I'm using up the last (well, almost the last) scans from a batch of May 1979 slides from Universal Studios. Hollywood, that is. They're not the most exciting things in the world, but the price is right.
From our Glamour Tram we look across a canyon toward some typical SoCal hills. It's pretty green (being May) actually, I'm sure in a few months this looked much browner. There are some houses up on that ridge, I am told that the Studio owns them and lets directors and certain powerful bloggers stay there, which would be pretty cool. I'd watch the trams go to a fro while talking to my agent on my three pound cellular phone.
Looky looky! There's another tram far below. Or is it us, viewed through a time warp? The tram is right on the edge of a pond (any idea what it was called?), with a production going on in that little excavated canyon, where there is part of a plane fuselage. I sure wish I knew what was being filmed.
Here's a more-familiar sight, an elegant mansion that is nothing more than a façade. It's like Hollywood itself, am I right? ZING! Thank you, Bruce Vilanch, for that joke. I need all the help I can get. Next to the mansion, a log stockade, and some random double-decker buses.
Ah, the Western Stunt Show, full of punching and shooting and guys falling to their doom after being plugged full of lead. These stuntmen were so tough that there were no airbags or foam cushions, just that half inch-thick rubber mat.
Who among us has not been on a slow bus from Vescovato to Bastia? Well OK, not me. I had to look up both places; Vescovato is just south of Milan (Italy), while Bastia is on northern tip of the island of Corsica. There are several routes available, both involving a ride on a ferry. The bus seems fairly prominently placed (right next to the tower from "The War Lord", I have no idea if it was used in a significant movie of the moment. "Ciao, Bastia!"??
And finally, here's a photo of a woman regarding a gigantic automobile, which turns out to be from "The Wiz", a 1978 film from director Sidney Lumet. In spite of the fact that the Broadway musical had been a huge hit, the movie was a commercial failure - I haven't seen it for decades, but seem to recall that it was a tough hang - it's possible my opinion would be different now.
My supply of Universal Studios slides is getting slim, but there will be more!
Remember between 1978 and 1981 California had extreme rains ….with lots of flooding. Things were pretty green throughout southern California…. However I recall on Christmas Day 1980 we had a heat wave in San Diego.
ReplyDeleteThe “quick sand “ always made me uncomfortable at this stunt show. Didn’t they used to say it was actually cornflakes or special K?? Or am I confusing that with Hollywood sand storms??
Major-
ReplyDeleteIsn't that custom limo parked just outside the [then] 'open-air' Universal Amphitheater-?
Thanks, Major.
The first shot looks really nice. But I almost expect to see a giant tarantula creeping over the top of that hill.
ReplyDeleteI think we've seen the front of that antebellum mansion here before. It really bursts one's bubble to see it from this angle! Looks almost humorous. I have no idea why that fort is next to it.
In the Western Stunt Show pic, I see that Universal's General Store has a lot of its wares displayed out front, just like Disneyland's Rainbow Ridge. Was actually displaying the items on the front porch an actual thing that actual towns actually did back then? The guy in the chaps reminds me of Wally Boag.
I saw "The Wiz" at a theater when it first came out. A couple of the songs and choreographed numbers were OK, but I was not smitten with the film. Not being from NYC, or any other big city, I couldn't really relate to the premise of the film. I don't think the story translates well to a metropolis setting. I has spoken!
These pics are universally interesting, Major. Well... sort of. :-p Thanks.
I believe that might be Falls Lake in the second pic. Although this area today looks completely different and Falls Lake is a large concrete basin with a large "sky" backdrop. And I believe the hill behind and to the right of the airplane fuselage had a man made water fall, which might have been turned off in this particular photo.
ReplyDeleteThat mansion was the "Burning House" attraction/effect. Major, you posted a 1974 pic of it back in September of 2019. I know it was moved at least once, before being torn down completely, but I'm not sure if both photos show it in the same location or not.
Mike, from what I remember the quicksand looked like tiny little glazed pebbles, about the same size and shape as M & M's.....and the same color as the brown and tan ones!
I always liked the song, "Ease On Down The Road," and I used to be able to play it on the piano. That was before I had ever seen the movie. I tried watching it when they showed it on TV, but I couldn't sit through the whole thing....it was pretty painful.
Thanks for the trip back in time to Universal Studios, Major! I have fond memories of it around this time period.
Mike, I forgot to mention that there were some beige "pebbles" or "M &M's" in that quicksand pit, too! I remember when they added the quicksand pit to the stunt show. They advertised it on the radio and were very nebulous about exactly what and where it was. My brother and I were thinking it was an effect that would happen while on the tram tour (like the Rock Avalanche, Flash Flood, or Collapsing Bridge) and were looking for it all day, only to find out after we had already been on the tour, that it was just added to the stunt show. Universal was/is NOTORIOUS for false advertising.....or at least for majorly tweaking reality.
ReplyDeleteThat mansion illustrates the cardinal rule of set building: Never Build More Than Necessary.
ReplyDeleteMajor, that Italian bus appeared in the notorious thriller “Basta Bastia” starring Bobson Dugnutt and Christine Isosceles, the famous Greek actress. There are three jokes in the previous sentence.
Thanks for these Universally attractive photos!
JG
That 5th picture of the crowd around the bus supports my theory that there was a years-long barbers' strike in the late 70s and men just went without haircuts for the duration.
ReplyDeleteThe Wiz has something of a cult following, mostly because of the stars like young Michel Jackson in it. But it's not a good film. I watched it as a kid when it was on TV but didn't remember it at all. I watched the Emerald City scenes a few years ago when I learned that the New York pavilion from the 1964 World's Fair was used for the set. I can't imagine watching the whole thing again.
Mike Cozart, how the heck do you remember that California had heavy rains between 1978 and 1981?? I barely remember what I did yesterday. It’s always something of a bummer when we have a hot Christmas in SoCal, talk about spoiling the holidays. “Turn on the AC, I’m dying here!”. I think the quicksand was made of ground up cork.
ReplyDeleteNanook, I couldn’t tell you if that limo is outside the old Amphitheater, even though I went to that venue a number of times. One of the best was an Elvis Costello show!
JB,California no longer had a giant tarantula problem by 1979, it turned out they could be squeezed for oil. I think that showing that the mansion was a thin facade was part of the “fun”, and boy, everyone on the tram laughed and laughed. The tour leader finally had to spray them with a hose to get them to calm down. I still see grocery stores leaving certain items outside, presumably to stimulate sales - cases of water or soda, usually - so I wouldn’t be surprised if old general stores might have put stuff outdoors. I knew about the Wiz, mostly from the “Ease On Down the Road” song, which I liked, but it really was hard to sit through. Could it be remade today, but GOOD?
TokyoMagic!, I think you are right about that being Falls Lake. Now I’m trying to remember what those big painted sky backdrops are called, but am not managing it. There’s a specific word! Maybe one of the Junior Gorillas knows. Oh right, the burning house, I forgot - maybe, like the burning settler’s cabin, they turned off the flames and never used them again? See my comment to Mike Cozart, I am almost positive the quicksand was ground up cork. “Ease On Down the Road” is way more complicated than “Chopsticks”, you must have been pretty decent at the piano!
TokyoMagic!, funny that they made a big deal about the quicksand on radio ads… as if people would decide to skip Disneyland this time, because they gotta see that quicksand! I wonder how that worked though, a cowboy would sink, but then what? I’m sure he didn’t crawl back out soaking wet. There must have been an underwater door??
JG, instead of Brutalist architecture, that mansion was “Minimalist”, pioneered by the world’s laziest architects. “You only designed the front of the building”. “Leave me alone, I need to go get a hoagie”. I’m afraid I have not seen all of Bobson Dugnutt’s movies, to my shame.
Dean Finder, if I had my way, there’d be no long hair, and no rock music! Bing Crosby is good enough for me, and it should be good enough for everybody. Interesting about the scenes from “The Wiz” that were filmed at the New York pavilion, I’ll look to see if I can find images of that!
I agree with TM! - the second photo shows the original location of Falls Lake. You can see the "cliffs" of the switched-off falls behind the blue thing (I think maybe it's an airplane wing) to the right of the white airplane fuselage. I think that white fuselage is from a Ford Tri-Motor, although it might be a Junkers Ju 52. There may not be any production being filmed there at the time; it might just be a bunch of "backlot junk" that needed to go somewhere while it wasn't in use.
ReplyDeleteThe third photo immediately reminded me of some DEVLIN FAMILY PHOTOS you posted almost 10 years ago. The 4th - 6th shots in that post show what appears to be the same area (burning mansion/double-decker bus storage), although why they built a log stockade literally within the shadow of the burning mansion is a mystery to me. Speaking of mysteries...does anyone know where babies come from?
The "Italian" bus is actually a British-built Leyland Titan PD2, probably (although it's hard to tell from this angle) one of the narrow-bodied, 7'6"-wide models. I'm assuming it's one of the buses in the Devlin family photos after a fresh (and somewhat dubious) coat of paint.
The Wiz...I saw that movie a few times on HBO back in the early '80s. OK, I probably only sat through the whole thing once, but I would catch sequences here and there while flipping channels. I remember being fascinated by how they reworked the 1964 NYWF New York State Pavilion into Munchkinland (my dad was intrigued by that scene, too), and it was interesting seeing other NYC landmarks being folded into the set design. It was also fun seeing a pre-Thriller Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow, and I've always been a bit partial to Nipsey Russell. But my overall memories of "meh" have never made me seek it out as an adult to see it again.
Thanks, Major!
Chuck, most people don’t know that all waterfalls in America can be turned off with the flick of a switch. It was part of the WPA, and it’s awesome. A Ford Tri-Motor! That’s a very specific (and antique) plane, now I *really* would like to know what was being filmed. Or as you said, perhaps it was just stuff being stored in that area. Thanks for the reminder of those Devlin family photos, I’d forgotten their Universal Studios visit. And thanks for the awesome info about the buses! I guess they had to have all of those examples shipped over? Probably not quite as big a deal in the late 60s or into the 70s. I assume that the wooden stockade could be filmed with careful camera angles, as so many backlot structures do. Nipsey Russell was familiar to me from game shows… I looked it up, he was frequently on “Match Game”. I can’t picture him saying “whoopie” though. I know that The Wiz had “early Michael”, but there was just something about the movie that was “off” to me.
ReplyDeleteMajor, while I suppose the buses could have been shipped across the Atlantic, double-deck buses are migratory, and while uncommon in North America, small populations have established themselves over here after being blown off course by the Jet Stream. They have adapted well in a few urban environments, particularly in places where there are few overhanging wires;
ReplyDeletesome scientists have attributed increased sightings in Southern California to the demise of the Pacific Electric and the Los Angeles Street Railway.
Double-decker buses can be domesticated and kept as pets. The Disney company has a captive breeding program, although they seem to have selectively bred for size as all surviving examples in their care are somewhat larger than the original captive population. They still retain their primordial instincts, however, and their wings are clipped to prevent them from flying away or pooping all over the Matterhorn.
Well Major … I lived in Southern California during that time and anyone who did probably remembers it. The BIG thing was in the news every night: people’s homes , decks and backyards sliding down the hillsides! The flooding in California was pretty extreme … in East County of San Diego were I grew up the floods killed lots of horses , mules , goats and people too. Throughout my junior high we had so many days of school cancelled because the rain and flooding was so bad they decided to not run the school buses and keep people home. San Diego’s Mission Valley ( built in the San Diego river valley) flooded so badly it wasn’t till the 1990’s they complete a flood - drain system. ….. and many trips to Disneyland canceled because my parents refused to drive up there in the rain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’s construction / open was delayed because of the first of the rains. So was Disneyland’s NEW main entrance …. Delayed by over a year because of the heavy rains and mass flooding. DISNEYLAND LINES featured articles and pictures of the rain damage and flooding … sone titles “BIG THUNDER (AND RAIN)” , “LAKE MAIN STREET USA” , “CRY ME A RIVER” , and “ IT RAINED THIS WEEK : NO … IT REALLY , REALLY RAINED THIS WEEK!”
ReplyDeleteIronically one of our many rained out P.E classes in 6th grade I remember telling a bunch of friends about DISCOVERY BAY….. I did drawings of the models I had seen at Disneyland and explained how as soon as “Big Thunder Runnaway Railroad” opens Discovery Bay would be next !! ( oh well!!)
I wonder how that worked though, a cowboy would sink, but then what? I’m sure he didn’t crawl back out soaking wet. There must have been an underwater door??
ReplyDeleteMajor, whatever the material was, it wasn't wet. And you are correct about them not crawling back out. There must have been a trapdoor and a tunnel, because the person would reappear moments later. I can't remember if they would walk out of the door of one of the buildings, or crawl out of one of the windows on the second story......but they did reappear and they were "dry." I remember after the show, my brother and I walked over to that railing in the foreground of the photo, and really studied that pit and it's contents. I just noticed that we can see some of the brown and beige "quicksand" particles on the right side of the pit.
TM!, I remember the stuntman who disappeared into the quicksand later emerged from the washtub at the far left of today’s photo. There was some sort of gag where the washtub was “thumped” and he would climb out.
ReplyDeleteI remember on one of my 1976 visits sitting close to the front and getting a close-up view of the quicksand effect. Like you, afterwards I walked down with my dad trying to figure out the details of the effect. What I remember seeing was that the “quicksand” pit appeared to be filled with slick, flat, multicolored “sand” pieces that reminded me of very small, plastic bingo chips. If you zoom in really close below the “Danger Quicksand” sign, between the rails of the wooden fence, you can see a bunch of what looks like gravel in various shades. That’s exactly what I remember the colors looking like, so I’m guessing that’s some “quicksand” that ended up outside the pit.
I am guessing there is a platform on a piston that slowly lowers the stuntman into the pit. There would have to be some kind of mechanism that refills the quicksand from near the top of the pit as the platform descends or all of the quicksand would drop with the stuntman. Once he disappeared into the quicksand, he would have to “swim” out of the medium into a tunnel which connected to the washtub. Pretty effective effect, regardless of how it’s done.
After zooming in the see that, I also noticed the coiled rope on the “Danger” sign. I seem to remember a gag where the poor, sinking stuntman asks one of the others to throw him the rope, and the other fellow does - without uncoiling it.
While still zoomed in, I also noticed the wooden crate on top of the feed trough in the lower center of the slide. It’s full of breakaway bottles for the cowboys to beat each other over the head with.
Chuck, that was it! The washtub! I knew he reappeared, but I just didn't remember through what "opening" in the set. Thanks for jarring that memory! Yeah, I remember the little pieces that made up the quicksand. As I described in one of my earlier comments, they reminded me of brown and beige "M & M's". And I remember the rope gag, now that you have mentioned it. You have a good memory! I also remember the breakaway bottles used in the show, but thanks for pointing out the crate. We can even see a couple of the bottles sticking up out of the crate. I remember when I went on a tour of the NBC Studios, they told us that the breakaway "glass" was made of sugar.
ReplyDeleteTM!, I had forgotten about the stuntman reemerging until reading your comment, and I didn’t remember the rope gag until I saw the rope in the photo. Sounds like we are jarring each others’s memories. :-) Brown and beige M&Ms aren’t a bad description of what those things looked like.
ReplyDeleteThey told us the same thing when we did a tour of NBC Studios in October of ‘76. I’m pretty sure I still have my little piece of broken “glass” in a shoebox somewhere. I remember my little sister tasting hers to see if it tasted like sugar. I can’t remember if it did, though.