Top 10 Marvelous Moments In The History Of Celebrity Autographs

There is a scene in Talledega Nights, where Ricky Bobby is swarmed by a crowd of fans after a NASCAR victory. During the excitement, he accidentally autographs the forehead of his female assistant. Ricky gets annoyed: “Susan, you gotta watch it when I get into autograph mode.”

In today’s pop-culture-crazy society, celebrities pretty much always need to be “in autograph mode.” Sharpies in hand, fans ask famous actors, musicians, and athletes for autographs just about anywhere, and to sign just about anything. David Tenant has given an autograph while showering at his gym. Los Angeles Kings goalie, Jonathon Quick, once signed a fan’s half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich, and Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston once autographed a 20×25 centimeter photo of a woman’s bloody cyst.

Then there are the “body part” autographs. You name the part, someone famous has probably signed it. But the history of “philography”—celebrity autograph collecting—is far older than these modern celebrity anecdotes. It dates to the 1920s, when fans would mob the likes of Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey, and even further back to the 19th-century collectors of presidential signatures.

Here are some of the most memorable moments in the history of autographs.

Top 10 Marvelous Moments In The History Of Celebrity Autographs

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