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American Morning

More Than 100 'Seinfeld' Items Being Auctioned at Sotheby's.com

Aired April 29, 2002 - 08:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: So who doesn't have a favorite "Seinfeld" episode, right, like the one where Elaine freaks when she sees a mannequin that could be her twin?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like some pod landed from another planet and took your body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, now, you can own that mannequin, for the right price of course. It is one of more than 100 "Seinfeld" items now being auctioned online at sotheby's.com. The bidding continues through May 7th, and proceeds will benefit a Hollywood charity that trains disadvantaged teens to build sets.

Joining us now, Lee Dunbar, head of collections at Sotheby's, and in a few minutes, we'll be talking to Kenny Kramer, better known to "Seinfeld" fans as the real Kramer.

So, Lee, what do we have here? This is the mannequin, right?

LEE DUNBAR, SOTHEBY'S: That is the mannequin. That is the mannequin Kramer saw in the window in the episode in season five called "The Pie." And then, of course, Elaine saw it, was completely galled. She and Jerry conspired to kidnap it, and late in the show, we actually see Kramer making out with the mannequin to fend off another woman.

COOPER: So how much is the bidding on this right now?

DUNBAR: Well, the bidding on this right now is $1600. But you know, there are "Seinfeld" fans from New York to New Zealand, and the sale on sotheby's.com doesn't end until May 7th. And with the benefits going to Hollywood CPR, yadda, yadda, yadda, who knows what will happen.

COOPER: Is there really a market for this?

DUNBAR: It's pop culture. And you have to remember, "Seinfeld's" one of the most original comedies and programs of all time. Last week, "TV Guide" named it the number one television program of all time.

COOPER: So what else do we have here? This is a baseball jersey. What's significant about this one?

DUNBAR: That is George's jersey from the Improv. That's from an episode called "The Understudy." George and Jerry get into a celebrity softball game, and they're playing against Bette Midler's team, and she's starring in a musical called "Rochelle, Rochelle."

Well, what does George do? His competitive spirit, he comes rounding third, crashes into Bette at home plate, knocks her out of the musical. And of course Jerry's girlfriend just happens to be the understudy and fills in for Bette that night.

COOPER: All right, we also have a scripture. What's that?

DUNBAR: That's right, that's "The Big Salad," one of my favorites.

COOPER: This is one of your favorites.

DUNBAR: It is one of my favorites. George ends up buying Elaine a big salad, but his girlfriend hands Elaine the bag, and George gets bent out of shape because he's not getting proper credit. Now that's a wardrober's costume, that's their particular table script, which means that every page has Polaroid of all the characters and annotations.

COOPER: So there are a huge variety of items.

What are these triangles?

DUNBAR: Well, these triangles. You know, Sotheby's is known for great art, but this is not it. This comes from an episode called "The Junior Mint," which "Seinfeld" fans know. There is word the triangle guy. He was an artist going under an operation, and Kramer from the observation deck happens to drop a junior mint into Roy. He's not doing so well. George figures he'll cash in if Roy cashes out, and buys all Roy's art. Roy's so touched by George's interest, he recovers and George has these triangles in his apartment for the next five seasons.

COOPER: So what is this worthless art going for?

DUNBAR: Well, this worthless art about nothing but kind of says something. This triangle is going right now for about $1,100, and I think this one is somewhere around $600-$800.

COOPER: And this is one of Kramer's shirts?

DUNBAR: That's right, that's one of terry cloth shirts, his trademark Kramer shirts.

COOPER: It's quite something. You can use it like a bath towel.

DUNBAR: It's perfect for coming out of the shower. COOPER: Thank you very much for being here Lee Dunbar. We'll see how the sale does. It's on until May 7th.

DUNBAR: Until May 7th on Sotheby's.com.

COOPER: All right. Now I want to talk to the real Kramer, get your take on this.

Would you bid for this shirt?

KENNY KRAMER, THE "REAL" KRAMER: Well, I don't think so. It wouldn't quite go with my wardrobe, but it's a lovely shirt, and the money is going to a good cause.

COOPER: What is your favorite "Seinfeld" episode?

KRAMER: Well, I have a couple. You know, it's hard to make a top 10 list even, but I guess the contest is on the top, the soup Nazi is there, but one of my all-time favorites of course is the muffin tops, which is the one that actually spoofed my reality tour, Kramers's reality tour, that's now in its seventh year.

COOPER: And it's interesting...

KRAMER: I'm just sort of setting something up, because one of the items that they're auctioning -- I downloaded a picture of it from the Internet -- is when Kramer starts the Peterman reality tour. They have a flyer, and this is the front and the back of the flyer, which is being auctioned now.

And I never realized this. I knew they were spoofing my tour, but what they did was they actually took my flyer, word for word. They just substituted Cosmo's picture for mine. And every time that it says Kenny, it says Cosmo.

So it was really quite a kick to download this thing from the Internet and see just to what extents they did spoof me.

COOPER: All right, well, Kenny, we appreciate you coming in. Lee Dunbar, thank you so much for coming. Sotheby's.com, the auction is until May 7th, and it's all for a good cause, for charity. Thanks very much.

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