Bewitched 1966
My Three Sons 1972
The Beverly Hillbillies 1966
I am guessing all these similar versions of The Brady Bunch horse indicate that they were wide spread, maybe cheaply made props, in line with the equestrian theme that was present in lots of mid-century decor.
(see other "horse" posts)
More nice finds of mysterious horse statuary in classic TV, thanks for sharing these!
ReplyDeleteDon't quote me on this but, in my research on the Brady horse I believe these horse statues are more in line with Asian influence than Equestrian in general.
The design of the saddle with the long saddle blanket underneath, the tassled chest and flank straps, the forehead decoration, and the bobbed tail all indicate that most of these horses are inspired by statuary and paintings of Chinese War Horses from the Tang Dynasty.
Asian or 'Oriental', as people called it at the time, decorating styles were trendy at different points in history, and I believe it was really popular for awhile in the 1950's. So it stands to reason prop houses would have bought up a bunch of them as pieces that show up well on set and stand out in a scene but yet not overwhelm it.
You see a lot of these mass produced horses that are very similar, even down to nearly the same pose (just not the 'exact' Brady horse statue) online on auction sites and vintage resellers a lot.
That doesn't mean some of the horses weren't prop only creations of course, but they were certainly plentiful at some point in mass market sales.