Being rather small in dimensions, the MGM mattes were executed on tilt down draftsman's tables rather than on studio easels as elsewhere, with the Metro artists seated close to the piece rather than standing and applying paint with a long handled brush. Almost all were rendered on heavy duty card or in some cases hardboard (or masonite as they call it in America). Special Effects 1944: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo – Photographic (with Donald Jahraus and Warren Newcombe) [8] Both films were products of the extremely well resoursed and substantial studio facilities that were MGM, undoubtedly the envy of all of the other studios in Hollywood at the time and for years to come. MGM were theprestige production house for grand, opulent motion pictures where it seemed, money was no object. MARIE ANTOINETTE in particular was a Rolls Royce production all the way, and it looked it - beautifully photographed by William Daniels - with uncredited work by George Folsey and Leonard Smith; stunning vast sets by the legendary Cedric Gibbons and an all star cast to boot. Norma Shearer, the sister of MGM's chief sound department man Douglas Shearer, looked the part as the doomed Marie, and although a little shrill at times she was generally excellent, especially in the second half of the two and three quarter hour epic. Tyrone Power is the dashing though not entirely necessary love interest, with not a lot to do. Reginald Gardiner is sensational and practically oozes venom from every pore of his skin with each scene he's in, though it really is the great Robert Morley, as the fragile and somewhat effete King Louis who absolutely steals the show hands down with a beautifully nuanced, multi layered performance which would earn him (and Norma Shearer) Oscar nominations. The revolution gains momentum though it becomes quite clear fairly soon that the whole gig gets somewhat out of control. Hello friends and fellow aficionados of the lost artform of the traditional matte painter. This issue we will be taking a look at two of my favourite Golden Era Hollywood motion pictures that both fit the bill inasmuch as being top shelf prestige productions as well as each being beautiful examples of the matte painter's skill from an era long since passed. Both of today's films were important Metro Goldwyn Mayer pictures from the 1930's, MARIE ANTOINETTE made in 1938 and A TALE OF TWO CITIES made in 1935.

MARIE ANTOINETTE was of course based upon historic fact and, even with some opulent Hollywood flourishes was probably reasonably close to the actual events of the time, being the grass roots people power revolt in late 18th Century Paris which resulted in the downfall of the extremely unpopular Monarchy of King Louis XVI and his consort, the aforementioned Marie Antoinette - Queen of all she surveyed. The groundswell of popular unrest would see both figures not only unceremoniously de-throwned and imprisoned, but ultimately tried and executed by way of that most French of industrial modes of dispatch, the feared guillotine. Special Effects 1945: They Were Expendable – Photographic (with Donald Jahraus and R. A. MacDonald) The view of the convoy below from the point of view of the aircraft was shot using 8 to 10 inch (200-250 mm) ship models placed in 1inch (25mm) of water with foreground clouds painted on glass. The wakes from the ships were painted on clear celluloid with the tiny waves generated by fans.Byrne, FJ (2008) [2005]. "Ireland and Her Neighbours, c.1014–c.1072". In Ó Cróinín, D (ed.). Prehistoric and Early Ireland. New History of Ireland (series vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.862–898. ISBN 978-0-19-821737-4.

Not sure on this one. The ceiling and tops of the flags sure look painted but that foreground suspended fixture has me baffled? The two journeys were made in May and October 2017, and the Fine Arts company summarized their assignment in the following words: "Conservation treatment of the two flying monkey props from THE WIZARD OF OZ film, [including] stabilization, repair, aesthetic compensation, and mounting for display in custom-fabricated cases." As can be seen by the images in this month’s video blog, the miniature monkeys are now permanently stored in a case in Wamego that insures both climate control and limited exposure to the elements. As Clint sagely comments, “This is the ideal means of extending their lives, especially as they were not made to last. It’s always important to realize – or to be reminded – that these things were built for a single purpose, more than eighty years ago.” Let them eat cake"... The jig is most definitely up. Upper wall, cornices and ceiling painted in. Matt Yuricich said it wasn't unusual for the artist to jokingly draw in weird, rude things like dogs screwing etc into detail such as this. Lee LeBlanc did it apparently and so did Howard Fisher at times!Above: As the Tin Man said to the Scarecrow after the flying monkeys took him apart in the Haunted Forest: “Well, that’s you all over.” These are the pre-restoration pieces of the rubber monkey miniature from the collection of Friar Johnpaul Cafiero – one of thousands of items he has shared with The OZ Museum. The photograph was taken on April 4, 2017, as the conservation and reclamation of the piece was about to be launched.] I should also add that this month’s video about the flying monkeys contains a happy mash-up of pictures of both the live-actors and the miniatures, regardless of audio narrative. We realize that any Oz fan can tell the difference, but we wanted to show a lot of images -- contrasting both “real and rubber” -- as we celebrated Buddy’s contribution. 😊 The Parisian common folk are pretty much fed up with the state of things and the powder keg is about to explode... Chief Bill Gillespie, in the novel In the Heat of the Night and its film and television adaptations

Many thanks for exploring our new 2021 approach to blogging! Comments are always welcome – and there are numerous TREASURES FROM THE OZ MUSEUM to come!

Special Effects

This picture was actually the fourth version to be made, with at least another two to come later on. The J.Arthur Rank version in the late 1950's with Dirk Bogarde was quite good, though quite poor as far as the matte work went. All joking towards one side: There are many hundreds of unique or remarkable rarities among Wamego’s holdings, and in some ways, this isn’t really surprising. At last count, it was estimated that the Museum contains some twenty-five thousand individual pieces. Unfortunately, only about twenty-five hundred can be displayed at any given time, and particularly in the case of THIS month’s treasure, the public viewings are, indeed, very few and far between. That’s why these two items were selected to launch our 2021 series.