Minton in the Movies

Some time ago I did a post of Majolica in the Movies over a piece of majolica I perceived to have been used in the movie Pillow Talk. What I somehow managed to miss in that post though was two pieces of Minton used earlier in the same film. Oddly enough they are the same pattern piece also used in the movie What Ever Happened to Baby Jane— the Minton Thorwaldsen jardiniere—although in Baby Jane only one is shown. Whether either of the pieces used in Pillow Talk are the same exact piece used in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane there is no way to know for sure but it appears that the center medallion in those used in Pillow Talk have birds in them whereas the one used in Baby Jane looks like a landscape similar to the one shown below, but there is a case for saying it's possible.

Scene from Pillow Talk showing the Minton Thorwald jardinieres

Scene from Baby Jane showing the Minton
jardiniere on the dresser in the background

“But ya are Blanch, ya are in that chair”

Pillow Talk and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane were made around the same time, Pillow Talk in 1959 and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane in 1962. One movie was filmed in color and the other in B&W so glaze colors can’t help in the identification, but both movies were independent productions filmed in Hollywood so they were each free to draw upon the same studio prop resources. In Pillow Talk the pair of jardinieres are part of the inventory of a decorating firm. In Baby Jane one sits on Blanche Hudson’s dresser.

Minton Thorwaldsen jardiniere

Another piece of Minton majolica shows up in the movie Rhapsody in Blue. It is the Minton mermaid centerpiece Flower Bearers. 

Minton majolica Flower Bearers

Scene from Rhapsody in Blue

Purchased by Warner Brothers from a California estate in the 1940s, the piece appears on George Gershwin’s mantel in the film. The same piece was later used in the movie Annie on a table in Daddy Warbucks’ home. The story of this Minton centerpiece is a tale unto itself.

Scene from Annie

Another piece of Minton appears in Annie as well, a Minton pedestal, shown briefly in a bathroom

Scene from Annie

Minton majolica pedestal

An identical pedestal in a brown ground appears in the movie The Normal Heart.

The Normal Heart

It’s not uncommon for movie props to show up in numerous productions. The majolica clock that appears in Gigi (1958) also appears in David Copperfield (1936), In the Good Old Summertime (1947), Time Machine (1960) and several westerns. The antique boat bed in Sunset Boulevard (1950) was also used in several movies: Trifling Woman (1922); The Phantom of the Opera (1925); Twentieth Century (1934); and Good Neighbor Sam (1964).

Scene from Gigi showing the frequently used majolica 
clock in the background.

Majolica clock in David Copperfield (1936)

Antique bed built for entertainer Gaby Deslys. 

It that has appeared in multiple movies

Scene from Twentieth Century showing the antique bed in the background

Scene from Sunset Boulevard that features the antique bed shown above

It's also common to see the same sets used in different movies. The extravagant Victorian staircase built for The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was also used for the Cat People (1942), The Falcon in Danger (1943), and The Spiral Staircase (1946). Another stair, the prominent, ever changing staircase in the film Auntie Mame (1958), appeared in at least fourteen other films! There’s an entire blogging industry behind searching out props and locations appearing in multiple movies. One of my favorite blogs of this kind is Recycled Movie Costumes which furnished a couple of the images used in this article.

Should you see the Thorwaldsen jardiniere or the Flower Bearers in any other mid-century movie please let me know and I'll post it here.