1.
GV & SV Women assembling plastic skeleton
0.06

2.
SV Artificial foot
0.08

3.
SCU Hands (2 shots)
0.13

4.
SV & SCUs skeletons hanging
0.27

5.
CU sign
0.30

6.
SV & CU Women working on plastics (5 shots)
0.43

7.
CU Women working (2 shots)
0.48

8.
SV Woman assembling skeleton (4 shots)
0.58

9.
CU & SV Woman working on hand bones (2 shots)
1.05

10.
SV & CU Woman putting lungs into ribs (2 shots)
1.10

11.
SV & CUs skulls on shelves (2 shots)
1.23

12.
SVs & CU Skeletons hanging (3 shots)
1.31



Initials ES. 1600 ES. 1620



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The town of Gatesville, in Texas, has a population of less than 5,000; and fifty of these are kept busy five days a week making plastic skeletons. The Gatesville Medical Plastics Laboratory was started in 1951 and turns out plastic arms, legs, hands, and ribs. They also sell whole skeletons.

A basic skeleton skull produced by the factory costs seventy dollars (29 pounds sterling). Additions like ligaments, tendons, muscles, nerves and arteries cost extra -- up to 250 dollars (103 pounds sterling).

Recently a New York gifthouse bought a number of skulls. They are expected to sell them buyers who will in turn give them as presents to friends who treasure unusual gifts.

The Gatesville factory sends plastic skeletons to some 34 countries. It also sells real bones which are imported from India. India is the only country in the world today that allows human bones to be exported.

The plastic bones are so realistic that it is difficult to tall them from real ones. Although every skeleton looks much the same, the plastic ones are the result of careful planning and tedious work by the devoted medical artists who make them.

SYNOPSIS: Plastic skeletons are big business in the small town of Gatesville in Texas, USA. Although the town has a population of less than five thousand, fifty of them are kept busy days a week breathing life into the skeleton trade. Skeletons are kept hanging around waiting to be shipped to any one of thirty-four countries. There is a world demand for these fleshless creations, and the Gatesville production line is one of the few in existence.

The Gatesville Medical Plastics Laboratory was opened in nineteen-fifty-one and since that time it has been manufacturing plastic arms, legs, hands and ribs, as well as whole skeletons.

Cost of a basic skull is seventy dollars. Extras such as ligaments, tendons, muscles, nerves, arteries and other parts are additional. These can make the price soar to around two hundred and fifty dollars.

A New York Gift House bought a number of skulls recently. The House is expected to sell them to buyers who will, in turn, give them to friends who treasure unusual gifts.

The Gatesville factory also sells real bones which it imports from India. This is the only country in the world today which allows human bones to be exported. It is difficult to tell these plastic skeletons from real ones. This results from careful planning by the technicians who construct them.