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IN STOCK. Experience the exhilaration of Cliff Secord's first flight on the Cirrus X-3 with this authentic metal helmet straight out of the Disney classic The Rocketeer! Featuring a beautiful antique gold finish, soft cotton liner, leather chin strap, and dark lenses, this exquisitely detailed helmet is based on a hero helmet casting and includes a sturdy wooden base for 360 degree viewing. Be sure to get your order in soon - these exciting limited edition pieces won't last long!
Approximate Product Dimensions 16"x9"x9"
Approximate Display Dimensions 6"x6"x15"
Collectible Story
The year is 1938. The place is Los Angeles California. A wave of optimism washes over tinsel town. You could be a Hollywood starlet in her first big picture, or a flyboy pilot competing for the prize in a local air show, but L.A. is "rocketing into the future". The rocket pack, thought to be a thing only mentioned in pulp comic books, has become a reality. Famed aviator and inventor Howard Hughes has built a machine you can strap on your back and fly without wings. Dubbed the Cirrus X-3, it was only in the testing phase when gangsters were able to steal it. Cliff Secord and Ambrose Peabody stumble on the Cirrus X-3 which has been hidden before the fight between the mob and the FBI. Cliff unknowingly becomes the first successful test pilot of the experimental rocket. Many test pilots had tried to fly it and perished in the attempts. What made Cliff's flight successful where others had failed? Peabody's specially designed helmet with a built in rudder. Fashioned from a simple bronze space heater, the rudder added the necessary stability and control.
For Disney, bringing The Rocketeer to life on the big screen was an enormous undertaking. At the time, it had the largest budget of any live action Disney feature. Crucial to the film was the look of Dave Stevens' popular comic book character, and pivotal to that was the helmet. Several versions of the helmet were created, but they all fell short of the streamlined look captured in the comic. Only a few weeks before shooting was to begin, Rocketeer's director Joe Johnston gave creator Dave Stevens the daunting task of taking his drawing to the big screen. Taking a casting of the stuntman's head and then photographing it from all sides, Stevens drew the helmet right on top of the photos. With Stevens' supervision, sculptor Kent Melton sculpted tightly over the life casting and created a helmet that worked from every angle, looking as if it was straight out of the comic book.
Many versions of the Rocketeer helmet were made for the film. There was a special tear off helmet for sky diving scenes, airtight versions of the helmet for wing walking scenes, general stunt helmets, and of course the hero helmet. The helmet was fiberglass and had a removable fin. There were several different lenses used in the helmets depending on the scene: dark tinted to hide the stunt mans eyes and lighter versions so the audience could see that actor Billy Campbell was actually inside. Billy Campbell says this about his experience wearing the helmet: "It was not always comfortable wearing the helmet. There were two bolts that kept the eye lenses in place and sort of pressed into my frontal lobes. But aside from being incredibly painful, it was a real joy to wear."
Master Replicas and Walt Disney Showcase Collection are proud to offer this special replica of the Rocketeer Helmet. An actual hero prop was carefully studied and painstakingly copied to create this special collectible.
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