Up to a Mutual microphone stepped Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, to help
auction off four pairs of Nylons, a Persian lamb coat, a bat
autographed by Babe Ruth. They were some of the sideline booty which a sympathetic U.S. public has showered on Pfc.
James Wilson, who lost both hands & feet in a plane crash. Private
Wilson wanted to sell off his presents to give the proceeds to a
hospital pal — a triple amputee.This stunt sale was typical of a new radio program, Auction Show , thought up by chubby, energetic Dave Elman, who is
full of such ideas. Elman, who has been in show business since he was
six, already has one big network show, Hobby Lobby , which has brought him $350,000 since 1937. He has been
trying to repeat Hobby's success ever since. Among his previous tries was
one called Contact, about people who wanted to find long-lost friends
or relatives. Elman said he got the idea while wondering what became of
a girl who promised to marry him but failed to show up for the wedding.Elman started auctioning freak items on Hobby Lobby as a war-bond stunt.
Soon, as Victory Auction, it was a show of its own, sold over
$250,000,000 worth of bonds. The Treasury got his permission to imitate
the idea. Now Elman is putting Auction to postwar profit. He got an
auctioneer's license , a sponsor, and
fifteen assistants to help him round up and check on items.Elman puts on his radio sale in a Manhattan theater, with an invited
audience of well-heeled collectors and dealers. He allows the studio
audience about one minute to bid on each item, then invites listeners
to top the studio offers by mail.Who got what is announced the following week.Showman Elman sells mostly curios of the famous
and infamous. Samples: Adolf Hitler's dice ; Thomas Alva
Edison's personal dental chair ; a spoon made by Paul Revere
; Mark Twain's portable writing desk ; a dagger owned by
Rudolph Valentino ; a letter from Field Marshal Rommel to his
wife, dated October 1943, which read: “Russian campaign going
well. . . . Americans not ready . . .” .Elman swears he can document the history of everything he sells.
