The End

The spring of '94 was a death march to the auction. We went through every set in the inventory - and there were hundreds - and spiffed them up, repairing and replacing broken pieces and putting a fresh coat of paint on everything. There were six or seven sets I had never seen in six and a half years, buried far back behind other sets. Some of them Al didn't even remember. We sort of half-assed assembled them however we could, knowing in our hearts that it didn't matter - the new owners would do with them whatever they wanted anyway.

A week before the auction Al came back to the shop and called together the whole Production Department. He stood before us and laid out the plans and described the contracted work in hand for the next four months. I don't remember at all what he said. What I remember is that there was nothing in that speech that made me want to hang around for four months. Al left and I gave my notice to Eddie.

During the three days leading up to the Big Day, we set up everything. The castle was inside the building, along with many other tall and wind-resistant things. The rest of it was set up outside in the parking areas and the lawn. Every single set we had was on display, and I must admit that it was impressive.

I know who bought the castle, because he hired me to set it up its first time out. I know who bought the dinosaurs. The rest... no clue. It was just a little bit sad to see all of this stuff, so much of which I'd built, nearly all of which I'd wrestled and pinned on numerous occasions, being dispersed to the four winds. And anything that wasn't sold was crunched up into the big-ass dumpster.

I still have the little wood tool box I made in the spring of 1988 - for the Pirate party. In it I had (nearly) everything I needed for installing a show. Almost all of it was Image property, but I had kept it close and safe for six years while the Goofies lost or broke fifty times what I had in my box... Eddie said that if I left all those little hand tools, they would go into a big box with the rest of the hand tools, and the whole box would auction for five bucks, with or without the stuff I had.

I still have it. All of it. Still safe, still useful every day. Much of it has "IMAGE" engraved on it. That and all of these stories I carried away in June of 1994. The end.