(Topic ID: 72865)

Best EM backglass of all time

By jrpinball

10 years ago


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There are 146 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.
#1 10 years ago

If you were to pick just one of the many classic backglasses (I'm limiting this to EM <silkscreened> backglasses),
which would you choose as the best of all time? I realize this question is highly subjective, and considering each
individual's artistic taste, I'm curious as to the responses this post will generate. My attraction to pinball machines
(again, I'm partial to EMs) is substantially due to their artistic beauty; they are truly pieces of American art. The backglass is, of course, the centerpiece of the artistic presentation of every machine. That being said, I eagerly await your replies to this post. It's admittedly a tough choice to make. Although I really love the artwork of Art Stenholm and of Roy Parker to a lesser degree, my vote will go to Dave Christensen's "Old Chicago" (1976 Bally). What say you?

#2 10 years ago

Target Alpha
Fire Queen

#4 10 years ago

I've always been partial to retro-futuristic sci-fi art.
behold:
image-20.jpgimage-20.jpg

#5 10 years ago

Great choice ("Space Ship"). Some of the space-themed glasses are truly beautiful!
JR

#6 10 years ago
Quoted from John_I:

Target Alpha
Fire Queen

Gordon had some wonderful pieces as well. Very unique style!

#7 10 years ago

There's too many. My tie for first is between Eye of the Tiger and Sing Along/Melody

image-554.jpgimage-554.jpg
image.jpgimage.jpg

#8 10 years ago

Both "Sea Wolf" and "Space Ship" are great examples of George Molentin art. I don't have the game, but I'd like to
buy the repro BG of "Sea Wolf" to use as a wall hanging. I wish someone would repro "Space Ship". I need three good copies for games I have with trashed backglasses!

#9 10 years ago
Quoted from TheShameGovernor:

There's too many. My tie for first is between Eye of the Tiger and Sing Along/Melody

"Sing Along" and "Melody" are right up there at the top of my list! Lots of detail. Great choice!

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25
#10 10 years ago

Strange World

strange world.jpgstrange world.jpg
#11 10 years ago

A close call between Bally's Wizard and Old Chicago. Since Bally was founded in Chicago and even proclaimed Chicago as the Pinball Capitol of the world on the Old Chicago brochure; my vote goes to Old Chicago.

#12 10 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

Strange World

strange world.jpg 362 KB

Wacky, trippy Gordon Morison art. Gotta love it!

#13 10 years ago

Like trying to pick a favorite song, impossible. So many real nice ones, Dragonette, Daisy May, Skyline, Jumping Jack, Square Head, Big Deal (Williams 1963), Kings & Queens, Oh Boy, Heat Wave.
If I HAD to pick one, I guess it would have to be Daisy May. But then again?

#14 10 years ago

Magnotron's is one of my favorites. So much to look at.

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1519&picno=40417&zoom=1

#15 10 years ago
Quoted from MrBally:

A close call between Bally's Wizard and Old Chicago. Since Bally was founded in Chicago and even proclaimed Chicago as the Pinball Capitol of the world on the Old Chicago brochure; my vote goes to Old Chicago.

Never thought of that angle. Chicago truly is the pinball capital of the world! "Old Chicago" is a gorgeous glass!
Iconic American gangster theme and wonderful art deco style. Nice boobies on the ladies too!

#16 10 years ago
Quoted from nick-the-greek:

Like trying to pick a favorite song, impossible. So many real nice ones, Dragonette, Daisy May, Skyline, Jumping Jack, Square Head, Big Deal (Williams 1963), Kings & Queens, Oh Boy, Heat Wave.
If I HAD to pick one, I guess it would have to be Daisy May. But then again?

You named some truly great ones. Can't go wrong with any of them! "Heat Wave" is one of my favorite Stenholm glasses. "Square Head" is tremendous. So much detail! "Sky-Line" is a super nice glass as well.

#17 10 years ago
Quoted from GreyScale:

Magnotron's is one of my favorites. So much to look at.
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1519&picno=40417&zoom=1

Probably the "busiest" glass ever! Gordon Morison was a master of sci-fi artwork!

#18 10 years ago

From games I have owned and loved.....
Super Spin
Atlantis
Card Whiz
Eldorado
Capt. Card
In that order........(a bit bias to Gordon!)
Great topic poster!

#19 10 years ago

"Capt. Card"/ "High Hand" and "Gold Strike"/ "El Dorado" are among the best of Gordon Morison's efforts. Really great stuff! Gordon had the unique "shadow figures" which were usually done in purple or pale blue. The big toothy grins and women with huge boobs and big thighs were also integral to his unique style. Gotta love it!

#20 10 years ago

Strato-Flight is another one I like. Good colorization on the purple sky.

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2398&picno=7412

#21 10 years ago
Quoted from jrpinball:

If you were to pick just one of the many classic backglasses (I'm limiting this to EM <silkscreened> backglasses),
which would you choose as the best of all time? I realize this question is highly subjective, and considering each
individual's artistic taste, I'm curious as to the responses this post will generate. My attraction to pinball machines
(again, I'm partial to EMs) is substantially due to their artistic beauty; they are truly pieces of American art. The backglass is, of course, the centerpiece of the artistic presentation of every machine. That being said, I eagerly await your replies to this post. It's admittedly a tough choice to make. Although I really love the artwork of Art Stenholm and of Roy Parker to a lesser degree, my vote will go to Dave Christensen's "Old Chicago" (1976 Bally). What say you?

I have to tell a sad story regarding Old Chicago. I recently purchased a Quick Draw from a gentleman that owned a large warehouse space, where he set up the games (without legs) so he could take pictures for ebay. My next line will give away the "punch" (actually punch in the gut) line as he set the light boxes on the cabinets but did not secure them with any bolts. As he went (thank God it was him but still...) to help me lift my game on a two wheeler, he turned and bumped Old Chicago which fell face first into the cabinet glass. The sound was horrible and of course the back glass was in thousands of pieces. His sale of that game fell through but I noticed weeks later that he sold the "rest" of the game. As for my vote, I love everything about my Royal Flush, including the backglass.

#22 10 years ago

Limited EM experience here, but love my Kings & Queens back glass.

#23 10 years ago

Funny how that goes sometimes. Recently at a pinball show, someone had a fully assembled Gottlieb "Top Card"
plunge off the liftgate of a truck. The backbox took the brunt of the impact, and it broke loose from the bottom board and slammed onto the main cabinet. Incredibly, the backglass survived the impact! My brother bought the damaged
machine, and repaired the backbox damage after getting it home. He enjoys the game to this day, and you would
never know that it had such a violent past! Good thing they made many "Old Chicago" games, and the backglass
is one that will be around forever!

#24 10 years ago

Sorry, Just too many for me to choose.

I do however love the artwork by Christian Marche as well as the other artists mentioned. Pointy People seemed to rule on Williams machines back in the 70's.

Ken

#25 10 years ago
Quoted from Carl_694:

Limited EM experience here, but love my Kings & Queens back glass.

"Kings & Queens" is a lovely glass. It is credited to Roy Parker, but it's very similar to the style of Art Stenholm.
There is a debate about Gottlieb's "North Star" backglass as well. To me, it looks very much like a Stenholm glass (as does "K&Q"). I have the theory that Stenholm was an understudy of Parker. They had very similar styles. I guess we will never know for sure.

#26 10 years ago
Quoted from EM-PINMAN:

Sorry, Just too many for me to choose.
I do however love the artwork by Christian Marche as well as the other artists mentioned. Pointy People seemed to rule on Williams machines back in the 70's.
Ken

Marche's "pointy people" style is truly unique. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it defined it's very own place in the pinball art genre. My favorite glass of this type is "Cue-T"/ "Miss O" by Williams. I also like "Triple Action"/ "Star Action".

#27 10 years ago

Captain Fantastic. Just epic

captain_fantastic_back_lg.jpgcaptain_fantastic_back_lg.jpg

#28 10 years ago
Quoted from way2wyrd:

Captain Fantastic. Just epic

captain_fantastic_back_lg.jpg 105 KB

Can't argue with that choice! Awesome!

#29 10 years ago

Captain Fantastic, at the time was a real attention getter. Strange World is fairly wild,with at least 10 colour screens/layers.

#30 10 years ago

2001 is my personal pick and here's the reason why:

I remember back in 1971 when i was 15yrs old our local vendor was un-boxing this game on the back of his old Chevy and hauling it into the candy store for all us awaiting foaming at the mouth pinball junkies to give it a try.For sure this wedge head was an instant success after seeing it for the first time.

Us players had never seen a pin so different and spectacular looking with 20 colorful what we thought were some kind of targets. At first we didn't know how they operated until the machine was coined up and the silver ball knock a target down for the first time. It was magical like to a kid who was born in 1956.

This futuristic artwork backglass gave me my first thoughts of the year 2001 which seemed like icons away back then in 1971.

#31 10 years ago

Gottlieb Melody.

#32 10 years ago

I tried to pick a Bally or Williams. I could only come up with a few I liked that were no Gottlieb

My order of top 10 backglass art

1. 1950 Gottlieb Knock Out
2. 1965 Gottlieb Kings and Queens
3. 1964 Gottlieb North Star
4. 1975 Gottlieb Atlantis
5. 1966 Gottlieb Cross Town
6. 1976 Gottlieb Card Whiz
7. 1967 Gottlieb King of Diamonds
8. 1975 Gottlieb El Dorado
9. 1964 Williams Big Daddy
10. 1963 Gottlieb Gigi (You gotta get the creepy clown backglass in there somewhere)

Honorable mention...Williams Heat Wave

#33 10 years ago

Too many to try and decide - love Gigi, but tough to decide a number 1.

This one has to be one of the most risque Gotlieb did.

Backglass2.jpgBackglass2.jpg
#34 10 years ago

for me two of my favs are centigrade 37 and sky jump (alot of subtelties going on on that one in the composition and design), also like atlantis and eldorado ... guess i'm stuck with my wedge head biases!

#35 10 years ago

oh and i love surfer too!

#36 10 years ago

I gotta go with Hot Line and Strange World.
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1245&picno=14461

#37 10 years ago

Capt Fantastic to me screams pinball more than any other glass, so that would be my first choice, with very honorable mention to Wizard, Old Chicago, Kings and Queens, North Star, and of course Fireball

#38 10 years ago

Viva Espana

FULL

FULL 03.jpgFULL 03.jpg
#39 10 years ago

Gotta go with Twin Win.

#40 10 years ago

Jet Spin

Jet Spin-233.jpgJet Spin-233.jpg

#41 10 years ago
Quoted from tracelifter:

Gotta go with Twin Win.

CAX 12 016.jpg 219 KB

I wasn't gonna go there, but since you did........
http://bgresto.com/?p=8

#42 10 years ago

Arrowhead
Double Barrel
North Star
Serenade
Sing Along
Square Head
Wonderland

Probably dozens more if I thought about it.

Wonderland.jpgWonderland.jpg
#43 10 years ago

Cherry Bell

image-8.jpgimage-8.jpg
#44 10 years ago

Star Jet is also cool..

image-25.jpgimage-25.jpg
#45 10 years ago

Surprised no one mentioned "Sky Lab"...Too bad the gameplay doesn't match the Back glass...

6485009091_4cf73995d7_z.jpg6485009091_4cf73995d7_z.jpg
#46 10 years ago

I have to go with Captain Fantastic and Fireball

#47 10 years ago
Quoted from tracelifter:

Gotta go with Twin Win.

CAX 12 016.jpg 219 KB

Twin win gets my vote. Fast cars and faster women....Ohhhhh yeaaaaaah!!!!

#48 10 years ago

I know I will get flack for this, but I think the Fireball backglass looks like a 15 year old art student did it. Trust me I love the way Fireball plays and used to own one. *ducks around corner*

#49 10 years ago
Quoted from Rat_Tomago:

I know I will get flack for this, but I think the Fireball backglass looks like a 15 year old art student did it. Trust me I love the way Fireball plays and used to own one. *ducks around corner*

Your not alone Rat. I feel the same way about Williams Spanish Eyes. I'll play it as the game looks fun but I just can't get past the artwork to ever own one. Bally Wizard is another one I can't own as it's not the artwork that bothers me, but the colors.

Ken

#50 10 years ago
Quoted from BigB:

Twin win gets my vote. Fast cars and faster women....Ohhhhh yeaaaaaah!!!!

Lots of great responses. Yeah, that particular version of "Twin Win" is tough to beat. Unless of course the same modification were done to my #1 choice, "Old Chicago"! Now THAT would be an awesome glass!!!

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There are 146 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.

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