Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen Auction Coney Island Tees for Charity

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Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen Auction Coney Island Tees for Charity

March 27, 2014 by Tricia

Image on autographed T-shirts being auctioned on eBay Giving Works to benefit City Harvest

A series of photos of actors Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen hamming it up at New York City tourist spots during rehearsals for their Broadway run in Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land has been a hit on twitter. Called “Gogo and Didi Do NYC,” the social media campaign took the bowler-hatted duo from the Empire State Building and Katz’s Deli to Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel and Nathan’s. With their last performance set for March 30th, McKellen and Stewart are now inviting fans to bid on three autographed T-shirts custom-printed with their image at a Coney Island souvenir shop during their September visit.

Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen riding Wonder Wheel,

Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen riding the Wonder Wheel, Coney Island, September 2013

Current bids on the shirts (small, medium and large) range from $560 to $625, making them the most expensive Coney Island Tees in history. It’s for a good cause. The proceeds of the eBay auction, which ends on April 3rd, will benefit City Harvest. As Stewart writes:

In Waiting for Godot, Gogo and Didi are two old tramps, needy indeed. They don’t know where they’ll sleep that night, they don’t know where their next meal will come from, and they hoard their meager resources, sharing whatever they do have. In short, they’re hungry. It seemed a natural fit—Gogo and Didi and City Harvest. City Harvest helps to feed nearly two million New Yorkers facing hunger each year. So bid early, bid often, bid high, and know that you’ll be funding a vital and important organization.

Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in Coney Island

Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen eating at Nathan’s, Coney Island, September 2013

As for Stewart and McKellen’s trip to Coney Island, it was memorable…

But one day in particular was unusually fun—we went out to the famous Coney Island and had a marvelous time. We played skee ball, hopped on the Wonder Wheel (the view from up there is lovely), and went and scoffed hotdogs at Nathan’s. (Ian, being a pescatarian, delighted in corn-on-the-cob and clam chowder.) In a truly bizarre moment, to our surprise we found Leonard Nimoy, seated outside a few tables away, himself indulging in Nathan’s for the first time. After lunch, we strolled back to the boardwalk. Ice cream for me, candyfloss for Sir Ian, on a bench, on the Coney Island boardwalk…two old(ish) Brits enjoying a classic American seaside landmark. As we left the fairground area and the late afternoon was approaching, we stopped off at a souvenir vendor’s booth and posed for a silly portrait that we impulsively had printed up onto three t-shirts.