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Sgt. Saunders Thompson


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I've had my TIVO recording 2 hours of Combat every night for the last month or two. I really hadn't seen it much since the 60's. Amazing how you can still remember an episode after 40 years. They did often stretch a half hour plot into an hour show with a lot of walking and then Hanley rolls up in his jeep at the end and tells them to move out. Couldn't he give them a ride just once?

 

And I had forgotten what great shots Sarge and Kirby were. They never have to use their sights. Though in a recent episode Sarge is in a basement and shoots a kraut and then proceeds to knock off every bottle in the wine rack (with the THompson that is). Kirby has that around the corner shot with the BAR down pat. And of course the guys with the Garands never run the risk of getting a Garand thumb.

 

Still the best show every made though!

 

 

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QUOTE (Ron Mills @ Jan 7 2006, 09:02 AM)
PS: Didn't Curtis Earl have the knife that killed Ceasar...wink!

ron i must tell you this. alot has been said about ole curt earl.however the guy did have a ton of stuff.and hard to match today at current price's.alot of collection's in the last ten year's cost over three time's what they used to.

 

and the last two year's....some guy's are proud to have ten n.f.a.item's...let alone 400 plus.

 

i was there in his heyday when he had over 600 plus item's.then when the bunker was built he had more.actually a above ground vault... t.c.ron

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Ronald,

I was in that vault back in 90. Even with a few beers in his gut he wouldn't soften his prices. Sure he had collected every conceivable mg, but these weapons spoke for themselves, he didn't need the P.T. Barnum hyperbole to help them find a new home.

 

But no matter what the NFA prices were at the time for any given weapon, Earl was at least double the going rate. Today, I imagine that his business practices would be the same. He would be selling Colt TSMG's for $70K. He always thought it was 1970, when he was the only game in town. By the 1990's, Earl dismissed what other dealers and private parties were selling their NFA items for. He figured if his name were attached to the provenance of a machine gun then it necessitated the premium prices.

 

The irony is today that any NFA item that has him in the chain of ownership is suspect as to its components. His legacy as a charlatan has overshadowed his mg collecting prowess.

 

Eagle3,

"Chip" was Sgt. Saunders Christian name in the show.

 

Chuck,

You must have been in on Jo's book from the outset. It was strange that a female was the only author interested in putting together a TV companion book 30 years after the show ended. She really relied on your photo collection to complete her book.

 

Too bad that LA jury acquitted John Landis for killing Vic. Even when the star is the victim, they still let the perp walk.

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O Respected One: No disrespect meant to ol' Curt. He just had some colorful descriptions of pieces sometimes. He did invite me to his place years ago, and I never did go. Should have. I should've done a lot of things...
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QUOTE (Arthur Fliegenheimer @ Jan 7 2006, 12:31 PM)

Chuck,
You must have been in on Jo's book from the outset.  It was strange that a female was the only author interested in putting together a TV companion book 30 years after the show ended.  She really relied on your photo collection to complete her book.

Too bad that LA jury acquitted John Landis for killing Vic.  Even when the star is the victim, they still let the perp walk.

Arthur,

 

Yeah, I used to speak with Jo a lot during the time she was getting ready to publish her book. Haven't spoken with her much lately, but used to keep in touch fairly often. Nice lady, she was very dedicated to the Combat show several years ago. I believe she has some other interests/projects now, but still keeps the Combat website up.

 

I agree with your assessment regarding the Landis incident.

 

Eagle 3,

 

Okay, here are the latest updates on the MGM vs. Stembridge discussion. I spoke with my friend Marty Black this morning regarding the issue. Marty is an airline pilot that flies all over the world seeking WWII artifacts and visiting WWII battle sites to compare before and after photographs. He is friends with the publisher of an English publication titled "After the Battle" which compares former battle sites with how they look today. Some WWII buffs in the group may be familiar with the magazine.

 

Marty is also a Combat fanatic and is one of the original founders of a small group of Combat location and trivia fans that call themselves the "COI's" (Combat Obsessed Idiots). He is a WWII buff, writes articles, belongs to M1 Carbine and Garand gun collection clubs and has throroughly explored every location in California where Combat was filmed over the past ten years. He has hundreds of blank casings from the various Combat filming sites (primarily Franklin Canyon Reservoir) and has visited Stembridge Gun Rental, along with Pierre Jalbert, and spoken personally with Syd Stembridge and Mike Papac.

 

Marty and Pierre had lunch with former associate producer and director of Combat, George Fenady in L.A. about a month ago. Coincidentally, he asked the very questions of George Fenady that we are discussing. Pierre Jalbert's memory is vague about such details, but George Fenady stated all the firearms on Combat came from Stembridge Gun Rentals.

 

Marty also reminded me that Rick Jason, who was also a gun enthusiast, told him in 1998 that all the guns came from Stembridge.

 

Syd Stembridge, although he was only a youngster at the time, remembers that his families business also provided the guns on Combat.

 

Marty gave me Syd's number and I will call him this week. I doubt that he will be able to provide any further information, but I will report the findings if anyone is still interested in this topic. Marty flies to L.A. quite frequently and is always looking for a Combat related research project during his spare time. He offered to look through the old Stembridge records, if he is allowed to, and try to come up with some serial number information on the Thompsons used. I'm not sure when he will have time to do this, but he'll get around to it sometime this year, hopefully.

 

In the meantime, here are some more images of the same type of movie Thompson from the film Sahara, filmed around 1943. Notice the same style compensator and flattend barrel fins as the previous pictures with Vic Morrow.

 

Who knows, might even be the same gun. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/cool.gif

 

http://members.aol.com/gijive/Bogie1.jpg

 

http://members.aol.com/gijive/Bogie2.jpg

 

http://members.aol.com/gijive/Bogie3.jpg

 

One more photo of the flattened barel fins common to the Stembridge guns.

 

http://members.aol.com/gijive/VicTommy5.jpg

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gijive,

 

Once again a hearty THANK YOU for your informative pictures and replies. I have learned more about the inner workings of Combat in the last two days than what I have known for the past 40+ years. I now have become a bonifide "COI". If you run across any other information or pics about Combat or Stembridge please post them.

 

Arthur, thank you for clearing up my question.

 

I still need info on what you are referring to when you mention "Jo's book".

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QUOTE
Kirby has that around the corner shot with the BAR down pat

 

Yeah .. but he tried it with an M1 and a rifle grenade in that episode I just watched and missed the MG nest in the upper story window by three feet.... http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif He had to go in and clean the building by hand, I mean BAR, then..

 

One thing about the FX people in COMBAT they did a great job....that grenade hit just to the right of a pillar next to the window (you could see the flight of the nade) and the front of the pillar blew off not even a foot away. So maybe Kirby was pretty damn good at shooting around corners afterall..... http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/dry.gif

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Go Chuck! Go!

 

This is like when you swung in on a knotted rope with definitive info on the Maguire deal to Willis thread, as reported to you personally by Helmer.

 

When the Stenbridge VS MGM TSMG provider for "Combat" is settled it will really give owners of an Earl purchased and sold TSMG a moment to craft some colorful metaphors whenever they look at his name on a ATF form.

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QUOTE (Eagle3 @ Jan 7 2006, 03:23 PM)
I still need info on what  you are referring to when you mention "Jo's book".

Eagle 3,

 

The book is titled "Combat - A Viewers Companion." The original is out of print, but may ocassionally turn up on Internet auction sites. A second version was released a couple of years ago and is an expanded version of the first book. I don't know if this is readily available or not. The author is Jo Davidsmeyer. Try Amazon or some other Internet book seller.

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QUOTE (Eagle3 @ Jan 6 2006, 04:03 PM)
I agree that some of the guns on Combat could have come from the Stembridge collection.  But as stated by a forum member, MGM did not have a hand in the production, but the Reising/MP-40's from Earl's MGM collection were used on the show.  So why not the Thompsons? 

Eagle 3,

 

The explanation for this question is pretty simple. Combat's production team did use MGM's extensive wardrobe and prop department to costume the actors for the show. This was all done on a rental basis, since this was not an MGM production. As some sharp-eyed Board members have already pointed out, the fake MP-40 made from a Reising submachine gun was only used during non-firing scenes. When the actors fired the blank firing weapons, a working MP-40 was used. According to the aforementioned people connected with the production of the show, all the working submachine guns came from Stembridge Gun Rentals.

 

Whether this was an insurance issue, or whether MGM was unable or reluctant to provide "gun wranglers" (movie term) for their stock of working NFA weapons is anybody's guess. Stembridge, however, was in the business and insured to provide working NFA weapons for the television and movie industry. During the time Combat was filmed, MGM was renting out its studio to independant productions. Many 1960 television shows were filmed on MGM's expansive back lots, i.e. Twilight Zone, Man Fron Uncle, etc.

 

I hope this clarifies why some MGM prop items may have made an apperance on the show.

 

It also just occurred to me that at the time J. Curtis Earl purchased the MGM guns in the early 1970's, MGM was in financial difficulties and the guns may have been dewatted, possibly, if they hadn't kept any current ATF Licenses to possess the guns. I think dewats were still okay in California during that time frame. Maybe Earl had the guns rewatted after he purchased them strictly for resale purposes. Who knows what he had done to them. At the time he purchased them they should have been blank firing guns. MGM wouldn't have had live fire guns for movie purposes. If they were live fire at the time Earl sold them, then they had to have been reconverted, by him.

 

 

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gijive: many thanks for your legwork for adding info on this subject. I'm sure you must realize that many Thompson owners and many board members here, became facinated and developed an admiration for the TSMG by watching COMBAT when they were growing up, (The Untouchables too!). I hope definitive answers regarding the guns used can once and for all be known. Great shots of Bogy from Sahara, I was wondering what kind of software are you using to capture those frames? I'd sure be interested in getting a copy to install and use? http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/unsure.gif

 

Mike Hammer

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QUOTE (Mike Hammer @ Jan 8 2006, 07:19 AM)
I'm sure you must realize that  many Thompson owners and many board members here, became fascinated and developed an admiration for the TSMG by watching COMBAT when they were growing up, (The Untouchables too!). I hope definitive answers regarding the guns used can once and for all be known. Great shots of Bogy from Sahara, I was wondering what kind of software are you using to capture those frames? I'd sure be interested in getting a copy to install and use?

Mike,

 

I too, developed my fascination with the Thompson by watching the shows you mention.

 

The capture software is called PowerDVD by Cyberlink. I have version 5, there are probably newer versions available out now.

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