Friday, May 27, 2011

LOST Auction: Henry Gale's long-sleeved shirt

Razor-sharp intelligence. Master manipulator. Lies like a rug. Capable of genocide. Can take a punch. Ben Linus is undoubtedly one of the greatest characters in television history. Fittingly, his introduction as hot air balloon enthusiast Henry Gale from Minnesota is itself an elaborate ruse. "Don't believe a word he says," Danielle tells Sayid. "...he will lie -- a long time." Rousseau, you're crazy like a fox.

Lot #264 of the Lost Auction included the outfit worn by Henry/Ben during his "first" encounter with Danielle & Sayid in the second season episode One of Them. (First is debatable, of course, given that Sayid shot young Ben back in 1977 and Ben stole Danielle's baby from her in 1988. Amazingly none of them remember those events for three distinctly different reasons!) The full lot includes his khaki pants, two versions of his orange polo shirt, his shoes, and two versions of his olive long-sleeved shirt (which is worn over top the orange polo).

I was recently able to pick up one of the olive shirts from this lot. Let's take a walk down memory lane back to a time when Ben was Henry and Locke was ... uh, was Locke.

Unlike Darlton and JJ, I'll open up the magic box straight away:


We first meet Henry in one of Rousseau's traps.


Sayid frees him from the net despite Danielle's protest. It seems that Henry was getting a little warm as he has rolled up his sleeves.


When Henry sees Rousseau reach for her bow he decides to run.


Henry's outer shirt has two large pockets up front, each with velcro fasteners.


Above the left pocket is a velcro strip of unknown (but no doubt nefarious) purpose.


The pockets expand, allowing them to carry fairly large objects (or animals).


It is hard to see onscreen, but this label can be found half-way down the left sleeve.


Ben should know never to turn his back on an armed woman. (Or an armless woman, for that matter.)


There is a small hole in the shirt back but it is more central and lower than the entry point of Rousseau's arrow.


Note the peek-a-boo fringe across the shirt back.


It is interesting to theorize where Ben was heading and what his actual plan involved; I'm quite certain that he didn't intend to be shot through the shoulder with an arrow on the way there.


Greensleeves.


Sayid carries Henry back to The Hatch.


The first meeting between Ben and Locke. They will provide many scintillating moments throughout the rest of the series!


Doctor Jack makes a hatch call.


Jack cuts away some fabric to get at the wound. Notice the white area near the top of the screenshot below -- it is a mesh inner lining on the long-sleeved shirt. In the costume I have the mesh has been completely cut out, but it was included with the purchase and in the photo below I've placed it more or less where it would have been originally located.


After receiving treatment Henry is moved to the armory which will be his home for the next few episodes.


Benry receives the first of many beat-downs from Sayid.


The shirt I purchased is highly distressed, both stained with mud and/or blood and features several rips along the upper back area. If it was screen-used it is hard to determine in which scenes it may have appeared. It is more distressed than the shirt Emerson wears in Rousseau's net, it lacks an arrow hole, and it doesn't seem to be ripped in the same way Jack rips the shirt in The Hatch. Perhaps it was used by Emerson's stand-in or stunt double? Or perhaps it reflects the state of the shirt following Sayid's interrogation.


We leave "One of Them" with a last look at beat-up Ben in the armory.


Henry removes the olive shirt for subsequent episodes but still makes several appearances lying in a pile atop a blue blanket near the head of Henry's cot. From that vantage point it sees a parade of visitors including Locke, Jack, Sayid, Eko, Ana-Lucia, and Michael.


The purchase includes a copy of the LOST auction COA.


Henry has just learned the final selling price of his outfit at the LOST Auction!