Does
Michael Jackson really love bagels? To find out, Buck Wolf, intrepid
journalist and ABCNEWS.com columnist, followed the King of Pop to temple
and the answer is yes! For years now, Buck has been on the trail of the
pressing questions of our day. Has the Stanley Cup been used as a
dog-food bowl? Is Monica Lewinsky related to Princess Diana? Are
mosquitoes more likely to bite you if you're blonde? Find out the
answers to all this and more in this wry and witty look at the outer
fringes of pop culture. Where else can you meet such intriguing
characters as Dracula's last surviving relative, Americans who have
mummified their loved ones, and parents who have sold their children's
names to the highest bidder? This compilation of Buck's best columns
runs the gamut from movie stars to schlock meisters, true urban legends
to great moments in the history of toilet paper. The Wolf Files is
guaranteed to inform, entertain, and treat you to the headlines you
don't want to miss.
Celebrity Garbage Pickers
One Man's Trash, Another Man's Treasure
When do you know you're a star? That's easy: when dumpster divers sell your old socks for big bucks.
A
half-eaten piece of Justin Timberlake's French toast, pulled from a
radio station trashcan, sold on eBay for $1,025. The winner, 19 year old
Kathy Summers of the University of Wisconsin, said she would freeze-dry
the toast and place it on her dresser, to prove her devotion to the boy
band legend. With any luck, she'll get Timberlake to personally
autograph his discarded breakfast.
"Kathy, Never forget the most important meal of the day. Or the Maple syrup -- J.T."
If you doubt that the garbage of the rich and famous is now a
collectible, go to eBay. Plug in your favorite celebrity's name -- along
with words like "rare," "collectible," or "one of a kind." You'll see,
there's a fortune in filth - as long as it's the right kind of filth.
And if you want to know how this all got started, meet Ward Harrison,
the granddaddy of celebrity trash.
Harrison, who liberally describes
himself as a "septuagenarian antique dealer," has sifted through
Hollywood's most famous dustbins and pulled out such treasures as Tori
Spelling's report card, Milton Berle's empty prescription vials and
Jimmy Stewart's Hertz rental car receipt.
"It's a way of life,"
Harrison said. "Garbage is a window into the soul and it is one of the
few ways we can really get to know celebrities."
Over the years,
Harrison has gotten his greasy paws on such gems as Barbra Streisand's
cooking utensils, love notes from Joanne Woodward to Paul Newman, Ann
Miller's dancing shoes; and Peter Lawford's FBI file.
It all started
in 1973, when Harrison came across Cher's trash. "Makeup, birth
control, financial records," he said. "It was like I had her whole world
in my hands."
Soon, he began shuttling from his Utica, Ind., home
to Beverly Hills. In those early days, there was no money in it. It was
just an obsession, a way to get close to the stars, some of whom didn't
mind his obsession with their garbage. He even married actor Wendel
Corey's daughter. The couple met while he was going through her dad's
trash, looking for memorabilia from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.
But the world has grown more garbage-savvy, and less friendly. "These days shredders eat all the fun," Harrison said.
