Hmm…matching colors… 🙂
For many years we used to attend a Cowboy Poetry festival that was held at Melody Ranch in Newhall, California. Melody Ranch was/is a movie ranch where a lot of Western TV series and movies were made (we worked on a few these ourselves) and it has quite a bit of history. 🙂 You may recognize it from one of the more recent productions, Deadwood. Here’s a few pictures: 🙂
Taking a break in the shade.
Cowboyed up…
A rare shot of the two of us together…
And for something a bit different today…Star Trek meets the Gunfight at the OK Corral! This was a popular post a few years back so I thought I’d bring it up again. And for bonus points, here’s a behind-the-scenes picture of our favorite Vulcan going “heeled”… 🙂 Enjoy!
Today we return briefly to Tombstone through the medium of television and specifically the episode of the original Star Trek television series entitled “Spectre of the Gun.” First aired on October 25, 1968, the episode centered on the inhabitants of planet Theta Kiokis II using an episode out of earth history, the gunfight at the OK Corral, as a means of punishing Captain Kirk for attempting to establish contact with the Melkotians in spite of being warned away by them.
The sets are somewhat surreal with incomplete walls, clocks and pictures that hand in mid-air, etc. because the Melkotians are using Kirk’s thoughts as the basis for Tombstone and the gunfight to recreate them as an illusion. The premise is a cleaver one and one can see it reflective of the spirit of the late 1960s with references to Man’s tendencies towards violence and killing, often for little reason.
In terms of props and costumes, this was no doubt easy to put together since Paramount Studios still had a large collection of wardrobe and props suitable for Westerns (after all, this was the tail end of the heyday of the television Western). Also what is interesting is that while this was filmed on a soundstage, they actually have a live horse or two as background- nice touch that you probably would not see if it were filmed today.
Turning to the costumes, it’s pretty much television B-Western stuff but in context of this being a Star Trek episode, it works. Here are some shots of Ensign Chekhov with Sylvia, the love interest:
We first meet her in a saloon girl style dress that’s right out of B-Western Central Casting. Unfortunately, I could not get a good screen shot of the whole dress but it’s short and the color is appropriately bright and gaudy.
Chekhov with his love interest Sylvia.
Here we see Sylvia in something more demure, a generic bustle dress. Once again, I was unable to secure a screen shot but it’s a pretty generic B-Western look for the 1870s or 80s. Like much of this costuming of this era, the actresses did not wear any period undergarments (like say, a corset) and it’s evident in this picture. The hat appears to be something from the 1930s or 1950s that’s been reconditioned.
Next we have the Enterprise landing party. No surprises here and they’re all wearing the stereotypical buscadero rigs for their guns, a look that was invented for Hollywood in the early 1920s. The web belt on Spock is interesting though- no doubt they all were simply dug out of the prop room with little thought except that they fit.
Now let’s take a look at some of the other characters:
The Earps, from left to right: Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil.
Morgan Earp
Virgil Earp
Wyatt Earp
And of course no gunfight at the OK Corral is complete without:
Doc Holliday
And we can’t forget:
Johnny Behan
Kind of a contrast to this: 🙂
Johnny Behan as portrayed in the movie Tombstone.
And for a few more shots:
Doc Holliday and Dr. McCoy
The “walkdown” to the OK Corral.
Morgan is about to get his chance to settle the score….
The above shot of Morgan Earp, framed by lightning is very effective in revealing his character, a manic individual who is bent on a gunfight no matter what.
The OK Corral complete with live horse as background set dressing. 🙂
No getting out of it now…
And the fight is on!
From a costume perspective there’s not a lot going on here but as a Star Trek episode, it was imaginative and fresh for the time. In some respects it hits on themes that are still relevant in later film versions of the Gunfight at the OK Corral and the events leading up to it.
My rose arch is in bloom, Old West greetings from No. 11. Coffee, errands, and packing up today to get this old girl (not me, the house) construction-ready. 🙂
T
oday we decided to get out of the house and make our annual pilgrimage to the 27th Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition at the FIDM Museum and enjoy the sunny weather in Downtown Los Angeles. First impressions? From a purely historical perspective, there wasn’t a lot going on this year. However, that said, there was a variety of exciting designs and being able to view the costumes up close in person was fascinating.
First up, are two from the movie Aquaman:
This is completely outside of what we do but just the combination of colors caught our eye and they definitely suggest an ocean environment. And speaking of color, here’s a gown from Ocean’s Eight:
The magenta/pink dress color just screams “shocking” in the Schiaparelli tradition and it’s a visual treat to look at. The combination gown with cape is amazing and it’s definitely an eye-catcher. The embroidery was especially striking although we were unable to get a close view of the train. Here’s some more:
Just for contrast, here’s another exquisite gown from the movie but only in shades of green:
The display lighting washes out the shades of green somewhat but trust me, in person they are deep jewel tones and the contrast between the magenta/pink of the first gown and this one is amazing.
Shifting gears a bit, we came across the Old West in the form of several outfits from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs:
In contrast to Ocean’s Eight, the wardrobe here is down to earth, practical, and perfectly fitting with the Old West, with the exception of Buster Scrugg’s outfit which was meant to stand out larger than life.
And then for something a bit more fantastical, there are these outfits from the remake of Mary Poppins Returns:
Because the lighting wasn’t the best, here’s a better view of this outfit that we lifted off the net:
And then there’s this outfit:
The styles are certainly interesting, more of an Edwardian “esq” style that anything that’s necessary period correct but hey, it’s meant to be fantastical so there you are. In keeping with the fantastical nature of the movie, here’s some more:
And just for completeness, the costume sketch:
At first, we weren’t sure of what we were looking at- much of the detail on these two outfits was actually painted on, especially for the women’s dress where all the ruffles are actually painted on. Really! It fooled us at first. After doing a little research, we found out that these were part of an animated/live action musical number in the movie (we haven’t actually seen the movie so we apologize for any omissions). Finally one style note on the above women’s dress- it’s actually more reminiscent of a 1880s style than Edwardian. 🙂
Finally, we conclude with this simple walking outfit from Colette:
Probably the most “historical” of the outfits we viewed (that fits into the 19th Century) and it’s the quintessential day outfit characteristic circa 1900. Here it is from the movie itself, at least for the jacket and skirt:
This has been a somewhat subjective account of our excursion and we freely admit that with the exception of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Colette, we haven’t seen any of the other movies but we fully intend to in the future. Hopefully 2019 will see some more period pieces released. 🙂
At the risk of being somewhat repetitious, here are some more pictures from the recent historic home tour that we participated in during our last visit to Tombstone. While it’s hectic getting ready for the tour, it’s still very rewarding because it gives us an opportunity to make the house festive for the holidays while also giving us a good excuse to dress up. Also, it gives us an opportunity to socialize with dear friends…
Good times…unfortunately, Angus just wouldn’t pose…
So enjoy!
Saturday started early for us as we made then final touches at No. 11 and then got ourselves dressed. The Tombstone Historic Home Tour officially started at 9 am but we didn’t see our first visitor until about 9:40 so we wound up with a little more time to get things ready (which was a very good thing). No. 11 was originally built in 1905 when the entire block on Safford Street was built up. Previously during the 1880s and 90s, our block had been undeveloped, lying on the outskirts of town and the entire area had been taken up by a holding corral for the local slaughterhouse. Sadly enough, the only link our house has with Tombstone history in that it sits over the Mountain Maid Mine (or at least the claim) which the Earps unsuccessfully attempted to develop in 1881. That said, on with the tour…. 🙂
Welcome to No. 11! Unfortunately, Angus was a bit distracted…
Below are a few pictures from the event, starting with the main room decked out for Christmas:
And then the parlor:
Karin and Angus- Of course, Angus was a key part of the tour… 🙂
Here I am showing off one of our latest wedding gown designs.
And here’s the original bedroom- it’s a bit small by today’s standards but it’s comfortable for us. 🙂
And here I am showing off an original c. 1900 Worth wedding gown, complete with shoes.
Below are some more views of the Worth wedding gown:
It was a busy day for us and we had a lot of fun meeting people and talking about our house and the early history of Tombstone. We look forward to doing this again in 2019.