The Lt. Columbo Forum

An area where fans from all over can ask each other questions and voice their own ideas and opinions on anything Columbo.

This Forum is fondly dedicated in memory of  "cassavetes45"  (Carleen Zink),
Columbo's greatest fan and a great friend to us all.
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The Lt. Columbo Forum
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Re: Did they recycle columbo props?

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.

Re: Did they recycle columbo props?

Yes, and i remember in an old post someone did mention seeing a painting from Columbo in another show.

Re: Did they recycle columbo props?

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:

http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/flashback.htm

Re: Did they recycle columbo props?

I'm surprised I spotted such a relatively small one, but the thermos from SWAN SONG shows up in PUBLISH OR PERISH.

Re: Did they recycle columbo props?

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]