits ‘Sherlock’
LOS ANGELES – Sherlock Holmes is facing his worst enemy: declining crowds at theaters as this year’s domestic movie attendance dips to the lowest in 16 years.
Robert Downey Jr.’s sequel, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” debuted on top with a $40 million weekend, off 36 percent from the first installment’s $62.3 million opening two years ago, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The first movie opened over Christmas weekend, one of the busiest times for movie theaters. Distributor Warner Bros. predicts the “Holmes” sequel, which pits Downey’s detective against archrival Professor Moriarty, will make up the lost ground over the holidays.
After two previous weekends that were Hollywood’s worst of the year, overall business was down again, about 12 percent lower than the same weekend in 2010 as Hollywood struggles to interest audiences in its big year-end releases.
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