CURATOR'S NOTE: “When Roseanne was originally on air and one of the most watched shows on television, I wanted to tell Roseanne Barr-Arnold that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for wardrobe from her earlier seasons to live on in a private collection (instead of ending up in a resale shop, being blended into rental stock, or dumped by the studio to make room for current productions). I reached out to her through her talented series costume designer Erin Quigley, who brought my request to her star. Erin circled back to say Roseanne planned to stage a wardrobe sale to benefit a woman’s shelter, and a few months later I was invited to CBS Radford Studios in Los Angeles just before the public was let in to shop. I was introduced to Roseanne, who despite being in the middle of a press conference for the sale, jumped up to say hello, to ask ‘what do you want with this cheap crap?’, and to warn ‘it may have bugs.’ She quietly thanked me for wanting to preserve the show that was closely based on her personal experiences, and had one request: if I were to buy key costumes, could I allow them to remain on display (already on mannequins) so it would look nice when the public was let into the sale? I was thrilled to acquire many costumes, and since I’ve been asked if I get rid of memorabilia from shows after their actors find themselves in bad situations—as was later the case for both Roseanne Barr and Bill Cosby. I don’t believe any one person should cancel an entertainment created by up to 200 artists and craftspeople; and I’m just a gatherer of cultural objects, not a judge of those who wore or wielded them.” - James Comisar
Huxtable family living room furniture grouping including a misty blue camelback sofa with walnut detail (middle left), an oval walnut co ff ee table (bottom left), two walnut armchairs with pale blue upholstered seats (one at bottom right), two walnut square end tables (one at mi dd l e center ) , a dark wood Ridgeway grandfather clock with polished brass pendulum (middle center), a framed image of three girls with arms around shoulders by Varnette P. Honeywood (middle left), and a coral upholstered wing chair (not pictured) from Cosby . All objects acquired from series production designer Garvin Eddy.
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