Mental Floss

The Quick 10: 10 Things at the Warner Brothers Museum

One of the surprising highlight of my trip last week was a tour of the Warner Brothers backlots. I've done studio tours before and I've never been all that impressed. But this one was pretty cool, if not just for the access to the Warner Brothers Museum at the end of the tour. You couldn't take pictures, so I don't have any personal shots to show, but rest assured that it was amazing. Most of the costumes and props weren't enclosed in glass, so you could get quite up close and personal (without touching anything, mind you). Here are a few of the things we got to see.

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lisa marie
lisa marie
hat
hat

5. Oscars and Oscar envelopes for some of Warner's films, including The Life of Emile Zola, Casablanca, My Fair Lady and The Jazz Singer. The latter didn't actually win Best Picture, but Warner Brothers was given an Oscar for creating the first "talkie." I thought the Oscar envelopes "“ the ones the presenters rip open to announce the category winners "“ were pretty interesting. I guess I had romanticized it in my head to be some sort of an engraved, ornate card in the envelope with very elaborate scrolling script. But no "“ it's a plain piece of cardstock with the winner written at the very top of the card (makes sense, then the presenter doesn't have to fumble with pulling the whole thing out of the envelope) in all capital, Courier-like font.

james dean
james dean
piano
piano

9. The costumes from 300. And they were quite small. If you think Gerard Butler was digitally touched up to look as good as he looked as a Spartan, I think you're wrong "“ to even fit into those costumes the actors surely had to have been seriously in shape.

central perk
central perk

I am kicking myself for not taking notes on everything I saw "“ it was totally impossible to see everything in just 15 minutes. And kudos to Warner Brothers for making the stuff fairly accessible "“ they could easily have it all stored away in the dark somewhere for preservation purposes, but instead they keep it available to the public. Has anyone else ever taken this tour? What did you see that I didn't? I would love to know.