Christie’s Auction House To Offer Cline Clothing By: Stephanie M. Mangino The Winchester Star Christie’s auction house Popular Arts Department head Margaret Barrett recently dug out a Patsy Cline “Best Of” cassette bought 15-20 years ago and made a discovery when she looked at the cover photo. “She’s wearing a pair of gold lamé boots that I’m selling,” said the Cline fan, who has assembled a Nov. 18 entertainment memorabilia auction at which the boots and 15 other Cline clothing items will be offered at Christie’s midtown Manhattan location. Included among the Patsy Cline clothing items to be auctioned by Christie’s in Manhattan next month is an assortment of accessories (above) including a gold-sequined knit top, a pair of matching gold-sequined high heels, a white lace petticoat, a purple linen purse, a gold lamé purse, and two human-hair wigs worn by Cline as she recovered from a June 14, 1961, car accident. Also on the block is Cline’s “blue cowgirl” ensemble (below), which was handmade by her mother, Hilda V. Hensley of Winchester, and worn by the legendary country music singer during her 1956 appearance in the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. (Photos Courtesy of Christie’s) In August, Winchester Circuit Court Judge John E. Wetsel Jr. ordered the sale of all of the Cline clothing items in the estate of her mother, Hilda V. Hensley, to cover the cost of its administration. If the estate remains open through the end of 2004, estate administrator Charles R. Alton estimates in Winchester Circuit Court papers that the cost of handling the estate will be $43,671.18. Many of Cline’s possessions passed to her mother following the legendary country singer’s March 5, 1963, death at age 30 in a Tennessee airplane crash. Hensley died in Winchester in 1998. Since 2001, her surviving children, Sylvia M. Wilt and Samuel L. Hensley, have battled over pieces of the estate. A few items from the Hensley estate were offered in a December 2002 auction by the Beverly Hills-based company Profiles in History, including the dress Cline wore for a November 29, 1961, Carnegie Hall performance. That item, which was designed and stitched by Hensley, sold to an anonymous bidder. Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. — a Winchester-based group dedicated to establishing a Cline museum at the 608 S. Kent St. home she shared with her mother and siblings as her career developed — purchased two blouses for $3,000 total in the December auction. Hensley created a number of Cline’s stage outfits, including many that will be offered in the Christie’s auction. The main price estimates for the Cline clothes being sold by Christie’s range from $1,000 to $3,500. Celebrating Patsy Cline wants to acquire a few of the items, include four cowgirl outfits Hensley made for her daughter, a pink pantsuit, and a hat Cline often wore, said CPC Treasurer Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf. The outfits are significant to Cline’s time in Winchester, Huyett-Kempf said, and the singer wore two of the cowgirl outfits in her 1955 and ’56 appearances at the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. “They belong here,” CPC President Jim Stutzman said. Stutzman will attend the auction, and he said his goal is to raise $50,000 to spend on the items. The word about the auction is out among fans, he said, and local donations are also being solicited. The more money raised, the better for Winchester, Huyett-Kempf said. “We would love to have the whole lot [of 16 auction items],” some of which contain more than one article of clothing, she said. Barrett said the Cline items should do well at auction. “She’s an icon,” Barrett said. “I think she transcends the country music genre.” Cline has retained a huge fan base in America and around the world, Barrett said, and most people, even if they aren’t fans, have an idea of who Cline is or have heard at least a song or two. “She still has a lot of pull,” Barrett said. Cline, who would have turned 71 this year, is best known for songs such as “Crazy” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.” Her life was portrayed in the hit 1985 movie “Sweet Dreams,” which cast Jessica Lange as Cline. Barrett said the Nov. 18 auction will start at 10 a.m., and the Cline items should be on the block within an hour. People can sign up online to place an absentee bid, she said, or they can call the auction house’s bid department to arrange for an absentee bid or reserve a phone line for long-distance, real-time bidding. The company does not hold live, online auctions, à la eBay, Barrett said. The items for the entire auction — which also includes the 1942 Best Director Oscar awarded for “Casablanca,” John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man,” and Marilyn Monroe possessions — will be on display at Christie’s, 20 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, from Nov. 14 to 17. The display is open to the public, and people may sign up for a spot at the auction while viewing the items. The items also can be seen at Christie’s Web site — http://www.christies.com/. *** For information on the auction and bidding, call Barrett at (212) 636-2272 or Christie’s Bid Department at (212) 636-2437. Anyone with questions about CPC or donating to its auction fund may call Huyett-Kempf at (540) 955-2593.

Originally Published In The Winchester Star On October 31, 2003







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