The topic of original props made for the film, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was broached in two recent articles, focusing on a Nautilus model that was part of the final auction event held by Red Baron’s Antiques (see Red Baron Antiques Final “End of an Era” Auction September 27-28, 2008 and Follow-up: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea & Red Baron ‘Nautilus Model’ Auction). In the last article, prop collectors very familiar with the film provided some photos and observations related to the Nautilus model described as an “80″ Studio prop believed to be one of the submarines used in the 1954 movie“.
I’ve since had numerous conversations with a relative of one of the prop masters for “The Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation” (from the mid 30s through the early 70s) who shared some material with me that might be of interest to readers. I’ve also tracked down a copy of the February 22, 1954 Life Magazine with an article about the production of the film.
The article below, from the North American Skywriter (a North American Airlines publication dated March 5, 1954) supports the fact that 20th Century Fox produced props for Walt Disney for the film, and, I’ve been told, stored some of them as well:
The article reads:
LOOKS REAL – That deep-sea helmet on the cover of Life Magazine being shown by Dorislee Rose, Administration Lobby receptionist, has a vaguely familiar look to the employees of the North American Salvage Store. It should, because one of the store’s best customers, Zoyd Luce, recently showed some of the employees there some helmet replicas he had built from scrap purchased at the store. The original helmet (the one shown on Life) weighs 65 pounds and is being used to photograph underwater scenes for a forthcoming Walt Disney movie, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Real helmets would, however, be much too heavy for any scenes shot on Hollywood sound stages so Luce, of Manhattan Beach, made the replicas for Disney’s use. This is only one of the many uses of the varied offerings to be found in the company’s Salvage Store.
Below are the applicable pages from the above referenced February 22, 1954 issue of Life Magazine, from the article, “A Weird New Film World” (in PDF format):
Below is a scan of a photo of the one of the Nautilus models used in the film, courtesy of the relative of the prop master:
Note that the one seen in this photo does appear to have the ladder rungs, as seen in the model offered for sale at the Red Baron auction (and not seen in the photos of the models in the prior article).
Here is a scan of the page from the Red Baron catalog promoting this auction:
I understand that the model did sell at auction; I do not know the price realized.
As stated in the last article, I am unfamiliar with the film and props used in the film, so this information is provided so that any interested parties can review it, conduct their own research, and come to their own conclusions. If anyone has any additional insights or observations, please feel free to contact me or post a Reader Comment below.
Jason De Bord