Dave "Mad Dog" Christensen
Matte Loennborg
I did get lucky the other day:
I went to a guy parting out a lot of backglasses, most of them NEW.
I find a NEW FRAMED "VOLTAN"!!! For $100 !!!!! WOW! What a find!
This was the glass they auctioned out on the last Pinball Expo 96'
I think John Popadiuk was the lucky guy getting it for almost
$400! (Only 365 Voltan's was ever manufactured)
I've been thinking of getting all backglasses (or pins) of the genius
Dave "Mad Dog" Christensen. When reading through the different
books I have: "Lure of the Silver Ball", "Pinball Art",
"Arcade Treasures", "Pinball Encylcopedia Vol. 1", "Pinball Machines",
"Pinball 1 by Bueschel",
I find contradicting info about which backglasses he really did !?
For example: in "Pinball Machines" and in some of the others
Paul Faris is credited for doing "Evel Kneivel". But in the latest
book by Mr Bueschel "Pinball Encylcopedia" he says: "The art has the
unmistakable Dave Christensen look, but no big deal has been made about
that"... well ?
Looking into "Pinball Flyer Guide" (CD) examining the flyer, it's
clearly so that "Evel Kneivel" is by Mad Dog ? or.... ??
Anyways.. the guy parting out backglasses had TWO "Evel Knievel"
glasses, I will get one anyway. I guess I will be sure then... :^)
On the other hand: Mr Bueschel was clearly in error in his "Pinball 1"
book (1988) when he wrote this about "Eight Ball" (Bally SS 1977):
"The game graphics are strangely dated, created by Dave Christensen as
almost a modernized (with a busty Christensen girl!) re-draw of of the
Gottlieb "HOT SHOT!" of 1973"
What ???
The art on "Eight Ball" is as most of us know by Paul Faris,
It's even signed (in the lower right corner of the pool table) by him!
(I know, I got a brand new framed glass from the guy I got Voltan from!
:^))
I'm also lucky to have the fireside chat with Dave Christensen from the
latest Pinball Expo 96' on videotape. That session was WILD!
He told lots of things about the difficulties he had with his WILD
designs at Bally. The story about "Mata Hari" and the former French
nazi guy is already a classic, I think Terry Cumming posted a while ago
about that... ?
From my own "research" I have come to this list of designs he did for
Bally:
(No particular order)
1. Fireball
2. Monte Carlo (4P) / Odds or Evens (2P)
3. Rogo
4. Wizard
5. Bon Voyage
6. Old Chicago
7. Captain Fantastic
8. Mata Hari
9. Power Play
10. Voltan
11. Dolly Parton
12. Nitro Groundshaker
13. Fireball II
14. Six Million Dollar Man (Sometimes described as a Paul Faris design,
Its NOT! I have the backglass, it's signed
"D. Christensen"
15. Air Aces
16. Twin Win
17. Evel Knievel
18. Fireball: Home Version... (I'm not at all sure about this one...)
Any more ?? Have I missed anything ??
Lastly, is there anyone out there having info how to get in contact with
Mr Christensen?
Please e-mail me!
=================
It sure would be great to know a lot more about the amazing designs
he did for Bally .... and WHY ?
/MATTE
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|Elvira |BLY-89| CFTBL |BLY-93| Matte Loennborg, email:|
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Dangerous Dann
>I've been thinking of getting all backglasses (or pins) of the genius
>Dave "Mad Dog" Christensen.
>From my own "research" I have come to this list of designs he did for
>Bally:
>(No particular order)
>1. Fireball
>2. Monte Carlo (4P) / Odds or Evens (2P)
>3. Rogo
>4. Wizard
>5. Bon Voyage
>6. Old Chicago
>7. Captain Fantastic
>8. Mata Hari
>9. Power Play
>10. Voltan
>11. Dolly Parton
>12. Nitro Groundshaker
>13. Fireball II
>14. Six Million Dollar Man (Sometimes described as a Paul Faris design,
> Its NOT! I have the backglass, it's signed
> "D. Christensen"
>15. Air Aces
>16. Twin Win
>17. Evel Knievel
>18. Fireball: Home Version... (I'm not at all sure about this one...)
>Any more ?? Have I missed anything ??
A couple things...
There are some pretty rare pinball glasses floating around that "Mad Dog'
did that have not found their way onto legitimate games. The two most
notorious being "Big Dick" and "Casino De Paris" (the latter I bought from
Dave who had it in the trunk of his car... about 10 years ago)
In addition, there are some interesting rumors floating around that Dave is
BACK in the pinball biz working on the art for a new WMS game supposedly named
"Beat Time" (same name as the '67 Williams classic)...
This is a *totally* unconfirmed rumor. I just mention it in the hopes that
Mr. Christensen really is once again applying his masterful craft to our
beloved industry.
DD
BuschlHist
I screwed up. Both EVEL KNEIVEL and EIGHT BALL are clearly Paul Faris
artwork. So I have EK wrong in Pinball Encyclopedia Vol. 1 and EB wrong in
Pinball 1. I Just just die over stuff like that.
But it will be straightened out. As I get into the history sections of
Pinball Encyclopedia Vols. 5 and 6 Ill get the proper credits in place. No
excuses, I just goofed.
Dick Bueschel
AlbertSq
M:
Evel Knievel backglass and artwork is by Paul Faris. The Bueschel book is
mistaken and will reflect corrections in its 2nd volume. Look closely in
the bottom right corner of Evel's glass and you should see Faris'
signature.
Game was designed by Gary Gayton and Faris placed "Faris - Gayton" on the
motorcycle (on the gas tank, I believe). Not entirely sure which glass
(all?) this appears on as Evel had three. The electromechanical version
has EK on the right side of the glass and the SS version has him on the
left with a fifth window cutout for credits/ball in play. The third glass
was for the home model which was pulled from distribution.
In the May edition of GameRoom Magazine (coi...@gameroommagazine.com)
there will be an article titled "Bally's Celebrity Pinballs" and Faris
(Bally's art director at the time) talks about the EK game, etc.
Dwight E. Andersen
Bally Celebrity Pinballs huh Tim? Cool! You know this is the mainstay of
my collection, considering the near perfect Elvira and Star Trek I got
. Thanx, I can't wait and couldn't have asked for a better topic for an
article. I'll be waiting by the mailbox. Keep up the great work with
GameRoom Tim and Jackie!
Dwight
--
__________________
DWIGHT E. ANDERSEN: capt.fa...@worldnet.att.net or DAnd...@aol.com
Private collector of Pinball/Arcade "stuff":
machines, books, flyers, promotional & other related items
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
Dusty Hull
dan...@primenet.com (Dangerous Dann) writes:
> In addition, there are some interesting rumors floating around that Dave is
>BACK in the pinball biz working on the art for a new WMS game supposedly named
>"Beat Time" (same name as the '67 Williams classic)...
>
> This is a *totally* unconfirmed rumor. I just mention it in the hopes that
>Mr. Christensen really is once again applying his masterful craft to our
>beloved industry.
This would be really cool. On an unrelated note, does anybody know what
art he's working on now? At the Expo fireside chat, biker artwork was
mentioned, but no specifics were given. I would be really interested in
seeing/hearing about some of his non-pinball artwork also.
Serg
ObPinball: Been a bad week for the collection, missed out on three games.
One woodrail and two ems. I'm going to have to start getting up earlier in
the morning. ;)
Vernon V. Soehner
Hi. I saw 'Christensen' in the subject. May I ask if this is related at all
to the name on the side of the car on "Nitro Ground Shaker' which has
great art work IMHO. Thanks. Vern
--
Vern Soehner at vsoe...@nectech.com
"Relax, Its only ONES and ZEROS" anonymous
BuschlHist <busch...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970331172...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
Matte Loennborg
In article <01bc3f7e$b2f410e0$37f9...@vsoehner.nectech.com>, vsoe...@nectech.com says...
>
>Hi. I saw 'Christensen' in the subject. May I ask if this is related at all
>to the name on the side of the car on "Nitro Ground Shaker' which has
>great art work IMHO. Thanks. Vern
100% correct. Dave "Mad Dog" Christensen did that glass and the rest of the art
for this Bally machine. He also put Norm Clark (Bally head at the time ?)
as the mechanic... (I don't have my reference books when I write this,
but there's *lot* more to look for in that backglass! :-) )
Other points of interest is the Norweigan flag beside the 'Christensen' name
on the first car, Dave has Norweigan roots according to several sources.
Also check out the "going-on's" in the control tower... :-)
AReizman
Always study a Christensen artwork. One never knows what he snuck in.
Checkout the goings on in the crowd in nitro. Another one is Capt.
Fantastic. some extra stars needed to be added to censor parts of that
one.