So over the past week I've dug out my old Seinfeld DVDs in an effort to watch the entire series from the beginning. That first season is a bit rough around the edges, but it establishes the foundation for what's to come. Almost all of the characters seem like "diet" versions of themselves: Kramer is odd, but never wacky, Elaine is much less of a trainwreck, and George seems to be a successful real estate agent.
One little entertaining bit of mise-en-scene caught my eye, however. In the second episode (actually the fourth to be broadcast, but for some reason second on the DVD set), there's a shot in Jerry's apartment where an interesting item is visible atop his refrigerator.
To the untrained eye, it's a box that says "Baseball" on it, but any good collector will be quick to recognize that it's a box of 1990 Donruss baseball cards. Fitting, since the splotchy red border design looks like something that Elaine Benes would wear on a blouse or vest.
The box is visible in a couple more episodes in season 1, but by the time season 2 arrives, it's gone. Perhaps Jerry moved on to collecting high-end Stadium Club? One can only dream.
Nice catch! In the later seasons you can see baseball card advertisements hanging up in George's apartment. Man, if there was a Seinfeld card set made I'd be all over that.
ReplyDeleteHa, I thought you might be talking about collecting autos of Seinfeld actors because funny enough the guy in your screen shot, Kevin Dunn, does in fact have autograph cards out there. Grabbed one for my Ghostbusters project.. https://baseballcardbreakdown.blogspot.com/2019/03/never-dunn-ghostbustin.html
ReplyDeleteAnd if you're interested, I've documented a few other instances of cards popping up on Seinfeld here:
http://baseballcardbreakdown.blogspot.com/p/baseball-cards-in-movies-and-tv.html