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Re: History and the Movies -- another reason to attend SAA



> ----------
> From:         Warner Research Collection[SMTP:WArners@ci.burbank.ca.us]
> Reply To:     Archives & Archivists
> Sent:         Thursday, June 29, 2000 5:21 PM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Re: History and the Movies -- another reason to attend SAA
>
> Our collection is intended for exactly this kind of thing ("Titanic" used
> us
> for decor and costume, but not makeup -- nobody in 1912 would have DREAMED
> of that shade of lipstick).  Of course, we like to say that in showbiz
> research there are two answers to a given question: the accurate answer,
> and
> the look the director wants.
>
Ah, yes, TITANIC..."small potatoes" this may be, but did anyone else notice
the early scene alongside the great ship prior to her voyage...hordes of
people moving towards here, gawking. And there, in the foreground, as the
mails were being loaded aboard sat huge mail sacks, half properly (I hope)
marked "ROYAL MAIL" with the crown's crest above, and the American mail?
Marked "Property of the United States Postal Service." [Small twinge]. James
Cameron and the public probably didn't notice or give a whit...

At least the sacks didn't have the "speeding pullet" eagle or the phrase,
"We Deliver for You."

Kevin Bunker
Student Assistant
California State Archives

> But accuracy has been getting more popular lately!  World War II is back
> in
> style -- the designers for the upcoming Pearl Harbor spent lots of time
> and
> took lots of laser copies.  The costumer for a new version of Bridge on
> the
> River Kwai was enchanted with our material on Japanese hot-weather
> uniforms
> (we unfortunately didn't have much in the way of Japanese prison camp
> interiors for the Art Dept.) and commented that she has to make 60
> uniforms
> from scratch.  I asked her if she couldn't use costumes from the earlier
> production (since the costume houses do keep old ones) and she said
> "Absolutely not! They got them all wrong!"  Meanwhile, the remake of South
> Pacific asked for, among other things, 1940s Navy stethoscopes and a
> particular type of toiletry bags the nurses used.  Now to see how much of
> this actually makes it to the screen....
>
> Misha Schutt
> Warner Research Collection
> Burbank Public Library
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kate Bowers [mailto:kate_bowers@HARVARD.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 2:47 PM
> To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject: History and the Movies -- another reason to attend SAA
>
> ....  The facts might change,
> but Hollywood can get rather interested in the look-and-feel nowadays.
> (Compare Bette Davis' world as Queen Elizabeth in "Elizabeth and Essex"
> with Cate Blachett's world as Queen Elizabeth in "Elizabeth.")...
>
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>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>