Prop Runner
Sr Member
Hopefully some of you guys MUST have seen these before: Alec Baldwin's brass balls from the star-studded David Mamet film Glengarry Glen Ross:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/baldwin_balls_composite.JPG[/image]
He's a foul-mouthed regional manager who is brought into a local real estate office to motivate and threaten a bunch of salesmen who've been in a severe slump, played with gusto by Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, R.I.P., and Alan Arkin. Al Pacino plays the local office's star salesman, and most of the movie he's in a bar working a potential buyer, played by Jonathan Pryce (Brazil). Kevin Spacey plays the office manager and Alec Baldwin's scene is only a 10-minute cameo, but it's his most amazing career performance, he delivers the most scathingly offensive monologue I've ever heard in any film. He must have uttered the word "f-uck" at least 20 times without stopping for breath (move over, Scarface.
). In fact, the center-top headhot of Baldwin catches him in "mid F." :lol He's brilliant in the role, and the ONLY prop in this long, talk-filled movie is the pair of dangling brass balls he pulls out of his open briefcase to demonstrate to the group "what it takes to succeed."
By the way, my ex-girlfriend just told me that last Saturday on SNL Alec Baldwin hosted the show and he parodied himself in Glengarry Glen Rross as a giant elf brought in to motivate the other elves to "always be cobbling." :lol Apparently he also had a pair of brass balls and a giant gumdrop with him...
Did anyone catch or record this sketch? Gotta love the timing. Now I have to look for reruns.
So... because I just HAD to have an extra pair (everyone here knows I've already got brass ones ), I set out to not only replicate the balls, but to design an attractive, original, and functional display to compliment them. The project began with my virtual model for a replica display concept:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/brass_balls_assy_rev_2_front.JPG[/image]
The first proof-of-concept prototype looked less than stellar, but it was made to see if the base and hanging rod kept the heavy balls stable, and for purposes of designing the box packaging:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/proto_10_s.JPG[/image]
This week, the same day I got my screen-used DUNE Pain Box hero prop, the production prototype of the brass balls display set came by courier from my vendor:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1912s.JPG[/image] [image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1911s.JPG[/image]
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1914s.JPG[/image] [image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1917s.JPG[/image]
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1916s.JPG[/image]
The brass balls and hanging rod turned out fantastic.. Those things are HEAVY... And because they're yellow brass, I had to have them made outside California, adding to the cost, curse our damn, wonderful environmental laws. :rolleyes I'm actually unsure what wood my vendor used for the base. :lol (let me get back to you on that...) But I think it's a nice grain and color, don't you? Or would a rose wood or cherry wood base look more "executive?" The base has a black felt lining (even though I asked for green or red - what do you guys thing it should be?) I added the color printout as a stand-in for the proposed photo plaque, which is still being developed. I liked the results so much that I decided to have the display copyrighted as an art sculpture - my first-ever copyright.
I've also designed several brass plaques with different phrases for those who'd want to display the set as a novelty rather than a movie prop replica. The text will be etched and black-oxide filled. These are my top three phrase choices:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/plaques_1_2_3_samples.JPG[/image]
By the way: "A-B-C: ALWAYS BE CLOSING" is one of Baldwin's lines in the movie (see above photos). I welcome additional plaque phrase ideas. One of my buddies here to whom I already showed these suggested "COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS" :lol (movie reference - watch it and you'll understand).
The photo plaque will be polished aluminum or brass with the image printed directly on the metal and clear coated, leaving a small border of polished metal. Aluminum goes better with the image, but brass obviously suits the rod and balls more, so I'd appreciate your feedback on which to use.
I also had to design a template fixture for applying the different plaques to the base in order to keep them all centered and parallel. That's still on the drawing board, and will be my final project expense.
I'm not taking orders yet, because I was hoping to get some feedback and constructive criticism before signing off on the prototype. For instance, here's an alternative base with a trapezoidal footprint:
The trapezoid footprint would lend a little more stability to the display, as the balls have a slight tendancy to tilt the center of gravity forward. As they are now with the rectanbgular footprint base, unless you start swinging them from the hanging rod, the display is still quite stable. The trapezoid may also look more stylish than the rectangular footprint, so I wanted to run it by you guys because I respect your aesthetic judgment. My thinking on the trapezoid shape was that it looks like a grand staircase in a throne room, leading up to the Big Brass Cajones... Please comment freely on your prefered base shape.
Anyway, Just wanted to show off my latest project and see what kind of feedback I can get. If you'd like to get on an interest list, please e-mail me at proprunner@aol.com (my PM box is nearly full and I'm going to be out most of the weekend). Should I get enough names, I'll start a separate interest thread in the Junkyard.
Thanks for looking. B)
- Gabe
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/baldwin_balls_composite.JPG[/image]
He's a foul-mouthed regional manager who is brought into a local real estate office to motivate and threaten a bunch of salesmen who've been in a severe slump, played with gusto by Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, R.I.P., and Alan Arkin. Al Pacino plays the local office's star salesman, and most of the movie he's in a bar working a potential buyer, played by Jonathan Pryce (Brazil). Kevin Spacey plays the office manager and Alec Baldwin's scene is only a 10-minute cameo, but it's his most amazing career performance, he delivers the most scathingly offensive monologue I've ever heard in any film. He must have uttered the word "f-uck" at least 20 times without stopping for breath (move over, Scarface.
). In fact, the center-top headhot of Baldwin catches him in "mid F." :lol He's brilliant in the role, and the ONLY prop in this long, talk-filled movie is the pair of dangling brass balls he pulls out of his open briefcase to demonstrate to the group "what it takes to succeed."By the way, my ex-girlfriend just told me that last Saturday on SNL Alec Baldwin hosted the show and he parodied himself in Glengarry Glen Rross as a giant elf brought in to motivate the other elves to "always be cobbling." :lol Apparently he also had a pair of brass balls and a giant gumdrop with him...
Did anyone catch or record this sketch? Gotta love the timing. Now I have to look for reruns.
So... because I just HAD to have an extra pair (everyone here knows I've already got brass ones
), I set out to not only replicate the balls, but to design an attractive, original, and functional display to compliment them. The project began with my virtual model for a replica display concept:[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/brass_balls_assy_rev_2_front.JPG[/image]
The first proof-of-concept prototype looked less than stellar, but it was made to see if the base and hanging rod kept the heavy balls stable, and for purposes of designing the box packaging:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/proto_10_s.JPG[/image]
This week, the same day I got my screen-used DUNE Pain Box hero prop, the production prototype of the brass balls display set came by courier from my vendor:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1912s.JPG[/image] [image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1911s.JPG[/image]
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1914s.JPG[/image] [image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1917s.JPG[/image]
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/IMG_1916s.JPG[/image]
The brass balls and hanging rod turned out fantastic.. Those things are HEAVY... And because they're yellow brass, I had to have them made outside California, adding to the cost, curse our damn, wonderful environmental laws. :rolleyes I'm actually unsure what wood my vendor used for the base. :lol (let me get back to you on that...) But I think it's a nice grain and color, don't you? Or would a rose wood or cherry wood base look more "executive?" The base has a black felt lining (even though I asked for green or red - what do you guys thing it should be?) I added the color printout as a stand-in for the proposed photo plaque, which is still being developed. I liked the results so much that I decided to have the display copyrighted as an art sculpture - my first-ever copyright.
I've also designed several brass plaques with different phrases for those who'd want to display the set as a novelty rather than a movie prop replica. The text will be etched and black-oxide filled. These are my top three phrase choices:
[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/plaques_1_2_3_samples.JPG[/image]
By the way: "A-B-C: ALWAYS BE CLOSING" is one of Baldwin's lines in the movie (see above photos). I welcome additional plaque phrase ideas.
One of my buddies here to whom I already showed these suggested "COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS" :lol (movie reference - watch it and you'll understand).The photo plaque will be polished aluminum or brass with the image printed directly on the metal and clear coated, leaving a small border of polished metal. Aluminum goes better with the image, but brass obviously suits the rod and balls more, so I'd appreciate your feedback on which to use.
I also had to design a template fixture for applying the different plaques to the base in order to keep them all centered and parallel. That's still on the drawing board, and will be my final project expense.
I'm not taking orders yet, because I was hoping to get some feedback and constructive criticism before signing off on the prototype. For instance, here's an alternative base with a trapezoidal footprint:
The trapezoid footprint would lend a little more stability to the display, as the balls have a slight tendancy to tilt the center of gravity forward. As they are now with the rectanbgular footprint base, unless you start swinging them from the hanging rod, the display is still quite stable. The trapezoid may also look more stylish than the rectangular footprint, so I wanted to run it by you guys because I respect your aesthetic judgment. My thinking on the trapezoid shape was that it looks like a grand staircase in a throne room, leading up to the Big Brass Cajones...
Please comment freely on your prefered base shape.Anyway, Just wanted to show off my latest project and see what kind of feedback I can get. If you'd like to get on an interest list, please e-mail me at proprunner@aol.com (my PM box is nearly full and I'm going to be out most of the weekend). Should I get enough names, I'll start a separate interest thread in the Junkyard.
Thanks for looking. B)
- Gabe
