“Movie prop” plane found – and featured on Antiques Roadshow. The guest on the show, who had found the plane, describes coming across it at a swap meet – and the guy selling it said it was from a movie with a name like “The Wings of an Angel.” The guest decided not to purchase (having never heard of such a movie). And then:
So as I was walking away he just said, “Oh, the only other thing I know about it is is that Cary Grant starred in the movie.” And as soon as he said that, I knew exactly what movie it was. I knew it was “Only Angels Have Wings.” And I knew that it was a Howard Hawks film. I knew that Jean Arthur and Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth were in it. But what I couldn’t remember was, in the story line, the name of the airline. I ultimately bargained with him, got the price down to $195, and I loaded it in my car and I drove about as fast as I could around the corner to a local bookseller and I ran up the stairs and I found the first biography I could of Cary Grant and I flipped it open to “Only Angels Have Wings,” and there it was, Barranca Airlines.
Turns out it was one of the model planes used in Only Angels Have Wings. Jim Emerson blogs about it (and also provides a clip of one of the action sequences in the film which still has the power, even to my modern-day eyes, to take my breath away). I love it. “Movie prop”!!
Here’s a post I wrote about the first 10 minutes of Only Angels Have Wings – a long pantomime through a crazy third-world street … no dialogue really … but man, what atmosphere. What a world is created – immediately.
“Who’s Joe?”
“Never heard of him.”
I happened to be watching that episode of Antiques Roadshow. It didn’t look like much and then he told his story. Neat as all get out. That show comes under the heading of “wish I’d thought of that”.
Speaking of Only Angels have Wings. I have ordered a Cary Grant boxset that includes Holiday, Only Angels have Wings, Talk of the Town, His Girl Friday and The Awful Truth. None of which I have seen. I could not be more excited. Well…maybe I could. No I really couldn’t I am FREAKING out. AND Penny Serenade is coming on T.V. this weekend. I have obviously pleased the gods. YAY!
What a fabulous find! I’m jealous. It’s interesting that the guest knew much more about it than the appraiser — who, I think, appraised it low. Only 5,000? Really? I mean, that ain’t bad, but I think it’s worth more.
You know … uhm, based on my vast expertise in old Hollywood memorabilia and such …
I’m with Tracey. I think it would be worth SIGNIFICANTLY more than 5K.
Nicola – I have that box set. I am so excited for you to see all of them for the first time!!
Tracey – DBW – I know, right? That should be in a movie memorabilia shop. I wonder where the original guy got it.
The Books: “Cary Grant: A Class Apart” (Graham McCann)
Next book on my “entertainment biography” shelf: Cary Grant: A Class Apart, by Graham McCann I have written more words on Cary Grant than on any other topic, I believe. It’s an inexhaustible obsession. So the question for me, the…
Books
So thank you all for your recommendations. True to form, I ignored them all. (Don’t be sad. I wrote them down for future reference – like I always do). But for now? Going with the unread books on the shelves….
Reading List
Just for the heck of it, here are the books I have read so far this year. I just finished Rose Madder, by Stephen King – and added it to the list. Yes. I keep a list. Underworld, by Don…