Monday, May 28, 2007

Universal Studios, August 31, 1974

No Disneyland photos today...instead we'll go to Universal Studios. This was another favorite Southern California destination for my family, I have many fond memories of the place. Viewmaster packets are a wonderful way to see the Studio the way it looked back then as well, should you need more!

This first photo is a very nice look at one of the Studio tour "Glamortrams" as it travels through part of the backlot (perhaps part of "old New York"?). Even as a kid I could appreciate the craftsmanship and attention to detail that helped to make these phony fronts seem so real onscreen.


The Stunt Show! Complete with a guy falling onto a bunch of foam rubber and hay bales. Still looks pretty dangerous to me. But I suppose those guys executed the same stunts dozens of times each week, they could probably do them in their sleep. I know that Universal Studios has had many varations on the old stunt show, but have no idea if they still do this classic version.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pictures of Universal Studios... Strange to say, I've lived in LA all my life, but never visited the Studios, so I find these pictures very interesting.

(On family outings, Disneyland was visited 97% of the time, Knott's 2%, everything else 1%)

Katella Gate

Rae! said...

Neat!!Again I haven't been there either.Thanks for sharing!!

Anonymous said...

I have lived within 10 miles of Universal Studios for all my life and only visited once in about '64 or '65. Saw Eddie Munster.
I would like to see pics from that era to refresh my memory.

Gavin Elster said...

This was the end of the New York street and by the looks of it this picture was taken in 1973 or very early on in 1974. There was a facade of a high rise built where that brown facade stands. The new facade was a duplicate of the entrance to Universals black tower office building. This was for the 1974 release of Earthquake.

If you followed the path of this tram it would lead you over the collapsing bridge next. I've shot a few films and commercials here and love the fact that they revise the history of the backlot almost annually. It is so bad that I would say 5% of what is said on the tram is true. Even with the pre-recorded video offered its all a tissue of lies.

Major Pepperidge said...

Wow, Galvin...that is pretty amazing that the tram spiel is so filled with errors. Incidentally, notice that the slides were dated August of 1974.

For those of you who have never been to Universal Studios, it is a lot of fun, although it is probably a "half day" park. I'd recommend it though!

Rae! said...

That sounds like fun.1/2 day or not it will still be fun.

Anonymous said...

I don't usually post twice in a day but something Gavin said struck a nerve. Like the Universal Studios Tour, the Queen Mary Tour is mostly fabrication.

I was in charge of the Museum for several years until Wrather Corp decided to fire the Curitorial, Training, and Online Supervision Departments en masse. The quality of the new hires went in the toilet and without any check, they started making the most preposterous stuff up, mostly to see if they could get the rubes on the tour to buy their BS stories.

And it only got worse when Disney came and went...

-Katella Gate

Anonymous said...

... And don't get me started on the "Ghost Tours" crap.... K.G.

tref said...

I was just searching to-nite online for some old photos from the Universal Lot Tour circa 1976-1980. I visited the park to-day for the first time since around, oh, 1977-8. Obviously it has changed quite a bit. I'd love to see it again the way I long remembered it. Is there a chance you could post a few more?

Unknown said...

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/mbf9live?ref=profile

Check my photo albums there are plenty of stuntshow pics there.

Enjoy,
MB