Rear Window souvenir (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

Just finished watching Rear Window and it got me to thinking it would be nice to have a souvenir, an artifact from the movie. What would it be? The binos Jimmy used, the Mark Cross overnight case?
I'd like to have the note Jimmy wrote: 'What have you done with her?' Its something that you see Stewart write in the film itself. I'd sure have that framed.
Another favorite film, 'Forbidden Planet' would present a storage problem. After all, it'd take a lot of room to properly display Robby the Robot.
Or the Maltese Falcon. Well that's obvious, the Falcon. But isn't it destroyed in the film?
Ghostbusters. How would you display slime?
Kinda makes me wonder what studios do with all the 'stuff' from a movie when its done. Do you suppose that note from Jimmy Stewart still exists somewhere?
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Johnny

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

The Montreal Museum of Fine Art had an exhibit last winter called Hitchcock and Art. The first room was called "Fetishes" and contained a prop from each film which represented an obsession from the film. For Rear Window, it was the camera with the obscenely long telephoto lens.
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Link Removed
"Sex? We're men! We wrestled!"
-Barton Fink

 

[KDHM]

As with most movie props and costumes several are made so stains, brakeage etc. don't stop the filming (its cheeper to have backup then loose shooting time). So there are a few Maltese Falcons still out there, One of my favorate props when I worked at Planet Hollywood in NY was one of the Maltese Falcons and once in a while I would get someone that had seen a few films other then the Wizard of Oz that were made before 1990 and ask if it was fake knowing it was broken in the film.
kd

 

[David Lambert]

Kim, I'm glad you brought up Planet Hollywood. I visited the St. Louis location a couple of months ago, and saw a great bunch of props/costumes/memorabilia:

• T2 special effects props, including Arnold's costume with the exoskeleton showing
• Demolition Man prop: dummy of Sly frozen in ice
• A flyer from The 5th Element (I haven't seen this film yet)
• THE FRIGGIN' HELM CONSOLE FROM THE 1ST STAR TREK SERIES! (I took many a pic of me standing in front of it! See Below!)
• A mask & costume from the Scream series
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles: turtle costume
• A Dress from Titanic and another from My Fair Lady (each worn by the leading ladies)
• Tattoo's suit from the original Fantasy Island
• An Indian costume from How The West Was Won
• A computer terminal from Alien Resurrection
• A gaudy shirt worn by Christopher Lloyd in one of the BTTF films
• A giant jack-o-lantern prop, I think from Pumpkinhead

...and too many more things for me to think of right now!
Basically, there was a time when these thing were not valued at all, by-and-large. The studios would throw them out to make room when storage got to be too tight. The only "value" was whether they could be re-used in a later film, perhaps after being altered a bit. A few of the crew might take come some stuff as souveniers, or a studio hand told to throw out some old props might stick a few in his trunk if they were from favorite movies. All ended up in basements, for the most part.
Nowadays it is a different story. Museums want to display the most lucrative items, right up to the Smithsonian. Other businesses, like Planet Hollywood, use them as an angle to attract customers. Private collectors of all kinds like to keep them, proudly displayed in cases or frames in their homes if possible. Heck, Steven Speilberg is the proud owner of the "Rosebud" prop from Citizen Kane!
So now I'm sure that most studios realize the potential value of props and costumes, beyond refit and reuse. And I'm sure they try to store them as appropriate...even if it's in the local U-Store public storage sheds! Hey, there's not an infinite amount of room on the backlot, is there?
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DAVE/Memphis

[Edited last by David Lambert on September 09, 2001 at 07:36 AM]

 

[Agee Bassett]

I have a souvenir frame from a test reel of the Rear Window restoration, courtesy of Robert Harris (and Ron Epstein).
Thanks, guys!
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The Devil & Daniel Webster (1941)

"Cinema is simply letting the audience fill in the blanks." - David Lean.
[Edited last by Agee Bassett on September 09, 2001 at 11:04 AM]

 

[Matt Butler]

I have a dinner fork used in Titanic from the First Class dining room.

 

[David Lambert]

I guess I should have said so, but I myself own a Tribble and an autographed copy of the script! Also pictured is the DVD and an autographed copy of the novel "behind the scenes of the episode":

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DAVE/Memphis
Widescreen is Family Fun!

[Edited last by David Lambert on September 09, 2001 at 02:57 PM]