Crystal Balls in Film 2

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Crystal Balls in Film

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Crystal Balls in Film Part Two

When considering the subject of fortune telling, one is immediately hi with the generally agnostic or atheistic attitude toward any other form of spirituality or folk belief beyond extreme deference to Christianity (often in the form of Catholic devotionalism). Once the self-imposed film industry guidelines known as the Hays Code was instituted in 1934, not only was sexuality suppressed in cinema, but, with a few exceptions, actors from all ethnic minority cultures -- Jews , Blacks, Asians, Native Americans -- were mostly eliminated from leading roles and reduced to small comedy bits or set pieces as as villains or victims. Fortune tellers underwent the same degradation, and in very few post-Code films are the psychics truly psychic.

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  1932: "Film Title," starring Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy. Boris Karloff in "The Mask of Fu Manchu," with the large crystal ball also seen in "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Return of Chandu."
  Black and white publicity still.
  Genre: Horror.

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  1932: "The Mask of Fu Manchu," starring Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy. Boris Karloff in "The Mask of Fu Manchu." The set dressing shows the large crystal ball famous from "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Return of Chandu."
  Black and white photograph of set decoration.
  Genre: Horror.

During the Hays Code era, from 1934 to 1968, fortune tellers were generally portrayed as comedic bumblers, scamming fraudsters, or wicked villains -- and sometimes two of three in the same film. One favoured trope was the fraudulent fortune teller who is is surprised when a prediction actually comes true. Another stereotype was the fraudulent fortune teller who reforms in order to find love, or dies in the attempt. A third styling featured the evil "exotic" fortune teller, often Romani or Asian, who manipulates clients for monetary gain. A fourth concept was the wise elder who dons a costume and poses as a fortune teller to convey information to younger people in order to improve their lives.

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  1934: "The Return of Chandu (The Magician)," Episode 6: Chandu's False Step, starring Bela Lugosi, and Maria Alba: Dean Benton as Bob Regent, Bela Lugosi as Frank Chandler (Chandu), and Phyllis Ludwig as Betty Regent views the future in a small crystal ball.
  Sepia tone lobby card.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1934: "The Return of Chandu (The Magician)," Episode 6: Chandu's False Step, starring Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi as Frank Chandler, or Chandu, consults his slightly larger crystal ball.
  Black and white lobby card.
  Genre: Fantasy.

In addition to the cultural biases against fortune telling that permeated early to mid 20th century film, the portrayal of psychic readers faced other considerable barrier as a subject for film -- one that is a ludicrous byproduct of the filmic art itself: the tools of fortune telling are too small to film well! It sounds so silly, but think about it: cartomancy, palmistry, horoscopy, tasseomancy, dice reading, domino reading, and crystal gazing are table-top activities, and their tools generally fill a space from two inches square, for a small crystal ball to the size of a sheet of letter or legal paper, for a horoscope.

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  1934: "The Return of Chandu (The Magician)" starring Bela Lugosi and Maria Alba. Bela Lugosi as Frank Chandler (Chandu) charges up his giant crystal ball machine. This is said to have been the same large crystal ball prop seen in "The Wizard of Oz" from 1939.
  Black and white publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1934: "The Return of Chandu (The Magician)" starring Bela Lugosi and Maria Alba. In this poster the crystal ball has assumed huge proportions and vibrant colur, becoming an interesting example of the lure of supernormal stimuli.
  Colour poster.
  Genre: Fantasy.

What this means in terms of cinematic staging is that a wide view of a room will not disclose the c of these tools, and only a close-up will let the audience see them. But even then, how will uninformed viewers interpret the images? Will a tarot card of the 3 of pentacles be meaningful? How about the lines on the palm of an actr's hand (and what if the actor's lines do not crrespond to the nature of the character he is playing)? Can the roll of three dice be significant to a film-goer? The answer is, "No," and of all the popular methods of divining, only astrology looks good when blows up to the size of a wall chart. As for crystal balls -- too small, too reflective, too clear.

These problems were solved in various ways for various forms of fortune telling in cinema -- but for crystal balls, one coloution was obvious: BIGGER BALLS.

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Judy Garland and Frank Morgan. Dorothy Gale (Garland) approaches the travelling abode of Professor Marvels.
  Sepia tone publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Judy Garland and Frank Morgan: Judy Garland as Dorothy consults Professor Marvel with his crystal ball. Professor Marvel's small crystal ball prefigures the large one used by the Wicked Witch of the West.
  Sepia tone publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

In an earlier episode, on Crystal Balls in Art, which i titled Lovely Ladies and Their Little Balls, i presented gallery and commercial art that featured women holding small crystal spheres, ranging in size from 2" finger balls to 3" palm balls. Although these sometimes appear in film, they are more likely to be placed on a stalk-like sand than to be held in the hand. Far more common in cinema, however, are 4" and 5" table balls, placed in carved wood stands or cast brass stands of an Asian type.

But, as ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen demonstrated in like what T.N.C. Vidya calls "the curious phenomenon of exaggerated responses to supernormal stimuli in animals,"

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Judy Garland and Frank Morgan: Dorothy consults the professor. Professor Marvel's small crystal ball prefigures the large one used by the Wicked Witch of the West.
  Sepia tone publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton. The "Witches Tower" set from "The Wizard of Oz," showing the large crystal ball in place.
  Black and white publicity set decoration shot.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Judy Garland and Clara Blandick: Dorothy (Judy Garland) views Aunt Em (Clara Blandick) in the crystal ball.
  Colour and sepia tone publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton. Dorothy views the Wicked Witch of the West in the crystal ball.
  Colour publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

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  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Margaret Hamilton and Judy Garland. The Wicked Witch of the West (Hamilton) views Dorothy (Garland) and her companions in the crystal ball.
  Colour publicity still.
  Genre: Fantasy.

• 

  1939: "The Wizard of Oz," starring Margaret Hamilton. The Wicked Witch's crystal ball salvaged from a Hollywood junkyard.
  Colour documentary photo.
  Genre: Fantasy.

See Also

Lovely Ladies and Their Little Balls

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catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
Your Wate and Fate

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Special thanks to my dear husband and creative partner nagasiva yronwode for illustrations, scans, and clean-ups.

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