Club Obi Wan

What color Fall & Popper did INDY have on his whip?

What is everyone getting on their whip?

Hmmm. I'm surprised more seasoned members of this forum haven't fielded this one yet. You guys slippin'?

Well, if the pictures our very own Whipcrack snapped at the exhibit in Chicago are to be believed, (see that thread for details,) then it looks like a brown fall with a black or dark brown popper to me.

This is Whipcrack's most telling picture on that subject:

http://www.theindyexperience.com/image/ ... hibit5.jpg

Bear in mind that this might not be entirely accurate, or entirely wrong either. The character Indiana Jones might have only had one whip through all of his adventures, (though we can debate on Belloq taking the whip in South America, Indy losing it under the truck in Cairo, and Katanga throwing it overboard or shipping it back to him,) but he's had to do some maintainance on it. Indy is hard on his whips: Swinging from them, carrying them into the most hostile climates, smacking them against hard objects like Egyptian statues, guns, swords, knives, arabs, dragging them behind vehicles, swimming with them, lashing himself to periscopes. He's HAD to have replaced more than one fall on that thing!

I doubt that Indy was really picky on the subject. If he had tan hide, he'd do a tan hide fall. If it was white, well... Same with poppers. He's not neurotic with his "Signature" equipment like the Lone Rangers, (every bullet that I fire MUST be made of silver!) His equipment is generally unwavering because he knows it and trusts it. It's comfortable. Yeah, we're all into the iconography, and about getting the bash in the fedora "just right" and the shirt and pants and boots and gloves. Indy wasn't. It was whatever worked for him, and the hat, jacket, whip, and gas mask bag worked.

Plus, realistically, with all the different whips used in all the films, (spares, whips for stunt doubles, different lengths for different scenes, cable-cored, sewn into the holster, etc.) plus general maintanance that would have to be done to whips, (broken falls, blown off poppers, etc.) the inconsistancies in the prop department, (different prop assistants, etc. for different locations, errors in continuity that we talk about in other threads,) and Dave Morgan making changes to his designs over the years that the films were produced, (also that with Dave's age, one of the only things consistant is the quality of his work.) It's hard to tell that if you were to miraculously get a chance to compare every whip to appear in every film that they would truly all be the same.

So I say, get what you think looks best for you.

I'm personally going to go with a white hide fall and probably a white nylon popper, though I may spring for some of Mark Allen's more expensive black upholstery thread poppers that sound like a shotgun and last forever. I'm going with white as I'm pseudo planning to use the whip in a couple little movie projects I'm tinkering with, and the white will show up better on video, (if I can get my shutter speed high enough so you can actually SEE it moving.) That will be on an 8 foot Indy-style Paul Nolan or Joe Strain. Buying in October with cash from a freelance gig I have planned then. Possibly sooner, pending discussion with The Missus, (due home from 2 months of documentary work in Indonesia tomorrow. YAY!)

Thanks "thefish". You're probably right that in real life Indy didn't care what color as long as it worked, but you know how picky us gearheads are ! Just trying to get an idea so I'll know what to by when I purchase replacements.

How often do you go through poppers & falls?

Supposedly the Bullwhips used the movies had white hide falls. Though a white hide fall doesn’t stay very white for very long after your start using the whip, so that’s probably why they look tan in the photos and on screen. Its possible some other falls could have slipped in there, especially on the older Raider whips that were not made specifically for the film. They could have had a fall replaced here or there, but that’s speculation.

With the poppers on most of the movie whips I have seen, it’s just the standard twisted black nylon thread cracker/popper. Though you might notice in certain scenes throughout the movies where there isn’t even one attached to the whip. The scene towards the end of the Last Crusade during the 3 trials is notorious for that. Also In one popular photo still that has Indiana Jones is hanging off the rope bridge in The Temple of Doom shows a clear view of his bullwhip with a very unusual popper attached. It’s not the normal nylon ones im used to seeing, and although I am not sure exactly what it is I’ve speculated that it could be horsehair, which was a popular material to use at one time.

I use mostly red hide falls on my kangaroo hide whips, in fact I am not even sure I even have any white hide falls around here. Some of them seemed too stretchy for my taste, but its all a matter of personal preference. Oh and I also use some latigo falls on some of the others whips I have. I mostly use the twisted black nylon crackers that you can buy ready made, or I make my own. For the most part I use nylon, though I did recently received some horsehair and plan on making a few crackers out of that to try out.

Falls usally last a while, most people who only causally crack whips may never even need to replace a fall unless it gets damaged. I have only had to replace a few in all my years of whipcracking and most of those where on the american swivel handle bullwhips. Poppers, ehhhh it depends how long they will last, some days I'll go though a couple, other times i wont need to change them for weeks at a time, it depends on how much use there getting. Power cracking is notorious for wearing down crackers and breaking falls, so its best to limit that and focus on softer more skill driven cracks.

Hope this helps.

Dan

YUp.

White/cream Fall.

Popper? Not so sure, but I believe it to be black.

thefish wrote:...then it looks like a brown fall with a black or dark brown popper to me....

Actually this is a white fall, just a very used and dirty white fall. Standard black popper.