The Beverly Hillbillies, MAX BAER,JR.- Jethro Bodine's CRYSTAL BALL- Beverly Hillbillies THE SPIRITUALIST Turhan Bey

original movie prop

This is the original prop "crystal ball" used on the TV classic THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, episode #196 "CRYSTAL GAZERS", where Granny and Jethro make attempts to predict the future.

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This prop was part of the rental stock of the formal Ellis Props and Graphics, and was a rental unit for at least 30 years. At some point, it was dropped and damaged (the gouge in the ball attests to this!), breaking off the top tier of the pedestal and then (somewhat sloppily) reattached by Ellis propmakers.

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The ball is slick and smooth as glass and surprisingly heavy, being made from clear lexan or acrylic material. This old and unusual composition (WWII; 1940s/50s) makes it a prop created and pre-dating its HILLBILLIES appearance- and was used in dozens of other Hollywood productions when a crystal ball was needed through Ellis rentals. It was stored with the Ellis' "horror" props, and having personally gone through Ellis' old stock at the time, this was their oldest and largest crystal ball at the time of their closing, in 1999-2000. The "crystal" has clouded a bit over the decades, but is still in pretty good shape for its age and still has a bit of a haunted appearance. Ellis Props and Graphics/Ellis Mechantile was located on LaBrea in Los Angeles, within a few short blocks of where HILLBILLIES was shot at General Service on LaBrea. It was Hollywood's oldest and largest prop house, and finally shut its doors when prop rental became less profitable for the owners, due in part because many productions are now shot in Canada and other locales, where production costs are much lower.

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This piece was also used in (and probably made for) the 1948 Columbia Motion Picture THE SPIRITUALIST (aka AMAZING MR. X) starring Turhan Bey as The Spiritualist/mentalist. He starred in some of the Universal "Mummy" movies. It was constucted so a light could shine through from the bottom, making the ball "glow".

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I BUY/SELL /COLLECT great old props...contact email- "mondo.memories@sbcglobal.net"

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* * SEE my other genuine, ORIGINAL props and costumes you will recognize... from TV classics like THE MUNSTERS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY (including the actual POLAR BEAR from the Addams' living room), PRISON BREAK, THE 1930s THREE STOOGES, ROD SERLING TWILIGHT ZONE and much more.

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