Nearly 200 Iconic Movie Props On Display At Smithsonian National Museum Of American History

Jason Fraley, WWTO, Smithsonian Props (Part 1)

Oscar week kicked off Sunday night with the 95th Academy Awards.

You can celebrate props from the Oscar-winning film at the Smithsonian's National Museum of History as part of the new third-floor exhibit Entertainment Nation, which opened in December and will change in at least 20 years.

"This is the museum's first permanent exhibit dedicated to the history of entertainment, music and sports," curator Ryan Lintelman told WWTO. "This is part of the country's history. They are no different from political and military events, shaping our conversation about what is happening in the world and our understanding of ourselves.

The nearly 200 items include Dorothy's glittering ruby red slippers from the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow," which was voted the greatest film score of all time by the American Motion Picture Institute .

"One of the things people ask for the most is the ruby shoe," Lintelman said. “The pair we have is one of four that survived the production of the film... These are some of the slippers that Judy Garland wore while filming the film. This is the holy grail of movie props; most valuable movie prop; the most famous pair of slippers.

The exhibition features a branded box set from Sylvester Stallone's Rocky (1976), which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won three awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Editing for a non-grossing film of the year. . The film's pop culture legacy will live on this weekend as the ninth installment of Creed III dominates the box office.

"This is the first Italian riding suit that Stallone wore in the first Rocky," Lintelman said. “There's a really iconic Samrock Meat ad. We decorated it with a mannequin to make it look like Rocky was in the room with you. The movie came out of nowhere and won Best Picture, beating out all the movies, The Servants of the President, The Network, and Taxi Driver."

This year's Oscar nominees Steven Spielberg (The Fablemans) and James Cameron (Avatar: Waterway) had supporting actors at the show. Visitors can see the Amber Mosquito from Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993), which won three engineering Oscars, and Cameron's Alliance (1986), which won two engineering Oscars.

"One of the props that has impressed people the most since they've been in the exhibit is the amber insects from the original Jurassic Park that extract DNA to create dinosaurs," Lintelman said. We also have this giant cute egg from the Alien franchise.

For Star Wars fans, the exhibit features drones dressed as R2-D2 and C-3PO from Return of the Jedi (1983). In 1977, The Original won six Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Costume Design, Sound, Cinematography, Visual Effects and Original Score, as well as a special award for Alien, Creature and Robot Voice Creation.

"They are larger than the life-like droids used in the movies," Lintelman said. "When you see them, you can't believe they're in front of you, but these are the clothes worn by the actors who played them. . . . They're rarely seen."

Other film elements include Irving Berlin's uniform cap in the war musical This Army (1943), Bette Davis' famous love coat in Now Voyager (1942); Original drawings from the original Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie (1928); And the original Kermit puppet from Jim Henson's Sam and Friends before the Muppets were created.

More details can be found here.

Jason Fraley, WWTO, Smithsonian Props (Part 2)

Listen to our full interview here.