From February, 1992 through January, 1993; a major exhibition of Star Trek: The Original Series props, costumes and model miniatures was held at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. This exhibition was part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of TOS, and attracted over 880,000 visitors during its 11 month engagement. It was the first time that the Smithsonian had honored a fictional as opposed to scientific achievement; and, to this day, represents the largest and most significant collection of Original Series screen used memorabilia ever to be assembled for public display.
Post number 30 in this series on Star Trek at the Smithsonian focuses on some of Dr. McCoy's Scalpels from TOS.
The initial article on this historic Air and Space exhibition featured a rare 26 min video prepared especially for the event in which the Original Series Cast and Crew discussed the appeal and relevance of Star Trek. It can be seen at http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2009/05/special-1992-smithsonian-video-with.html
Today's and future presentations on Star Trek At The Smithsonian would not be possible without the kindness and thoroughness of Randy Holland, a dedicated fan of Star Trek since 1972, who created an outstanding video record of his visit to the Exhibition over 17 years ago - during the Easter weekend of 1992. Mr. Holland, a fan of all incarnations of Trek, expertly documented all of the treasures on display in a careful, meticulous way (even capturing the many descriptive plaques that accompanied the memorabilia) to allow us to effectively travel back in time to participate in this event as if it were truly unfolding before our eyes.
The following anecdote from “The Making of Star Trek” (Ballantine Books, Sept. 1968) demonstrates how some good fortune played a role in the “creation” of these most well known of Dr. McCoy’s futuristic equipment …
At least one element in the sick bay, far from being well-thought-out in advance, was a pure accident.
In the very first show of our first season (recounts Roddenberry) (“The Man Trap” by George C. Johnson) we needed some salt shakers because we had a creature that craved salt, we had a story point which required the creature (disguised in human form) to give himself away when someone passed with a salt shaker on a tray. This posed a problem. What will a salt shaker look like three hundred years from now? Our property manager, Irving Feinberg, went out and bought a selection of very exotic looking salt shakers. It was not until he brought them in and showed them to me that I realized they were so beautifully shaped and futuristic that the audience would never recognize them as salt shakers. I would either have to use 20th century salt shakers or else I would have to have a character say, “See, this is a salt shaker.” So I told Irving to go down to the studio commissary and bring me several of their salt shakers, and as he turned to go, I said, “However, those eight devices you have there will become Dr. McCoy’s operating instruments.”
For two years now the majority of McCoy’s instruments in Sick Bay have been a selection of exotic salt shakers, and we know they work, because we’ve seen them work. Not only has he saved many a life with them but it’s helped keep hand prop budget costs low.
And now, the Scalpels ...
A screenshot from the 2nd season episode "Journey to Babel" in which a number of scalpels are visible on the surgical table in the foreground view ...