The Man with the Golden Arm (1955 film) US currency - real or fake?

The 1955 film "Man with the Golden Arm" is about a former drug addict, played by Frank Sinatra, who tries to reform his life.

He works as a poker dealer and there are scenes of two poker games showing coins and US bills on the table.

The coins are real United States coins and I believe that the bills are real United States currency notes.


1. First poker game
On the table are $5 bills, lots of quarters (25 cent coins), and at least one half dollar.
The quarters above the $5 bills are of the Washington type obverse minted since 1932.


2. First poker game
On the table is a pile of $1 bills, some half dollars, and some quarters.
The half dollar reverse on the $1 bill appears to be of the Franklin type bell reverse minted since 1948.


3. Second poker game
On the table is a pile of bills, they are $20 bills (a few), $50 bills, and $100 bills.

There was a US Treasury Department regulation which prohibited motion pictures from showing real money which was repealed in 1960.

What do you think - real or fake?

 

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Silver! Oh, to have been alive to CRH then. Every coin in the roll would be a keeper!

 

I vote "real".

 

I've never seen the movie, but the currency looks very real to me. That $5 Silver Certificate has what appears to be annotations from a bank teller.

 

Looks real to me, why wouldn't it be, I mean if they wanted to use prop money, they would have!

 

Yes, that's why very few people hunted rolls then.

 

Added missing third picture with more money.

 

All real, according to this site.
http://www.brianrxm.com/comdir/cnsmovie_manwithgoldenarm.htm

 

1 vote real

 

I haven't seen this movie but I'm going to vote mixed. I find it hard to believe a table full of real $50 and $100 notes was used in the third picture. That was quite a lot of money back then and to have that much $$$ spread about with not only the cast but the extensive film crew who would have been there on the set but didn't appear on camera would have been asking for trouble from those tempted with sticky fingers.

 

Did you read Mountain Man's post?
All real, according to this site.
http://www.brianrxm.com/comdir/cnsmovie_manwithgoldenarm.htm

 

Yes, I have but I'm not necessarily too convinced based on a couple of vague references on the site with no supporting evidence or references to support the claim.

If the author perhaps cited a contemporary 1950's or 1960's-era book with a quotation from the director or some such attesting to the bills' authenticity in the film I'd be more inclined to believe an anonymous webmaster. Otherwise, anyone can make a website and say or claim anything they want.

 

". . . but the extensive film crew who would have been there on the set but didn't appear on camera would have been asking for trouble from those tempted with sticky fingers."

Contary to popular opinion, not everybody is/was a thief.

 

I agree but you have more than enough money on the table to have bought a new car back then. That kind of $$$ would have no doubt be seen as tempting to even the most honest and humble crew member working the set.

 

Although that was a lot of money back then, compared to the cost of the movie it wasn’t much. I am sure there were security people nearby, and all the money was put back into the film treasury. If you did steal some of it ( I doubt anyone could walk off with it all) you could lose your coveted job and it probably wasn’t worth the risk.

 

Ditto

Although the law against filming real US money in movies may not have been repealed until 1960 or so, there are a lot of film noir titles from ~1953 on that feature the real stuff.

 

It's real. Despite the law it wasn't enforced. This was a common practice.

 

On second thought what's the point?

 

Well, it is kind of neat to see those $1 bills sitting on that table sans the "In God We Trust." I don't know what year that was added, but we thought it was a big deal when we saw the first ones.

 

I agree, however, I was weary of the are they real or not.