1952 · Gottlieb
Chinatown
Night-time chinese harbour/street scene, painted blue sky with dark clouds, green-tiled stone staircase, blue wall with green arched window alcoves, roofed gateway pavilion at mid-left and rock/cave arch behind the staircase.
- Year
- 1952
- Maker
- Gottlieb
- Type
- Electro-mechanical
- Display
- Backglass lights
- Players
- 1
Made by
- Design
- Wayne Neyens
- Art
- Roy Parker
Vision analysis
On the backglass
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- blue
- red
- green
- yellow
Fingerprint: CHINATOWN with red-and-cream seven-tiered pagoda left edge, green tiled staircase, hula dancer in yellow sequined costume, cascade of cloud-shaped value panels.
The most memorable feature is a bright green-tiled staircase running up the centre of the glass, with a hula-dancer-style woman in a yellow sequined two-piece costume and feathered headpiece posed halfway up it, one arm thrown overhead, and a man in a red-and-gold Chinese jacket standing above her. Second, a tall red pagoda scoreboard on the right headed POINTS with a pink 30 and yellow 3. Third, a cascade of coloured cloud-shaped value panels stepping down from 900 000 at the top right to 100 000 at the lower left, over the arched cream CHINATOWN title. Fourth, a red-and-cream seven-tiered pagoda down the left edge numbered 1 to 7, and a large yellow gong at the lower left that a man in a maroon cap appears to be striking.
Setting
- Night-time chinese harbour/street scene
- Painted blue sky with dark clouds
- Green-tiled stone staircase
- Blue wall with green arched window alcoves
- Roofed gateway pavilion at mid-left
- Rock/cave arch behind the staircase
Symbols
- Seven-tiered pagoda numbered 1-7
- Value clouds 100 000 to 900 000
- Large yellow gong and stand
- Arched gateway pavilion with green tiled roof
- Red hanging lantern
- Two white geese in a blue vase
- Rock arch or cave mouth
- Score tower with pagoda roof
Lettering
- Small white sans-serif capitals for gottlieb's; very large arched cream/tan slab-serif capitals with red and dark-blue drop shadows for chinatown; block sans-serif numerals inside coloured cloud panels; red outlined white block letters on a blue signboard for points; red script signature logo at bottom right on a white oval plaque.
Themes
- Chinese orientalist scene
- Pagoda
- Night street
- Dancers
- Gong
- Score ladder
- Staircase
Title on it
- Chinatown
Text on it
- GOTTLIEB'S
- CHINATOWN
- 900 000
- 800 000
- 700 000
- 600 000
- 500 000
- 400 000
- 300 000
- 200 000
- 100 000
- POINTS
- 30
- 3
- 7
- 6
- 5
- 4
- 2
- 1
- A PRODUCT OF
- Gottlieb & Co.
- MFG. CHICAGO
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Woman | Centre, on the staircase: asian-featured woman in a yellow sequined two-piece costume with red trim, bare midriff and bare legs, white bracelets, tall feathered headdress with red and white plumes, one arm raised overhead, other hand on hip, dancing pose. |
| Woman | Upper right, on the top landing of the stairs: woman in a red top and yellow skirt/trousers with a tall crown or headdress, arms out to the sides, standing on a red-draped platform. |
| Man | Mid-right on the staircase: man with black hair in a red jacket covered in gold/yellow dragon-like patterning, dark trousers, standing facing forward. |
| Man | Lower left: man seen from behind/side in a maroon cap and green patterned shirt, arm raised towards a large upright yellow gong in a red stand. |
| Other | Right edge, lower: partial figure with a raised arm in a white/cream sleeve with red trim, hand open. |
| Other | Two small seated figures in green arched window alcoves in the blue background wall, left of centre, wearing blue and red garments. |
| Other | Small figure on a balcony/roof of the pavilion at mid-left, near the gong. |
A square, brightly coloured backglass printed with a flat, hand-inked comic/poster style (flat colour fills, heavy black outlines, no shading gradients). Layout: a red-and-cream multi-tiered pagoda runs down the entire left edge, its storeys lettered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 from bottom to top, and the pagoda's yellow curved roof caps the top-left corner. Across the top, small white capitals read GOTTLIEB'S above a huge arched title CHINATOWN in cream/tan block letters with red and dark-blue drop shadows, slanting upward to the right. Below the title hang coloured cloud-shaped value panels in descending steps: 900 000 (yellow, far right), 800 000 and 700 000 (dark red/maroon), 600 000 (purple), 500 000 (yellow), 400 000 (red), 300 000 (brown-red), 200 000 and 100 000 (green, lower left). On the right is a tall red pagoda-roofed score tower headed POINTS in red-outlined white on a blue signboard, with a pink 30, a yellow 3, and a green striped lower section above a blue vase holding two white geese. In the centre, a green-tiled staircase rises from bottom centre to upper right, where a woman in a yellow-and-red sequined costume stands on a landing. Below her a man in a red-and-gold patterned jacket stands on the stairs, and a woman dancer in a yellow two-piece costume with red trim and a feathered headdress raises one arm. Lower left a man in a green patterned shirt and maroon cap faces a large yellow gong. Small figures sit in green arched window alcoves in the blue background wall.