#original props

[nowherepubliclibrary]

"Toon Kills Man" (Los Angeles Chronicle, August 15, 1947)

HEADLINE: "Toon Kills Man" (August 15, 1947) TITLE: Los Angeles Chronicle ORIGIN: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (movie, directed by Robert Zemeckis, 1988)

The murder of Marvin Acme, owner of the Acme Corporation and of Toontown, was a watershed moment in Hollywood history and in human-toon relations. Though photos taken by private investigator Eddie Valiant of Acme playing patty-cake with Jessica Rabbit, wife of Maroon Cartoon Studios star Roger Rabbit, implicated Roger as the culprit (as chronicled here), further investigation by Valiant revealed that the actual murderer was Judge Doom, under whose jurisdiction Toontown fell. Doom — who turned out to be a toon disguised as a human and whose true identity has never been discovered — killed Acme as part of a plot to gain ownership of Toontown, with the intent of destroying it to build a new freeway via his company Cloverleaf Industries. This issue is notable not only for the event that it covers and its false accusation against Roger Rabbit, but also for contradicting its own subheadline by accidentally providing evidence of the existence of Acme's will, which he long had stated would leave Toontown to the toons themselves.

I. Periodicals — Newspapers — Los Angeles (1900-1949) II. Archives — Crime reporting — Homicide III. Plot points — A clue! — Zoom in

Another special request, from one of my all-time favorite movies! This is another original prop sold by PropstoreAuction in spring 2025. Note that Jessica looks pretty different here from how she actually looks in the movie, because they changed her design between filming the live-action footage and animating the toon characters. Interestingly, though, the photo prints we see close up in the film show a Jessica much closer to her final iconic form, likely because they filmed this shot later specifically to better match her updated design.

Also of note is the fact that, other than the headlines, captions, and introductory paragraph, all the text appears to be copy from a real newspaper, though from completely unrelated real-world stories. In addition, apparently some people spell (and pronounce?) the word "drought" as "drouth," which was news to me.

Screenshot:

ENHANCE:

Updated Jessica:

As a gif because why not:

[nowherepubliclibrary]

Isle of Naboombu

TITLE: Isle of Naboombu AUTHOR: Unknown ORIGIN: Bedknobs and Broomsticks (movie, 1971, directed by Robert Stevenson, and screenplay by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi)

Many centuries ago, the great wizard Astoroth imprisoned and experimented on animals to make them more humanlike. His creations rebelled, killing him and stealing the Star of Astoroth, a medallion inscribed with the five mystical words that comprise the spell of Substitutiary Locomotion, which imbues inanimate objects with a life force of their own. The animals all fled to the island of Naboombu, where they set up their own kingdom in which no humans are allowed. Reportedly, a shipwrecked Asian sailor in the 1600s saw the legendary island ruled by talking animals while adrift in the Pacific, but the story could not be confirmed. The island appears on no charts, and despite lifetimes of searching by motivated individuals has never been found, and it has even been stated to exist in a different world entirely from this one.

Anyway, this children's picture book, found in an English mansion in 1940, contains up-to-date information on the island, its inhabitants (down to individuals), laws and customs, and a fully accurate rendition of the Star of Astoroth, despite having been published 36 years earlier.

I. Picture books — Animals (funny) — Mostly African II. Children's books — Fantasy lands — Real after all III. Plot navigators — Tomes of exposition — Inexplicably attained knowledge

This is an image of the original prop from the movie, held by the Walt Disney Archives and occasionally put on display at, for instance, the biennial D23 official Disney fan convention. This specific image came from Twitter user Turbomac, who has apparently deleted their account since I found their picture.

Incidentally, these "muslin books" were a real thing in children's books from the time period. You can see a real-life example here, including a back-cover ad for more books in the series.

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Original prop:

[nowherepubliclibrary]

Six Feet Under Par: A Chip Driver Mystery

TITLE: Six Feet Under Par: A Chip Driver Mystery AUTHOR: Brent Norwalk ORIGIN: The Good Place (television show, episode 4x6, “Chapter 45: A Chip Driver Mystery,” 2019)

Half spy novel, half murder mystery, half submarine adventure, half erotic memoir, half political thriller, half golf tutorial, and half commentary on society, this masterful work by posthumous would've-been-bestselling author Brent Norwalk stars Chip Driver —detective, golf player, Chicago Bears quarterback, and the world's strongest president — as he investigates the murder of the beautiful Scarlet Pakistan, who had brown eyes as brown as the brownest crayon and legs like Jessica Rabbit from that movie. After he solves it on page 10, the rest of the book is there too. Any sexist and/or racist resemblance to other residents of The Good Place, not-living or dead, is purely coincidental.

I. Fiction — Mystery — Sports-themed II. Vanity projects — Ego stroking (self) — Thinly-veiled fictionalization III. Character illumination — Extreme entitlement — Completely unearned

This is an original prop, taken from the official NBC Good Place Instagram (via Ted Danson's Twitter, which I'm not linking to because of the fascism [Twitter's, not Ted's]), which also shows a few interior pages that have both passages from the books and bits of the episode script written as prose, with the show's characters reacting to the passages.

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Original prop:

[nowherepubliclibrary]

Some New Beginnings: Our Next American Journey

TITLE: Some New Beginnings: Our Next American Journey AUTHOR: Dan Egan Selina Meyer ORIGIN: Veep (television show, episode 3x1, "Some New Beginnings," 2014)

"Freedom is what this nation is built on… And freedom means the freedom to choose how to use that freedom to protect the freedom of others."

As our second in command, Meyer has established herself in D.C. as a fervent reformer, throwing aside the staunch fortress of political standard, impelling drastic changes other politicians only hollowly promised. Here for the first time are her ghostwriter's thoughts and visions on the important topics pertinent to the future of our country. Called "jaw-dropping" by People and "exactly the book we have all been expecting" by New York Magazine, it is sure to speak to the common people of our great nation, such as caucus-goers in Iowa. A complex, very enjoyable read about global issues, called Some New Beginnings because it's plural. God bless you, etc.

I. Memoirs — Politicians — Presidents, Vice (US) II. Political writings — Populism — Vacuous III. Vanity projects — Publicity stunts — I feel your pain

This came from a genuine prop copy of the book that was put up for auction at PropstoreAuction.com, and was presumably one of the many used in Selena's book-signing scene. Inside the dust jacket, the book itself is apparently a copy of The Curse of the Labrador Duck (2009) by ornithologist Glen Chilton, which looking it up honestly sounds like a book right up my alley.

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Original prop:

[nowherepubliclibrary]

Vampyr, aka The Slayer Handbook

TITLE: Vampyr, aka the Slayer's Handbook AUTHOR: Members of the Watchers Council, with later additions by others ORIGIN: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (television show, episode 1x1, "Welcome to the Hellmouth," 1997)

This tome, first compiled far back in the mists of history, was the first and most complete attempt to record and codify the laws of the magical world. As its title suggests, it was originally a study of vampires specifically, but its scope has since increased dramatically. Its role as a mere record has likewise changed, becoming tied to the laws of magic themselves to the degree that the pages became blank when magic was erased from the Earth (a long story of arguable canonicity), and slowly rewritten when magic returned. During this time, it even gained the ability to change the laws of magic themselves based on anything written onto its pages. It is unclear if this property extended to all copies of the Handbook, or just to the particular one we have on loan from Watcher Rupert Giles.

I. Handbooks and manuals — Jobs and workplaces — The Chosen One II. Reference — Spellbooks and grimoires (neutral) — Complete magical compendia III. Plot navigators — Tomes of exposition — So what are we dealing with here?

Hey, look, I'm still doing this thing! This image came from the original prop, fixed up a little bit to re-cover the overtly religious words giving away that the prop was made from an old Bible (The Pictorial Bible from 1875, to be specific, according to an unsourced statement on the Buffy wiki article.)

Oh, and just so we're all on the same page: fuck Joss Whedon.

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Promo image:

Original prop:

[elvirashauntedhills]

Hellraiser 2: Hellbound, Severed screen-used Clive Barker props Hellraiser and Nightbreed

[chmop]

Star Wars Identities Exhibition @ La cité du cinéma, Paris