Thread: Haunted Mansion Organ Movie Prop Destroyed??!!!

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Saw this on Ebay and can't believe they would just destroy it....Does anyone know if this is true?.....Makes me angy if it is because I would have LOVED to have it in my haunted house....Would have been cherished for many years versus being bulldozed under the ground in some dump somewhere ....ZR

http://cgi.ebay.com/DIsney-HAUNTED-M...item2eb04bea89

you would be surprised at how much the movie studios throw out. on the bight side, Hollywood would be a great place to go dumpster diving!

Yeah. I could use the jillion tombstones they had in that movie.

Originally Posted by TheEighthPlague

Yeah. I could use the jillion tombstones they had in that movie.

and the tombs,and coffins,etc,etc.....

Grimsley....I knew they threw out alot but I didn't think they done that so much nowadays, recycling and everything.....I just can't fathom trashing the organ when it's obviously "cool" enough to be in an exhibit one week and then trashed and buried in the ground the next...They have to know that stuff is worth real money to people and they could put that back in their budgets...They should set up a warehouse of stuff they don't want anymore and have monthly auctions...I'm pretty sure that stuff "like the organ" would be out of my budget anyway but at least that's better than what's happening now....As for dumpster diving at the studios, I'm pretty sure their dumpsters are behind big fences with guards so your chances of scoring anything cool is pretty much impossible.....ZR

I don't think there is alot of dumpster diving going on at Disney. A buddy of mine does demolition/construction and he has done some for Disney. The company that does the demolition gets to keep the scrap and recycle it unless Disney wants it. It's in they contract they make with the demolition company. My buddy actually removed a bunch of wroght iron fencing he thought he was going to recycle. But Disney asked if they could have it back even though he was entitled to the fence according to his contract. He gave it back so he would be able to get more jobs at Disney in the future. Good move on his part. I'm not sure if that is how it works with props like the organ?

Keep in mind that props for movies, rides, etc, may not be as cool as they look on screen, filtered, possibly enhanced with CGI, etc. They're not built to last, either. They only have to look good for as long as they're shooting, and anything that can be made with cardboard or paper and still look good on film will be done that way. However, seeing as they kept this around long enough to display it, it may have been in pretty good condition after filming. It all comes down to whether or not it's cheaper to trash it vs storing it.

They do occasionally remember that they may get more out of eBay than tossing it - when they trashed the 20,000 Leagues ride they eventually had second thoughts and pulled props and parts off the submarines at the last moment to sell on the internet.

There's a new reality TV program now called "Hollywood Treasures" on Syfy that revolves around a gent and his crew finding old props from movies and selling them at auction for their owners. I've only watched an episode or two, but one item in particular that caught my eye was they auctioned off the original hat of the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz. I'm thinking it brought like $200K at auction. They also obtained and sold Bela Lugosi's original costume from "White Zombie".

Thats really cool. My Dad owned The Rocky Horror Picture Show, gold top hat, certified and everything from the movie. I should see if he still has it, I am sure its worth SOMETHING. Ha.

I've got a friend who is a contract prop maker in Hollywood [he is the founder/owner of Global Effects Inc--but does he have time to make stuff for his high school buddies? ] A lot of props are made on contract and rented to the production company for film use. Rented stuff goes back to the contractor who often maintains it for future rental or sale. Sometimes stuff is bought outright and becomes the production company's property. They can keep it for future use, sell it at auction, donate it to a nonprofit for sale at auction, license it for reproduction and retail sale, or it may even go to the actor as part of their contract [happens a lot with costumes]. Sets tend to be of 2 types: durable and temporary. durable sets are stuff like a NYC street scene or a western town, an apartment or office. Sometimes these sets can be broken down and stored for later use. Temporary sets last only as long as they are needed then they are intentionally destroyed or just abandoned and allowed to deteriorate. Most destroyed stuff gets recycled somehow if they can do it cost effectively. The abandoned stuff is forgotten--out of sight, out of mind]. DeMille's Egypt set from his Ben Hur is still out int he desert where he left it and has been used as an archaeology lab for a few years now--students learn to excavate by excavating an early 20th movie set.

I read an interview with Clint Eastwood recently in USAToday where the interviewer met with him out on the studio lot where he has his office, and has lot of the costumes and props from his movies. He had the serape he wore in "A Fistful of Dollars" and said he had to take it home from the set every night, because they only made one of them for the movie, and the stuff was getting lost or going missing all the time while they were shooting that movie in Spain. Great interview.