Who was the manufacturer for the TOS Galileo chairs? Any information is appreciated.
TOS Shuttlecraft chairs
- Thread starter ChallengerHK
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They're similar to some 1950's - 1960's bucket chairs but, don't seem to match up with anything in particular. Most of the ones that seem similar in overall shape don't have such wide armrests.
Of course, the base used would not be standard to any off the shelf chairs.
Of course, the base used would not be standard to any off the shelf chairs.
I think I recall reading that they bought the chairs commercially but swapped the bases out.
I recall reading somewhere that they were military surplus, but I’m not 100% positive about that.
This answer a lot of questions for me:
https://filmandfurniture.com/2014/11/startrek-tulip-chair/
https://filmandfurniture.com/2014/11/startrek-tulip-chair/
Burke chairs were definitely used all over the regular sets, along with some other classic "mid-century modern" pieces. If you look at the front view of the seats in the Galileo though, the arms are MUCH wider than those on a Burke Tulip arm chair:
They were fiberglass chairs made by Gene Winfield who is the same guy who built the shuttlecraft for TOS. He was a custom car maker who also did the Jupiter 8 vehicle used in the episode "Bread and Circuses". He still has the molds for the original chairs.
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Are you saying that Gene Winfield built chairs in addition to the Burke chairs, or in place of the Burke chairs? Do you have any references?
He's saying that they were custom for the job. If you look at the bottom of the one on the right front of that screenshot, you don't see any sign of a place to mount a conventional stand (i.e. something typical for such chairs). Gene created the design based on existing chairs but, unique...
Makes sense. The chairs in the conference rooms were Burke, though, correct?
I believe so - there are some odd chairs that appear from time to time that are not from Burke of Dallas.
The upholstered chair used by the Romulan commander in "The Enterprise Incident" being one example.
The upholstered chair used by the Romulan commander in "The Enterprise Incident" being one example.
Joe Colombo Elda Chair
That's good to know.
The chairs in the shuttlecraft were not Burke chairs, they were custom made. The information came first-hand from Gene W. himself but I'm sure you can find a reference on the internet. There were two types of Burke chairs used in Star Trek, the 115 model which were the most common but also the 116 model was used. The 116 is the one with the arms built into the chair shell (the 115 is armless). I hope that helps!
Helps quite a bit, thanks. I take it that the 116s were used in the briefing room, the bar on K-7, and things like that?
There were only a few 116's. There was typically 1 in the briefing room that Kirk sat in and they were also regularly seen in the crew quarters. They were occasionally seen in other places like the witness stand in "Court Martial" and a few other episodes. The chairs in the K-7 bar were a different chair but I don't remember the 116 there but I may be mistaken; there may have been one in there.
If I'm not mistaken the black, padded, extended back rests were added to the Burke chairs. There is one scene (in an episode that I can't recall exactly) where the one of these back rests falls off during a fight or an attack.
Correct, the episode you refer to is "By Any Other Name" during the fight scene in the rec room.
I will check that out.
Yeah, looking at the shuttlecraft chairs as closely as I can, I'd hazard a guess that they used some Burke chairs to make molds, either layed them up in black or painted them black, then modified the base and added the arm rests. It really looks like exactly the same form, as far as I can tell.
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