The "Collapsing Bridge" was added to the tram tour in 1974; as the tram attempted to cross the rickety structure, it would seem to give way and drop a few inches - enough to give the riders a good scare. The bridge became too rickety in real life, and was closed in 2006 until it could be refurbished. As of 2008 it reopened, but apparently it is closed again because King Kong: 360 3-D is now blocking it.
A herd of Glamour Trams rests peacefully in the Southern California sunshine (and smog), awaiting the next batch of passengers. I like the white and deep-pink color scheme, which somehow evokes old Hollywood.
The streets of New York look pretty sleepy right now; it swarms with trucks, lights, and people during an actual shoot. There have been so many fires at Universal Studios backlot over the years, I wonder if this street area exists in this form? Big budget productions would extend the buildings up using matte paintings for a more convincing "big city" ambiance.
Universal Studios loves their "animal actors". I'm not sure if this was strictly a bird show, or if there were other critters as well. In this case the guests were lucky to see a huge star, "Fred" the sulphur-crested cockatoo from "Baretta". Fred would almost certainly pick up that red phone in the background and say "hello" in his strange parroty voice (I can hear it now!)... life doesn't get any better than that, folks.
Major, I remember seeing that Amimal Actors show with Fred the Cockatoo....and yes, he did pick up the phone and say "hello"! They gave out postcards to everyone in the audience with a photo of Fred "talking" on the phone. I save EVERYTHING, but I have not seen that postcard for years now, so who knows what happened to it.
ReplyDeleteThat sucks about the Collapsing Bridge no longer being part of the tour, especially considering it's historical importance....Jamie Sommers ran across it in an episode of The Bionic Woman!!!
Good old Fred! I loved that show!
ReplyDeleteTM!, I will find out for myself today if the collapsing bridge is part of the tour, since I will be at Universal Studios with my niece and nephew! I hope the tram still goes through that revolving cave, I remember Bigfoot running through it on the 6 million dollar man.
ReplyDeleteConnie, everyone loves Fred! He is like the Brando of our generation.
The trams in white and deep pink don't look quite right, but I double checked and that was the colour. These were called the GlamorTrams, in use from 1964-1983.
ReplyDeleteFred was Salmon-crested, not sulphur crested. I worked with him at Magic Mountain just before he went to work at Universal.
ReplyDeleteRon, I'll take your word for it (since I did no research!), but for some reason my memory recalled the yellow crest instead of the pink. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteThat's the "Do ya feel lucky? Well do ya? PUNK?!" street at Universal... Awesome...
ReplyDeleteYep, huge is just what I thought when seeing this animal actor.
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