Hey, I never noticed that before....

[jaime]

They did THEN. Largely, that's what you see on screen: stock or rented props. Most everything else is an exception.

Studios of the time produced hundreds of programs a year, so they purchased or made lots of props. They also rented items from prop houses and, occasionally, other studios.

I’m just saying it’s not impossible Gene put his books on screen. Especially when budget was stretched.

 

[Maurice]

I’m just saying it’s not impossible Gene put his books on screen. Especially when budget was stretched.

Almost anything is possible, but likely? No.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Sometimes a bookshelf on screen will just be the bindings of hardcover books, without the actual books. The whole bookcase can be a prop that weighs nothing.

Interior decorators sometimes supplied books in real life to make the nouveau riche look cultivated. They would drive around to estate sales and whatnot just to snap up books by the yard. I'm sure set decorators did the same thing during the book era.

 

[Richard Baker]

When I was in retail advertising our store had shelf and desk/table props for display. Vacuformed shells painted to look like rows of books, computers, radios...
They looked real, even cĺose up

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]