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1952 · Williams

Twenty Grand

Blue patterned curtain backdrop, flat green stage floor, yellow oval spotlight patch and red top banner with white stars.

Year
1952
Maker
Williams
Type
Electro-mechanical
Display
Backglass lights
Players
1

Made by

Design
Harry Williams
Art
George Molentin

Vision analysis

On the backglass

Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.

Twenty Grand backglass

Backglass

  • blue
  • green
  • red
  • yellow

Fingerprint: twenty grand: Wooden three-board sign reading TWENTY FIVE TWO centered, two rows of colored score windows below title, nine star-shaped bonus plaques across middle, six performers including man at microphone and woman with plaid skirt gesturing, yellow television camera at right, blue curtain backdrop with spotlight

Distinctive

The central feature is a rough three-plank wooden sign nailed together, its boards painted orange, blue and purple, carrying TWENTY / FIVE / TWO in tall white capitals, with heavy rust-coloured scuffing streaking down its right edge onto the floor. A yellow television news camera intrudes at the bottom right corner with the letters TV painted on its side, aimed at the performers, which makes the whole scene read as a live TV broadcast. Two long slanted rows of multicoloured numbered windows (1-9 and 100-900) span the full width directly under the title, and an arc of nine coloured starbursts marked with five-digit scores fills the blue curtain background.

Setting

  • Blue patterned curtain backdrop
  • Flat green stage floor
  • Yellow oval spotlight patch
  • Red top banner with white stars

Symbols

  • Nine five-pointed starburst bonus plaques
  • Microphone
  • Television camera
  • Wooden plank sign
  • Spotlight oval

Lettering

  • Large yellow sans-serif block capitals with black outline for the title; yellow cursive script with black outline for the maker word at upper left; white hand-painted capitals on the central wooden boards

Themes

  • Television broadcast
  • Talent contest
  • Variety show
  • Song and dance
  • Retro entertainment

Title on it

  • Twenty grand

Text on it

  • Williams
  • TWENTY GRAND
  • MILLIONS
  • THOUSANDS
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 100
  • 200
  • 300
  • 400
  • 500
  • 600
  • 700
  • 800
  • 900
  • 10000
  • 20000
  • 40000
  • 60000
  • 80000
  • 90000
  • 30000
  • 50000
  • 70000
  • TWENTY
  • FIVE
  • TWO
  • TV
Who and what
Kind Description
Man Blond adult man in a red suit jacket and red tie, standing at a chrome floor microphone, holding a white sheet of paper in his left hand, looking towards the woman beside him
Woman Blond adult woman in a red short-sleeved blouse and a blue-and-red plaid knee-length skirt, white heels, right hand raised with index finger up, left hand at her hip
Woman Black-haired woman in a knee-length yellow dress standing behind the pair, partly hidden
Woman Woman in a red dress seated at a small table with a man in a dark suit, left background
Woman Brunette woman in a sleeveless red-and-white vertically striped dress with white collar, standing near the green floor
Woman Blond woman with curled hair in a bright green puff-sleeved blouse and purple trousers, one hand on hip, standing at the right edge
Vehicle Yellow boxy television camera with grey lens barrel and control knob, entering from the bottom right corner
Other Chrome standing microphone on a round base, left of centre
Full description

Rectangular painted backglass in flat cartoon/poster style. A red top banner scattered with white stars carries a yellow script word at upper left and large yellow block capitals outlined in black reading TWENTY GRAND across the top. Below, two slanted rows of coloured score windows run across the width: a row labelled MILLIONS with boxes 1 through 9, each numeral in a different colour on a contrasting panel, and a row labelled THOUSANDS with 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900. The backdrop is a blue curtain-like field with repeating pale vertical dashes, over a flat green stage floor with a yellow oval spotlight. Nine star-shaped bonus plaques in red, purple, yellow and green arc across the middle. A wooden three-board sign in the centre reads TWENTY, FIVE, TWO in white capitals on orange, blue and purple panels. Six human figures: a blond man in a red suit at a chrome microphone holding paper, a blond woman in a red blouse and blue-red plaid skirt gesturing, a black-haired woman in a yellow dress, a seated couple, a woman in a red-and-white striped dress, and a blond woman in a green blouse and purple trousers beside a yellow television camera marked TV.