Unique Lethal Weapon Prop - 1983 PVHS Yearbook

[PHArchivist]

Anybody else go after this...?

It's the yearbook of Amanda Hunsaker that Riggs sends in the mail to Murtaugh during their efforts to catch bad guys.

Classmates.com offers reprints of yearbooks. I tried looking for an original book, but as you might expect, a yearbook is something that few folks actually sell.

The reprint is slightly disappointing. The image on the cover is 5%-10% too small, leaving a black border all the way around. Also, its done in that real glossy style of book binding, where as the true 1983 book appears to have been more matte. The book itself is a bit smaller than a standard yearbook of the time (at least mine) by - again - 5%-10%. And Classmates likes to bandy their name across various places on the book. Irritating...

Also, the reprint is adorned with "triton '83" on the cover in a white font. In the film the book says "palos verdes high school" in black font. Not sure why the difference. Neither use capitalization.

Interestingly, the process used by Classemates was to reprint an actual book owned by a student. In this case some kid named Eric who - according to the messages in his book - was quite the party animal, a prolific TP artist, and per at least one young lady, quite perverse. Eric was in fact returning to PVHS, and was driving, so he was either a sophomore or junior at the time (for what its worth).

Finally, either Oingo Boingo wasn't that huge by 1983, or PVHS had plenty of money to burn...!


Regarding my prop replica...


For the $100 I spent, I received the contents of the book, albiet slightly small, and what hope will be easily scannable cover imagery. I hope to scan the front cover image and rear cover image (which should be one, but are broken into two on the reprint). Once scanned, I want to stitch the two togeter, then have the entire image printed at 12"x20" on ideally a self-adhesive paper that is higher quality than plain paper, but not quite photo-paper.

Any ideas? Anybody here versed in book-binding?

If I cannot find the self-adhesive material in the size and quality I need, plan "B" will be to print the image at the correct size and quality on non-adhesive material, then paint the cover of the book with 100% consistent adhesive coating, and apply the new cover image that way.

But I'm open for better ideas...


Here are some pics...

Screen caps:














The Classmates reprint:

Front cover; note imagery is too small


Title page advertising for Classmates


Eric's adoring fans speak


The spine lacking the wrap-around imagery, adding more touting of Classmates


My own yearbook from 1983 (yes I am THAT old; was a freshman at the time); note the size difference

 

[PHArchivist]

Oh and to answer your burning question...

Amanda Hunsaker did NOT attend PVHS, but apparently Oingo Boingo paid a visit!

 

[Wes R]

I never even knew they offered this, i've been toying with joining but don't have enough good memories of anyone to justify 40.00 lol. It is a bit annoying that they made it into a giant advertisement for their site. Even if it's a bit undersized it's probably as close as anyone who doesn't have an original can ever get.

 

[laellee]

I joined e-yearbook.com because I couldn't find an actual copy of my father's 1959 Air Force Academy yearbook. The same deal, they offered a reproduction of the yearbook for $100, but the details of what the copy would look like was scant to say the least. I expect it would be formatted much like what yours looks like (they also concede that some reprints will include handwriting/etc. from I presume the original scanned copy).

Side note, they do not offer the '83 PVHS yearbook, although they have '82 and '84 lol

 

[Moviefreak]

Oh and to answer your burning question...

Amanda Hunsaker did NOT attend PVHS, but apparently Oingo Boingo paid a visit!

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Haha.... That is awesome!!! Guess their two albums by that point weren't big yet, and Danny Elfman wasn't the iconic figure we know today.
Then again... It said the band was back again, so maybe they did have excess money to burn.

 

[PHArchivist]

Any suggestions on paper type for the cover?

Need better than basic paper, but not photo paper either. What does the publishing industry use? I want something similar to my own 1983 yearbook (see pic above).

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

[PHArchivist]

OK I have my image put together and edited. Not just need to isolate the best material to print on and then figure the best way to glue it to the book.

 

[MFP 2020]

Also, the reprint is adorned with "triton '83" on the cover in a white font. In the film the book says "palos verdes high school" in black font. Not sure why the difference. Neither use capitalization.

(snip)

My own yearbook from 1983 (yes I am THAT old; was a freshman at the time); note the size difference

Old? I graduated the same year as the Hunsaker girls.

My guess is they changed the name for legal reasons. I can't look at Blu-rays right now, but does it look like the lower blue portion could be a sticker? It looks lighter than the spine color. Also, does the screen-used yearbook even say "triton" on it? Your alignment might be off. Also, cool prop!

 

[gunnerk19]

"It's a dead man's party, who could ask for more..."

 

[PHArchivist]

It does have the "triton" on there in the film. Its cut off, but you can see it:



But its hard to tell if the letttering was an applied sticker or not.

 

[PHArchivist]

Though, I did discover something ultra cool...

As mentioned, no Amanda Hunsaker attended PVHS in 1983. The page with the verbiage "Class of '83 enjoys their last year at Palos Verdes", along with Amanda's picture, was seemingly created and inserted by the prop department. Makes sense.

Here you can see where the inserted pages do not fully match the size of the actual book pages (note the spacing on the left edge):



Well, I discovered the pages from the real book where they inserted Amanda's page.

You can tell that the left-hand page is a full-page image, and there simply are not that many in the '83 book. And the top-to-bottom mottled image was a give-away.

Here are the actual pages:





And check this out:

 

[PHArchivist]

Had Kinkos run a test print. Then had to adjust my digital image a bit, but am even closer now. The test print indicated the blue was too dark, so I was able to lighten that up a bit. If I use this paper from Kinkos, I'll have to seal it with some form of clear spray.

 

[MFP 2020]

Cool finds. I meant that the whole bottom blue panel is a separate sticker. It's matte where the rest of the cover is semi-shiny, and is a lighter blue/gray than the spine/back. But your solution is more…holistic.

And re: the addition of PVHS, maybe they figured we needed to know more clearly what high school it was. What's a triton? (And we certainly couldn't have inferred the location from the page that said "Palos Verdes.")

 

[laellee]

The name Triton is referring to a greek sea god, like Poseiden. (Triton was his kid). PVHS students are known as the Sea Kings, and so they named the yearbook the Triton. Since the 60's when the school opened, the yearbook covers have often featured images of Triton, the ocean, and/or a trident (which Triton carried).

...And now you know ENTIRELY TOO MUCH about Palos Verdes High School lol:lol

 

[PHArchivist]

The name Triton is referring to a greek sea god, like Poseiden. (Triton was his kid). PVHS students are known as the Sea Kings, and so they named the yearbook the Triton. Since the 60's when the school opened, the yearbook covers have often featured images of Triton, the ocean, and/or a trident (which Triton carried).

...And now you know ENTIRELY TOO MUCH about Palos Verdes High School lol:lol

Did you go there...? Did you know Erik...!?

Its funny - though I graduated in '86, I have an '83 yearbook (freshman year) and we were the Titans.

Yes - Sea Kings banners are all over the place in the book, as are images of the Pacific, the PV bluffs, etcetera.

 

[laellee]

Haha no. The info was there when I originally looked for an '83 copy through my e-yearbook account.

 

[PHArchivist]

Was able to get a the full image printed on adhesive vinyl, but was slightly small; will have to have it reprinted.

 

[laellee]

I will say, Titans sounds cooler than 'Sea-Kings' lol.

Probably inconsequential, but contacting the local library (or perhaps the school itself) might get you access to a copy you can look it. My high school and local library each have a collection of issued yearbooks. The high school's collection is complete for the previous 30 years or so, but the library's is made up of donated copies that (although missing many years) go as far back as the '20s.

 

[PHArchivist]

I will say, Titans sounds cooler than 'Sea-Kings' lol.

Probably inconsequential, but contacting the local library (or perhaps the school itself) might get you access to a copy you can look it. My high school and local library each have a collection of issued yearbooks. The high school's collection is complete for the previous 30 years or so, but the library's is made up of donated copies that (although missing many years) go as far back as the '20s.

That may be worth checking into, if at least for curiosity's sake. Plus to see the verbiage on the front cover. I actually work not too far from Palos Verdes (and used to live there as a kid).

 

[PHArchivist]

Old? I graduated the same year as the Hunsaker girls.

does it look like the lower blue portion could be a sticker? It looks lighter than the spine color. Also, does the screen-used yearbook even say "triton" on it? Your alignment might be off. Also, cool prop!

The more I look, the more I think you're right...

I've been lightening up the blue in my image to get it closer to what we seen in the screen cap. I've been thinking its lighter simply due to light reflecting off the front cover, but I see what you mean about the spine.

Also, if you look closely at the white and light blue stripe bordering the sunset image, at the very bottm there is a fine, dark line that I really don't think was on the original.

Darker blue peeking out from under a sticker?

And -though now I may be seeing things I want to see - the lighter blue portion does look cleaner, or less word,

I could replicate this in the image itself, using a lighter blue under the image and a darker blue on the spine and back cover... Easy to do in Power Point.