Tee Hee's Arm ?

Thunderpussy

I have often wondered about Tee Hee's arm in LALD. As I'd always assumed as a kid that it was
basically a short pair of pincers in a short tube which Julius Harris would hold in his hand, and open
close like a pair of scissors, but I have read that at times it was a full arm, with Julius Harris having
his own arm strapped across his stomach. Which you can notice in some scenes. With obviously a
full mechanical arm for the last train fight.
Would anyone know anything about this arm or any photos of how it worked. -{

emtiem

Thunderpussy wrote:

I have often wondered about Tee Hee's arm in LALD. As I'd always assumed as a kid that it was
basically a short pair of pincers in a short tube which Julius Harris would hold in his hand, and open
close like a pair of scissors, but I have read that at times it was a full arm, with Julius Harris having
his own arm strapped across his stomach. Which you can notice in some scenes. With obviously a
full mechanical arm for the last train fight.
Would anyone know anything about this arm or any photos of how it worked. -{

I'm sure your assumption as a kid was right: don't we even see his wrist bending?

dr. evan-gelist

It would have been Julius holding pincers inside his sleeve.

Barbel

IIRC, in Sir Roger's LALD diary he says that Julius controlled the arm through his breathing which made saying his lines tricky.
I'll see if I can find the actual quote later, unless someone beats me to it.

Quentin Quigley

Can't really help with the original question, but this is the one pic I know of where he holds the pincer:

https://wty.azureedge.net/cache/9/1/6/6/0/3/916603504a0563595f8ea826c35b61db962f854d.jpg

Barbel

Here are two quotes from "Roger Moore As James Bond", published by Pan Books in 1973.


Julius was handicapped by his arm, which is a very intriguing connivance. It is strapped to him round his chest and the opening and closing of the claw is controlled by his breathing.




He had a lot of trouble timing his breathing so that his chest-operated hook would work and still look natural. At the same time he had to control his breath to deliver his dialogue which made it doubly difficult..... It took two hours and fifteen takes to get it right.

Joshua

Quentin Quigley wrote:

Can't really help with the original question, but this is the one pic I know of where he holds the pincer:

https://wty.azureedge.net/cache/9/1/6/6/0/3/916603504a0563595f8ea826c35b61db962f854d.jpg

I thought this seen in the picture would have been used all the time? To have some thing controlled by breathing? Was Roger Moore teasing by saying this? I think perhaps so.

Barbel

No, I'm sure he wasn't. He mentioned it twice (maybe more, I'd have to read the whole book again to be sure), which he wouldn't have done if it were a joke.

Joshua

To make the contrption like this would be very costly and not very practical I think? When I have seen Live And Let Die I have always thought that Tee Hees false arm was always like that in the photograph. You can even see how it is making a mark around his cuff of the shirt and jacket and it is longer than his other hand because he is holding it.

Joshua

I have just looked and found this. I think it very clearly shows that he is holding the false hand as in the photograph and you can see the end of the false claw inside the jacket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPmdrJEvGn4

Barbel

Joshua wrote:

To make the contrption like this would be very costly

I don't think that would have been a consideration. Still, I'd say that a variety of means would have been used according to the scene.

Joshua

yes, you are probebly right.

Peppermill

Based on absolutely nothing besides my pragmatism, could it be that they used the simple method (just the claw operated by Harris’s hand) when Tee Hee’s are isn’t visible because it is inside a jacket’s sleeve and only used the entire breath-operated arm contraption during the final scene?