John,
I worked occasional episodes for a couple seasons in the props dept. of "Touched by an Angel." For one episode, they needed some bikes on set, so I brought my MB-0 and a couple of friends' bikes (one was an Ibis Mojo.) My MB ended up being in the bedroom of the guest star/main character played by Anthony Michael Hall, and got in a few shots.
Not a movie prop per se, but on film. Watch for it in season 5!
Greg Reiche CyclArt Vista, CA USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of John Hurley Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 4:15 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR] Bicycles as Movie Props
I'm sure you are all familiar with bike ogling syndrome. Driving down the road, minding your own business, you suddenly jerk your head around and come close to wrecking your car trying to get a better look at some vintage bicycle on the roadside. Or walking to lunch you risk your life sprinting across a busy street to check out an interesting-looking machine parked on the opposite side.
The Syndrome sometimes hits me while watching an old movie. This weekend the kids were watching the 1939 classic, "The Wizard of Oz". As the odious Almira Gulch pedaled her bike up to Dorothy's uncle's farm, all I could think was, "Wow, what a cool bike!" I wonder what brand it was, whether such models would actually have been found in Kansas back then, how the props department decided on it, where they obtained it, and what eventually became of it. Seems it would be a real collector's item today.
Another favorite is the Selznick/Hitchcock classic, "Rebecca", from 1940. Certain scenes are richly populated with bicycles the likes of which I seriously doubt were readily available in California department stores back then. Too bad the bikes were just props, which the camera did not linger over. Such is usually the case, which may serve the film okay, but it drives me nuts wondering what kind of vintage iron I'm looking at. Unfortunately, no one seems interested in bicycles as movie trivia, so you never pick up any info on it from the commentaries or documentaries.
One more film I'll mention is "The Great Escape". What was that bike that James Coburn's character rode to freedom? I think the frame was a bit small for him.
John Hurley
Austin, Texas, USA