This is going to be a long post.......:lol
For a long time, I'd heard about how Kubrick ordered all of the props from 2001 ASO to be destroyed. Everything. The reason floating around was that he didn't want anyone to use them in any junk sci-fi movies that might follow... tarnishing the elegant imagery of 2001.
I can't recall exactly where I read this, but the poster had quoted some more recently published source that Kubrick didn't initially intend to destroy the props. The studio wouldn't let him keep any of them, unless he paid them. In disgust with this, given all the work he'd done on the film, he decided to just lay waste to everything. Has anyone else here heard of this?
I've written about the fate of the '2001' props on several forums, including the RPF. Short story is that the disposal of most of the sets/props were de rigueur for the time. Certain key props got caught up in litigation and were stored. Once a settlement was reached, they
were disposed of. In other words, the only reason they survived as long as they did was due to the litigation - they were "evidence" of sorts.......
Long version of this story here -
http://www.therpf.com/f10/will-make-you-want-cry-91627/#post1300849
A reference to the story about the 2001 pod and the space station being left at the gates of a dump:
Tracking HAL's Odyssey - Page 3 - Los Angeles Times
And two thruster packs survived long enough to be used as set dressing in a 1972 Doctor Who:
Interesting - I think the blue prop on the right is actually one of the lunar suit backpacks from "2001" (they were a smaller design). I cannot remember if Space Models provided the basic shells or not - if so, they may be castings. Still..... neat to see them re-used.
The Kong wall was was originally built for Cecil B. Demille's "King of Kings" (1927), on the Culver lot. It was indeed burned down for Gone With The Wind--it's the structure falling down behind Rhett leading the horse cart with Scarlett on it.
Well, if you want to get into sets/backlots - that covers damn near every movie that was every filmed on one. The 40-Acre backlot -
40 Acres - The Lost Studio Backlot of Movie & Television Fame - (ex-RKO, and actually under
30 acres in size) in Culver City served as the location for Mayberry, Hogan's Heroes, Gone With the Wind, Star Trek (TOS), etc before being turned into light industrial space in the late 60's.
And MGM's Lots 2 and 3 are now housing tracts. (I live walking distance to them both.... kinda weird.) Great book -
MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot A Lavish Illustrated History of Hollywood’s Greatest Movie Studio - highly recommended.
I remember reading a few years ago that most of Hill Valley burned down in a fire. That would be the largest prop loss ever.
If you are talking about the Universal Backlot fire, only a portion of the Hill Valley set was burned. The Courthouse and one row of building survived. The other side did burn. In fact I think they've had a couple of serious lot fires in that area. Most of what acted like kindling was the accumulated trash that was littering the backlot sets.
........AND, Peter Jackson has a larger scale Kong armature. He took it over to Bob's (they're buds) and compared it. It's the same as Bob's but larger. The two then had legendary Ray Harryhausen (who learned under Willis O'Brien - animator of the original Kong) and Harryhausen confirmed it to be another Kong puppet. So both Burns and Jackson have original, 1933 Kong armatures!
Ironically, Peter's was found in a box in an old warehouse somewhere and it's "identity" was completely unknown.
I think (and I'm going off of a story Bob told me a while ago while I was paying attention to something else in his basement) is that the box was found in the attic of the old RKO/Selznick Studios (now Culver Studios) art department building as it was about to be torn down for general studio expansion. It was ID'd as being used on the original 'Mighty Joe Young', but was also (and more importantly) a recycled 'Kong' armature that was stripped on its 'Kong' fur and head.
I've always been crazy about the Proteus sub used in Fantastic Voyage. After the Cleopatra disaster, FOX got particularly anal about re-using props to keep costs down. So when Irwin Allen -- himself no slouch at re-using stuff -- needed a rescue sub for the climax of The Poseidon Adventure, they painted the Proteus yellow. But in the end, there wasn't budget enough for those scenes and given that they'd trashed the sub anyway, went ahead and scrapped it..........
We've talked to "Poseidon Adventure" Art Director/Production Designer Bill Creber about that and he has no recollection of the Proteus being repurposed - or even considered. He wasn't a big fan of the Proteus design by Harper Goff anyways (he preferred Dale Hennesey's design, but Fleischer went with his "Nautilus" designer's vision). I'm chalking this one up to urban legend.
There's a great story somewhere* on the interwebs about a couple of fans gaining access to the FOX backlot and being able to climb around and photograph full-scale pieces like the Spindrift from Land of the Giants, the Lost in Space Jupiter II (which was already effectively scrap at that point), and more. Among the things they found was the Apes ship, which by then was also in pretty sad shape. They went on to write that on a return trip hoping to get some better shots, they were informed that everything had by then been cut-up and hauled off..........
That would be Phil Broad's Cloudster site -
My Studio Adventures
Subsequent to writing that article, Phil found out that the full size "Icarus" had been sold to a motel, mounted on a plinth/pole, and had been destroyed in a fire that destroyed the motel in the late 70's.
I read on one site that the ship <from PLANET OF THE APES> got beat-up during the filming of the opening of Escape. It broke loose during filming and drifted into the rocks, and got banged up before they could catch it.
I also read that the ship ended up as a lawn decoration on some Fox Executive's lawn...........
What ended up as a lawn decoration was the
miniature of the "Icarus". It was restored by Greg Jein (who also molded it and gave a casting to Bob Burns (much to the chagrin of Bill Creber, the film's Art Director)).
I'd like to know what happened to the 3 trophy heads made by Boss films for Predator 1 ..........
I never came across anything from "Hunter" (as it was called) when we went through Edlund's warehouse, save for a funny looking hand weapon.
....I remember how sad I was when I saw some of the Sony backlot pictures of Ecto -1 and 1A. Thank god for the restoration on Ecto-1.
Also, the original Ectomobiles from Ghostbusters are known to be maltreated by Sony. Despite restoring the Ecto-1 and storing it indoors for a while, I heard it's been put outdoors again.
Also, the Ecto-1A is apparently still outdoors, rotting away.
Noticed the Ecto-1 on the Sony lot earlier this summer, parked next to the new Black Beauty.
Not sure of it's originality, but it seemed to be getting better TLC. Seen it there a few times since. (It was visible through one of the open gates on Culver Blvd....)
Whew..... I think I just set a record for multi-quotes.......
Gene
