Tuesday, March 20, 2018

The Original Part 4 Shirt

Kira Tidmore recently did a bang up job restoring the original Jason Voorhees dummy from The Final Chapter and posted some great photos on her Facebook page.

But one thing about this piece is especially interesting: could the shirt currently worn by the dummy be the same shirt worn by Ted White throughout the film?

It is certainly possible that multiple shirts were used for the film. The part 4 shirts are evidently different from what was used in part 3 (possibly Big Mac brand work shirt in olive drab), given that the stitching down the front seam and pockets appear to be somewhat different.
While we don't know exactly what shirts were used in part 3, we can say comfortably what was used in part 4, thanks to Kelly Mark Delcambre and Kira Tidmore.

The shirt worn by the dummy is an XL Sears Perma-Prest work-leisure shirt, according to a photo of the tag Delcambre posted on his Facebook page during the restoration.
We know this shirt is screen used. But is it the same shirt worn by Ted White? Odds are pretty good that it is.
Kevin Yagher posted a behind-the-scenes shot of Ted White resting during shooting of the final scene in part 4. You can see the slash mark across his shirt is the same size, angle, and position (pointing directly at the second button) as the shirt worn by the dummy.

We also know that the shirt worn by White above did not make it to part 5. The shirt worn by Morga during his Jason scenes had a rip that was cruder and further toward the shoulder.
For continuity's sake, it was probably easiest to just take the same shirt worn by White throughout the film and stick it on dummy number one for the chest impact. This created the rip. The same shirt was later worn by White again and finally ended up in Jason's death scene on dummy number two. While this would be hard to prove, the evidence seems to suggest that it is the same shirt.

It's nice to know, after years of fan speculation (Sears vs Big Mac), what shirt was used in part 4. If you need me, I'll be on eBay looking for this exact tag on a olive green work shirt.

1 comment:

  1. A way to tell for sure is if it has blood on the sleeve from his hand injury. There would be no reason that detail would be added to a shirt specifically for the dummy.

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