Where to get a celebrity's address?

Back in the day (late 70s or early 80s) when I started writing celebrities, I would go to the public library to do research on a celebrity and their contact information before ever attempting to contact them. Back then there were only 3 main networks, CBS, NBC and ABC. Their studio locations were public information and it was relatively easy to write anyone so long as you knew the network (and address) their show was produced with. As such, it was relatively easy to write to anyone. My first 4 letters ever were to Bea Arthur (I loved Maude though I will never understand how I could get the humor at such a young age) Larry Hagman, I loved Dallas, Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner of Wonder Woman. Everyone wrote back within a few months. Back then you had to rely on an actor or actress to send their own original picture and not one of one's choosing unless a magazine or newspaper clipping was sent along. Still, a self-addressed stamped envelope was, is and always will be just plain good manners. It would have been the summer of 1978 or 1979. I was still not a teenager and I had 4 new autographed pictures and a love affair with a hobby was born.

As Felix, err...Rex, illustrates in the picture below, waiting next to a star (a blank one at that!) on the walk of fame, shows NO shame. The star will be filled with a name. If not today, then maybe tomorrow.

Today, in the digital era getting contact information for a celebrity is rather easy. There are many web-sites on the net that specialize in such things. My opinion on 97% of all of them is stay away from them. The bulk of such sites make their money off of expensive membership dues (monthly or yearly) or, worse still, they charge the unsuspecting victim, err... "customer," for each individual celebrity address. I've seen prices of $2 per address and I've seen prices of $20 per address! To make matters worse there is no guarantee the address is current, let alone legit.

So, what is a fan to do? Well, there are some really good sites one can frequent for information. Better yet, they are on the up-and-up.

Good sites to visit for information are http://www.fanmail.biz/ and http://www.startiger.com/ . Fanmail.biz is totally free, though their search engine can take forever sometimes. With startiger.com there is a small monthly fee of $4.99 US. If you use the site A LOT, they may charge you a total of $10 per month but the service it offers is priceless.

With fanmail.biz the catch is you should post scans of the autographed pictures you receive along with a scan of the envelope the picture came in. The catch does not sound too bad. Sadly, they have a host of "concerned trolls" waiting to tell you your picture is a fake. If you post successes so that others may follow suit but either don't have a scanner or refuse to submit to the barage that eventually comes from the concerned trolls, you can still get attacked. If your excuse is constantly, "no scanner," the trolls claws come out.

Now, with startiger.com the setup is different. Startiger.com does want you to post successes. However, they have somewhere in the neighborhood of a few hundred-thousand members world-wide. Rarely will someone comment negatively since your success goes under that celebrity's address as just one more success, much the same way a failure is listed with a specific address. What is different between startiger.com and fanmail.biz, is that with fanmail.biz your success is listed under your profile and not the celebrity's profile.

Another way to look at it is that with fanmail.biz the world knows when you get a success or a failure. With startiger.com the world knows when a celebrity's address has been verified as valid once more!

Startiger.com also allows you to keep track of every letter you send out and it also allows you to keep score on successes and failures. Startiger.com also provides emails, online forums relating to different topics that collectors can share on. Startiger.com also allows for you to have the information and tools necessary to verify authenticity of a signature, if you so choose.

Finally, a great website for contact information is http://www.imdb.com/ . This internet movie database offers addresses of lawyers, managers, production companies and, sometimes, even a celebrity's direct email address. The problem with imdb.com is that to get that information you have to join imdb-pro. The charge is about $150 a year. Still, for a serious collector it offers contact information often not found anywhere else!