Paramount prop chair

[stairstars]

I am seeking guidance on this Roman curule chair from the most recent Profiles In History sale where it was mistakenly listed as being from SIGN OF THE CROSS. It is used in a later 1968 STAR TREK TV episode, but I think it is much older and most likely had previous appearances. It has a metal Paramount inventory plate, but no other markings. The acquisition of Desilu in 1967 gives the possibility it may have RKO or Pathe origins.

I have looked at the obvious, such as the DeMille films, including MANSLAUGHTER, and the later sound biblical epics, but need help with films that used Roman settings as flashbacks or dream sequences unrelated to their titles.

Thanks.

rick

[Spiny Norman]

Not often that people seek guidance on a chair! I happened to see the same type of chair in a second hand shop a few weeks ago.
That makes me wonder: How would you even know it's the same one? Unless you had paperwork or a very good shot to show it in detail.

A lot of different programs all did something with Cleopatra based on its 1963 reputation. Lucy, Dick van Dyke, even The Twilight Zone. That usually fell into the dream / vision type of story. (Not Buster Keaton in Hollywood Palace though.)
Lesser known anthology programs might use it too - perhaps even Egyptian stories...?

Movies with partial Roman sequences might include Love of three queens or The story of mankind.

[Dave Pitts]

Elaine: Phew! This chair smells like garbage!
Kramer: Well, a lot of the stars from the seventies -- they were not as hygienic as they appeared on TV. You take Mannix, for example.
(Seinfeld, The Merv Griffin Show, Season 9)

[stairstars]

A good point, Spiny, if you are buying on the secondary market rather than directly from the studio. This chair was not part of the 2003 Paramount auction at BONHAMS, which was a large, but mostly unnoticed event. Certainly, I would not consider anything that was not properly marked, as in this case, their metal plate is present. With Blu Ray images, it is possible to match screen used pieces.

BTW, there were two of these chairs in that STAR TREK episode, so you might want to check out if the one you saw has any ID underneath it.

Thanks, for the tips. TWILIGHT ZONE was MGM, which I am going to put on the back burner until I exhaust Paramount and RKO efforts. LUCY and DICK both qualify there.

rick

[Spiny Norman]

A good point, Spiny, if you are buying on the secondary market rather than directly from the studio. This chair was not part of the 2003 Paramount auction at BONHAMS, which was a large, but mostly unnoticed event. Certainly, I would not consider anything that was not properly marked, as in this case, their metal plate is present. With Blu Ray images, it is possible to match screen used pieces.

BTW, there were two of these chairs in that STAR TREK episode, so you might want to check out if the one you saw has any ID underneath it.

Thanks, for the tips. TWILIGHT ZONE was MGM, which I am going to put on the back burner until I exhaust Paramount and RKO efforts. LUCY and DICK both qualify there.

rick

Oh I only meant a Roman chair of that type. No indication at all that it was a prop.

Similar chairs do appear in Sign of the cross (1914) so I can understand why they thought of that.

How far back were you thinking? There are several pre-war toga candidates but I can't think of a RKO / Paramount one.

[stairstars]

No limit to the time frame. In the 2003 sale they had a few pieces that did date from Pathe, pre merger. RKO purchased the 40 Acre lot in 1931 and got what was left there.

The SIGN OF THE CROSS opus I think they were referring to was the DeMille 1932 version. I see EYE has the 1914 on youtube, so it will be tonight's menu!

[Spiny Norman]

No limit to the time frame. In the 2003 sale they had a few pieces that did date from Pathe, pre merger. RKO purchased the 40 Acre lot in 1931 and got what was left there.

The SIGN OF THE CROSS opus I think they were referring to was the DeMille 1932 version. I see EYE has the 1914 on youtube, so it will be tonight's menu!

The picture used in the auction seemed - at first glance - from the silent movie, I think?

[stairstars]

That would please me - for sure; I love to find pieces from such early days. STAR TREK is cool, but from several other pieces I have, many were from CITIZEN KANE and much older productions. RKO, especially, reused these pieces for decades before finally retiring them.

Not so much for PARAMOUNT. In this case - size matters...

[FrankFay]

That could also turn up in a victorian parlor

[Spiny Norman]

Not so much for PARAMOUNT. In this case - size matters...

Do you mean smaller means more reuse or smaller means less storage / organisation?

I can't immediately spot a candidate in SotC 1932... or in Last days of Pompeii... but I did only a quick check. (Dick van Dyke is out, no props there.)

[stairstars]

RKO had the storage space over three lots, but either film use, or by choice, they had a serious tendency to reuse pieces. After Desi bought them, he rented liberally to many productions, as well as the multitude of shows he produced in house.

The neo classical harp you see near the end of CITIZEN KANE, as they descend the stairs in Xanadu, which a workman holds and then picks up and crosses the frame from right to left, and later seen as the reporters walk by, had a long life being used from the mid 30s to Brando's last film THE SCORE in 2001:



Ernest Bachrach also was fond of it and used it for many glamor shots. I have a set of three pedestals of unusual form used in over a dozen productions from TOP HAT, KANE, STAR TREK to BONANZA, in the Palace Hotel in Virginia City. In fact, there were originally four, but during an onscreen fist fight in 1970, one was broken as an actor fell on it.

Thanks for looking; I did the round up the usual suspects...and yes, I am considering Victorian decor as well.

[s.w.a.c.]

The neo classical harp you see near the end of CITIZEN KANE, as they descend the stairs in Xanadu, which a workman holds and then picks up and crosses the frame from right to left, and later seen as the reporters walk by, had a long life being used from the mid 30s to Brando's last film THE SCORE in 2001:



Ernest Bachrach also was fond of it and used it for many glamor shots.

But did Harpo use it in Room Service (RKO, 1938)?

[stairstars]

But did Harpo use it in Room Service (RKO, 1938)?

Alas, no, as the harp is truly a prop and non functioning...

[s.w.a.c.]

But did Harpo use it in Room Service (RKO, 1938)?

Alas, no, as the harp is truly a prop and non functioning...

No strings attached?

[stairstars]

It has metal strings, but not musical in anyway.