Around the World in 80 Days – The Movie
The movie Around the World in 80 Days was filmed in 1955. In Jules Verne’s original version of the book, there was no balloon flight. The use of a balloon was the idea of the movie’s producer Michael Todd. Mr. Todd named the balloon in the movie La Coquette, which in French means ‘the flirt’.
Mike Todd contacted the Balloon Club of America looking for a balloon. At that time, in 1953, it was the only club in the United States flying balloons.
The Club’s 19,00 cubic foot silver balloon was shipped to Hollywood in 1955 to be transformed into the well known balloon, La Coquette. It was originally a Navy balloon constructed in 1928.
Todd Productions wanted to paint the designs on the envelope with watercolor paint. This would have made the actual painting inexpensive and easy to accomplish, but the club members insisted on the use of oil-based paint. As a result, for many years La Coquette could be seen flying in the United States and Europe.
Throughout the year 1955, the balloon was on location in Hollywood for the filming of the movie. Tony
Fairbanks, Connie Wolf and Francis Shields went to California to offer technical assistance.
Written by Michael Fairbanks
Letters from the Michael Todd Company for the shipping of the silver 19,000 cubic foot balloon. It was to be painted for the movie Around the World in 80 Days and named La Coquette.
Full Size Balloon Drawings
This is the drawing of the print layout for the full size balloon named La Coquette.
Miniature Model Balloon
This is the drawing of the miniature model balloon to be used in the movie.
This is a photograph of the original painting, which was completed before the silver 19,000 cubic-foot balloon was painted. This was Hollywood’s idea of how they wanted the balloon to look for the movie.
The Filming
The photographs show the balloon hung by a crane over ‘Alpine mountains made of paper-mache’. La Coquette was never inflated with a lighter than air gas for the filming of the movie. It was pumped full of air with the help of a window fan and suspended from a crane by a rope. The rope was attached directly from the round load ring over the basket through the center of the balloon to the top of the crane.
If the balloon were actually flying, then the net from the envelope to the basket would be extremely tight. The movie and all promotional posters and record jackets show very slack ropes leading down to the load ring over the basket.
In the basket = David Niven with the top hat and Mexican comedian Cantinflas.
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