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A clapperboard from the production of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. While the bulk of the feature was directed by regular Python director Terry Jones, the film opened with The Crimson Permanent Assurance, a short film conceived of and directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam.

Often considered amongst the comedy group's crowning classics, The Meaning of Life received the Grand Jury Prize following its screening at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. The following year, Jones, Michael Palin, Andre Jacquemin, and Dave Howman were nominated for a shared BAFTA® for their song "Every Sperm is Sacred."

This wooden clapperboard with a striped black-and-white slate and a metal hinge is applied with tape dated "12.11.82" and hand-labelled "The Meaning of Life," "Terry Gilliam/Roger Pratt," and take "D" on the front. The reverse is also applied with tape hand-labelled from previous slates, including one strip marked "A" and another marked "#1, 12-13," among other numbers.

The clapperboard comes mounted behind glass in a custom black frame above a promotional still from the film. It exhibits rusting on its hinge, fading and discolouration to the wood, and peeling to the tape from age. Dimensions: (frame) 49.5 cm x 62.25 cm x 7.75 cm (19.5" x 24.5" x 3")

Estimate: £3,000 - 6,000 Ω

View all lots from MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE (1983)