Universal Studios, 1960s
I just scanned more vintage slides from Universal Studios (Hollywood, that is). They are undated, but from sometime in the late 1960s.
First up is that unidentified street location, looking every bit like a war-torn, bombed out city scene.
A working movie & TV studio needs plenty of vintage autos. Here are just a few - I especially like that laundry truck. I hope they didn't just leave them out like that all the time, even in SoCal old beauties like these should be indoors if possible.
Here's another European street - "Dyqan Robash" seems to be Albanian for "Clothing Store", and "Libra Fletorja" probably means "Tacos 'n Things", I mean, who knows.
Same street (or courtyard), all they need is a matte painting of some craggy mountains to complete the illusion.
This one is interesting - and not because of the smoggy view of the San Fernando Valley. This area is strewn with bits and pieces of architecture, including "stone" chimneys, railings, and pieces of walls. Mix and match to suit your unique tastes! There's also a mini mountain peak, if shot from a low angle you could easily believe that actors were atop the Liverwursthorn.
And finally, here's a look along a stately city street. Maybe part of "New York Street"? That could be a bank or government building on our right, or maybe an art museum.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Universal Studios!
22 comments:
Major-
Everybody's favorite backlot. (Unless, of course, you're looking for better authenticity). Universal was always lacking in "something".
"Kafeneja" is another sign stuck up on a storefront. 'Cafeteria', per chance, in the country of Franistan-?? It's the Maharincess' favorite-!
Thanks, Major.
Major, I'm pretty sure that "Dyqan Robash" is Hungarian for Daikon Radish; a popular vegetable in Japan. Unfortunately for the store owner, nobody in Hungary knew what to do with a daikon radish. The shop closed in less than 3 months.
"Liverwursthorn"? I dunno, it looks more like the Braunschweiger Loafen; but admittedly, they look somewhat alike.
In the last pic, I'm pretty sure you're right about this being New York. Ya gots yer stoops and yer New York-style street lamps. There is a hearse in the background. I assume it is/was used in a movie and not for real. Also, what is that kiosk in the foreground? A newsstand? Is it even part of the set?
Nanook, "Franistan". That's next to Hungary, right?
Thanks for the Universal tour, Major.
Nanook, "Kafeneja" is where the Henna-rinsess used to get her hair dyed....uh, WASHED!
HAIL TIGER!
I think Jamie Sommers also used to run around those streets, whenever she was sent on an OSI mission to "Europe," by Oscar Goldman.
Thank you, Major, for these great Universal pics from the early days of their studio tour.
Those 1920’s automobiles are fresh from the 1968 film Thoroughly Modern Millie with Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. That “laundry” truck is or WAS at one time a 1925 US MAIL Delivery Truck and was re-decorated and converted for use in this film to secretly Shanghai women staying at the “Pricilla Hotel For Single Women” - who are “all alone in this world” and sold off to white slavery dealers in the orient by the evil mrs Mears.
In this film there is a crazy 1920’s car chase “ala Keystone Cops” .... and the cinematography gets sloppy ( or I’m just a nit-pick!!) and at several parts of this chase a very modern 1950’s or 60’s Fire truck can be seen as well as the backsides of what are obviously false front sets with giant black curtains on the roofs hiding views of other backlot buildings.
Another mistake : the film is supposed to take place in 1922 .... but the film featured several automobile models that didn't come out till many years later ( like the 1925 US MAIL TRUCK ) as well as some popular 1920’s tunes that were not recorded til 1926,1928 and 1929!
The movie should have been called “Modern Millie Sees the Future Bi-Jingo!”
My parents first went to Universal studios in the mid 60’s and it was very much a working studio that was Accommodating some tours - before Universal Studios became a amusement park accommodating some filming .... anyway at the tour section studio entry is a giant slat board reading “filming today” ..... including the Munsters!!! They did get to walk thru Grandpa’s Labratory.
If I had any design control at Universal Studios, it would get 8 “COLLAPSING BRIDGES” , 3 foam rubber rock avalanches .... all the corporate offices would be designed to look like Jammie Sommers house from Bionic Woman set and the lobby walls and hallways would be the prop paintings from NIGHT GALLERY!!!! That’s just the way it has to be!
Just going to pop some popcorn and watch the comments roll in today. Already shaping up to be a good time.
Popcorn sounds like a good thing for a 5 degree day here in the NE! But, Popcorn is my favorite food, so it's also good at 90 degrees. Universal! It was unauthentically authentic. These photos look more authentic...kind of...than my experience there in the 70's when the Glamour Trams OWNED the San Fernando Valley. I loved Lucille Balls fake dressing room...I wondered as a kid "did she ever work here?"...the Bionic Man show, and the other two shows...one with fake rain...and an open set to show how lighting worked etc...was always very fascinating for me. I volunteered for the Bionic Man show...I guess it was fun to see a skinny 16 year old lift a truck with one hand. The make up show was also fun, where they showed how Phyllis Diller went from ugly to UGLY, and how monsters were made. It seemed more "Movie Education" back then than rides and all the nonsense that is there now. Can we say "they ruin everything" here too? I can see Jaime Summers and Steve Austin running through that so very authentic European street. I guess things look different on TV. Another great stunt/visual illusion was the ice cavern where it looked like the entire Glamour Tram was spinning. They would also add in their spiel "This was used as a set on the Bionic Man!"....I think I remember that episode...but without the spinning illusion it wasn't the same. They did have a small museum after the tram tour in the "Entertainment Area". It was in Hollywood Regency architecture...but small scale...it had some great artifacts like Night Gallery paintings, and that creepy doll from the epic hit "Trilogy of Terror" starring Karen Black. LOVE that movie. I think the Mummy from the Mummy (the real one) was in there too...and a chariot from Ben Hur...Everyone loved the stunt show, with the guy sinking into the quick sand, and guys tumbling off of buildings...I think I actually witnessed a casting session for the Incredible Hulk before that show started...it was Lou and two other XXL guys, the Hulk had not hit TV yet, I think it was around 78 or so, so it makes sense. Lou at that point was not a star in the traditional sense, so there wasn't much fuss or people pulling out there hair in the bleachers. It was a photo op, without any announcement and then the stunt guys started falling off buildings and the show went on. I don't remember the other shows, but I know there was enough there to keep you on property for a few more hours and spend more $$. I do remember that the food offerings were less than adequate- my thoughts were "this isn't Disneyland". Spoiled kid I was. Later in life I worked at the "real" Universal Studios and I will say that it is primarily a place to make movies and TV and the only kind of hints you get that a theme park is near by may be random a scream or something....or being stuck driving behind a glamour tram...or they probably call them just "tram" now...it's kind of strange to be having an impromptu meeting outside an office and a Tram goes by with lots of people staring and pointing. If you are in costume, the cameras come out too...you learned to kind of ignore, as time is too precious to even have a thought about tourists. My ego enjoyed it a bit. I was only there for a few jobs. I was once leaning on a vintage-y Mercedes (flirting with a random someone)...when the owner came to drive her car off the lot...she wasn't particularly pleased. Angela Lansbury. Yes, I got major shade from Jessica Fletcher. A buddies office was underneath Shaun Cassidy's but I never saw him. Have no idea what project he was working on. Hardy Boys the Re-Deux? Great memories. I have no desire to go back to the theme park...on either coast...it was a very easy lot for me to get to...very convenient...so I would go back to work on the dark side. Looking back at GDB: I've never been compared to James Joyce...I think that was a compliment (?) :)
Nanook, I know you have a lot of criticism for the Universal backlot. It looks OK to me! Franistan? Maharincess?
JB, I like some daikon radish on my bon mi sandwiches, delicious! You can throw daikon radishes at your enemies, those big things out to slow them down at least. In my former life as an Alpine mountain climber, I know the Liverwursthorn very well. I summited it twice, with no supplementary oxygen! I’m not sure what that little structure is in the last photo, it seems too small to be a newsstand, but… maybe?
TokyoMagic!, uh oh, is this more “ILL” stuff? Ugh. I love that the acronym for the show is “ILL”. Luckily, the thought of Jamie Sommers running has left me in a sunny mood, I loved her. I need a bionic girlfriend.
Mike Cozart, very cool that you can tell that those cars are from “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. I’ve never seen the movie, but just read the synopsis on Wikipedia. Nothing like white slavery (or ANY slavery) for some breezy entertainment. There was a certain period in the late 1960s, and maybe even into the ‘70s, when movies and TV shows loved to have their “Keystone Cops” sequences. I never liked them. And pie fights! How many TV shows had pie fights? The Brady Bunch, I’m pretty sure. Many others. I am not surprised that there were many anachronisms in that movie, some people just don’t care about such things, In a way it would be interesting to get those glimpses of the backlot, it sounds like the kind of movie where authenticity was not the top priority. 8 collapsing bridges? I would have 8 of those rotating tunnels, and 4 scenes where guests could stand under falling fake snow”. And a look at a “makeup studio” full of monster masks.
Chuck, I hope it all lives up to your expectations!
Bu, the fact that Universal Studios was, and is, an actual operating studio helped with the magic of the place. Even if a lot of what guests saw was there just for them, you could still sometimes see shooting going on down one of the Western streets, or someplace like that. When they built Disney/MGM Studios in Florida and had a tram tour, it seemed so dumb. It was brand new and had no history. “Here’s where The Golden Girls shoots”. SNORE. Were all of those star’s dressing rooms fake? I have no idea. I don’t remember the makeup show, but probably would have enjoyed it. Remember when Alfred Hitchcock himself did commercials for Universal? Yes, I loved the ice cavern (now the Dante’s Peak cavern, or some such nonsense), the illusion is pretty powerful. I do remember its use in The Six Million Dollar Man, with Bigfoot running through it in slow motion (I think it WAS spinning). I loved all of the horror stuff at the studio, including a room full of corpses that were used in an episode of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” (from a Mexican catacomb). I sure don’t remember the food there, but as a kid, my expectations were low. Give me a hamburger or a hot dog and I’d be happy. I always wondered about the “guy sinking in the quicksand” effect. It always looked like they were sinking through piles of ground cork floating on water, but once they went under, where did they go?? Were there piles of dead stuntmen under there? I loved the old Glamour Trams, with their coral and white stripes. Leaning on somebody’s Mercedes seems like a bad idea! I wouldn’t like anybody leaning on my Honda either. You go, Angela! Gee, what ever happened to Shaun Cassidy anyway? He probably looks like any other middle-aged (or OLD) dude now. Ha ha, James Joyce, or maybe Jack Kerouac?
Major-
"Franistan" "Maharincess" = I Love Lucy, Season 1; Episode 31 - "The Publicity Agent". I thought you were becoming an expert by now.
Bu, yes, the James Joyce reference was intended as a compliment.
Major, these are fun. We went to Universal once for a tour, maybe 1970? Nothing here looks familiar.
In the 1920’s, my Dad lived near the studios, down in the Valley, he said that on their farm, they could hear the zoo lions roaring in the early morning when everything was quiet.
JG
Bu, I remember that display with the Zuni fetish doll of "He Who Kills" at Universal from a 1976 visit (I was 7), but nobody I've asked about it (until now) seems to remember it. Thanks for confirming my memory and jogging the Night Gallery paintings memory as well.
Major, that confirmation alone has made today's visits more than worth my while.
I took the Universal tour around 1964 or 5. I remember a trained bird show. This was after the release of Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. “Don’t they ever stop migrating?”. I think it was mostly crows, luckily friendly crows!
Last time I visited Universal, there were no rides beyond the tram (which included Jaws, Battlestar Galactica, and the old-school King Kong) but live stage shows including Conan the Barbarian. Also, you could sit in a Knight Rider car and ask it questions (now there's a item on some actor's resume). I was annoyed there wasn't recognition of the Sherlock Holmes movies beyond a painted profile in a window on a false false front (that is, a piece of street positioned amidst the food and merchandise).
These days my Universal touring consists of watching the old programmers -- Sherlock Holmes, the Monsters, Abbott and Costello, etc -- and spotting the familiar European Street and all manner of recycled components in the various dark old houses. B unit producers at Universal and elsewhere kept close watch on what was done for the A pictures, borrowing a set here, a stock shot there, etc. The first Flash Gordon serial, highly budgeted for its type, still made extensive use of everything it could from the warehouses.
Nanook, I figured that it had to be something like that. I have no intention of becoming knowledgeable about ILL!
JG, 1970 was a great time to go, early years when it was still a little rough around the edges, but still wonderful. I once visited the friend of a friend, and he lived close enough to Universal Studios that we could hear the recorded screams of the fisherman whose boat was pulled under by Bruce the shark. It was pretty funny!
Chuck, now I need to know if that original Zuni fetish doll still exists, and if so, who has it!
Sunday Night, trained bird shows seemed to be a fairly standard thing at many amusement parks, I’m almost certain that there was one at Magic Mountain, definitely at Busch Gardens, and I think I saw the one at Universal as well. There’s nothing like seeing a parrot riding a tiny tricycle!
DBenson, when you say “The Sherlock Holmes movie”, do you mean “Young Sherlock Holmes”? I remember KIT from “Knight Rider”, but I guess I was too old to have ever been into that show when it was hot. It IS kind of fun to watch old TV shows and look at the backlots. The “small town set”, the “western town”, “old New York”, “old Europe”, and so on. Wonderful make-believe.
When I purchased a black 1987 Camaro, my state obviously thought it was funny to send new license plates with ‘KITT’ and some numbers. I did not request that—and, besides, KITT was a Trans Am. I got tired of the stupid teasing and, having no interest in that TV show, I paid for new plates. I was like you, Major—too old for that show, at the time, I guess.
I have fun memories of Universal, back in the early 70s—like what some of you have described. Great times!
Thanks, Major!
Zuni fetish doll: sold for over 200K in some auction in 2019....so someone has it. I would NOT want that in my house. I live very close to the real Annabelle and even that is too close for me! I hear through very reliable sources that she is not blessed every week as before, but she is still behind glass. Don't touch that doll. YES! The "other" show was the bird/animal show, and the celebrity was Fred the bird from Baretta. I guess much later he was kidnapped from his next gig at a safari park, then poor Fred was found in the middle of a road after the kidnappers saw that stealing Baretta's bird became a world wide news item. I have the un-dubious distinction of being in a pie fight- so they were still going on in the late 90's. the whipped cream was shaving cream. The magic of TV. The show was a "Salute to the 3 Stooges". I'm not a Stooge fan- at all. I was not even remotely interested in seeing the show I actually did. The pie fight was fun and I'm told I got a lot of screen time...which as you can see did wonders for my career. One of the shows I did at Universal was Knight Rider, but the new one...with multiple talking cars...I was not a car, but I hung off a cliff and got stunt pay which was better. I carried a big gun too, and I can attest to every possible safety precaution is done when handling fire arms. They also were required to show you empty barrels. And go over, intimately, the correct way to hold, handle, fondle the gun. I didn't have to fire the gun, only hit someone in the back of the head with it. Stunt work is awesome, and extremely competitive like all show biz stuff. Although the car work would have been nice...You don't have to dress up for voice over work. The "Greek Wedding" actress was one of the cars in the show...I didn't work with any cars. Show biz was post Disney. I have even more stories. My crazy life. Maybe I'm more Nietzsche...Joyce is probably more accurate...brooding Irishman... I am only a few percentage points of Irish. But I do brood quite a lot. I'm not a Maharincess, I'm a Hennarinsess. Bob Gurr was the inventor of the Glamour Tram and I would also like one of those to drive to Stop and Shop on weekends please.
JC Shannon, I'm a huge Lindsay Wagner fan. I didn't know she had a daughter who was an actor, so I looked it up. Apparently, that is a very common misconception, about Lindsay and Jill being related. I guess their lives and their acting careers have had many similarities, so that is why that assumption has been made quite often.
Sunday Night, I have a 1960s Universal Studios photo that my dad took, of a trainer handling a crow. The background sort of looks like the show was taking place on the same set as the western stunt show. I've always wondered if the show could have somehow been connected, or have a tie-in to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." Thanks for that confirmation!
DBenson, I also have some 1980s Universal Studios photos, also taken by my dad, of a "Sherlock Holmes and Watson" walk-around characters. I did not go on that particular trip to Universal, and I have never seen those characters on my visits. So, they might have been there to promote "Young Sherlock Holmes" as the Major mentioned.
Now I can't find the comment and who it was that first mentioned "Fred" the cockatoo from "Baretta" (Major?), but I do remember going to Universal in 1975 or '76 and the "Animals and Actors" stage show had added "Fred" to the show. He would come out and pick up the receiver on a ringing telephone and say, "Hello." As you left the theater, they even gave us a picture of Fred answering the phone with his foot, and there was either a supposed "autograph," or a bird foot print on the card. I can't remember which, now. That is one of my childhood items that seems to have been lost.
Bu, I think Harper Goff was responsible for the design of the Glamour Trams....but I could be wrong. Bob Gurr did design the giant King Kong animatronic from the "KONGFRONTATION!" scene, along the tram route.
I stand corrected. YES. Harper Goff! The set of Willy Wonka too..and 20000 Leagues....and the Glamour Tram :)
Bu, please share more of your Universal stories.
By any chance, did you know or work with one of my cousins, Dennis V. Williams (not "Dennis Williams" - who was someone else), who was under contract with Universal from 1974 - 1999. He did bit parts in TV shows and movies, and also did voice coaching for some of the stars. For you Lindsay Wagner fans (TM!), I've been told that Dennis was the German computer expert in the episode that also starred Evil Knievel. I have yet to see that episode, so maybe I'll try to find it on YouTube, tonight.
Hey, TokyoMagic! I see you commented to JC Shannon today - but I don't see that he left a comment today. Is he using an alias?? (Btw, when I mentioned the other day that some of our regulars hadn't been commenting for a while, he was one I was referring to. Hope all is well with JC Shannon.)
^ I just found that episode on YouTube and see that my cousin is listed as "Dennis Williams" - without the middle initial. 'Go figure.' All I know is that there were two Dennis Williams under contract at the same time at Universal, and my cousin had to use a middle initial. Now I'm going to watch it...
Sue, how odd! I see that there is no comment above from JC Shannon. So now, I am going to seem like a crazy person! The thing is, after I leave a comment (which tends to be very early in the a.m.) I always check the box below which reads, "Email follow-up comments to......" and then your email address is shown. So I always get an email for every comment that comes after mine. I did get one showing that JC Shannon commented at 3:33 this morning. Maybe he went back and deleted his comment. How weird!
How was the episode with Evel Knievel? I know I've seen that one before, but it's been a while. Jaime Sommers has to ride on the back of his motorcycle while he does some big jump, right? Are they escaping communists in Eastern Europe, or something like that?
I was referring to the Basil Rathbone - Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes Bs during and after WWII. The vibe was very close to the Monster films, and "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" even had Dennis Hoey playing his Inspector Lestrade character under another name.
TokyoMagic! When I went back to the NBC site to access that episode, it said "This content expired on 12/31/21 11:00 PM." After doing some more searching and not being successful, I said "the heck with it" and just ordered the 3rd season of Bionic Woman from eBay. Maybe that episode disappeared to the same place that JC Shannon's earlier comment disappeared to?? (The Major knows first hand, how computers can frustrate me, at times!!)
BTW, I found some written reviews of that Bionic Woman episode, and my cousin's part sounds "interesting." I won't say more, because "others" may be reading this. Feel free to email me to discuss more.
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