Posted by Mike Jackson on October 16, 2003
Not long after our discussions about the signs in Costner's recent movie Open Range, I heard from Rick Janzen. He sent a grouping of photos from the movie set for me to include on this site. If you didn't get a chance to see the movie, try to catch it before it goes away.
According to Rick, the sign above was on flat wood with imitation gold lettering and smalts background, along with a distressed wooden frame.
You can see a bunch more photos by clicking on the link below. There are a lot of photos, all large, so please be patient. I didn't want to try to make them smaller since we are usually wanting to see more details.
Thanks to Rick and also Dan Sawatsky who put me in contact with him.
http://www.theletterheads.com/lhparts/openrange.html
Mike Jackson
Mail Order Doctor Signs - Mike Jackson
Rick JanzenHi again,
Danny Baronian made the comment that this sign might have been "too good" for a small town sign company. Would a small town western sign company have the milling machines to make that sign?
I think Kent Smith's comments pretty well answer that question. Here are a few lines from his previous post:
"There were catalogue houses where you could order fancy signs. The Hotel De Paris in Georgetown, CO had a glass sign ordered from NY in the 1860's which Dad restored 100 years later. There are many other examples in the mining towns around here. Many doctors ordered their shingles from some outfit in Pennsylvania, I think Serber had some examples of those too. One could order signs from Sear and Wards "
If this movie had a true story line, then I would bet the doctor ordered his sign "back east" when he was graduating from medical school. He would have packed it up and taken it out west. That would explain the slightly weathered border from being exposed to the climate for quite a few years. The rest of the signs around the doctor's office were quite plain.
Not long after we were talking about the signs in the movie, Rick Janzen came to the site and wrote this note for us:
"Hello
Thought I might drop in and say hi. My name is Rick Janzen and I was the Sign Painter on Open Range. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the show.The sign that seems to be getting some attention is Doc Barlows smalt sign.The sign was constructed out of MDF along with the the boarder that was faux finished to look like wood. I used black sandblasting sand for the background and One Shot Gold for the Lettering(this is the movies you know.)I must say out of all the westerns that I've worked on Open Range had some of the nicer signs that I had the pleasure to paint. the designer that I worked with for the signs was Ted Hagel out of LA. Most shows that I work on have a art dept. that does all the design work and I get the task of reproducing whatever they come up with(some good some bad)and then need everything yesterday.The best part of the job is painting the signs and then aging them to match the setting. The volume and size of signs that have to be painted for a show can vary greatly depending on the period of the show and most are hand painted so they can be aged. The paints that I use are mostly flat latex because it dries fast and looks faded with one coat' but I also use One Shot Poster or any other depending on whats to done. Feel free to drop me a line at r.janzen@shaw.ca . On a closing note I would like to thank Mike Jackson for taking the time to put together the Mainstreet and Classic Sign Painter CDs( thanks for the lifesaver in the box)because I was getting tired of seeing Coral clipart being used over and over. Talk to you soon. Rick"
The lettering looks like gold leaf or at least Dutch metal to me, but I guess that is just a movie effect!
Mike Jackson
Hi Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to post the photos for me.I used 1 shot gold metallic for the sign because the camera can't tell the difference between leaf and paint,also the shine can cause some problems when filming. The photographs of the Photographers wagon and Sheriff's Office are from the series Lonesome Dove that I spent 2 seasons as the Head Scenic Artist. I've spent some time reading through the chat and must say your a very talented group of Sign Artists and that there's a wealth of information to be gained through your discussions. Look forward to dropping in from time to time to see what new things I can learn.
Rick Janzen
Vance Galliher
welcome rick......all we want to know is everything you know.............hahah.vance
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