Undressing Bogie

Disrobed Humphrey today. Taking great care to preserve the clothes as they may in themselves be antiques. Although most people were interested in how anatomically correct he was, I was more concerned about his collapsing shins. At least that’s my story.

First the suspenders, then the tie, carefully photographing each. The shirt was heavily stained from time and the odd cup of coffee it appeared. Quite surprised to see an Arrow Arden label on the shirt …popular in the 50's and 60s in the US.

The tie was very telling though: 100% Acetate imported fibre, complete with an ancient Woolco tag stapled to it. Woolco was the Target or Walmart of the 70’s here in Victoria. Seems unlikely therefore that Humphrey came dressed from his creator - at least not the tie.

Linda had mentioned they had long lost his pinstriped jacket, but his blue pinstriped (and heavily faded) pants had no tags that I could find. Likely a Woolco suit too.

I then thought, I’d better carefully check his pockets too. Thinking I should wear gloves lest there be a wolf spider in wait, I couldn’t wait and carefully began rifling through his pockets. Lo-and Behold, in his rear left pant pockets I found another wax finger!

Comparing the new finger with the two loose ones Linda gave me; it was difficult to tell which ones were original. I did know Bogie only had 10 fingers, not 11, so one either was a skilfully carved replacement by the expert hands of Barrie McClung, or maybe somewhere there was another wax figure that came from the Classic Car Museum missing a finger. It appeared that he had also lost some from his left hand; I’m not entirely convinced the correct ones were reinstalled. …Time will tell.

I began daydreaming that if these clothes had no historical value, and dry-cleaning certainly wouldn’t restore them anyway, that with my costume connections in filmmaking, and also many talented tailors in India, I could have a replica suit made exactly like that he wore in Casablanca.

Anyway, as I was unable to remove his pants completely due to his feet being securely bolted to the steel base-plate, I simply untied the rope serving as a belt and dropped them to his feet.

Interesting that he was wearing size 40 Healthknit long johns underneath complete with the butt-flap. I felt like I was standing behind Al Swearengen on the TV Series Deadwood.

The long johns were a brand popular in the 40's (which might help date the figure) and appeared to have become stuck in places over time to his primarily fiberglass body.

On his chest two rust spots on the Long-johns turned out to be from steel wire holding his internal skeletal structure to his fiberglass chest plate. There was also what looked like vermiculite on his shoulders, likely asbestos. Perhaps filler or patching of some kind?

Anyway, I was able to carefully remove his Long Johns down to his waist but no further safely, as they were sealed to his wrists with what looked like self expanding insulating foam. I was able to see that the shape of his abdomen and his butt was that of an older thin gentleman, as a former student of life drawing, this was quite a well done sculpture anatomically, really.

There were also many numbers and notes scribbled on his body under layers of fiberglass, I presume assisting in putting him together, or more likely once built, cut him apart to install the skeletal structure. The back had a wide rounded rectangular cut that was sealed back up and the front was cut in a Y shape similar to how an autopsy cut would be.

I rolled the Long-Johns up from his ankles (and black socks) to just above his knees exposing his broken shins. Here was my first proof this was in fact Bogie ...or at least his body, "Bogart" clearly marked on each shin. Anyway, on to the broken shins - seems there was a hole about 3”x4” below each knee exposing a threaded bolt and nut inside that must be the way to take off the base-plate. There is no evidence of these bolts on the underside of the base, so they must be very well welded to the plate under his dress shoes.

The holes, it seems, were the weak link, making the legs unable to support the forward weight of the body and head and eventually bowed and began to collapse.

How on earth would I fix or reinforce this so that I can still get at the bolts when needed and not do any permanent damage to the figure in the process? I decided I had better sleep on it.