I was fortunate to have had an opportunity in 1995 to see a very special exhibit of original props, costumes, models, and other assets from Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Entitled “The Art of Star Wars”, the pieces were provided by Lucasfilm and the event was hosted by the Center for the Arts in Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco. [Read more…]
There has been significant interest in the King Kong stop-motion armature that is scheduled to be auctioned in Christie’s “Pop Culture” auction event on November 24, 2009 at South Kensignton, as reported on Monday (see Christie’s November 2009 Entertainment Memorabilia Auction to Feature Original Prop “King Kong” Stop-Motion Armature and UPDATE). Christie’s has since provided the Original Prop Blog with additional high resolution photography. [Read more…]
As a continuation of recent articles, the focus of this feature is the recent activity in the marketplace concerning the “Staff of Ra” headpiece props attributed to Raiders of the Lost Ark – all of which appear to have originated from the Harrison family (who retired from and sold the “Elstree Props” business in early 2008 and now sell unlicensed replica props as “Norank Engineering” and on eBay as “unisusu”). With one purchased for $450 and another offered for resale for $30,000 (along with a German hat), it certainly raises a number of questions and concerns, and warrants investigation, debate, and discussion. [Read more…]
As a continuation of the article published a few days ago (see ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘Return to Oz’, Return to eBay, and Return of The Harrisons (formerly “Elstree Props”) from Retirement?) and direct update to one published back in February 2009 (see Elstree Props, Fertility Idols, Light Gods, Danziger Collection COAs (Multiple Topic Update)), I have secured additional information related to the outstanding question, “Who is N. Harrison?”, as signatory on “The Danziger Collection” of “Elstree Film Studios”, found on the previously issued Elstree Props COAs, prior to the change of ownership in early 2008. [Read more…]
In April, the “Planet of the Apes” Statue of Liberty prop that has long been the focus of an ongoing investigation by the Original Prop Blog was determined to have in fact been made for and used in the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal starring Tom Hanks – not the 1968 science fiction classic Planet of the Apes. [Read more…]
With my recent trip to Burbank, to compare “Super Hollywood” Superman costumes with confirmed authentic examples from the Warner Bros. archives, I had a very limited window of time with which to take photographs of the costumes and produce comparisons. While I did take over 700 digital photos, I did not get every shot I would have liked to have obtained. [Read more…]
I started asking questions about Superman costumes in the marketplace, attributed to the Christopher Reeve films of the 70s and 80s, over two years ago. Since, I have published over 100 related articles, asking questions and sharing information and insights – all in an attempt to bring clarity to the marketplace and empower collectors and other interested parties with more information with which to make their own assessments and conclusions. [Read more…]
I spent the day in Burbank yesterday, performing a “hands on” analysis and comparison of confirmed authentic costumes (two recently released from the Warner Bros. Archives) from multiple Superman films starring Christopher Reeve (Superman II, III, and IV) with the three “Super Hollywood” costumes examined in a recent article (see “Super Hollywood” Superman III Costume Case Study: High Resolution Photo Archive & Analysis). A substantive article is under development that will include the results of this analysis and high resolution comparison photos. [Read more…]
