REPLICA LEAGUES NEWSPAPER
Larry Brooks resurrects an iconic movie prop.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!
We all know Larry Brooks is a true Leaguer of
the highest caliber. The guy has
maintained an ongoing dedication to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that
spans a lifetime. Among other things,
he moderates the oldest Leagues discussion group on the Internet, and
has always strived to maintain a class act.
Homepage
Illustration from Larry Brooks’ 20,000
Leagues website at Yahoo!
Groups.
Larry examining the Giant Squid at the Disneyland 20,000
Leagues Exhibit, circa 1960’s.
Larry Brooks, Bill Stropahl, and Paul Brooks giving a
presentation at the 20,000 Leagues Expo, Anaheim, 2003.
Shortly before Christmas 2009, Larry wrote to
tell me about a collectible he was making available on a limited basis: an
exacting replica of the newspaper read by Professor Aronnax (Paul Lucas) in the
early scenes of the film. Of course,
considering the source, I responded without hesitation and acquired one of the
first ten copies.
Now, Larry Brooks is making this item available
to the general public; for more information on that, contact him directly via
the link at the bottom of this page.
Because Larry’s prop replica is
one of the coolest Leagues items to come along in the last few years, I
wanted to give him a page here so the news would reach VSC’s international
readership. Below, in Larry’s own words
and pictures, you’ll find a concise summation of what this is all about. Enjoy!
J
Pat
Regan, Vulcania Submarine, January 01, 2010.
---------------------------
In 1980, Tom Scherman -- acknowledged by Richard
Fleischer as the single greatest expert on his film -- decided to recreate, in meticulous
detail, the prop newspaper seen being held by Professor Arronax. To do this he
approached the printing company which had produced the original prop paper but
found that the original plates no longer existed. So, contacting Harper Goff --
the film's production designer -- he proposed his project to him and Goff,
sparking to the idea, agreed to recreate, in exact detail, his original drawing
of the sea monster attacking the ship.
Once this phase of the recreation was complete,
Scherman then returned to the printing company and worked closely with them in
recreating the rest of the text, down to the various fonts and decorative
elements, etc. And one of those recreations was eventually sent to my brother (ed.
note: Paul Brooks) and I.
Fast forward to the new millennium and, following in the footsteps of the late
Tom Scherman, we decided to return to the same printing company which, luckily,
still had the plate featuring the stunning artwork which Harper Goff had
recreated from his original drawing. Utilizing that plate as well as our copy
of Tom's original prop recreation for an exact reference source, the company
was able to reconstruct the rest of the newspaper in every detail, duplicating
all the typography and various fonts, etc. And the final result is as close to
the original LEAGUES prop as possible, which any photographic comparison will
readily show.
Larry Brooks
(Ed. Note: In a subsequent email with additional
pictures for this article, Larry added the following information.) I'm attaching several cellphone photos
of the assembled print block which I shot while at the printers. I
had come there to pick up the completed newspapers & chatting
with the manager when he suddenly asked me, "Want to see
the monster engraving plate before we tear down the front
page?"
"Absolutely!" I said, and he took me
over to where the front page assembly was sitting on a table. I
pulled out my cellphone and shot a bunch of pictures with its camera - here are
the best of the lot.
I wish the camera had
been better….Re: the closeup of the plate - I had to shoot that from the
side to avoid reflections. You wouldn't believe how a dull metal plate
could still catch the light and then blot out big sections on the photo.
Prop
replica by Tom Scherman.
Printing plate for Scherman prop replica.
Closeup of drawing.
Drawing detail of printing plate.
So there you have it: a fine Leagues collectible with
a genuine pedigree. (Not to be confused
with photocopied clones that have surfaced elsewhere: this one is
press-printed on newsprint paper using the actual plates shown above. No finer quality, or more respectable
source, is available: points all serious Leagues collectors should
appreciate.)
If you would like to obtain one of these outstanding 20,000
Leagues collectibles, you may email Larry Brooks via this LINK, and include the words “Leagues
Newspaper” in the subject box.