Rowdy Yates and co-stars original Opening Credits Busts Auction

Rowdy Yates and co-stars original Opening Credits Busts Auction

I was recently informed about this rather special auction by Julien's Auctions. It forms part of their GUNSMOKE & WESTERN LEGENDS AUCTION which takes place in Gardena, California on November 15th. It was Lot 292 which left my jaw firmly on the floor…

Description

A group of three original painted plaster busts used in the opening credits of the series Rawhide (CBS Television Network Productions, 1959-65), each on a wooden base. The busts appear in the seventh season, and represent Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates, Paul Brinegar as Wishbone, and Eric Fleming as Gil Favor. Together with photos of Eastwood, Yates and Brinegar posing for the sculptures for sculptor Pamela Simpson, one of Simpson's preliminary sketches for the Clint Eastwood sculpture in pencil on tracing paper, and additional vintage production photographs of Eastwood, Yates, and Brinegar which Simpson used when designing the pieces.

On the credits sequence, the characters morph into their busts, which appear next to the actors’ names. 

The busts were designed and cast by Pamela Simpson for Pacific Title and Art Studio, a company specializing in making title cards for films and television. Simpson was an award-winning sculptor in Simi Valley, California who also designed sculptures for Mervyn Leroy’s film A Majority of One (Warner Bros., 1961). 

Accompanied by xerograph copies of Simpson’s original Pacific Title and Art Studio invoices for the sculptures dated 7/6/1964, an invoice to C.B.S. Studio Center for “rental of three sculptured heads, used for ‘Rawhide’ titles” dated September 25, 1964, an issue of TV Times (the Los Angeles Time TV guide supplement) featuring a picture of Simpson working on Paul Brinegar's bust while he poses, and an article about Simpson from the Simi Valley Enterprise Sun & News from June 22, 1966 mentioning her work on Rawhide.

Accompanied by a DVD of season seven of the television series.

Dimensions

Clint Eastwood bust: 18 x 10 x 10 inches; Eric Fleming bust: 17 x 10 x 10 inches; Paul Brinegar bust: 16.25 x 10 x 10 inches

Provenance from the Estate of Pamela Simpson

Est: $6,000 USD - $8,000 USD

What a fabulous collection, I could just see them on my shelves – and in my dreams of course!

My thanks to Davy Triumph

Below: The opening credits for season 7 of Rawhide which incorporated the busts