Bergman Armor -- myArmoury.com

Daniel Sullivan · Posted: Thu 29 Mar, 2012 2:34 pm Post subject: Bergman Armor

In February of 2009, I posted a bit of a personal story on The Celebrities With Swords thread. It concerned the armor made for Ingrid Bergman for her role in the 1948 production Joan of Arc. The most significant thing (to me) about this piece was that it was made by Leonard Henrich of the Metropolitan Museum. The armor was sold at an MGM auction many years ago for a small sum, reportedly less then $500. Many of us wondered what happened to it, who bought it, etc.

Last June, Debbie Reynolds auctioned of a good deal of her Hollywood memorabilia collection and the armor again surfaced. It sold for $50,000 + a buyer's premium (?) of $11000. Know nothing about the first photo (sans tassets), however the second and third photos were taken during the auction preview.

Cheers,
Dan

Gregory J. Liebau · Posted: Thu 29 Mar, 2012 5:01 pm Post subject:

Chris Gilman of Global Effects restored the armor for Debbie prior to the auction. Here's his thread on the subject.

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewto...id+bergman

-Gregory

Daniel Sullivan · Posted: Sat 31 Mar, 2012 8:55 am Post subject: Bergman Armor

Gregory,

Thanks for the information.

I was able to examine the armor in 1965. At that time It was owned by Berman Costumes located in hollywood. Other than a couple of missing finger pieces on the left gauntlet and a broken strap on the left (?) tasset, it was complete and in good shape.

Cheers,
Dan

Janice Minotti

My father was the person who created the armour for Ingrid Bergman in the movie. His name was Herman Vanderbush and He worked at Van's Metal, a company in southern california that made armour for a lot of movies.

His work is seen on the November 15, 1948 Life Magazine cover.

Ingrid's armour for the stage play might have been made by someone in New York but the movie armour was made by my dad.

He was a young man and told us stories about how her body double came in for the initial fittings and then he got to meet her.
We have the photos of those fittings as well as a lot of other movies including the Genghis Khan movies of the era.

A lot of fond memories for our family.

Jan

Mark Griffin · Posted: Sun 09 Mar, 2014 1:42 am Post subject:

People are too quick to dismiss 'Hollywood' (and by association any filmed historical effort across the world) but that's a great bit of work, your father has a good eye for the shape and look of the armour. Many 'armourers' working today would struggle to get it that right.

Janice Minotti · Posted: Sun 09 Mar, 2014 8:12 am Post subject: Joan of Arc Armour

Thank you Mark,
He was pretty old school. LOVED getting it right.

He worked as a sheet metal man and then a master machinist for his career. He was most proud of that armor and a US patent he got while working at Miller Brewing company.

Not so much for recognition but a personal affirmation that he got it right. Very humble man.

I used to get the greatest help on school projects.....people always assumed he did them for me.

What he gave me the ability to think about things. Greatest gift ever. Never understood it at the time.

The funniest story was some armour he was making for another film and the director wanted it to "Hug" the actress. Apparently it was to form fitting, a la Madonna-esque Bra / John Paul Gaultier.......Had to refit it several times. Director called it pornographic.

Also the personalities of Ingrid Bergman's male co stars.............apparently very diva. The body doubles came in for the fittings, big built guys and when the actor came in he wore a padded T-shirt to make him look muscular under his shirt and jacket.

Lots of good stories.

Chris Gilman · Posted: Mon 10 Mar, 2014 6:04 am Post subject:

Janice,
If your dad made a lot of Armour for film, I may have some of his work. I own Global Effects, a costume prop rental company in North Hollywood. We have a large number of Armour pieces from old films. Do you know what studios he worked for or have photos of his work?