Raiders Jackets History and Quantity

[ba100583]

Hello all,

I am a long time member of the online prop research community, and I manage the Los Angeles office of Prop Store (www.propstore.com). I am also a lifelong fan of the Indiana Jones films. I have only recently discovered this forum, but was very pleased to do so. I spent some time reading a few of the research threads on the jackets and other wardrobe items, and enjoyed seeing some research based on facts instead of hearsay.

I have followed IndyGear and COW for a long time, but have always been very dubious of their information. The write ups on all of their jackets are incredibly complex - and in my experience, they are too detailed to be correct. I have had lunch with Anthony Powell a few times and the accounts they outlined of the TOD and LC jackets did not ring true with his recollections. Their account of the Raiders jacket does not align with interviews Deborah Nadoolman has given in the past. Their histories seem to have been written by Patterson, whose posts I regularly flagged as inaccurate (Bantu Wind scenes being shot on the soundstage, his account of the Raiders screening he allegedly attended with Spielberg, etc.), and I see on this forum that Patterson has been largely discredited.

I have researched Raiders quite a bit over the years. Here are some things that may be of interest to forum members:

Raiders Tanis Digs locations in Tunisia - http://www.propstore.com/content/tun...ianajones.html
Raiders Cairo locations in Tunisia - http://www.propstore.com/content/tun...anajones2.html
Terry Leonard interview - http://www.propstore.com/cms/terry-l...ground-part-1/
Set Decorator Michael Ford's journals - http://www.propstore.com/cms/decorat...fords-journal/

Finding facts on original Raiders wardrobe is very difficult. In the Prop Store collection we had an original costume that was previously in the possession of Noel Howard, that many of you are familiar with. The shirts and trousers with that costume were from Raiders and were made by Western Costume Company. The jacket was from TOD and had a Bermans label. Those facts are from the labels in the garments.

I wanted to make a few observations on the history of this wardrobe.

1. I believe the commonly referenced "Butterfields" jacket was an early replica jacket rather than a film-used piece
2. Terry Leonard told me he never owned a jacket from Raiders
3. The jacket referred to as the "Kurtz" jacket is also not consistent with anything ever seen on screen
4. I have never seen any evidence whatsoever to suggest that Martin Grace had an original Raiders jacket at any point
5. Vic Armstrong never had an Indy jacket

I have read a lot on the forum about Tony Nowak having access to an original Raiders jacket. I understand Tony has an outstanding reputation, which I am not questioning -- however, did anyone ever see this jacket? Is there anything to confirm it was indeed a film-used original? I know it was suggested it came out of a studio in LA. As a side note, Paramount never owned any prop or costume assets from the Indy films (though they may have owned assets relating to distribution, like artwork for the one sheets.)

Finding paperwork on Raiders (or other Indy) costumes is more difficult. I have researched Raiders' executive producer Howard Kazanjian's files and he had very little documentation regarding the costumes.

I do have one interesting document that came from another member of the production team, which details what wardrobe items went into storage at the wrap of production on Raiders. This document states that they had six leather jackets. There is no further info - some of these could have been prototypes, unused, etc - absolutely no way of knowing. But, I do think it opens up the possibility that more than 3 jackets were used during filming.

I am attaching the document which I hope you all will find interesting. I hope that more facts surface in the future.



All the best,
Brandon Alinger

[neutronbomb]

Welcome to F&G. Thank you for this post.

[crismans]

Welcome to the boards, and thanks for an informative first post. I agree that a lot of the established "history" of the gear is suspect at best. I've often said that I think we're starting almost at ground 0 because, since Patterson has been discredited so often--let me add the Green Lantern jacket fiasco that occurred on Filmjackets to your examples--that we really can't believe anything he said. Efforts like yours will go a lot to establishing a new, accurate history.

[IfAdventureHasAName]

Welcome to "Fortune and Glory", Mr. Alinger a.k.a. "ba100583". THANK YOU for the information you have provided. It is greatly appreciated. Looking forward to your future contributions to the board.

- - - Updated - - -

Welcome to the boards, and thanks for an informative first post. I agree that a lot of the established "history" of the gear is suspect at best. I've often said that I think we're starting almost at ground 0 because, since Patterson has been discredited so often--let me add the Green Lantern jacket fiasco that occurred on Filmjackets to your examples--that we really can't believe anything he said. Efforts like yours will go a lot to establishing a new, accurate history.

Well said, "Crismans". Well said.

[djd]

By far the most useful jacket research I've seen on any indy forums are the screen capture observations on this forum. A process made more accurate since the bluray releases. What this seems to show is that a very few jackets were actually used in the production which, again runs counter to the various fantastic takes on other forums. In the absence of documentation the eyes are the best guide!

[HENRY JONES JR.]

WELCOME! Please post more, and stay with us!

[indydude18]

I wonder if the "1 grey felt hat" is THE GREY FELT HAT! Awesome post! Thank you!

[Gunslinger]

Hi Brandon,

Great to have you here. IIRC there is a member who was there when Tony had the Raiders jacket - Tony threw it at him if I recall(?) - I'm pretty sure there would be some posts here about that.

Re: http://www.propstore.com/content/tun...ianajones.html - FANTASTIC STUFF!

[fifthchamber]

Very interesting stuff..

Thanks for the write up Mr. Alinger!!

I wonder what that would mean for the Expedition jacket then? If there wasn't a spare jacket used by the stunt crew that was kept, then.....What was the expedition based on? Nothing much more than eyeballs?

Either way, fascinating....Thanks for the post, and welcome to the forum...

[Gunslinger]

If I remember my fairy tales correctly, the whole story of the jacket that led to the Expedition was fabricated as well. Once we got enough pieces of the puzzle it became very clear Patterson was full of it there too. None of his notes made any sense when compared to anything else. IIRC someone examined a Wested replica, at best.