Does anyone know if the production company responsible for Columbo Drew from the same prop collection for the entire series? The reason I ask is I've seen prop cameos before the most famous One being misses Melville's cameo in bye-bye sky high club. But I do see a lot of Colt 32 automatics and always makes me wonder about the prop Department but I don't know how that stuff works
Costumes/props we know were recycled in other Universal shows.
1-The dress that in "Prescription Murder" is specifically chosen by Dr. Flemming for Joan to wear and is later sent to the cleaners was worn by a minor character in an episode of "It Takes A Thief" that aired the same night.
2-The white goddess type gown worn by Janet Leigh at the beginning of "Forgotten Lady" was also worn by Cassie Yates (to lesser effect) a few months later in a "Bionic Woman" episode centered on Jamie Sommers entering a beauty contest.
3-Columbo's car can be seen parked in an "Adam-12" episode.
I'm sure there are many other examples that would require an eagle eye to spot in mostly other Universal shows of the period.
I wasn't thinking on that large of a scale, but it makes me wonder were all those episodes done by the same production company? Though I do seem to recall there were, or are, rental companies in Hollywood that specialize in renting props to productions.
I'm going to have to check the credits more closely and see who the prop master is on a lot of these episodes.
Columbo was produced by Universal. That meant their props and costumes etc. would have come from Universal and it wasn't uncommon to see such things (and even recycled sets) on other Universal shows. It was standard practice back then, especially with Universal which probably more than any other studio had a reputation for grinding out TV shows on a kind of assembly-line basis. Who the prop master is doesn't really matter, it's just all Universal stuff ultimately.
We have a little collection of examples in this article, "Columbo Flashbacks", in the Scrapbook area of the site. Some of them are about recurring locations, or callbacks to prior episodes, but some recurring props are here too:
All the prop cameos just screams that there was one central prop department that supplied the show. Wonder how many were deliberate [mrs. Melville] and how many were coincidental [thermos] and how many were possibly just similar [the colt .32 auto]