Two amazing pieces from the stop motion animation feature Corpse Bride (Warner Bros., 2005) will be available in the upcoming Hollywood Auction.
AUCTION PREVIEW: “Victor Van Dort” and “Emily the Corpse Bride” hero puppets are being offered as a set.
The “Victor” puppet, tall and thin (nearly 19” tall), is brandishing a barbeque fork and looking quite dapper. “Emily” is truly magnificent, beautiful, and macabre, nearly as tall as “Victor” with her veil and train flowing out behind her and bouquet in a skeletal hand. Unlike the newer, replaceable face puppets, both bride and groom have a “Gear and Paddle” internal mechanism allowing intricate movements of the faces to be manipulated and controlled via the turning of a tiny screw concealed in the puppets’ heads. The screw moves a complicated system of gears that activates a paddle to achieve lifelike expressions. Both puppets are still quite supple and poseable. Both figures also include more than two-dozen additional expression-changing eyelids each.
I was fortunate to get to spend a good part of a day with the movie’s director Mike Johnson, who brought these pieces personally to the Heritage headquarters in Dallas. Mike worked with Jonas in photography, posing the figures and telling stories the whole time. Not many figures survived in such good shape as they would wear out when filming the scenes. These two “hero” figures were saved by Mike and have remained in his care since filming concluded. They’ve never been offered for sale.
In the movie, Emily says “I’ve spent so long in the darkness, I’d almost forgotten how beautiful the moonlight is.” Now you can take her and Victor out of the darkness and show them your moonlight.
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