'Lord of Rings' Artifacts Go On Tour
Greg Oliver

TORONTO -- With the enthusiasm for the "Lord Of The Rings" movies building to a fever pitch, the film's artistic directors have decided to show off some of their wares before the first film's December release.

Costumes, props, and still photos from the upcoming film fantasy trilogy will be among items in the "A Journey To Middle Earth" collection on display from Halloween through Nov. 11 at Casa Loma in Toronto, the first -- and, for now, only -- city in North America to receive the exhibit.

Among the promised artifacts to be displayed are the swords of Gandalf, Aragon and Frodo, Elven glassware, hobbit prosthetics, and furniture from Bilbo Baggins' hobbit hole.

Frank Mendicino, the VP of Marketing for Alliance Atlantis, has been working on promotion for "Lord Of The Rings" in Canada for more than two years now, and dreamed of doing something big.

"I've been treating this film not as a film release but as a major world-wide event," Mendicino told JAM! Showbiz. "I wanted to have something special in Toronto. It was important to me to find something that nobody had ever done before. To me, the exhibit of props, costumes and designs of the film is very different. I don't think anyone's ever done this before, and I wanted this. I pushed and pushed and I got it. We're the only place in North America having this exhibit."

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