(uplifting music) - Will you consider this?

You just had this hankering to do magic back in the day, and then that magic turned into elaborate costuming and everything.

And here we have Steve Spain from The Costume Trunk to tell us his story because we need to know more about you.

We know that your shop is located on Main Street, but who else knows anything about you?

- Well... (laughs) - You grew up here.

- I grew up in Peoria, born and raised.

I grew up on the south side of Peoria.

My father had a photography studio on Western and it was kind of a quaint place.

My dad's business was in the front of the building.

We lived in the back half.

Downstairs was the film processing and printing.

And then upstairs in a tiny little apartment, Grandma Polly lived.

So it was... - [Christine] Was that your dad's mom?

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.

Well, that's kind of fun.

And so that was a nice, loving atmosphere to grow up in.

And then you saw how your dad worked?

- I did.

I mean, he was there just a few feet away taking portraits, and I would go downstairs and sometimes help with film processing, but mostly that was his thing.

- [Christine] Well, your sister followed in that vein for a while.

- She did, yeah.

And she was very... she's retired now, but she was also an outstanding photographer.

- Okay.

So where did you go to school?

- Went to school.

We moved from the south side to Rolling Acres, went to Richwoods High School, graduated from Illinois State in 1974.

And... - What did you major in at ISU?

- Sociology and theater.

- Okay.

Well, there we go.

So there's the theater.

Okay.

- Mm-hmm.

- Alright, well so you graduated in 1974.

What was your first job then, out of school?

- Well, my first job outta school was the job that I got when I was a senior.

I got a job as a movie projectionist back when that was a job when movies were on 35-millimeter reels.

And I started at the Varsity Theater and then I was a fill-in guy, worked for, you know, days off and vacations and so on.

So I worked most of the theaters in the Peoria area.

At the Varsity Theater is where I met my wife, Janine.

She was a cashier and I was a projectionist.

And later on, I managed Westlake Cinemas for probably 10 years or so.

And then, you know, 1981 decided to open the costume shop.

And that was kind of a spinoff of my friend Kevin Carter and I had a magic shop.

- And that was downtown originally?

- The first one was downtown on the second floor of the Rialto Theater Building.

And you know, that theater went down for the Civic Center construction.

And so then I moved the shop to a tiny shop next to the Varsity Theater.

And... - And that was right on Main Street where Campus Town is now.

- Yep, exactly.

1218 West Main Street.

And a friend of ours, Rich Goff in Rockford, who had a shop up there said, "Hey, Halloween's coming.

You might want to try selling some Halloween things besides magic and jokes and stuff."

And so we tried that and it went very well and that just kind of snowballed.

So we needed more room.

So in 1981, I took the business out on my own and where we are now.

And it used to be Bride's Lane Bridal Shop, and it's been The Costume Trunk since 1981.

- Crazy.

What a story.

- I was gonna do that until something better came along.

- [Christine] Came along and just nothing... - Nothing that fun.

- Nothing floated your boat.

(both laughing) Okay.

Well, let's talk a little bit about The Costume Trunk now.

How many costumes do you store there?

I mean, because you have that whole back area.

- Yeah, yeah.

We probably have 900 costumes.

There are various kinds, including all the seasonal items, the Santas, the Easter bunnies, the leprechauns, a lot of period costumes, a lot of mascot characters.

So, and for a market this size, that's pretty much sufficient.

In the old days, I had a lot of friends that I was connected to throughout the country that had shops and I could sub-rent things from them.

But one of the sad things about getting older is some of your friends retire, pass on.

And so I'm pretty much on my own now.

- Okay.

Well, you have quite the inventory.

So which one costume do you rent the most of after all these years?

Is there...

I mean, Santa?

- Well, Santa of course during the Christmas season.

And Easter bunnies during... but I would say twenties and thirties for just general parties.

There was a big gala at the Peoria Country Club just last weekend, I think.

A "Great Gatsby" thing.

And we sent some things out to that.

And then for birthday parties, cartoon characters, mascots, you know, it all depends.

You never know.

- And you have all sizes.

I mean, you can... - I can't say that.

- [Christine] Pretty close?

- I have many sizes, you know, certain things don't lend themselves well, you know, a harem girl in a 5X, we probably don't have.

- You kinda shy away from that.

- Yeah, but, you know, basic, we do have a range of sizes.

- Has it been fun for you to do this and experiment with all this?

- Yeah, it's been a blast.

It's every day I go to work, it's fun.

I'm surrounded by colorful costumes and masks and it's like a toy store for big people.

- So do you have like a slow period or are you pretty constant?

- The summer's slow.

There's a little around the Independence Day, 4th of July, we have some patriotic things that go out and so on.

But there's always something going on.

And now we're doing more with online.

We're selling some costumes on Facebook Marketplace and eBay and some other places like that.

- You mean to thin out your inventory?

- Yeah, mm-hmm.

- Alright.

Well, I know that after all these years you're trying to retire, you know, that "R" word.

And you'd like to sell that business, but no takers?

- I had a couple of people that were very interested, but at that time I wanted to sell everything, including the building.

There's four apartments upstairs and two storefronts.

And at that time, people just didn't wanna take that on.

Had I to do it over again, I might have changed that.

But now we've downsized a little bit.

We've got a great tenant in next door, the Art Partners organization.

They're terrific.

And I think maybe I'll just hold onto the building and just kind of downsize the costume business until it's just, you know, time to say farewell.

- Okay, till you can ride off into the sunset.

- Into the sunset.

- Now, one interesting thing about you, and maybe it started when you were a projectionist, is you have quite a Disney collection of original cels.

So tell me about that.

And you had it on display a couple years ago at the Riverfront Museum.

- [Steve] Yeah, I did.

- So how did that all come about?

- Well, I was always interested in Disney.

Like most people my age group, baby boom generation, I remember the original "Mickey Mouse Club" and the "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," "Wonderful World of Disney."

- On Sunday nights.

- Yeah, Uncle Walt would come into our homes and everything.

But I think it was probably when I started working as a projectionist and I saw these movies again on the big screen and I thought, gee, these are really lavish and beautifully done and much different than Saturday morning cartoons.

And they were real works of art.

So I began, you know, paying attention a little bit and looking at the credits and noticing some of the same names rolling by.

And it was probably several years later, maybe even five, six years later, I was at the Peoria Public Library and someone had left out a big coffee table book.

It was called "Treasures of Disney Animation Art" by John Canemaker.

And the book was just filled with all of this original art, not only cel setups, which are one frame of the finished product, but preliminary art and storyboards and original pencil sketches.

And I was fascinated.

So I checked the book out and renewed it a few times.

And I was looking in the back of the book one time and I saw a tiny little note and it said, "Sources for original Disney art."

I go, "Sources for original?"

Yeah, I thought, "How can that be?"

I assumed the Disney company had all that material.

And I would find out later that Disney company did not have all that material.

In fact- - Isn't that crazy?

- They thought of it as just kind of a residue from the process.

And a lot of it was thrown away.

A lot of it went out with the animators or the ink and paint people and so on.

And so there was a lot out there.

And so at that time, the business was very small.

The two guys that I talked to, Stu Rebo in Philadelphia and Harry Kleiman in Los Angeles, and they just worked out of their homes and they were collectors and dealers, you know, they'd sell some things to buy something new.

But anyway, I flew out to each coast and talked to 'em, saw their collections, and I just got hooked.

- Got the bug.

- Yeah.

There's something really, I dunno, profound about holding an original piece of art that's been seen on a giant movie screen by millions of people over generations and, you know, true classics of cinema.

And so I got the bug.

- [Christine] Do you have a favorite?

- Boy, I think probably the first movie I saw was "Cinderella."

I was six years old, 1958.

It was the second release.

And I love that movie and that's probably my favorite.

So I think my favorite piece is I have an original cel of Cinderella in the ballgown on an original hand-painted background, seen in the movie twice.

And a mat inscribed and signed by Walt Disney himself.

- [Christine] Wow.

- So if there was a fire at the house, that might be the one I'd grab.

- There you go.

There you go.

As long as you're looking ahead and you gotta take some of those measures.

Right?

- You're right.

- And so you've been collecting those really for a couple of decades now?

- Forty years.

- Forty years.

- I started in 1985 and the first big auction of Disney art was in 1984 at Christie's.

And after that it really snowballed because it got national publicity and so on.

People didn't know what animation art was.

So I got in 1985, so a year after.

So a lot of pieces that I have now, I probably couldn't have, you know, obtained today.

- No, not for the prices that they might be going for, but now animation art, it's mostly computerized now.

- [Steve] It is.

- And how do you feel about that?

- Well, there's nothing really to collect, so, you know, and, but to me, the golden age of animation to me was the 1930s, forties, and fifties.

And Walt was, you know, in control of all the films at that time.

And every piece of those films was done by hand.

Every frame of those films was done by hand.

- For just this kind of emotion, it'd probably take how many, 20, 30 frames?

- Yeah, 24 frames a second is what it took to fool the mind into thinking you were looking at continuous motion instead of a series of static images.

- So did you ever take any classes in animation like that then, having this interest?

- No, I think my interest was in appreciating the art.

I'm not an artist.

I don't really have any talents.

And I think maybe that's what makes it so magic and special for me.

'Cause it's amazing to look at all these years later.

I still get a kick out of it.

- It is Disney Magic.

Did you ever get a chance to meet Walt Disney?

- I didn't.

I was only at 14 years old when he passed away in 1966.

However, I did get to meet about at least a dozen people who knew Walt Disney, worked for Walt Disney for 10, 20, some 30 years.

And it was a kick.

And most people, in fact, all of them to a person said that he was really a decent guy.

Nice guy.

He was, you know, he was driven of course, and he wanted perfection from his staff, but that's how all bosses are usually.

- Right.

Exactly.

So what did you think of the movie with Tom Hanks about Walt Disney?

- I... - Did you think that from the description that you got from these other people who worked for him, was it pretty...?

- I thought that was pretty good.

And now Tom Hanks doesn't look like Walt Disney.

- [Christine] At all.

- He doesn't sound like Walt Disney, but he had some of those mannerisms and his personality.

Yeah, I gotta, I got a kick out of that.

That was a cool film.

- Good for you.

Well, so your love of Disney in some form, I guess, brought some artists here from California.

Tell me about that whole thing.

Because you were importing a bunch of people there for a while.

- Yeah, there were a couple of guys, Bob Doucette that you know, everybody in Peoria knows, and Tom Slauton, they lived in LA for I think 20 years.

And he was, he's an incredibly talented artist and he worked for I think Warner Brothers Animation for a while.

He's done a lot of different things.

But we became Facebook friends because of my Disney collection.

He commented on it and enjoyed it, I think.

And one day he said, "Folks, Tom and I are thinking about moving out of LA."

- [Christine] Out of the rat race.

- And he says, "We're looking for... it can be maybe a smaller community.

And the climate doesn't matter much to us because actually I'm from Maine and Tom's from Minnesota," or whatever.

- [Christine] I think it's Michigan.

- Okay, all right.

One of those M states.

But go ahead.

"And we'd like maybe a historical home and has to have a strong arts community."

I go, "Gee, these are all our strong points."

I gotta pitch my town.

And so I did.

And he responded, "Oh, Peoria, that's interesting.

Thanks for the suggestion."

Well, of course, I thought, "What a nice blow-off."

- [Christine] Right, exactly.

- And so one day I was walking, I take my morning walk on Ross Avenue, and it was the fall and the leaves were real pretty.

So I took a picture and I sent it to Bob.

And he said, "Well, that's really cool," you know.

And then the next thing I know is, "Steve, we've hired a real estate agent to look at some homes."

And then a few weeks later, "Hey, we're coming to Peoria, looking... can we meet?"

Yeah, yeah, of course.

And everything just worked.

I had no idea that we would be able to recruit such a talent here.

But it was, I'm very proud of my recruiting ability.

- That was really, yeah, really very good.

And now he's doing some stuff officially for Disney.

- He's an official Disney artist now, and we're working on getting him to show some things here publicly.

Maybe at the Disney Film Festival, which is every year in the spring.

- Okay, good.

So you're happy, you never wanted to leave Peoria, you were just always happy to be here because your roots are strong.

You, you know, your parents raised you, gave you roots to grow and wings to fly, but you chose to stay here.

- Yeah, I think it's an ideal place to raise a family.

I think it is geographically located because if you want to see a Major League sporting event, you can go to Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis.

If you wanna see a Paul McCartney concert, you can go to... You can do all these things within just a couple of hours and then come home and have no traffic problems and just kind of a relaxing place.

A beautiful place, I think.

- So then you have, how many children?

- Have two children, Ryan and Stephanie, proud of both of them.

They've done amazing things.

- Ryan's trying to do some stuff for the State of Illinois.

- Yes, he is.

- All right, and that's very nice.

And so you keep him grounded, you make sure that, you know, he knows what's really going on here because you're a dad and taxpayer and... - You know what, oh, a dad, taxpayer, a small businessman.

I mean, he doesn't have to take surveys.

He can just ask me for my opinion.

Of course.

- Oh, there you go.

And however far that goes.

- Yeah, sometimes not so far.

- Exactly, and then you have how many grandchildren?

- I have four grandchildren.

- And I know two of them are here for sure.

All four of them?

- All four are here.

- Well, that keeps you kind of busy too.

What else do you love about Peoria?

Or what else do you, I mean, you grew up here, what do you wanna see?

You've seen a lot of things disappear.

What do you wanna see come back or what can we add to Peoria to...?

- Well, I know it's difficult.

People's shopping habits have changed with the internet and so on.

And I understand that, and it probably won't be the same, but I would like some of the empty storefronts filled, if not filled, at least art displayed throughout 'em.

I think we could do that immediately until we get somebody.

I think a little makeover of Main Street.

I think that corridor between Bradley University and downtown and the Civic Center and the Riverfront are very important.

And I think that should be a priority.

A source of pride.

- Well, and you've seen it.

Well, there used to be so many car dealerships and then what kids used to remember on Friday nights or...?

- Yeah, cruising.

- Yeah, the cruising.

Did you do that too?

- At that time- - Outgrown that?

- Well, no, I hadn't outgrown it, but the peak time was probably when I was going to college.

That seventy, '74.

But it was pretty cool.

I worked at the Varsity Theater then, and my boss, Frank Larr, sometimes was a little upset because the traffic was so heavy, people couldn't get into the movie theater.

- [Christine] Right, exactly.

- But it was fun, yeah.

They would go down to Hunt's.

- [Christine] Down on Farmington Road.

- Farmington Road, make the corner, go up Farmington Road, up Main Street, do another turn at Steak and Shake and then go do it again.

Sometimes stop and show off their cars.

But it was fun.

It was, and no, there was no violence.

There was no, you know, no problems at all.

Other than the traffic.

- Right, yeah, well, and that did, 'cause I remember just trying to get from the station to run over to pick up something to eat.

And it's like, oh boy, I don't even have enough time with a lunch hour at this point to get something to eat.

But that was okay.

- [Steve] Sure, yeah.

- But the kids had fun with that.

And then you married Janine and she was a nurse for many, many years.

- She was a nurse.

That's all she wanted to do since she was a little girl.

And she went from a nursing student to critical care nursing.

And at the end of her career, she was the chief nursing officer at UnityPoint, now Carle Health.

- Okay.

So just recently you went to see "Wicked."

And because of your connections with people and you've met people of all walks of life, you had something special happen to you backstage of "Wicked"?

- It was pretty cool.

My good friend Troy Kiefer, who is an amazing magician himself, he gave me a call and said, "Hey Steve, I was at Hoops last night and doing some magic for people and they all loved it.

And I asked these people," I said, "are you in town for 'Wicked'?"

And they go, "No, we're in 'Wicked'."

- [Christine] Oh, interesting.

- And I said, "Wow, that's cool."

And he said they took me on this fantastic backstage tour and we got to see the props and the magic happen.

And he said that the guy told me, DJ Smart who plays Chistery, I think, He said, "If you have any friends or anything that would like to do this."

And so he called me and Janine and I were really privileged to go backstage.

It's an amazing thing.

I wish everybody could... - Could experience that.

- Could experience.

And then we just happened to be walking out and DJ said, "There's Elphaba herself," you know, we didn't recognize her without a green face.

And she was very kind and she took some pictures with her and it was a perfect evening of theater in Peoria.

- Wow, good for you.

So, you talked about magic.

You started out with magic.

Do you still do any, do you dabble in it at all?

- I do a few things just for the kids and everything, but like everything you have to keep at it to be proficient at it.

And I don't have the time anymore, but it's still a fun hobby.

And I kind of collect antique magic props and buy and sell some of those.

- So, like what?

Card tricks or...?

- Well, more stage props.

Some of 'em were beautifully made and beautifully decorated.

A lot of 'em have kind of an Asian or oriental motif because I think that kind of gave a feeling of mystery.

- And, mystique, yes.

- And so... - [Christine] So where do you find that stuff?

- All over the place.

There are certain flea markets that I head to up in the Chicago area primarily.

And then eBay, you know, you never know what you're gonna find.

- So what other interests do you have?

- Movie posters mostly.

I follow sports a little bit.

I, let's see.

That's a good question.

Between magic and costumes and Disney art, that kind of keeps me busy.

- I guess, how many hours in a day?

- (laughs) Yeah, that's a lot.

- Well, so where do you store your posters?

I mean, do you have them on display at home also?

- [Steve] Yep, yep.

- And what are your favorites of those?

- Probably my favorite of those is the original issues are the most valuable, most rare.

So, I have an original issue, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" from 1937.

And then I have an original issue, "Cinderella" from 1950, my favorite film.

And you know, all the classics.

I really have "Pinocchio" and "Lady and the Tramp" and "Sleeping Beauty."

- I love "Lady and the Tramp."

I love, well, I love all those Disney.

I mean, they were just perfect and we grew up at the right time.

We didn't go through "Steamboat Willie" really, but you know, we got it when it was Uncle Walt, living color, yeah.

- And one of the things that I was able to experience is seeing these films on the big screen in one of those old movie palaces in downtown Peoria, and I don't remember which one I saw, but most likely the Rialto, Madison, or Palace.

And we're trying to recreate that in partnership with the Riverfront Museum by having the Disney Film Festival in the spring.

To see 'em again on the big screen.

- Yes, and is it difficult to get the rights to that or...?

- No, I mean, we do have to pay a royalty to the Disney company, but we get 'em straight from Disney.

- So do you have the contacts there because you've been doing it for so long?

- Well, I've kind of turned...

The museum took the ball and ran with it.

So, you know, John Morris has done a wonderful job in partnering with us and you know, he's been so great when others said no, he said yes.

And so I owe John all the credit.

- There you go.

So, and your granddaughters, so because of your love of "Cinderella," because that was your first, are they big "Cinderella" fans or do they have some other, are they classics fans?

- They were, and then they've kind of drifted into the "Frozen" realm.

- But you know, that's, it's not... - Yeah.

- It happens sometimes.

Well, what else do we need to know about Steve Spain?

- Just living the dream.

- [Christine] Living the dream.

And you still would like to retire at some point?

- Yes.

- So anybody who would like to purchase those costumes in The Costume Trunk?

It's the whole kit and caboodle or you don't know?

Might keep the building.

- Right, yeah.

- But the stuff... - [Steve] The stuff I'm selling.

- And the business plan.

- And I must say, my mentor in the costume business was a guy named Ben Marrelli outta Philadelphia.

And he made the most exquisite tailor-made costumes and he made costumes for Pavarotti, the opera singer.

60 chest, 60 waist.

He used to always tell me his measurements.

- Man (laughs).

- Yeah, big guy, yeah.

Yul Brynner, Richard Harris, all of these great names he made.

And so they're motion picture, Broadway quality.

- Right.

Gosh.

And he made 'em, and you have some of those?

- I do, and Ben is no longer with us and I probably have the largest inventory of his costumes anywhere.

- Well, that's also good to know.

Alright, well thanks for sharing your story with me.

- My pleasure.

Great to be with you.

- Did we cover everything we needed to know about you?

- Probably and more.

- And more, okay, and then some TMI, right?

Too much information.

Okay.

Thanks, Steve, for being with me.

- Thank you.

My pleasure.

- And sharing your story.

Thank you for joining us, and until next time, be well.

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