Glenside resident Robert W. Getz has authored two guides on Simpsons collectibles

 

Deciding to collect memorabilia connected to The Simpsons is a bit like trying to collect material about The Beatles: the trouble, obviously, isn’t in trying to find things, it’s trying to figure out where to stop.

The cultural impact of Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa and Maggie has woven itself into the warp and woof of our lives, and their catchphrases have become a kind of shorthand for describing the dilemmas of living through our increasingly accelerated times.

As a pack rat of long standing who’d weathered obsessions with books and records, I shouldn’t have been surprised when my love of The Simpsons translated into a collecting passion. There was a moment early on when it almost seemed possible to have it all, but as eBay began to gain popularity in the late 1990s, new and exotic worlds of Simpsons collectibles were revealed to me.

England and Australia seemed particularly taken with the show, producing beautiful plates and butter dishes, shampoo bottles, dolls and figurines.

Funny enough, interest in producing licensed toys in the U.S. had quickly waned after the first early wave of toys and t-shirts, but Europe quickly picked up the slack. As it became obvious that American collectors were more than interested in throwing their money at sellers online, a second wave of collectibles appeared here as the last century concluded that made the original seem like a trickle: games, dolls, clocks, figurines, something for every interest and pocketbook.

As the hobby reached critical mass, I attempted to record what was out there in two price guides published by Schiffer Books, The Unauthorized Guide To Simpsons Collectibles (1998) and Further Adventures (2001).

Doing the books, of course, gave me an even better excuse to indulge my Simpsons jones, and so it wasn’t long before the yellow shrine that my home had become reached a sort of critical mess, forcing me to become very selective about what I’d allow myself to add to the archives.

Looking back, I’m astonished at some of what has come and gone, including a giant magnetized Bart Simpson that you can slap on your car door to make it look as if he’s holding on for dear life, and an actual charcoal grill produced by Weber a few years ago. In March of 2000, Playmates Toys introduced a line of figures under the World Of Springfield banner that resulted in over 200 Simpsons’ character toys being produced, each of which spoke when plugged into its appropriate “environment” (sold separately, of course).

The ballyhoo over the handful of 7-Eleven’s changing into Kwik-E-Marts to celebrate the approach of The Simpsons Movie is only the latest in a long line of attention-grabbing promotional tie-ins: Remember the “Who Shot Mr Burns?” contest? Or the competition to “Win The Simpsons House,” an actual house in Nevada that had been painted and decorated to look like the real thing? Western Pacific Airlines even had a Simpsons plane at one point, painted bright yellow and festooned with the faces of Our Favorite Family. One certainly couldn’t have been faulted for wanting to check and see if Barney Gumble was in the pilot’s chair before allowing it to take off, though.

Enthusiasm for Simpsons collecting is alive and well in 2007, the movie only fanning the flames of the fever higher and higher. The best place to go on the net to keep up with the latest news is the “Simpsons Collector Sector” (www.simpsonscollectors.com), where a collection of similarly infected folks keep each other informed about the latest sightings and shipments of what they affectionately refer to as “Simpsacrap.”

I haven’t been immune to this latest wave of publicity and even found myself in New York City last weekend at 6 in the morning, waiting patiently in a line mostly comprised of skateboard kids, for the release of a very limited number of Simpsons Vans. In addition to the merchandising tie-ins with 7-Eleven and Burger King this summer, Fox approached the popular sneaker manufacturer with the idea of commissioning 12 artists to create a Simpsons’ sneaker that would be limited to 100 of each design.

Going on sale simultaneously at 10 handpicked boutique stores across the country meant that demand would be extremely high; this was the case at Dave’s Quality Meat skate shop in New York City. I did wonder how these kids could afford $150 sneaks, but that question was settled when I noticed someone talking on his iPhone. Entertainment was provided by the endless stream of locals asking what the line was for, as well as the mind-numbing monologue going on behind me by some kind of toy collector/dealer/entrepreneur.

“I cleaned out every store in Spain!” he crowed at one point, making those within earshot wish that someone would skateboard on his head.

 I’d narrowed down my choices to two, hopefully in a size 9, and when the moment of truth finally came, I went home with a pair of yellow slip-ons designed by artist Sam Messer which prominently feature large bulgy eyeballs everywhere.

Of course, one can’t really wear a pair of $150 sneaks without feeling terribly nervous about it, so they may be fated to remain a souvenir of my last big score in Springfield, the town that made me what I am today.

 

- Robert W. Getz

 

Robert blogs at http://screwlooseum.blogspot.com