Flushed with excitement: TP collection lands local couple on national TV
1
2
3
4
5
6
Some people will save anything. Just ask Flo and Rich Newman.
The Newmans, both 60, have spent decades gathering collectors items which adorn the walls, tabletops and counter spaces of their Amherst home. They've got oodles of goodies on display: antiques, "Harry Potter" memorabilia, "Lord of the Rings" action figures, various rabbit-related items (including two live bunnies named Morticia "Tish" Addams and Tonka) and a variety of masks.
But it's the couple's latest collection - toilet paper - that is causing some stir among local and national media. The Newmans, musicians with the local experimental/progressive band TagYerit, have added autographed sheets of the lowly bathroom staple to their menagerie, along with an elegant toilet-paper dress displayed on a dress form at the base of a staircase and dozens of miniature toilets all lined up on a bookshelf in their dining room.
The Newmans' unorthodox collection will be featured Jan. 22 on the Travel Channel show "Bizarre Collections."
The couple say the whole thing began when they grew weary of accumulating traditional items, many of which, they say, came with hefty price tags.
"We were getting tired of collecting things and thinking about how much it was worth," Flo Newman said in a recent interview at the couple's home. "That wasn't a healthy way to collect things," her husband added. So they decided to collect something that was virtually worthless. And when a friend asked the couple what they might like as a souvenir from his upcoming trip to Europe, they said, "How about a piece of toilet paper."
That was back in 1978. Since then the Newmans have collected some 2,000 sheets from across the globe, and, flushed with excitement, have turned the collection into an online display - the Whole World Toilet Paper Museum - which is on view at TagYerit's website (www.tagyerit.com/tp).
The categorized collection includes a geographic component - examples from every continent but Antarctica; historical selections - TP from different decades, including examples of the first commercial toilet paper, invented in 1857 by Joseph Gayetty - as well as a celebrity group: TP sheets signed by the likes of Madonna, Harrison Ford, Barbara Walters and Lily Tomlin. Woody Allen, who famously refuses to sign autographs, acquiesced to a request in 2002 at Cannes, writing on a TP sheet, simply, "Why this?"
There is also a selection of toilet paper of varying hues, as well as ones which are categorized according to the occupation of its previous owners: astronauts, admirals, Patriot cheerleaders, a maker of clown shoes and much more.
The hunt is on
Thanks to their friends, the Newmans say, they have become the proud owners of nearly everything toilet related.
It was like their friends "went crazy," the Newmans said. They started bringing toilet paper back from all of their vacations, from each bathroom of each place they travelled. The couple have received dozens of items, like those miniature toilets, as well as candy toilets with lollipop plungers and flavored sugar in their bowls; lip gloss in a toilet container; a Japanese "gummy poo"; a singing toilet and other bathroom-related objects.
"Our friends are the field workers and we are the collectors," Rich Newman said. "It's become a treasure hunt for our friends and we never dreamed it would get this big," his wife added. Some of those friends even compete with one another, she added, to see "who can get the best sheet of toilet paper."
The collection has garnered quite a bit of attention. After being featured in local newspapers, the couple appeared in 2009 on "Stories from the Vaults" on the Smithsonian Channel, and in publications such as the European-based magazine Color.
In preparation for Sunday's airing of "Bizarre Collections" on the Travel Channel, a four-person crew from the show followed the couple around in their home for 11 hours last August, for a segment that will run for 10 minutes. Before the TV folks left, of course, they all signed a piece of toilet paper to add to the Newmans' collection.
Not alone
Surprisingly, perhaps, the couple aren't the only ones collecting toilet paper. Other TP collectors have donated their own collections to the couple.
Hugo G. Rodeck, a curator and director at the University of Colorado Museum, for example, collected sheets of TP in the 1960s and '70s. Rodeck's collection was donated to the Newmans after his death in 2004. And 500 sheets of toilet paper were donated in 2010 by Robert Clegern, a biologist with the U.S. Air Force who collected them from 1978 to 1982 while he was stationed in Germany.
Even though the collection continues to grow, the Newmans say there are still some pieces they'd like to get their hands on: A piece of toilet paper from Bob Dylan is high on their list, as are selections from Antarctica and the International Space Station.
"We always have a list of what we want," Flo Newman said.
So, if you can grab a piece of TP in Antarctica, or if you happen to see Bob Dylan while you're holding a piece of toilet paper, go for it, the Newmans say. But, be sure you use a ball point pen, Rich Newman says. "They are the easiest to write with."
The Whole World Toilet Paper Museum can be viewed at www.tagyerit.com/tp. "Bizarre Collections" can be seen Sunday at 11 p.m. on The Travel Channel. The song "Neat Junk" by the couple's band Tagyerit, will be played during the segment.
