From Post #95 in
this BFF thread:
Bill Munns said:
As much as I've been able to follow of the suit/hoax senarios, the general theory tends to favor some kind of "used" suit that was sold to Patterson, as opposed to a custom made order just for him. So if it was "used", it may be reasonable to ask to show evidence of what it was used for, prior to being sold to Patterson.
In post 176 of
this thread, Chris Walas said that
the costume used in "Phantom of the Rue Morgue" might have been altered into the Patty costume. However, the suit needs to be seen in motion in order to have the best comparison.
John Landis thought that the Patty costume was reused in a David L. Wolper documentary. I looked into the documentaries that might've used such a suit (and provided some Youtube links)
here.
John Vulich said that he thought the suit was once used on the TV series Lost in Space (but with a different head). This was discussed (with some pictures)
here and
here. Dfoot showed some
Lost in Space costume pictures (including a
short-haired/furred one)
here. In that very same post (and thread), Dfoot noted some costume and makeup "earmarks" of the people he believes are behind the creation of Patty and how they link up to what's seen on Patty.
Speaking of Dfoot, I think the following is what he believes was used to create Patty. I hope Dfoot will step in to correct me at some point in the future (I'll get to that in a moment):
-The Tauren mask (with alterations-mostly adding fur and repainting it) from the Star Trek episode "The Galileo Seven."
-A Modified
Gorn (from the Star Trek episode "Arena") or Gorn-style costume.
Here's a lengthy clip of the Gorn suit in action
-Gorilla gloves. You can see a nifty comparison of such gloves to Patty's hands
here.
-Feet made from a Janos Prohaska bear foot mold with modified toes.
Here's an example of a Prohaska bear foot.
He made a guess as to the type of fur used (and how it was attached)
here, along with a picture of a costume that seems to have the same type of fur. However, we'd need to see that suit in motion to be sure.
The similarity of Patty's butt to both butts on this and this gorilla suit is also interesting. The first suit,
seen here, is from 1949's "Africa Screams" and the other is from 1935's "Angkor" (aka "Forbidden Adventure"). Granted, Patty and the suits aren't in the same positions, but it's still worth a thought.
Dfoot also discussed suit "earmarks"
here and in post #48
here.
Dfoot (although, due to the resolution issues associated with the film, I can't vouch for all the details that Dfoot points out). Here's my favorite image comparing part of Patty's anatomy to those of costumes:
Here's the source for that image, which is also worth a read.
Here's a video where Dfoot also notes the "earmarks" of Prohaska and co. However, Deefoot says he's recovering from knee surgery in the comments section of that video, and who know how long it'll take for him to get back to us.
Offhand, I can't think of any reason somebody built a suit that wasn't used, so some evidence of prior film use should have survived. That would certainly help advance the idea, if such proof were found.
I was tempted to note your unused conceptual design sculptures for
"What Waits Below" and
"The Boogens," but those aren't costumes and wouldn't count.
In
this post, I noted some costumes made for failed projects (and things made "For the heck of it" by Rick Baker that eventually showed up in other projects. However, if those other projects didn't happen, then the costumes would be rotting away somewhere.
Does this mean that I don't know of any costumes that were created for a project and never used? Hell no! Back when Jean-Claude Van Damme (I kid you not) was cast in the title role in the movie "Predator," a much different suit was created/used for some test footage that was never seen by the general public until the special edition DVD release of the film used it in a featurette (which also explains why the costume and Van Damme weren't used in the final version).
Similarly, Jerry Warren had a monster costume made for "The Incredible Petrified World," which wasn't used since the costume shrunk and didn't lookj good on the only person who could fit into it. You can read more about it at
this Google books entry for the book
Tom Weaver's Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes (p372-373).
In
this interview, director Noriaki Yuasa notes that a costume was designed for the never-made movie "Gamera vs. Garasharp":
NY: Right after GAMERA VS. ZIGRA was completed, I went to talk with the members of Daiei's Planning Department about the next Gamera movie. I remember that the next monster was going to be a twin-headed one. The monster costume had been made, but Mr. Takahashi had not yet written the script, when Daiei declared bankruptcy.
. But as you say the topic starter did admit the error of his ways.
...