The Bride and the Leaping Skull

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The photoshops below have been revised in light of new evidence that appeared in July of 2011.
In evaluating the thematic cohesion of the original attic, in which the two blast-up ghosts foreshadowed the Hat Box Ghost, who in turn was husband to the Beating Heart bride, I thought it would be helpful to re-create the original bride in her original position as much as possible, showing how the second blast-up was directly in front of her.

According to Tony Baxter, documentary evidence suggests that the original bride was surrounded by a lot of fabric.  This glowed as she did and was discarded entirely when she was moved across the track to the Hat Box Ghost's vacated position.  I was pleased when I first read this, because it harmonized with my memory of the bride in her first position: she blended with her background and was consequently murkier than she looked in her later positions.  I speculate that the intention was to keep her from looking too mannequin-like.

There are no photos, but some murky film footage emerged in July of 2011, and together with other clues it was enough to establish that this version of Beating Heart was the "Corpse Bride" version.  I've worked up a pair of photoshops of the scene, one with the blast-up hidden and one with it in sight.  The way the two figures were arranged violently juxtaposed them.  Their relationship would have been made clear by the Hat Box Ghost.

Just to get your bearings, here's the same scene pre-Constance, in 2002.  Note the piano on the far right, added in 1995.

And here's the same scene today, uglified by the flash but useful for getting your spatial orientation.