Assembling A Collection of Replica Detective Movie Desk Items
[Headline picture by Jim Ferreira, from the ‘Shadoandsatin’ blog article ‘ TCM in June: They Live By Noir’.]
What Every Noir Detective Needs?
My ‘Philip Marlowe’ shadow box project is turning out to be a multi-faceted job, what with it including a number of aspects to it’s creation, including research, collecting, design, print, model making and display - it’s almost asking to a micro theatre production. And, in a way, I suppose that is exactly what making a shadow box is - it’s like building your own small theatrical set.
Right from the start, I knew what the ‘lead roles’ in my production would be, or rather what were the central props, as like Jim Ferreira’s picture (above) my display would feature a ‘Detective Special’ handgun centrally, with numerous ‘supporting cast’ around it…
But what would constitute a good supporting cast (of objects)?
Desktop Props Ideas:-
- Colt .38 Revolver
- Box of .38 cartridges
- Marlowe's ID card/driving licence (in wallet)
- Box of Kodak film/negatives
- Photographs
- Betting slip
- Locker key
- Brown envelope of dollar bills
- Chinese menu
- Ripped page from phone directory
- Deck of cards (Patience)
- Cloakroom ticket
- Advert ripped from Yellow Pages
- Coins
- Book of matches from club
- Wanted sheet
- Dry cleaning ticket
- Pile of letters/bills
- Business card
- Bar/club drinks coater (with message/phone number)
- Manila folder for case files/documents
Obviously, this is too many things to include but I wanted an extensive list to start with because I guessed that some items would be easier to source/make than others. Better to have too many choices and then I could cheery pick the best when setting up my arrangement for display.
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| Above: Some of the props that I have already assembled, my replica S&W Model 100 revolver, my fake .38 Special cartridges and replica period box and a replica pack of Camel cigarettes (Philip Marlowe's preferred brand! |
Making Props
I won't go too far into how to make props - this post is not a 'how to' tutorial - as there are lots and lots of web pages and YouTube videos which cover this in depth. Whatever type of prop you can think of, chances are that someone has already gone though the process of creating it - Google is your friend!
But... Having said that, here's an example of one of the prop paper documents that I have made so far that will give you an insight into the process - a printed replica of a 1940's period AMERICAN GREYHOUND BUS TICKET.
An iconic piece of vintage movie Americana is the Greyhound bus, so many scenes have been set with characters traveling by this mode of travel. So much so that the bus itself - very recognisable - has become lodge in the popular cultural psyche...
Movies like Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Fallen Angel (1945), Detour (1945) and The Wayward Bus all highlight the rather unsettling, stigmatised and somewhat claustrophobic idea of somehow feeling trapped. The strangely unsettling world of long distance bus travel is the idea vehicle (excuse the pun) for a Noir thriller.
Social stigma and shame play a powerful role in the rather unsavoury attitude toward bus travel. In many cultures, bus use is associated with poverty, failure, or lack of choice, leading to feelings of embarrassment. This stigma is reinforced by media portrayals and social attitudes—such as the term "loser cruiser" used in New Zealand—making riding the bus feel like a personal failure rather than a practical choice.
In terms of less thematic connections to a classic drama or thriller movie, a Greyhound bus ticket is an idea prop to conjure up metaphorical elements intrinsic to Noir - having to get away by whatever means smacks of a typically Noir plot! So a Greyhound ticket is a very evocative of a subtext... It is the ideal thriller prop.
So, first things first, let us find an example of an authentic original 1940s era Greyhound memorabilia... I started with a Google and buy happenstance this lead me to exactly what I wanted (it isn't always this easy) with an entry on eBay...
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| Above: Vintage Lot of 2 1940's - Pacific Greyhound Lines - BUS TICKET - Calistoga. |
This makes life very easy for me as these are not only very clear pictures of an original ticket, but they are of the Pacific Greyhound Line - which encompasses California - and even specifies a destination in that very Noir of American states! 😀 Bingo!
I downloaded this picture and while - in a pinch - you could print out one of these tickets with just some very basic editing and resizing I decided to go that extra mile.
I very much want to correct the perspective, improve the clarity and make the ticket somewhat editable so that I could change some details,; like the destination. To do this I imported the eBay picture into my design software of choice - Affinity Designer - and began to tinker...
Removing the original ticket's number and destination I could now put in my own preferred text, but before I did so I had to find a suitable font that match the ticket's text style. For this I went to my favourite font archive - DA FONT - as did some searching for a type printed style of font...
This matched near perfectly the original stamped text on the vintage ticket. However, the density of strength - in tone - of this font 'as is' did not match the slightly faded and ink smudged lettering of the real thing...
Some simple photo editing had to be done to smudge and blur the font so that it blended in to the tone of the rest of the vintage print. I also had to kern (letter space) the individual letter to give them a more realistic (less digital) look...
A small detail that I address was that the original tickets had the punch mark hole put in them when they were originally purchased! So I had to edit this out and remake the box marked 'Bag'ge' (baggage) so that it was unpunched. That way I could chose to add this or not before printing.
Print design complete - and sized correctly - I then had to find an appropriate paper onto which I could print my fake vintage ticket. Luckily, I am not a counterfeiter by trade so authenticity of paper type, material and weight is not so crucial for me, I just needed something that looked passible...
I opted for a pack of A4 100gsm recycled pastel sugar paper which had a selection of various muted colours in it. Of particular not was a nice light sage green which seemed to roughly match the colour of one of the original eBay tickets. And with that I tried out a test print (and messed around with strength of print until it matched the original)...
And here is the result...
One last job was to try and recreate the perforation at the top and bottom of the ticket, I did this using - of all things - a cutting saw toothed wheel from my Dremmel cutting tool. Although not perfect I couldn't afford one of the proper paper crafting perforating tools from Amazon (at the moment). But the result was passable. (I kinda like the rough tear at the bottom.)
And there we have it, my process for creating a replica printed prop item. Unfortunately, some of the rest of the props I want for my 'Philip Marlowe' project are a tad more complicated than this - but it's a good start.
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