Here's a souvenir brochure that I scanned years ago, and have never gotten around to sharing it here on GDB. It's finally time!
The brochure is from Corriganville, a movie ranch and tourist attraction that was out in what is now Simi Valley, California. Stuntman/actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan purchased 2000 acres of land in 1937; this land had hills, caves, a man-made lake, waterfalls, a fort, and eventually, a complete western town. The movie ranch was used for hundreds of motion pictures and television programs, and starting in 1949, it was open to the public. Curious families got to watch gunfights, talk to "real" cowboys, visit the saloon (which sold salami sandwiches and lemonade), and explore the sets of "Silvertown".
Here's one side of the brochure. How about that politically-incorrect Indian "pidgin English"? Boy, that's some kinda hilarious. I love the "typical day's program" - breakfast with Crash! How cool is that? On the third panel we see some photos, including a pretty young lady named Elaine Dupont, advertised as "Ricky Nelson's girlfriend".
Here she is, looking at her dreamboat! Ricky had a way with the ladies, or so I've heard.
The weirdest thing is that at some point Elaine Dupont was Mrs. Crash Corrigan. Was this before or after Ricky? The marriage didn't last long. Anyway, in this photo we see the Crash himself (the leftmost standing person), Elaine, and famous western star Ken Maynard.
Here's the other side of the brochure, with a nice map of the place. There's the arena, for horse shows and rodeos! A Corsican village! Fort Apache! Mexican Street! Boat Rides! And much much more. I wish I could have seen it back in the day.
At some point I acquired another one of these brochures, this time signed by none other than Crash himself, as well as Pam North (anyone? anyone?), and Cory Rodgers, aka "Billy the Kid". I was the only bidder.
I hope you have enjoyed today's vintage brochure!
Apache Joe say…heepum good stuff today Major!
ReplyDeleteIn the 70's, a motorcycle race was held in and around the western town, called the Hopetown Grand Prix (Bob Hope at some point had bought the place, hence the name).
ReplyDeleteI'm openly jealous of anyone who had a chance to visit and tour Fort Apache.
ReplyDeleteMajor, do you have any idea when the signed brochure was produced? The "Pam North" may have been signed by Barbara Britton, who played Pam North in the 1952-53 and 1954 TV series "Mr and Mrs North," based on the short stories and novels by Frabces and Richard Lockridge. She had roles in several Westerns in the 40's & 50's opposite Joel McRae ("The Virginian," 1946), Randoph Scott ("Gunfighters," 1947; "Albuquerque," 1948), and Gene Autry ("Loaded Pistols," 1948, filmed at Corriganville), and may very well have been a weekend "special guest" at the Ranch to attract visitors.
Or this may have been signed by Pam North from Castaic, known throughout the southwestern part of northwestern LA County both for her Christmas fruitcakes and her inveterate autograph signing. We may never know.
Cory Rodgers was a stunt performer at Corriganville, and "Billy the Kid" was one of the characters he played in various stunt shows at Corriganville. He is pictured at the extreme left in this photo: http://movielocationsplus.com/corrigan/street1.jpg .
When Elaine needed a glass of specially treated water, she yelled to her husband "Hey Culligan Man!" to which he replied "It's Corrigan, Elaine. Not Culligan!"
ReplyDelete@ Ken-
ReplyDeleteYes, "That's Liza with a "z", not Lisa with an "s".
Monkey Cage Kurt, I feel like I’m listening to an espisode of “F Troop”!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I knew that the place eventually became Hopetown, but I didn’t know about the motorcycle races. Was Bob secretly into motorcycles?!?
Chuck, no, I have no idea when the brochure was signed, unfortunately. It’s funny, because when I did a search for “Pam North”, all I really found was the “Mr. and Mrs. North” television series and Barbara Britton. I suppose it could have been Ms. Britton, but it seems odd that she would stay in character. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen though! I saw that photo of Cory Rodgers while doing research for this post, but didn’t know if anybody would care what he looked like… I should err on the side of “MORE information”!!
K. Martinez, oh man, I remember those commercials. I even have a vintage pinback button with the cartoon woman yelling, “Hey Culligan Man!”.
Nanook, uhhhh, what?
Major-
ReplyDeleteWhen Liza Minnelli was starting her career, she performed a song in her act entitled: I'm Liza With a Z Not Lisa With an S. In fact, I saw her perform it at the Melodyland Theater, (opening for Don Adams), and fairly certain-? have previously mentioned so in this blog. But, what the heck, with Melodyland's proximity to Disneyland, you just gotta throw it in.