by Richard D. Olson
My friend Mel Birnkrant's comic character collection has been part of his life for nearly 40 years and today fills his home, an old brick schoolhouse that he and his wife, Eunice, rennovated. This love affair started with the discovery of an old Mickey Mouse bank at a Paris flea market. Little did he realize that fateful day that he would eventually fill his house and over 100 display cases with old comic character memorabilia. There is no doubt that Mel has assembled the finest collection I have ever seen. Not only does he have great rarieties and beautiful pieces, but the arrangements that he has created for his displays confirm the old Gestalt Psychology axiom that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The relationship of the pieces clearly adds to their beauty.
While he started with Disney collectibles, Mel has expanded his scope to include all comic characters. Further, while I believe that three dimensional pieces are his favorites, he has superlative representatives of all other forms of character merchandise such as art, books, sheet music, toys, etc. For a general overview of his collection, three articles in ANTIQUE TOY WORLD by Doug and Pat Wengel featuring Mel's photographs appeared in May 1994, October 1995, and November 1995. For example, p.80 of the last article illustrates more Little Nemo collectibles, primarily dolls, than most people knew existed!
Not surprisingly, Mel has always been interested in the Yellow Kid and Buster Brown.
His Buster Brown display that first appeared in ANTIQUE TOY WORLD is reproduced in this issue along with photographs of Mel and Mickey and a stunning Yellow Kid piece. In addition, pictures of part of his enhanced and revised Yellow Kid displays appear here for the first time. Look at the images carefully as many of the pieces are truly unique and I doubt that you will ever see them again!
Thanks, Mel, for sharing your wonderful treasures with the R. F. Outcault Society!
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Richard D. Olson, Ph.D., 40
Infinity Drive, Poplarville,
MS 39470-9006
(769) 717-4077
redoak2002@gmail.com
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