LET IT SNOW PHOTO PORTFOLIO
BY
HEATHER JOHN FOGARTY
All’s a flurry in actor C O R B I N B E R N S E N ’ S office, where
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY
MEIKO TAKECHI ARQUILLOS
the weather inside is frightful, but the globes are so delightful
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ST. LOUIS ,” he says. “I had about 25 in a display case, and they
doesn’t see a lot of snow. Since the biggest storm on record, in 1949, it’s rarely fallen here. That’s what makes Corbin Bernsen’s office so magical. There the actor, best known for his rakish portrayal of a divorce attorney on L. A. Law, shows off 8,000 globes of the stuff. Bernsen began collecting snow globes while traveling to promote the hit television series in the late ’80s. “I picked up a few in various towns as souvenirs, like one that said WELCOME TO
looked like pop art. I was in the zone.” Soon he had amassed several hundred and was buying up other people’s collections. “There’s something that happens to a collector, this internal voice that says, ‘I want to have one of each that is in existence,’ ” Bernsen says. “That’s easier to do with ’50s vintage cars than with snow globes, but snow globes are a lot cheaper to collect than cars.” Bernsen’s passion—his collection is among the largest in the world—has led him to create his own company, Corbin’s Classic Domes. His first offering is a limited-edition Christmas globe that depicts a small child slipping a coin into a Salvation Army kettle that’s priced at $25 (all proceeds go to scholarships for underprivi-
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BERNSEN: FRANÇOIS DURAND/GETTY IMAGES
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leged children to attend the Salvation Army Vision Netone came up on eBay a while ago,” says Bernsen. “I work’s Conservatory of the Arts). Bernsen organizes stopped bidding when it hit $800. I had to tell myself, his finds according to subject and shape. “I got some ‘I have one. I don’t need another.’ ” old pharmacy cases, and my brother built some of the Space concerns have lately forced Bernsen to beshelves,” he says. “We painted them all the same color, come more selective: “If possible, the globe should and I spent about a month shuffling things around.” be one of a kind or in limited supply. Also, I’m not The assemblage includes domes featuring advertisa fan of unicorns or windup carousel boxes. And no BERNSEN ing from Heinz, RCA, and a handful of moving and music boxes.” truck companies as well as a figure of a warrior in Meanwhile you’re unlikely to see the novelties in full Indian headdress (opposite, top) that has sentimental value the Valley Village home he shares with his wife, actress Amanda for the actor because of his Native American heritage (he’s part Pays. “When we go to flea markets, she’ll point out some and get Cherokee). A bootleg Batman (top row, second from right) marexcited for me,” Bernsen says. “But they’re not on our mantel, keted in England in the late ’60s is a prize acquisition. “Another and that’s fine. It’s my thing.” n
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