Estate sale at Alley home draws the curious.
Not too long after the sun rose Saturday, a crowd of about 25 gathered outside Kirstie Alley's childhood home.
The quiet group wasn't madeup of family, friends or fans of Alley. Most of them didn't even know that the TV and film star had lived in the red-brick home on Bellaire during her childhood and early teens.
The crowd, mostly antique dealers and estate- or garage-sale hoppers, was there for only three reasons: to shop, bid and bargain at the Alley estate sale.
The Alley family was holding the sale to dispose of furnishings the family did not want to keep. The family home was sold after Kirstie Alley purchased a condominium for her widowed father.
The first group to show up was the antique dealers, who arrived around 6:20 a.m. and sat on the front porch of the southeast Wichita home. They wanted to be the first in line for antiques but cared little for Alley memorabilia, said Dennis Hendrickson and Bill Stebbins, Wichita-area antique dealers.
As the door opened at 8 am., the crowd jumped into the living room. Splinter groups went to the kitchen, basement and garage. The rest stayed in the living room where the glass items and chinaware were located.
Not until somebody screamed "Kirstie's room is upstairs" did a group head in that direction.
And there it was. The room, covered with white and blue wallpaper, was filled with the Alley's mementos that the family had decided to sell. Other, more significant items were kept by the actress or by her siblings and father.
Numerous swimming medals and trophies from her six years as a member of the Wichita Swimming Club were standing on a table with her brother's and sister's awards. There were single pages of a scrapbook containing friends' letters, pictures and several identification cards. The price of the scrapbook pages ranged from $1 to $5 and the medals were $2 each.
Stapled to one of the scrapbook pages was a card Alley had sent to her father in the early '80s. It read: "I love you and I know this will bring you luck, happiness and much love in the future. Kirstie."
Kathy Ricken, a garage-salegoer, bought it for $2. She said that her son collected autographs and that because the card had been signed by Alley it would be added to his collection. In addition, Ricken said Alley's reputation was constantly growing, and the card could be worth more than $2 in the future. She also bought Alley's fourth-grade handwriting book and a scrapbook page containing her Wichita Library card and a Commonwealth Crest Theatre identificatlon card, both signed.
Alley's queensize bed, which was not for sale, was covered with a blue bedspread that matched the wallpaper. The bed was almost covered by old clothes, sheets, blankets and 13 hangers on sale for 25 cents.
On the floor to the right side of the bed, a bright orange foot-shaped throw rug was marked $1. Behind the rug and against the wall, an old Polaroid 150 and all its attachments were waiting to be bought.
Inside the closet, customers could see clothes from the '70s and a pair of white rubber boots.
Several newspaper clips and photographs, priced between $1 and $4, were hanging on the wall. Four Bill Cosby comedy records, a Bible, a pair of small red and white Oriental sandals, a stuffed clown and an alarm clock were on her dresser.
But among all these mementos, a letter from the University of Kansas Department of Art and Design, dated March 18, 1966, seemed to be the most interesting to the buyers. The letter, a response to Alley's inquiry about a summer art camp written by the department's chairman started with "I was a little bit confused after reading your letter..."
But, It was evident that most of those who came to the house, even those who knew Alley, were not specifically looking for Alley mementos. A neighbor and close friend of the Alleys said she was at the sale because Alley's mother was her best friend, and she wanted to buy something that belonged to her. "Kirstie was just another gal to me," the woman said.
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