On Exhibit-
Being Taped for the Martha Stewart Show

by Ellen G.K. Rubin
(January, 2001)


I wanted to shout, “It’s Ellen-from-the-Bronx!!” as I stood in the cavernous lobby of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch in Grand Army Plaza. A production guy from the Martha Stewart Show was patting cornsilk on my shiny nose and cheeks. The Library boasts that about one million visitors pass through this hall every year and it seemed that at least half of them were present now and staring at ME! Who did they think I was? How did I get here?

I started collecting pop-up and movable books about 14 years ago after my finding these unique books to read to my young sons. In 1993, I joined the newly formed Movable Book Society [MBS], which offered me the chance to write for its quarterly newsletter, Movable Stationery. The writer I had always fantasized being now had a subject and a platform. The books themselves continued to dazzle me. Childhood classics, like Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, and the impenetrable Hobbit, were brought to life by paper engineers, those genius artists who make illustrations move or jump off the page. Collecting took me to dusty bookshops in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna. My collection burgeoned to over 4000 books. My nieces and nephews loved family gatherings where they begged to be shown my latest additions. Friends knew my collection had no boundaries and often inquired about the possibility of new erotic titles. One thing was very clear. Pop-up books made everyone smile. Myself included.

Robert Sabuda, Maurice Sendak, Ann Montanaro, Ellen G. K. Rubin at the Broooklyn Library Gala

In 1998, I had the occasion to meet the Executive Director the Brooklyn Public Library, Martìn Gòmez, and suggested what a fine exhibition my collection would make. He agreed. Along with my dear friends, Ann Montanaro, founder of MBS, and Robert Sabuda, the celebrated paper engineer, we put ourselves forward as curators of the exhibition, Brooklyn Pops Up! The History and Art of the Movable Book. It was our hope to use the exhibition to show the World the wonder of these special books. We knew from collective experience that most people considered movable books a 20th century phenomenon targeted only at children. Few knew that movable books had a 700 year history, were produced for adults as well as children, and, amazingly, were all hand-made!

We mounted an exhibition with over 100 titles and produced a catalog with 8 spreads of pop-ups, each spread representing a landmark of Brooklyn. The piece de resistance for me was being invited by Cargraphics, the producer of the pop-up catalog, Brooklyn Pops Up, to come to Ibarra, Ecuador to watch it being hand assembled. I wrote of the experience for Movable Stationery, calling it, My Trip to Mecca. There was no question this was a pilgrimage few collectors have ever taken.

The public and the press enthusiastically received the exhibition. The New York Times did a feature piece in their Arts section about the exhibition and the publishing of pop-up books (above the fold and in color!). I was quoted often. Friends and colleagues teased me about my newfound fame.
Here would be a good spot to tell you my take on fame. Emily Dickinson said it best. “How dreary to be somebody, how public like a frog.” I was once part of a motorcade of limousines in Boston on a Saturday night. We were dressed in tuxedos and ball-gowns. People lined the streets, craning their necks trying to guess what august group warranted such attention. I leaned out the window, blew kisses, and shouted, “It’s Ellen-from-the-Bronx!” into the crowds. Surely, they were all making fools of themselves taking time out to hail the likes of me.

We considered the Times article to be the cherry on the cake. How could anything else top the attention? I was, therefore, totally unprepared for the call I received from the Library the last week of the exhibition. Did I want to appear on the Martha Stewart Show? Martha Stewart wanted to do a segment on pop-up and movable books. Could someone talk about their history? My response? After talking about my children, nothing could please me more. The producer, Laurie Hepburn, called me on the Friday before the Wednesday taping. It was Christmas weekend, a long one. We chatted about pop-up books and my interest in them. Laurie often cried, “I never knew that!” After almost an hour, she was convinced that what she was eager to learn about movable books, Martha’s viewers would too. Laurie asked me to bring several changes of clothing (“…to coordinate with the set”) and promised I would be shot only from the waist up. (TV’s ability to add pounds to one’s frame is legendary. Vanity was starting to enter the picture.) I offered to bring boxes of books to illustrate my responses and to fill-in the background. This was the equivalent of bringing photo albums when someone asks for a picture of a grandchild.

I spent the long weekend preparing, culling my collection for books that would demonstrate the historical arc of the genre and, at the same time, show the artistry of paper engineers. I prepared lists of books, websites, including mine, should viewers wish to learn more. Being prepared would be my shield against being nervous. I was counseled by a media-savvy friend to smile often. I didn’t think that would be a problem since pop-up books always make me smile. To keep calm, I kept reminding myself that the segment (all of 4 minutes after editing) was being taped; there would be room for error and correction. Martha Stewart, I had been told, would not be at the shoot but would be a voice-over for the segment. One less thing to make me anxious.

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