Creating Breastplates for The Robe

Bidwell McCormick takes you behind the scenes in Hollywood. Very few of us have the time or opportunity to visit in and around the movie studios of Hollywood and actually see how motion pictures are made.

What really goes on before and after the cameras begin to grind. To talk with the stars, directors, artisans, the cameraman, authors, producers, script writers and stand-ins. To learn at first hand all the interesting and colorful things that bring a completed motion picture to your theater screen. These things, perhaps often just routine to the people who

make the pictures, open the doors to a new and fascinating world. So in this series, my associates and I will bring you the stories of the people of Hollywood and what transpires behind the scenes in the great motion picture studios. So to start with, Nathan Hale, will you please tell us what you have learned about the making of Frank Ross' production of the Rogue?

Well, here's a little side light on the robe, which is being filmed in Technicolor. Producer Ross needed some breastplates. You know the ancient battle garments the Romans used to wear for a scene in the picture.

After a long search, he finally found a metal worker who had both the time and the material. The cost estimate was $1,500 per breastplate, because each of them had to be handmade and producer Ross insisted there be authenticity in reproduction.

And since he'll need 20 pieces of this one kind of armament alone for his technical production of the robe, you can imagine how costs are going to soar. And speaking of Technicolor, it's interesting to note that color is as important to black and white photography as it is to Technicolor.