Iverson Movie Ranch

Hangin' around Hangdog: Great Iverson scene found in the 1941 Republic serial "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc."

2013-05-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

The 1941 production "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc.," starring Ralph Byrd, is considered by many fans to be among the best serials ever made. It was the fourth and last of Republic's four Dick Tracy serials — a series that also included "Dick Tracy" (1937), "Dick Tracy Returns" (1938) and "Dick Tracy's G-Men" (1939). The last three installments all included sequences shot at Iverson.

I recently got my first look at "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." and ran across a particularly compelling Iverson sequence — including the above view of a dynamic rock I call Hangdog. The rock was at the center of a big shootout sequence, with one guy picking people off from on top of the rock and a bunch of other guys shooting at him from behind cars, as seen above. The shot really shows the scale of the rock, with a normal-sized man positioned atop Hangdog and dwarfed by the rock.

Hangdog is still intact, and looks like this today. Other views of the rock give a better idea of why it's called Hangdog. Click here to see a previous blog entry featuring additional shots of Hangdog.

Stunt jump off Hangdog, Part 1

Stunt jump off Hangdog, Part 2

Stunt jump off Hangdog, Part 3

Stunt jump off Hangdog, Part 4

Included in the sequence is the above stunt jump off Hangdog — off a rock that looks to me like a shoulder — into the covered bed of a truck.

Here's what that same "shoulder" of Hangdog looks like today.

Scene from "Spy Smasher" (1942)

In a mildly amusing example of cross-promotion, the above shot from the 1942 Republic serial "Spy Smasher" includes a plug for "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." in the form of a set of posters on a gate. (You may want to enlarge the photo, by clicking on it, to get a better look at the posters.)

Here's another shot of Hangdog in recent times, which I think shows the rock's two main "faces" — I tend to see it as a lion on the left and a Scooby-Doo-type dog on the right. Or another lion.

Ruh-roh! (Catch phrase often attributed to Scooby-Doo,

above, but in fact originated by Astro on "The Jetsons")

The thing that really elevates the "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." shootout sequence, in my opinion, is its bird's-eye views, including the above shot of a frequently filmed area known as Devil's Pass or Vultura's Pass. That's Hangdog again at top right, above the car, although the angle makes it hard to recognize. The pass itself starts to the right of the truck and continues east, behind Hangdog.

Vultura's Palace, in "Perils of Nyoka" (1942)

The same site turns up again the following year as the location of Vultura's Palace in the seminal Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka." That's a portion of Hangdog — including the shoulder, again — at the right in the above shot. You may notice the similarity between the rock directly above the palace entrance (at top center in the above shot) and the one seen in the "two-faced" shot of Hangdog a few shots up (above the Scooby-Doo cartoon), in the top-left corner. That's because it's the same rock in both shots. For more about this location, click here.

Another bird's-eye view from the "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." sequence, this one shows the guy posted atop Hangdog in the foreground, with an unusual angle on Bill Rock, the large rock at left center, near the car. The road where the vehicles are parked, which would pass by the front of Vultura's Palace the following year in "Perils of Nyoka," is sometimes called Vultura's Trail. Also visible here, in the background — and not in much detail — are the Devil's Doorway Cluster and Devil's Doorway Wall, in the top-left corner. The low, horizontal rock all the way in the corner is Devil's Doorway Wall.

This shot shows the same general area from a lower angle, with a portion of Bill Rock again seen at the left, the cars parked along Vultura's Trail, and Cactus Hill in the background. The flat area below Cactus Hill is where much of the Cal West Townhomes development now stands.

Reggie Lanning, at far right, operating the camera

for the 1930 movie "The Big House"

The cinematographer on "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." was the great Reggie Lanning, a Republic stalwart who was responsible for some of the best camera work at Iverson from the late 1930s through the 1940s — not the least being the serials "Zorro's Fighting Legion" (1939), "Jungle Girl" (1941) and "Perils of Nyoka" (1942). He also did some nice work at Iverson for the Roy Rogers movies "Cowboy and the Senorita" (1944) and "Song of Arizona" (1946). For more about Lanning's incredible track record at Iverson, please read this blog entry. And please click here for more about the forgotten legacy of the great cinematographers of the B-movie era.

In the above promo still for the 1930 movie "The Big House," Lanning — who was uncredited on the production — works alongside cinematographer Harold Wenstrom shooting the film's star, Chester Morris. It's a rare glimpse of Lanning at work.

If you're interested in getting your own copy of "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." on DVD, you should be able to buy it off Amazon by clicking on the image above.

One of Ray Harryhausen's monsters goes on a rampage at the Iverson Movie Ranch — Harryhausen died today in London at 92

2013-05-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ray Harryhausen was the king of the Hollywood special effects guys in the pre-CGI days, known for the classics "Mighty Joe Young" (1949), "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958) and "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963), among many other movies from the 1940s into the 1980s. His stop-motion monsters were his calling card — he called his process "Dynamation" — and as it turns out, at least one of those monsters went on a rampage at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif.

It all went down in the 1957 sci-fi movie "20 Million Miles to Earth," which filmed at Iverson in late 1956.

In the monster's first appearance at Iverson, it surfaces in the Upper Gorge. The two rocks behind it can still be found at the site today: Crown Rock on the left and the Devil's Doorway Wall on the right.

Crown Rock appears again in this shot, where the hapless authorities are setting up to try to kill the monster with a flamethrower. That's Crown Rock filling up the bulk of the left half of the screen. You can also catch a glimpse of Minisub in the background, toward the right, directly above the guy in the suit. Both Crown and Minisub can still be found at Iverson. Well, technically, only about half of Crown Rock survived the Cal West Townhomes development that now fills the site — the same half seen here. The original rock extends farther to the left, as noted below.

Here's what's left of Crown Rock, which is now sort of a decoration among the condos. The rest of it was hacked away to make way for the driveway. You may notice the similarity in the shape of this rock and the one in the photo above it. The round part of the rock in the black-and-white shot, framing the guy with the flamethrower, is now concealed behind the foliage at the right of the above shot.

Detouring momentarily from the monster movie, this is what a hacked-up famous movie rock looks like. It's another view of Crown Rock in recent times, from what might be called the front of the rock. This view shows the pockmarks left when a portion of the rock was hacked away to make it fit the plan for the condo development. The rock is adjacent to one of the development's main driveways. (You may want to click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look at its hacked-up face.)

Sadly, they destroyed Crown's "twin," which was at least as interesting as the part that survived. Above is a shot of the two Crown Rock twins as they appeared in 1957 in the TV show "Have Gun, Will Travel" — each with its own Indian warrior on top. The shot is from the episode "The Yuma Treasure," which first aired Dec. 14, 1957. The twin on the right is the piece of the rock that remains today.

Back to the rampaging monster. This shot was probably one of the things the creature was rampaging about. The flamethrower scene takes place on the plateau at the top of Iverson's Upper Gorge, with the rock feature known as The Wall (not to be confused with the Devil's Doorway Wall) seen at the right, and Elders Peak in the background, to the right of the monster. The plateau in the foreground is now filled with condos, and The Wall was torn down to make room for them.

Another shot from the flamethrower showdown has the monster again positioned with its back to the Devil's Doorway Wall, center. At the left is Crown Rock, and the tall rock toward the right is part of the Devil's Doorway Cluster. In the background is Cactus Hill. All of these features remain in place today.

Fleeing the flamethrower, the monster emerges from the back side of Zorro's Cave, at the right. The tall rock toward the left is another familiar Iverson feature, which I call Heroes Tower because of its appearance in the NBC TV series "Heroes."

Here's a look at some of those same rocks in the summer of 2008 — including Heroes Tower and the rocks behind Zorro's Cave. This shot was taken when "Heroes" was being taped at the site, and the show's producers had added paintings to a number of the rocks.

Another pic from summer 2008 offers a better look at some of the rock paintings used in "Heroes," including the one on Heroes Tower at top right. The paint was all cleaned up as soon as the shoot was done, although I did find a couple of traces that hung around for a short time on some other rocks. Click here to see more about the "Heroes" shoot.

The pursuit of the monster in "20 Million Miles to Earth" eventually leads to another part of the Iverson Movie Ranch, where the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village now stands. In this shot a helicopter closes in as the monster is enjoying a snack in the approximate spot where the mobile home park's swimming pool is now located. Flanking the chopper are End Rock, on the left, and Corner Rock, just to the right of the helicopter, with Smooth Hill in the background.

End Rock as it appears today, foreground,

with Corner Rock behind the lamp post at left

These days, End Rock is part of a planter setting at the mobile home park, while Corner Rock was partially lopped off to make way for a road. In the recent photo above, End Rock is the larger of the two rocks in the foreground, while Corner Rock is in the shadows at the left, behind a low brick wall. The positions are reversed because this shot is taken from the north, while the shot of the monster above is taken from the south.

This angle from "20 Million Miles to Earth" more closely approximates the recent shot, with Corner Rock on the left and End Rock on the right. The dirt road seen here follows the same path as the current asphalt road bordered by the low brick wall in the recent shot above, which leads to the mobile home seen above End Rock in the recent shot. The "bump" on the right side of Corner Rock, which protrudes over the dirt road, has been removed to allow for a wider road today.

Apartment complex atop the former Smooth Hill

Even Smooth Hill, an important landmark in hundreds of old movies and TV shows shot at Iverson, was destroyed. The top of the hill was lopped off when the 118 Freeway came through in the 1960s, and a large apartment complex now occupies the site, along with some condos. In the above shot looking northwest toward the two main buildings of the apartment complex, the freeway can be seen cutting through the center of the shot above Topanga Canyon Boulevard, with a glimpse of the condos at far left.

The monster's Iverson rampage ends when it is captured by dropping a steel net on it, with the capture taking place in what's now the mobile home park. However, as anyone who knows monster movies will tell you, we can expect it to come roaring back to life — and it does. For reasons that I presume are explained in the movie, the monster's next rampage takes place in the streets of Rome. I have heard that one reason the production went to Italy was because Ray Harryhausen wanted to vacation there.

One of the highlights of "20 Million Miles to Earth" is a brutal fight between the monster and a Dynamation elephant, with Harryhausen's fluid motion work seen in all its glory. (The still shots don't do it justice.) This sequence, along with the remainder of the movie, is set in Rome and no longer involves Iverson. But the Rome rampage is too cool not to post a bunch of screen shots of it anyway.

In contrast to the frustratingly brief appearances by star monsters in many 1950s monster movies, viewers get a "lot of monster" in this one.

The creature goes on a tour of Rome for a while, and kind of trashes the place. In some instances, as with the shot above, the modeling is pretty obvious.

In other shots the sets look real, as when things come to a head with a climactic stand atop the Roman Colosseum.

Ultimately, the odds are stacked against the monster ...

... which takes some hard hits from the gathered artillery ...

... and winds up in ruins, like much of the rest of Rome. Oh yeah: Spoiler alert. I mean ... but is this really the end of the monster?

The man behind the monster. Born in Los Angeles, Ray Harryhausen moved to London in 1960 and remained active in the movies through "Clash of the Titans" in 1981. Here he's seen with a model of one of his trademark skeleton warriors — a tribute to the classic battle scene in "Jason and the Argonauts" that featured seven of the hard-to-kill swordsmen. Harryhausen, one of the true legends of the movies, died today, May 7, 2013, at 92.

One of the best deals in entertainment history: Thoughts on the Corriganville tour

2013-04-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

For anyone interested in the history of movies and TV shows — especially Westerns — you'll never get more bang for your buck than taking the $5 Corriganville tour. It isn't the kind of ho-hum tour you might expect when sleepy suburbanites gather on Saturday mornings in Anytown USA. This one's pure Old West with a healthy sprinkle of Hollywood — a detailed, informative and enlightening trip back into movie history.

Gregg "Cheyenne" Anderson,

Corriganville historian and tour guide

The difference maker at Corriganville is tour guide Gregg Anderson, who's one of those obsessive movie historian types (ahem ... like anyone we know?), and boy does Gregg know his subject matter. Gregg's the Corriganville counterpart to folk like me and a few of my pals who obsess over Iverson. He clearly has done his homework — enthusiastically, I'm sure. Gregg digs into the details, delights in new discoveries and passes along his wealth of insights to anyone lucky enough to find their way to one of his monthly tours.

To call Gregg a Corriganville expert doesn't really say enough — Gregg is THE Corriganville expert. Among the many pieces of evidence, it's Gregg's name, expertise and photos that appear on those interpretive signs that were set up around the former movie ranch in the late '90s when a chunk of the sprawling Simi Valley property became a single-family residential development.

Around that same time, the rest of Corriganville — fortunately, the best part, from a historical perspective — was preserved as a park. Gregg's tours, run through the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, cover the portion of the park where the bulk of the filming took place. His accomplice on the tours is Dave "Deadwood" Hugo, who hits the right notes (including the appropriately sour ones) as Gregg's B-Western-style sidekick.

Dave "Deadwood" Hugo,

sidekick extraordinaire

Not a whole lot is left of the original Corriganville movie sets, with the stone foundation of an old barn being one of the few remnants that rise above ground level after a series of fires devastated the Santa Susana Mountains in the 1970s. But like the Iverson Movie Ranch in nearby Chatsworth, many of Corriganville's most distinctive landmarks — its rocks — have survived.

Corriganville's Gorilla Rock rises above

the stone foundation of "Barn No. 2"

Don Megowan and Barn No. 2 in "Snowfire"

The above screen shot, from the low-budget 1958 family movie "Snowfire," shows what that stone foundation looked like back when it held up a working movie barn.

A closeup of the surviving foundation shows

that the stones match the "Snowfire" shot

As a film historian specializing in the Iverson Movie Ranch, I've been aware of what might be called a mild natural rivalry between Iverson and Corriganville. With the two movie ranches operating just a few miles apart — and being the two busiest movie location ranches during the heyday of the B-Western and early television — they would have been competitors for location work in early Westerns in particular.

But one thing that set Corriganville apart was that it also became a Wild West theme park — and any kid who was lucky enough, as I was, to visit the place in the 1950s or early 1960s would happily tell you that a trip to Corriganville was a peak experience.

Corriganville's main street, Silvertown,

back in the filming and theme park days

Corriganville wasn't a theme park in the way that Universal Studios — which may have had something to do with driving Corriganville out of business — was and is a theme park. Universal, a fancy, modern operation more in the mold of Disneyland or Magic Mountain, is fun enough in its own way, I suppose. But for all its mass commercial appeal and huge crowds, something is missing. Places like Universal Studios and Magic Mountain, where the focus is on the sizzle, on keeping ahead of the competition and on cramming as many visitors as possible through the turnstiles, tend to wind up with a lot of engineered plastic and not much soul. Corriganville weren't nuthin' like that — it was rough and ramshackle and made of wood, like the real West, and there was something exciting and authentic about it — even if its reason to be was to create the illusion of the West in the movies.

For a kid growing up when kids still played cowboys and Indians, rough and ramshackle was what I wanted, and Corriganville delivered. The two family outings we took to Corriganville — I'd say I was in the 7-9 age range at the time — were among the high points of my childhood.

Live shootout in the streets of Corriganville

A routine stroll down Corriganville's main street, grabbing some grub or checking out the souvenir stores with Mom, flipped in a single defining moment into a Wild West adventure, as shots rang out, shattering the calm on the street and raising the hairs on the back of your neck. These were loud, startling, scary shots, with serious-looking bad guys firing off serious-sounding movie blanks — the kind that made a bang so ferocious that to this day I still think it may be the loudest thing I've ever heard. It was on that terrifying and thrilling note that the action began, and the next thing you knew, a realistic movie-style shootout was playing out all over town.

Stuntman Buddy Mize meets his fate

during a live shootout at Corriganville

Corriganville was one "wow" moment after another. Guys would be shot off rooftops, or get gunned down and twirl over hitching rails before they hit the ground. I'd be pumping adrenaline of the purest kind ... little kid adrenaline ... like when you meet Santa Claus, only in some ways ... even better.

Ray "Crash" Corrigan

with young visitors to Corriganville

Ray "Crash" Corrigan, a stuntman and B-movie actor who set up the place as a filming location in the late 1930s and had the foresight to turn it into a family attraction on weekends, recruited his stuntman and actor buddies to put on those fierce shootouts in the streets of Corriganville's Silvertown.

One of the old hanging trees still in place at Corriganville

They even put on hangings at one of the big oak trees at the end of town. It wasn't gory or grim — it was about showing how it was done in the movies. Still, it was cool, to say the least.

Then there was Fort Apache — or as a young kid in the early '60s might call it: paradise. It was a "real" Old West fort, and you could climb up and take up a post along the fence, or just run around shrieking your lungs out — this was playing cowboy on the biggest imaginable stage.

Corriganville tour, April 2013

Fast-forward about 50 years to 2013. I took my first official Corriganville tour as a grown-up earlier this month, and even though I've already been studying Corriganville myself for a few years (an inevitable byproduct of studying Iverson), I learned plenty.

Mystery rock — mystery solved! Canyon Rock,

not the usual angle, in "Down Dakota Way"

One of the highlights for me was finding a mystery rock I've been seeing in chase scenes in old Westerns for years. It turns out it's another angle on the landmark Corriganville rock known as Canyon Rock.

Here's that same rock, photographed from the chase road during the recent Corriganville tour. The similarities between the above two shots won't be obvious to everyone, especially with the foliage that now blocks the view. But the two shots are taken from close to the same angle, and the rock's shape, markings and surrounding rocks all match.

This is a more common view of Canyon Rock — also known as Hideout Rock — shown from the angle where it was often seen as the entrance to an outlaw hideout. This end of the rock would be at the far left in the two shots above this one.

That's Gene Autry in the above shot, peering around Canyon Rock to get a look at the outlaw hideout in "Rim of the Canyon" (1949). You may be able to match the above two shots. One clue is a circular marking in the rock that appears near the right edge of both photos, about two-thirds of the way up.

The Corriganville tour takes place about once a month, and as I mentioned earlier it costs tour goers a whopping $5 a head — that's not a typo. You can sign up by going to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District website. It may not be immediately apparent where to find the Corriganville tours —the thing that worked best for me was going under the "recreation" tab and scrolling down to the "age 50+ brochure."

The brochure that you can download there lists a number of activities designed for people 50 and up, but if you haven't hit that milestone yet, I wouldn't worry about it. No one's checking IDs, and I'm reasonably sure all ages are welcome. We had a few youngsters on our recent tour.

The current brochure shows the following tour dates for spring and summer 2013:

Saturday, June 15 (10 a.m.-noon)Saturday, July 20 (10 a.m.-noon)
Saturday, Aug. 17 (10 a.m.-noon)

Even though the tours are listed as 10 a.m.-noon, they can run closer to three hours. The hiking is non-strenuous, and the setting is beautiful. Meet in the Corriganville parking lot, 7001 Smith Road in Simi Valley.

You can also call the park district at 805-584-4400. When I left a message there, they called me back a day or two later and I reserved my spot without any problem. If all else fails, just show up! Cheyenne and Deadwood will look after you.

If you're interested in learning more about Corriganville, please click here to read some previous blog posts about the site.

Fans flock to famous rock

2013-04-23T20:02:00.000-07:00

Fans of old movies and early TV shows find a lot to love at the site of the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., but the single feature that attracts more interest than anything else is Lone Ranger Rock. It's not the most beautiful or most interesting rock at the site — far from it. But it's the most famous.

The rock became famous mainly because of its appearance in the opening to every episode of the old TV show "The Lone Ranger," in which the masked man, played by Clayton Moore, rears up on Silver right next to the rock — part of the famous "Hi-yo, Silver, away!" sequence. The rock was seen in many other productions as well, but this was its defining moment.

"Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" (MGM, 1925)

The rock was making appearances in the movies decades before Clayton Moore first rode up. Above is a screen shot from one of its early appearances, back in the silent movie era. That's Lone Ranger Rock (not yet known by that name) in the top right corner, with a group of characters from biblical times standing on it and a whole mob gathered at its base.

It's not widely known that Lone Ranger Rock used to be called Indian Head. No one I've heard from knows how or when that name came about, but the name has been confirmed by Iverson family members. It's worth noting that at least four rocks on the former Iverson Ranch have been called Indian Head at one time or other. I blogged about the site's many Indian Heads in an earlier post that you can find by clicking here.

The TV show had its first run on ABC from 1949-1957, and it was probably around that time that the rock first started being called Lone Ranger rock. The above title shot was filmed on the Upper Iverson, while Lone Ranger Rock was located a few miles away on the Lower Iverson.

The good news is that Lone Ranger Rock, by any other name, is still alive and well. It can be seen without even getting out of your car, from Redmesa Road, just north of Santa Susana Pass Road in Chatsworth. It is also relatively easy to get to on foot, if you don't mind tromping through the sagebrush. The rock is on land that has been preserved as a park, so you don't even have to trespass to get your photo op. It's in Garden of the Gods Park — named after the huge sandstone boulders found mainly across the street, which also appeared in many old Westerns and TV shows.

I was interested to see what other fans did on their visits to Lone Ranger Rock, and I tracked down a few YouTube videos documenting fan pilgrimages. I've posted them below.

First, here's a short clip by David August:

This one, posted by OverwhelmingSilence, is a bit more in-depth:

You can see another cool video about a fan visit to Lone Ranger Rock by going to this YouTube link. That one has embedding disabled, so I can't post it here. But it's worth checking out.

If you're thinking about heading out to Chatsworth to see the rock for yourself, I have two minor cautionary notes: (1) Watch out for poison oak, and (2) watch out for snakes.

Poison oak at Iverson, not far from Lone Ranger Rock

Poison oak is easier to spot after it starts turning red — and it also gets more potent then. But it's dangerous even when it's green, which is one of its sneaky and unpleasant characteristics. (Others include making you itch like heck, being resistant to just about any kind of treatment, and sticking to clothes and everything else, meaning you can get it from just touching your clothes.) In case you haven't had the "pleasure" of coming into contact with it before, take my word for it: You don't want to. If you're not sure you can recognize it in the wild, try not to touch any plants, and be careful when handling your shoes and pants after you hike in the area.

Western diamondback rattlesnake

The other warning is about snakes. A number of different species live at Iverson, but the ones you have to worry about are the rattlers. I still have yet to see my first rattlesnake at Iverson — the above photo is not shot there — but I've encountered other snakes at the site, and that was scary enough. The rattler is known to live there, so be careful about where you step, and if you do see one, give it some room. Word is they don't usually hassle you if you don't hassle them.

Just a reminder: You CAN see Lone Ranger Rock from your car, or from the sidewalk, if you're reluctant to tromp around in the brush. If you head north up Redmesa Road from Santa Susana Pass Road, the rock is one of the first things you'll see, on the right. But I still recommend getting out of the car.

Below are Amazon links to a few of the many DVD packages of the old "Lone Ranger" material. It comes and goes, but a couple of the sets I bought a while back appear to be out of print now, with a few copies still around.

A few "Tarzan" scenes filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch

2013-04-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

The many Tarzan movies filmed over the decades, including the wildly popular Johnny Weissmuller movies of the 1930s and 1940s, have an intermittent track record at Iverson. The widely filmed movie ranch, better known for its stagecoach holdups, Western shootouts and rocky landscape, wasn't exactly a jungle location. But Iverson did make significant appearances in a number of Tarzan movies. Here's a look at a few key scenes.

Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
at Iverson in "Tarzan the Ape Man," 1932

The movie considered by many fans to be the start of the Tarzan franchise is MGM's "Tarzan the Ape Man," released in 1932 — Weissmuller's first appearance as the Lord of the Jungle. A number of Tarzan movies predated this one, going back to 1918 and silent movie star Elmo Lincoln. But MGM and Weissmuller — along with Maureen O'Sullivan, who fueled Tarzan's jungle passions as Jane — turned Tarzan into a cultural phenomenon.

This is the same rock — known as Three Ages Rock — where Tarzan and Jane stood during the iconic "wave goodbye" scene at the end of "Tarzan the Ape Man." The rock can still easily be seen today, from Redmesa Road, just below the Cal West Townhomes development. You may be able to match up the vertical crack and the smaller rock below Three Ages Rock in the above two shots. (You can enlarge any of these photos by clicking on them.)

The setup for the "wave goodbye" shot provided a couple of nice touches, including unloading an elephant in Iverson Gorge for the above sequence. The large rock feature at the right, known as The Wall, no longer exists, having been torn down to build condos. The overhanging rock just above and to the right of the heads of the riders is Potato Rock, which was also a casualty of that development. What's still around are the Elders, at the center of the shot (directly to the left of the riders' heads), and Elders Peak, top center. These features, seen in the backgrounds of many Iverson movies, are above Chatsworth Park, "across the street" from Iverson — south of Santa Susana Pass Road.

Here's a look at Elders Peak and the Elders in modern times. This shot is from 2008, just after the Porter Ranch Fire, which accounts for the area's barren appearance.

Cheeta made his way to Iverson along with the rest of the "Tarzan the Ape Man" cast and crew, and was filmed racing past Nyoka Cliff to join the "wave goodbye" sequence.

Here's a shot of that same section of Nyoka Cliff as seen on a recent visit to the site, which can be matched up with the details of the Cheeta shot above even though the two shots are from slightly different angles. The tall triangular shape near the center of both shots — a "witch's hat" shape — and the dark "hole in the rock" toward the right are among the better markers.

This is what Nyoka Cliff looks like today — pulling back from the above closeup. The massive cliff is one of the most prominent rock features at Iverson, and is easily seen from Redmesa Road.

The elephant heads down the Gorge after dropping off Jane — who has decided to remain in the jungle with Tarzan in "Tarzan the Ape Man."

The steps visible toward the left of this shot are somewhat famous among film location researchers. The weight of opinion is that they were put in place specifically for "Tarzan the Ape Man," to enable Tarzan, Jane and Cheeta to easily scamper up to the top of Three Ages Rock.

Cheeta arrives at the top of the stairs, which are concealed by a shadow. Oops: It appears that someone has installed a couple of "African-looking" dry palm trees between the previous shot and this one without bothering to reconcile the set arrangement with the shots of Tarzan and Jane, sans palms, ascending the steps.

"Rough Riders' Round-Up" (1939)

The "Tarzan the Ape Man" steps surface in other productions from time to time, including the above shot from the 1939 Republic B-Western "Rough Riders' Round-Up." In this screen shot Three Ages Rock is the large horizontal boulder directly above the top of the steps. The rock immediately to the right of the rider is a fascinating character I've blogged about before, which I call the D-Train.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936)

Those same rocks also appear in the 1936 movie "The Charge of the Light Brigade," but as you can see in the top-right corner of the above shot: no steps. It looks to me as though someone went to the trouble to smooth over that stairway, probably with cement. The shot of the steps above this one that appeared in "Rough Riders' Round-Up" in 1939 could be explained by the use of recycled older footage, but that's just a guess. Another theory would be that someone fashioned a "disguise" for the steps, so they could be covered up or exposed as needed. It sounds like a stretch, but it was not unheard of at Iverson back then to complement the rocks with what might be called "prosthetics."

Tarzan helps Jane climb to the top of Three Ages Rock. You may notice that her outfit got shorter in the time it took her to climb the stairs — an illusion created by a torn dress after it was damaged during her jungle adventures. Jane had yet to shed her "city dress" and move into her far more revealing loincloth, but the producers may have made the choice to show more skin here to illustrate Jane's loss of inhibition as she transitioned from city girl to jungle dweller — and of course, to raise the level of interest in future movies.

The jilted suitor, Harry Holt — whom Jane dumped for Tarzan — rides off on his elephant down Iverson Gorge, with the Garden of the Gods in the background in the top-left corner. You may have to squint to see Harry, played by Neil Hamilton, and his elephant near the bottom-center of the shot.

Tarzan, Jane and Cheeta — one big happy family, atop Three Ages Rock. The producers of "Tarzan the Ape Man" were blessed with a dramatic Chatsworth sky on the day of this shoot, and were apparently content to overlook the fact that it didn't match the sky as it appeared in other shots during the sequence.

Lex Barker as Tarzan on the Upper Iverson

in a scene from "Tarzan and the Slave Girl," 1950

Later versions of "Tarzan," including some of the RKO releases in the 1950s in which the ape man was played by Lex Barker ("Tarzan and the Slave Girl," 1950; "Tarzan's Savage Fury," 1952) or Gordon Scott ("Tarzan's Hidden Jungle," 1955; "Tarzan and the Trappers," 1958), featured a number of Iverson scenes, such as this one filmed on the Upper Iverson.

Here's what that same easily recognized rock, which I call Notch Rock, looks like today. It's a frequent landmark in old movies and early TV shows.

This is the same view from farther back. The whole formation has been called Easter Island or the Totem Pole Rocks.

Lex Barker gives the producers a little extra — and risks his neck in the process — by venturing over the edge of Notch Rock. He wouldn't have got much farther than this, but even this much proves he didn't just play a he-man in the movies — he really was one.

In another scene from "Tarzan and the Slave Girl," Lex Barker leads an expedition across the rocky bed of Fern Ann Creek on the Upper Iverson. This sequence is a personal favorite of mine, not because the scene itself is anything special but because the creekbed was rarely filmed, and it took some doing to identify the location. Fern Ann Creek, sometimes called Iverson Creek, still flows (trickles, really) through Chatsworth today and eventually feeds into the "wash" — the concrete drainage system that runs through the San Fernando Valley and is part of what's loosely called the "L.A. River." You can find another shot of Fern Ann's rocky creekbed in this post about a "Bonanza" shoot.

"Tarzan's Savage Fury" (1952)

One of the most ambitious Iverson shoots in the Tarzan movies was for the 1952 release "Tarzan's Savage Fury," again starring Lex Barker. An African village consisting of about 10 huts and other structures appears in the movie, just north of Garden of the Gods. It's likely that this is a composite shot, with a portion of the village not really at Iverson. But at least part of it is real, including three or four huts seen in the photo below. In the above shot, all of the rocks are recognizable and familiar, and the flat area in the foreground that contains most of the village is known to be a flat area in reality, which is now full of condos. The rocks at the right, behind the large building in the center, are now a part of Garden of the Gods Park, although the smaller clump of rocks at the far right, directly behind the second hut from the right, was destroyed.

In this shot from inside the village, the Phantom, one of the main rock features of Garden of the Gods, can be seen in the top-left corner. This shot establishes that at least a portion of the village was in fact built at Iverson.

Here's a contemporary view of the Phantom.

Tarzan and Jane — Maureen O'Sullivan

and Johnny Weissmuller

The producers' battles with the censors over Jane's skimpy loincloths are the stuff of Hollywood legend. But there's no denying the chemistry between Weissmuller's Tarzan and O'Sullivan's Jane, a pairing that lasted throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s and was on display in six Tarzan movies.

Here's an old cowboy movie rock you can still easily find today

2013-04-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

I was just doing a scan of the Columbia B-Western "The Old Wyoming Trail" (1937), starring Charles Starrett, and — how about this for a surprise — it's not shot in Wyoming! Like almost all of the B-Westerns from that period, it's shot around L.A., and like many of them, it's shot at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth.

I thought I'd point out this one rock. Here it is in the movie. It's part of a cluster of rocks that includes a famous movie arch, Devil's Doorway, which you can read about in this earlier blog post. The rock wall seen above stretched out from Devil's Doorway toward the south — and still does.

Here it is in modern times — Devil's Doorway Wall. It's situated among a bunch of condos now, off Redmesa Road. It's off the first driveway on the right as you head north on Redmesa off Santa Susana Pass Road. As usual, it's not exactly the same angle. But it's the same rock wall.

Mouseketeer and beach bunny Annette Funicello dies; here's one memorable production she appeared in at Iverson

2013-04-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

I was sorry to learn today that Annette Funicello had died. The actress known for being a Mouseketeer in the '50s and a beach bunny in a string of 1960s bikini movies — "Beach Blanket Bingo," "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" and others — died this morning at 70 of complications from multiple sclerosis.

Being a Disney regular she didn't work much at the Iverson Movie Ranch, as Disney had its own Golden Oak Ranch in Placeritas Canyon, out in the Newhall area. But Funicello did make it to Iverson at least once, for an episode of the Disney miniseries "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca."

Annette Funicello, right, as Chiquita Bernal in

"Elfego Baca, Attorney at Law" — shot on the Upper Iverson

The episode, "Elfego Baca, Attorney at Law," aired Feb. 6, 1959, as part of the "Disneyland" TV series — also known as "Walt Disney Presents" or "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," among various other names over the span of its many decades on television. As it turns out, Funicello's Iverson shoot for "Elfego Baca" produced an important sighting: an adobe on the Upper Iverson, which I have never seen anywhere else.

The above shot offers one of the best looks at the front of the Elfego Baca Adobe. It was a full building, completed on all four sides, rather than a "front," and the set included a small outbuilding and a sheep corral. The actor seen in this shot (and also seen in the one above it) is Edward Colmans, who plays Funicello's father in the show. I haven't figured out who the uncredited actress is who plays Funicello's sister Lolita.

Annette Funicello, right, with Robert Loggia and an unknown

actress in "Elfego Baca, Attorney at Law"

In the above shot and a few others in this post, the familiar hills to the west of Iverson can be seen, pinpointing the location as the Upper Iverson.

Here's an overview of the Elfego Baca Adobe set, which included a corral full of sheep. This view of the set, seen from the northeast, shows the back of the house.

Robert Loggia as Elfego Baca

In the above shot, Robert Loggia, playing the title role of real-life Western attorney and gunman Elfego Baca, arrives at the adobe complex, with some important marker rocks visible in the background. Most of those rocks remain in place today on the site of the former Upper Iverson, although the area is now occupied by a gated community of large estates. The rocks — sometimes referred to as the "Rocks Across the Way," in reference to their relatively remote location on the North Rim of the Upper Iverson — are helpful in further narrowing down the location of the adobe, which was just south of this cluster of rocks.

Annette and her sister peek out from the adobe as actors Edward Colmans, left, Robert Loggia and James Drury, at the center of the shot, talk things out.

This shot looking west offers another view of those distinctive background hills above Chatsworth.

Here's a look at those same background hills in more recent times, along with some of the estates that now occupy the former Upper Iverson.

Annette Funicello and frequent co-star Frankie Avalon
in the beach movie days

Why Corriganville and Iverson will never be the same

2013-04-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

When the 118 Freeway opened in the late 1960s connecting the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, two casualties were the Iverson Movie Ranch and Corriganville. The freeway bisected both filming locations, not only changing the appearance of both sites but also bringing with it traffic noise that made filming difficult.

Here's a prime example of the sedimentary rock formation, or "strata," that is characteristic of the Santa Susana Mountains between the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley. This rocky hillside is commonly seen in the backgrounds of productions shot at Corriganville, which occupied the eastern end of Simi Valley. This shot looking north from Corriganville is found in Columbia's 1947 Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) B-Western "Riders of the Lone Star."

Here's what that same formation looks like today, with the lower half of it now buried under a large manmade buttress that was built up in front of it to form the foundation for the freeway as it traverses the hills between the two valleys.

"The Lone Ranger" TV series, 1949-1957,

filmed at Iverson and Corriganville

The freeway came in during a period when the business model that made movie ranches like Iverson and Corriganville profitable was already in decline. The B-movie was dead and the early TV production that replaced it had outgrown the "Lone Ranger" and "Roy Rogers" period that kept both movie ranches humming during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Traffic on the 118

Meanwhile, the development pressure and rising land values that came from a rapidly swelling L.A. population — population growth fueled in large part by the burgeoning Hollywood movie industry that places like Iverson and Corriganville had helped nurture — meant that the sprawling movie ranches could no longer be sustained.

Malibu Canyon Fire, 1970

If that weren't enough, the incredibly destructive Newhall-Malibu fires swept through the area in September 1970 and destroyed most of what was left of the movie sets at both sites. Today, virtually all of the movie ranches that once were a prominent feature of the Southern California landscape have disappeared.

A "Star Trek" shooting location — lost to history for almost half a century — has been found

2013-03-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

It may come as a surprise given that "Star Trek: The Original Series" was all about exploring the universe, but the TV show rarely ventured outside the studio.

Only nine of the 79 episodes produced over the course of three seasons were shot on location, while another five episodes made it only as far as the backlot at Desilu Studios. The rest of the series, which aired on NBC from 1966-1969, was all done on soundstages.

The Gorn menaces Capt. Kirk in "Arena,"

shot at Vasquez Rocks

Those few location shoots have been a source of intrigue among "Star Trek" aficionados. Some shoots, such as the one shown above for the "Arena" episode at Vasquez Rocks, have become legendary. The episode featured an infamous fight sequence between Kirk and the rubber-suited Gorn across the distinctively tilted rocks. Vasquez was the remote location of choice for "The Original Series," with four episodes shot there.

Landscape of Planet Neural in "A Private Little War,"

shot at Bell Location Ranch

"Trek" insiders have been working for years to determine the rest of the locations where "The Original Series," or "TOS," was shot, and that work is now pretty much complete. One of the most challenging episodes to figure out was "A Private Little War," which first aired Feb. 2, 1968, during the second season. I'm happy to be able to confirm that the location for this episode has been found: "A Private Little War" was shot on the lower plateau of the Bell Location Ranch, in the Santa Susana Mountains above Box Canyon, just outside of Chatsworth, Calif.

"A Private Little War"

The location shoot for "A Private Little War" has been widely misunderstood. Through a brief online search I found sites attributing the episode separately to Vasquez Rocks and Bronson Canyon, and I've seen a YouTube clip — no longer posted — by a fan who speculated it was shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch. Not one of those theories turns out to be correct. "Star Trek: TOS" did shoot one episode at Bronson Canyon — season two's "Bread and Circuses," which aired March 15, 1968. But the series never shot at Iverson.

A March 2013 expedition by a group of film historians to the site of the former Bell Ranch, spearheaded by "TOS" location expert Larry Herdman, finally unlocked the mysteries of "A Private Little War." One of the first signs the group was on to something was the sight of these rugged cliffs looming over Bell Ranch's lower plateau.

Here's that same rugged cliff area, as seen in early 1968 (but shot in late 1967) in "A Private Little War." The shot leaves no doubt as to where the episode was taped.

In an early scene from "A Private Little War," a small band of Villagers sets up an ambush in the rocks. The scene takes place in a group of rocks near the edge of Bell Ranch's lower plateau.

This is what that same group of rocks looks like today — pretty much the same as when the episode was taped in late 1967, although the lighting conditions give the rocks a darker appearance.

A closer shot of two of the guys in the ambush shows them hiding in a small cluster of rocks.

This is that same cluster, as seen today.

Here's a wider view of the ambush area today, with the San Fernando Valley in the background. The small cluster seen above with the two ambushers is just to the left of center in this shot.

A little to the east, four Hill People walk past a rock with distinctive circular markings — unaware they're walking into an ambush.

Here's that same rock today, with the markings still easy to identify.

Pulling back for a wider view of that area today, the angular rock seen above with the distinctive circular markings appears at the far left of the frame. (For a better look at it, click on the photo to enlarge it.) The area where the Villagers would have been waiting in ambush is at the far right. Here again, the San Fernando Valley is seen in the background.

Another distinctive rock, photographed during the March 2013 expedition to Bell Ranch's lower plateau.

A portion of that same rock can be seen behind McCoy in the "TOS" episode, in the top right corner.

Here's another rock photographed during the recent visit to Bell Ranch.

And here's the same rock in another screen shot of an injured McCoy. The two angles are pretty close, and you should be able to easily spot similarities in the rock's shapes and markings between the two shots.

Spock was a part of at least one landing party during the episode and joined Kirk in romping around Bell Ranch's rocky terrain.

One of the main characters in the episode is Nona, who is being attacked by a Villager in this scene near the end of "A Private Little War." It seems to me that this shot inadvertently exposes some buildings in the background at the right — a blurry glimpse of the western San Fernando Valley circa late 1967.

This photo shows that same general area of the Valley in recent times. I don't think it's possible to match up specific buildings, as the angle is not exactly the same and the place has grown a lot in the past 45 years. But the same cliff face is seen in both shots — at the left in the above shot and at the center in the "TOS" shot, directly above the Villager's head. If you look closely you should be able to make out the same horizontal markings and "pock marks" in both shots, although this match isn't quite as obvious as some of those above.

For additional views of the Bell Ranch shoot for "A Private Little War," please click here to see a blog entry by movie location expert Jerry England.

"A Private Little War"

With the discovery that "A Private Little War" was shot on the Bell Location Ranch, the bulk of the location research for "TOS" is now done. But at least one loose end remains.

"This Side of Paradise" — widely believed to be

shot at Golden Oak Ranch

A certain amount of mystery still surrounds the 1967 episode "This Side of Paradise" from season one, which is generally thought to be shot at Disney's Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon near Newhall, Calif. Golden Oak continues to be used as a filming facility and is closed to the public, so "TOS" historians have yet to get a look at the site to verify the shoot.

A warning about Bell Ranch: The former movie location site also remains closed to the public, hidden behind locked gates and difficult to access. While the lower plateau is still relatively undeveloped, much of the rest of Bell is now occupied by residential housing. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry about a "Bonanza" shoot on Bell's lower plateau, the area is defended by residents who don't appreciate strangers traipsing around on their turf — and other hikers who have gone into the area have received something less than a warm welcome from the locals.

Devil's Pass, Vultura's Pass and another look at everyone's favorite Wookie from "Star Wars"

2013-03-12T10:28:00.001-07:00

It's high time I update my blog entry from a few years ago on the Iverson rock I call Chewbacca.

Not everyone sees the resemblance between the rock and the beloved "Star Wars" Wookie, but it popped out at me the first time I saw the rock in person. Your mileage may vary, and I hope I get comments on whether readers see it or not.

The rock is located in a section of the former Lower Iverson that has been called Devil's Pass. That's what I've been calling it anyway. The name comes from the title of an episode of the TV show "The Lone Ranger" that originally aired May 25, 1950. In the above screen shot from the episode "Devil's Pass," the Lone Ranger and Tonto are seen riding west through the pass. Chewbacca is out of the picture, but would be up high on the right. Directly above Tonto's head is an often filmed rock known as Hangover Rock, which you will probably have to enlarge the photo (by clicking on it) to see. (You can find another shot of it at the bottom of this post.)

The same pass has also been called "Vultura's Pass," as it was the location of Vultura's Palace, seen above, in the seminal 1942 Republic serial "The Perils of Nyoka." The pass today remains on private property and is difficult to access other than looking at it over the brick wall that now separates this spot from the nearby condos. Some of the rocks in the above two shots are the same — you may be able to match up the rocks in the above photo that are just above the roof of the palace, near the center-top of the photo, with the same pair of rocks in the "Lone Ranger" shot, near the top-left corner. It's two rocks separated by a curved crack, and if I only had a dime for every time I've heard that expression.

Here's a shot of the evil Vultura, played by Adrian Booth — also known as Lorna Gray — posing for a publicity still for "The Perils of Nyoka" at the Iverson Movie Ranch, courtesy of Western movie expert Jerry England.

Another early shot of Lorna Gray/Adrian Booth, who apparently is still going strong at 95 — it wasn't that long ago, just a few years, that I went to an event in Hollywood to hear the longtime Republic Pictures star reminisce about the studio's Golden Age. Does she have stories!

Back to Devil's Pass and Chewy, this is the view from a sniper's outpost up next to Chewbacca, looking west with the Upper Gorge in the background. The riders are entering the west end of Devil's Pass, arriving from the north, and will head roughly east. The screen shot is from the 1947 Richard Arlen/Jennifer Holt B-Western "Buffalo Bill Rides Again."

Like most rocks, Chewbacca's appearance changes as it's viewed from different angles and in different light. Sadly, the thing has been hit with a little graffiti, something that has been a bit of a problem at Iverson. It's most evident in the photo at the top of this post.

You might not think this prehistoric-looking thing is the same rock, but it is. Lighting makes a big difference, as illustrated by this shot of Chewy later in the day. Most of the character's "face" is in shade here.

This side of the rock reminds me of something out of the Broadway show "Cats."

There's that brick wall I mentioned, toward the right and down the hill. This is Devil's Pass in recent years, looking more or less southwest. On the other side of the wall are hundreds of condos.

Here's a better look at Hangover Rock, which is also seen in the third photo from the top, above. The precarious-looking feature marks the eastern end of Devil's Pass/Vultura's Pass. The African hut seen in this shot from the summer of 2008 was a set for the NBC TV series "Heroes." Partially visible in the background at the right is a non-movie house that was known as the "Old Folks' House," where Karl and Augusta Iverson, the founders of the Iverson Movie Ranch, lived in their later years. The house burned down just a few months after this photo was taken, in the 2008 Porter Ranch Fire.

NBC's series "Heroes" shot at Iverson for an Africa storyline that was a part of season three.

The earliest known cabin in Iverson Gorge

2013-03-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

Three years before the Gorge Cabin was built on the Iverson Movie Ranch in 1936, an earlier cabin existed briefly in the same general location. I know of only one film appearance for this much smaller cabin, in the 1933 Buck Jones B-Western "Unknown Valley," above. This was the first known movie cabin in the Iverson Gorge. In the above screen shot, the unusual "tower" rock in the background, near top left, provided the clue needed to determine where the cabin was located.

I was able to identify this rock, which I have at times referred to as Doglips, as the same rock seen in the background in the "Unknown Valley" shot above. The rock still stands in the Iverson Gorge, and can be easily seen from Redmesa Road in Chatsworth. The above two shots are from approximately, but not exactly, the same angle — close enough to compare the features. You may not spot the similarities at first, but a careful examination of the rock's nooks and crannies leaves no doubt. Incidentally, the dark rock to the left of Doglips in the recent photo is Lone Ranger Rock, and in the top-left corner of both of the above shots is the southeast corner of Garden of the Gods.

A view of Doglips from a different angle — from the east — might begin to explain its nickname, with the left half of the rock showing canine characteristics. It's a distinctive rock from every angle, and has come up before on this blog. The rock, which has also been called Chinless Wonder, has made appearances in a number of movies and TV shows. Click here for a couple of other angles — including an even better look at the rock's "lips."

Here's another view of the circa 1933 "Unknown Valley" cabin. I believe the rock seen behind it from this angle no longer exists, with a part of the Cal West Townhomes development now occupying the space. As for the cabin itself, it may have been built just for that one movie and then torn down.

One more view of the old cabin reveals that it was next to a V-shaped tree — another Iverson feature that has been lost to development.

Off the beaten path: When the "Bonanza" gang rode into the Bell Location Ranch

2013-03-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

One of the most mysterious of the old movie ranches is the Bell Location Ranch, now hidden behind locked gates in the Santa Susana Mountains above Box Canyon, between Chatsworth and Simi Valley, Calif., just a few miles southwest of the Iverson Movie Ranch.

Bell Ranch's old Western town included a white mansion, sometimes seen as a boarding house, at the east end of town. In the vintage shot above, you can see the same strata rock formation in the background that appears in the recent shot at the top of this post.

The area is all but impossible to access today, carved up into privately owned parcels and fiercely protected by local residents who value their relative seclusion on the outskirts of the L.A. metro area.

Arrival scene from the 1971 "Bonanza" episode

"The Rattlesnake Brigade"

A portion of the old Bell Ranch was explored recently as part of a film history expedition, and some nice insights surfaced. Among them, shooting sites were identified for the "Bonanza" episode "The Rattlesnake Brigade," which aired Dec. 5, 1971. Above is a screen shot from the episode showing Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and a couple of his buddies arriving to try to rescue a group of young people being held hostage.

Here's what that same site looks like today — still largely unspoiled, but with a lot more foliage now. I ran across some controversy online about whether these "Bonanza" scenes were taped at Bell Ranch or at the Spahn Movie Ranch, which was located several miles away, to the north, off Santa Susana Pass Road. I hope these matching shots will help settle the dispute, as the episode was definitely shot at Bell. You should be able to match up the rocks seen just above the riders in the "Bonanza" shot, while the road, despite being lined now with foliage, also matches. (Click on the photos to enlarge them for a better look.)

Here's a shot of Lorne Greene arriving at the main shooting area on Bell Ranch's lower plateau, the one relatively small section of Bell where almost all of the location work for the "Bonanza" episode was done.

The sequence seen above takes place just a few feet from where the long shot of the arrival was taped. This sequence begins to provide a look at the formidable bluffs that loomed above the Bell Ranch filming areas. The protruding rock toward the right of the shot has been nicknamed "the Three-Meter Board" by local film historians.

Here are some of those same rocks today. If the Three-Meter Board, in the top right corner, leaves any doubt about the match, you should be able to match up some of the other rocks, including the one near the lower right corner of the above shot, which is partially visible above the mane of the horse at the right in the "Bonanza" shot. The rock closest to the center of the above shot (a little left of center), which has distinctive horizontal markings, also appears near the center of the "Bonanza" shot.

More of Bell Ranch's rugged bluffs are seen in this screen shot from "Rattlesnake Brigade." The shot shows a couple of the bad guys, who at this point had their young hostages inside the wagon.

Here are those same bluffs today — not exactly the same angle, but it should be close enough to make the match.

In this shot from the "Bonanza" episode a sentry is posted atop a huge boulder, near the top center of the shot.

Here's that same rock today. This rock is also partially visible in the shot of the wagon, above, at the left edge of the shot.

This shot from "The Rattlesnake Brigade" features another section of the Bell Ranch bluffs, along with a cabin that stood at the site at the time of the shoot, in 1971. In this scene the gang, which is now keeping the hostages in the cabin, confronts Ben Cartwright and his colleagues in an attempt to collect a ransom. That's Neville Brand on the left, playing Doyle, leader of the outlaw gang. Brand, who made his last of three "Bonanza" appearances in this episode, is probably best known for his starring role in the 1960s TV series "Laredo."

This shot from the recent Bell Ranch expedition shows that same section of bluffs as it appears today. Needless to say, the cabin is no longer standing.

I couldn't find any definitive trace of the cabin, but these partially burned boards were in the area, and I suppose they could have been a part of the structure.

The hostages are brought out of the cabin to prove they're OK. Do we need a spoiler alert for a TV show that's more than 40 years old? Consider yourself alerted.

Hoss Cartwright got involved in the hostage rescue too, bringing Dan Blocker to Bell Ranch.

Little Joe — Michael Landon, on location at Bell and doing his own stunts — gets the drop on one of the hostage takers.

Happy ending, sort of: The hostages are freed as the bodies pile up.

Here's another view of the area where the drama played out, as it appears today.

Click here to see a blog post about an episode of "Star Trek: The Original Series" that was also shot on Bell Ranch's lower plateau.

A Western hero rides off into the sunset: Dale Robertson, 1923-2013

2013-02-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

I was sorry to hear today that Dale Robertson, a Western hero of both the big screen and the little one, has died. Robertson, whose credits in Westerns are virtually endless, died Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at age 89 of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia.

Here's a clip that someone has already put up on YouTube as a tribute to Robertson. The opening stagecoach sequence is shot on the Upper Iverson:

A number of the Western productions in Robertson's long career were shot at least in part at the Iverson Movie Ranch, with the ones that come to mind right away being the TV shows "Tales of Wells Fargo" and "Death Valley Days." Robertson's series "Iron Horse" also supposedly shot at Iverson, but I've only found a few episodes so far and the movie ranch has yet to turn up.

One movie I know was shot partially at Iverson that features Robertson is "Fighting Man of the Plains" (1949), a Randolph Scott movie in which Robertson has a small role as the outlaw Jesse James.

The Dale Robertson movie "Sitting Bull" (1954) is often cited as an Iverson production, but I have to refute that claim — I've gone through the movie and didn't find any Iverson. I tend to believe the other citation that turns up for this movie, which is that it's shot around Durango, Mexico.

Similarly, the 1964 Paramount Western "Law of the Lawless," starring Robertson along with Yvonne De Carlo, has been cited as Iverson, but I believe that's another erroneous listing.

Robertson acted from the late 1940s into the 1990s — a career spanning six decades. Even with more than 60 movies under his belt — most of them Westerns — he made his biggest impact on TV, including his early success on "Tales of Wells Fargo." Later in his career he appeared in shows including "Dynasty," "Dallas," "Matt Houston" and "Murder, She Wrote," and he headlined his own series, "J.J. Starbuck," for a short time in the late 1980s.

Superman grew up in Chatsworth, Calif.

2013-02-20T11:15:00.001-08:00

I had the pleasure of attending an event last night put on by the Chatsworth Historical Society where the family of Kirk Alyn — the original movie "Superman" — was also in attendance.

Kirk Alyn — the original movie "Superman" — at
the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth

The centerpiece of the event, held at the society's Chatsworth history museum at the far west end of Devonshire, was a screening of some clips featuring Alyn in the 1948 Columbia serial "Superman," which filmed most of its location shots at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth. The serial also starred Noel Neill as Lois Lane and Tommy Bond — formerly the neighborhood bully "Butch" in the "Our Gang" comedies — as cub reporter Jimmy Olsen.

Kirk Alyn and Jean Dean in

"Radar Patrol vs. Spy King"

A teaser for the event ran on northridge.patch.com with the headline "Shocking! Superman Grew Up in Chatsworth!" — the perfect headline, so I borrowed from it for this blog post. That headline was apparently what caught the attention of Alyn's family and brought them out to the CHS meeting ... a happy ending of sorts — which is just what we've come to expect from Superman. Multiple generations of "Superman's" — well, Alyn's — brood were on hand, including his daughter, grandkids and even a great-granddaughter ... along with spouses. Alyn himself died in Texas in 1999 at age 88 after a distinguished career that included not only the two Columbia "Superman" serials (the second being "Atom Man vs. Superman" in 1950) but also a song-and-dance career in vaudeville and on Broadway along with lead roles in a number of other serials, including Republic's "Radar Patrol vs. Spy King" (1949) and Columbia's "Blackhawk" (1952).

Below is a YouTube clip presenting part of Chapter 1 from the original "Superman" serial, which includes the production's first shots of Iverson. The Iverson material starts at about the 3:37 mark, with a scene in which an animated mini-rocket containing the infant Superman falls to Earth on the old Upper Iverson.

Among the Iverson Movie Ranch landmarks appearing in the clip: Rock in the Field, seen in the background in the initial shots of the couple in their old truck; Rocky Peak — or Pyramid Peak — at 3:49; the Molar (blink and you'll miss it, with the mini-rocket disappearing behind it at 3:53); and the Upper Iverson's Oak Grove.

But even with all those impressive landmarks, naturally, it's the infant Superman who steals the show.

I have more to write about the Iverson location work in the "Superman" serials — the second one, "Atom Man vs. Superman," is an even better showcase for the movie ranch — and some of Kirk Alyn's other work at Iverson, so check back for future posts. I'll also point you to a previous entry about the 1950s TV show "Adventures of Superman," which shot at least one memorable episode at Iverson. (Click here to see that entry.)

The two Kirk Alyn "Superman" serials finally made it to DVD a few years ago, in a well-done (and reasonably priced) set containing both serials along with a few extras. I'm including a link to Amazon below for anyone interested in checking it out.

One of those movies where the rocks have faces

2013-02-10T21:39:00.001-08:00

The shots in this blog entry are all from the 1937 Bob Steele B-Western "The Trusted Outlaw," filmed at the Iverson Ranch. This is one time I really have to urge you to click on the photos to enlarge them, because you're not likely to see any of what I'm talking about in the default size. For example, in the above shot I can make out at least four or five characters, starting with what looks kind of like a claymation clown with multiple faces, on the right side of the shot.

This thing.

And plenty of other "characters." Just look around.

This is a nice view looking southwest across Sheep Flats, with Split Rock on the left (in shadow), Hook Rock on the right and Church Rock in the distance (the small dark, almost horizontal rock visible above the treeline, almost directly above the horse). But what's going on ...

... here?

Here's another screen shot where I think a lot of people would be able to find interesting faces if they wanted to, even though the shot's a little dark. Again, you'll have to blow it up — no way around it. ... Below are some of my favorite "rock characters" from this shot ...

This one may have a little James Dean in it.

A teenager leaning on a wall? I'm resisting the temptation to say that this unusual movie rock looks like Bob Dylan.

Here's something along the lines of Max Headroom.

There's plenty more where these came from. "The Trusted Outlaw" is a strange movie, to say the least, and it also happens to be one of the greatest Iverson productions ever filmed. The proliferation of weird faces and illusions and what-not in the rocks reminds me of another really weird and wonderful Iverson movie, "Thunder River Feud," which I've blogged about before a number of times — click here to check that one out.

You may also want to click here to see my earlier posts tagged "tricks of light," which include more material along the lines of faces in the rocks. There you'll find the infamous Stegosaurus Caught in an Awkward Moment, Circus Clown in Agony, Man in the Moon, Girl in the Sky and many more. Even the rare and inexplicable Captain Hornblower and White Fang.

Above are some Amazon links in case you're interested in getting ahold of a copy of "The Trusted Outlaw" on DVD.

Tilted Cube survives ... but Walnut, not so much

2013-02-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a movie rock I call Tilted Cube, shown in the 1952 Durango Kid movie "Smoky Canyon." It wasn't one of the most widely filmed features on the ranch, but it turned up from time to time.

I ran across it on a recent visit to the former movie ranch, still alive and well, if those terms can be applied to a rock. These days it's a part of the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village, tucked in behind a doublewide. It took a while to track it down, partly because it's well out of the way and also because it doesn't look quite as "cube-like" as it did in the movies. With a rock named Tilted Cube, it's all about the angle of the tilt, and today you would have to climb on top of a mobile home to get that angle. But you may be able to match it up from these two shots. You can see sort of a "competition stripe" running across it in both photos.

Tilted Cube had a neighbor, Walnut, which I've blogged about before — click here to see that entry. The above shot, which includes the rest of that same frame from "Smoky Canyon," shows the proximity of Tilted Cube to Walnut, partially visible as the large dark shape on the right.

Here's a better look at Walnut, from the 1943 Republic serial "Secret Service in Darkest Africa." It was a mighty rock. Even so, it didn't survive the construction of the mobile home park back in the mid-1960s.

They're still making movies at the Iverson Ranch

2013-02-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

The Iverson Movie Ranch hasn't existed for a few decades now — at least not as a working movie ranch. But the land is still there, all 500 acres of it. And most of the trademark rocks remain, even if in many cases they're hidden behind condos and mobile homes — or used as decorative elements in planters, as in the case of End Rock, the main rock seen in the photo above.

Back in Hollywood's Golden Age, End Rock was a more natural landmark, and appeared in countless movies, serials and early TV shows, proudly marking the entry point for a widely filmed chase road. That's End Rock directly behind the horse in the above shot from the 1943 Republic serial "Secret Service in Darkest Africa." At least End Rock is still being showcased, in a way — even if it is in the planter outside the community room of the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village.

A shot from the 2012 production "Daybreak" shows

the same planter seen at the top of this blog entry

— including a small slice of End Rock.

It may come as a surprise that they're still shooting at Iverson, and in fact they're still shooting at Indian Hills. Most of the action nowadays is for TV shows, with the popular comedy series "The Big Bang Theory" and the police procedural "CSI" among those reportedly shooting in the mobile home park in recent years. Lately some of the production is shifting to Web series, a newer format that has also discovered the appeal of the former Iverson Ranch. Whether the crews even realize the place was once a thriving movie facility, who knows? But Hollywood continues to come out to Chatsworth to make movie magic.

The Web series "Daybreak" filmed at Indian Hills in early 2012 and began "airing" on an AT&T website last May. To be sure, these modern shoots bear little resemblance to the productions of Iverson's glory days. These days the property is used for what it became when it was no longer a working film location, and in the case of "Daybreak" that means a mobile home park. Other productions in recent years have made use of the estates that now occupy the former Upper Iverson, and on occasion someone will still even shoot the rocks.

The chase is on — a motorcycle chase through the mobile home park, covering the same turf that once featured horse chases on a regular basis. The basic idea is still the same, but the cowboys and Indians have given way to tech nerds and mysterious government agents.

One of the two Ryans who star in "Daybreak" — Ryan Eggold or Ryan McPartlin. (I can't tell them apart.) I got a kick out of seeing the "Indian Hills" sign at the entrance to the mobile home park — if nothing else, it proves where the scene was shot.

The "Daybreak" crew also aimed their cameras across Topanga Canyon Boulevard for a few seconds of footage, catching two of the busy street's main features: Stoney Point, partially visible at the right, and the ubiquitous traffic. This shot was taken from just outside the mobile home park.

Here's a better look at Stoney Point from "Daybreak" — it's one of Chatsworth's most distinctive landmarks and shows up in the background in a lot of old movies, but it's rarely filmed from this close.

Besides the Ryans, the main cast of "Daybreak" consists of Sarah Roemer, above, Eugene Byrd and Shannon Lucio. One of the show's creators is Tim Kring, who was behind NBC's "Heroes" — which also shot a few scenes at Iverson, back in 2008. Kring is currently an executive producer on Fox's Kiefer Sutherland series "Touch."

Five episodes, or chapters, of "Daybreak" have been produced so far, generally running between 10 and 15 minutes each. I only found Iverson footage — OK, the mobile home park — in the first two episodes, but here are all five episodes:

Actors who were "born old": Walter Brennan

2013-02-04T23:55:00.000-08:00

Some of the best-loved characters of classic film and the early TV era were brought to life by actors who seemed as though they were always old — with Walter Brennan being perhaps the quintessential example.

Walter Brennan as Grandpa Amos

on "The Real McCoys"

Brennan worked in movies for decades before he became famous, but the idea of a "young Walter Brennan" remains all but unimaginable to most of us. Born in 1894, Brennan was already working in silent movies in his early 30s, and he had a distinguished early career. But he became a household name when he broke through in 1957 — at age 63 —as Grandpa Amos on "The Real McCoys" — which included an appearance by Brennan and his TV family at the Iverson Movie Ranch in the pilot.

The McCoy family's new house in California was portrayed in the series pilot by the Middle Iverson Ranch Set, seen above. Their arrival is discussed in more detail in a previous blog entry that you can find here.

Brennan in "The Westerner" (1940)

Brennan already had three Oscars by the time he launched his TV career, having won three times for supporting roles (the only actor to do so) — for "Come and Get It" (1936), "Kentucky" (1938) and "The Westerner" (1940). He wasn't exactly "OLD old" in his film roles of that era ... but he was already "playing old." He just had that kind of look.

With Audie Murphy in "Drums Across the River" (1954)

He worked his way into his share of movies shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch in the course of his career — among them, "Drums Across the River" (1954) and "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969).

A highlight of Brennan's TV work at Iverson — from a location standpoint — is "Vengeance Canyon," an episode of the Western anthology series "Zane Grey Theatre" that premiered Nov. 30, 1956. In the above screen shot from the episode, that's the well-known movie rock Sphinx behind the actors.

Another shot of Brennan from the "Vengeance Canyon" episode of "Zane Grey Theatre," this time a portion of the Hole in the Wall section of Iverson can be seen in the background.

This is what those same rocks — Iverson's Hole in the Wall, seen in the background in the Walter Brennan shot above — look like today. You may be able to spot the similarities in the outline of the rock at the top and its neighbors.

Brennan was all over the Lower Iverson for that 1956 "Zane Grey" episode. Here's a scene that takes place below Lash La Rue's Arch, seen at the left of the shot.

Another scene from the "Zane Grey Theatre" episode "Vengeance Canyon," this one is shot in the Iverson Gorge.

Walter Brennan is the high-profile tip of the iceberg when it comes to those "born old" actors. Most of the others have much less familiar names — but in some cases they have mighty familiar faces. I plan to devote a number of upcoming blog posts to the most beloved fogeys, geezers, codgers and coots — male and female — who worked at Iverson in the B-movie era.

Here's a sneak preview — some faces you may recognize. They all turn up regularly in old Westerns and early TV shows ...

Here are a few examples of Walter Brennan's work, available from Amazon ...

Cagney Rock and the one that got away: A famous shot of movie legend James Cagney at the Iverson Movie Ranch

2013-02-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

years

Here's a promotional shot for the 1939 James Cagney movie "The Oklahoma Kid," courtesy of movie location researcher Jerry England. The rock directly behind Cagney's head can still be found at the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif. Unfortunately, the overhanging rock above Cagney's head no longer exists — it was destroyed around the early 1990s when the Cal West Townhomes development was built.

When I recently found that same rock — the one behind Cagney's head — at Iverson it seemed like kind of a big deal so I honored the occasion by naming it Cagney Rock, at least in my own mind. Here's a shot of Cagney Rock in its current setting — from as close as it's possible to get to the same angle seen in the promo shot. These days it's part of the landscaping for the condos. It's no longer possible to duplicate the exact angle of the Cagney promo still.

To be honest, it's not a particularly impressive rock in person — this is probably the best shot I could get of it. You might say it dressed up for the occasion with a dashing "fern necktie." The unnamed rock behind it — which will show up better in some of the photos below — is bigger and, I suppose, grander. And neither of them is nearly as spectacular as "the one that got away" — Overhang Rock. But these two both deserve credit for surviving — and Cagney Rock earned some recognition with its featured appearance in the promo shot.

The one that got away: Here's another view of the overhanging rock that hovers above James Cagney in the "Oklahoma Kid" promo still at the top. The thing has had a few nicknames, the most common being Overhang Rock. I've also seen it referred to as Oklahoma Kid Rock. Early in my Iverson Research — before I learned of its more proper identities and back when I was still taking a more whimsical approach to rock identities — I gave it the unofficial nickname Rooster Boy. This shot from the 1946 Durango Kid movie "The Desert Horseman" — in which the rock still looks a lot like a rooster to me — gives some idea of the scale of Overhang Rock, which was clearly taller than a horse and rider.

A shot from "Escort West" in 1958 shows a portion of Overhang Rock, in the bottom left corner, along with its neighbors, including Cagney Rock, partially visible at bottom center, just to the right of the small tree near the center of the photo. (That tree, by the way, may be the same one, much bigger now, that's blocking the view of Cagney Rock these days — as seen above in the second photo of this blog entry.) This shot gives some idea of the view these rocks had of the rocky Iverson Gorge. The peaks seen in the background, near top center, are across Santa Susana Pass Road from Iverson looking south, above Chatsworth Park.

Overhang Rock was the object of some wishin' and hopin' on the part of Iverson researchers for years, until the sad truth became known just within the past year or so: Overhang Rock no longer exists. The discovery of the neighboring rocks — Cagney Rock and the larger rock next to it, with no Overhang Rock to be found — had a lot to do with proving Overhang Rock was gone. This screen shot from the 1937 Dick Foran Western "Land Beyond the Law" shows Overhang Rock, near the bottom left corner, with the much smaller Cagney Rock partially visible directly above Overhang Rock. The smaller rocks to the right of Overhang Rock are gone now too.

Here's a view of the same group of rocks from the opposite side — looking up at them from down the hill, looking more or less to the north — as seen in the 1940 Monogram B-Western "The Cheyenne Kid." Seen here, right to left, are Overhang Rock (above and to the right of the cowboy's head), Cagney Rock (the smaller rock perched kind of precariously, directly above the cowboy's head) and the unnamed "bigger and grander" rock to the left of Cagney Rock that also survived and can still be found at the site today.

Here's what the survivors of that group look like today from about the same angle. Sorry about the dark shot but it was getting toward dusk and these rocks all now live in the shade of that one tree mentioned above. The rocks seen here are the same ones above and to the left of the cowboy's head in the "Cheyenne Kid" shot above.

I couldn't find a DVD version of "The Oklahoma Kid" to link to, but here's a link to a VHS version — at least until someone snaps it up.

Location verite: You can visit the spot where Ronald Reagan was gunned down

2013-02-01T23:46:00.000-08:00

The 1955 RKO Western "Tennessee's Partner," starring Ronald Reagan, John Payne, Rhonda Fleming and Coleen Gray, has one of my favorite Iverson Movie Ranch sequences, shot in Garden of the Gods. It's the climactic sequence of the movie, and it takes place in an area that has been preserved as a park and remains open to the public.

Reagan plays a character known only as Cowpoke — he's the "Partner" in "Tennessee's Partner." Here's a shot of Cowpoke from early in the movie, at the Miner's Cabin — also known as the Lone Ranger Cabin — which was located on the Upper Iverson. The stone foundation visible at the bottom of the photo is still in place at the site.

This is what's left of Miner's Cabin today — the stone foundation and front steps. The two largest rocks toward the left of the photo are the same as the two big rocks at the bottom left of the Reagan photo at the cabin, above.

Stop reading here if you don't want to know what happens in the movie, as I have to reveal it to show what happened to Reagan's character and where it all went down. Cowpoke meets his demise toward the end of the movie, setting up the climactic chase and fistfight. He's gunned down in an underhanded way by a sniveling weasel named Turner, played by veteran character actor Anthony Caruso. Cowpoke dies heroically, stepping in front of a bullet from Turner, intended for Cowpoke's friend Tennessee.

The shooting takes place near Grubstake's Claim, which in reality is a shallow cave on the back side of a familiar sandstone giant known as the Phantom. That's the weaselous Turner holding Grubstake's sign as Turner tries to take over the claim. The back side of the Phantom is in the background.

Another screen shot from the sequence has Turner taking cover just inside the entrance to Grubstake's Claim — actually a shallow indentation in the rock and not the full-on mine or cave the filmmakers made it out to be.

Here's a shot of Grubstake's Claim as it appears these days. You may be able to match up both the main "mine entrance" at the center of the photo and the small diagonal crack in the rock seen at the left. That smaller crack can also be seen in the screen shot above of Turner holding the sign. The site is a little less accessible today, with some foliage blocking the view.

This is the scene moments before Reagan's character, Cowpoke, takes the fatal bullet. That's Reagan in the light-blue shirt. He and his partner, Tennessee (John Payne, at the right), appear to have captured Turner — but they don't realize that the slippery villain is carrying a concealed handgun.

Things get complicated when the sheriff shows up, uncertain about who's up to what, and demands that Tennessee and Cowpoke put down their guns. The whole sequence is filmed in what I call "location verite," meaning if someone runs off in a certain direction, the next shot really takes place in that direction, not somewhere else that's more convenient. This shot is an example of the technique, as the characters are in approximately the same position in both of the above two shots — filmed first from the back and then from the front. If you go to the site today you can find all of the rocks in this sequence — although the tree in the above shot is not there.

Reagan's character is not aware he's about to die. For the moment, he and Tennessee are looking at the sheriff — as Turner, center, reaches for his gun.

In this shot, Reagan has just taken the bullet. Turner's about to make his getaway and Tennessee, at the right, missed the whole thing because he had turned around to face the sheriff. Grubstake's Claim in the background pinpoints the spot.

Reagan's death scene — Cowpoke's last words to his friend Tennessee.

Here's where Cowpoke fell dead, in central Garden of the Gods.

In the movie, Turner makes a run for it ...

Here's that same spot during a recent visit. I walked the area with screen shots and was able to trace the path of the action and find where every shot was taken — thanks to the movie being shot in location verite.

Tennessee takes off after Turner, catches him, and they launch into an epic fistfight, all of which is captured in a series of lavish shots of all-too-rarely seen features on the western side of Garden of the Gods. In the above scrape, Turner is starting to get what's coming to him, being flung over a sharp-edged rock by an enraged Tennessee.

Here's the same spot in more recent times, including that sharp-edged rock — still easy to get to and easy to find if you follow the action in the movie. Many of the same rocks can be seen in both of the above two shots. The movie shot was taken from a distance with a long lens, which accounts for the rock in the background (behind the dead tree in the movie shot) appearing closer in the movie shot than in the above more recent photo. That rock in the background, by the way, is one of the highest in Garden of the Gods.

Here's another view of the fight scene today, from a reverse angle. The big rock seen here toward the right — a mighty distinctive critter — appears on the left in the previous shots. The "sharp-edged rock" appears here as the small, triangular one in the foreground, toward the left.

Location verite is a technique that was rarely used in the B-Westerns, where keeping costs to a minimum was the guiding principle. It's refreshing to find it here, and it's an indication the movie probably had a little bigger budget. It's a good technique from the standpoint of realism, and as a bonus it makes it easier to do location research.

Click here for a little more about the "Tennessee's Partner" shoot in a blog post mainly about the Judy Garland movie "The Harvey Girls," which was partially shot in the same area.

The DVD set with "Cattle Queen of Montana" combines two Iverson movies.

Meena's Cabin in "Bonanza": Is this the last set built at Iverson in the filming era?

2013-01-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a cabin that turned up in a "Bonanza" episode called "Meena," which premiered Nov. 9, 1969. The small wooden building, with its unusual roofline, would have been one of the last sets, possibly the very last set, built at the Iverson Movie Ranch while it was still a working filming location.

The surrounding rocks pinpoint the exact location where Meena's Cabin stood, which is on a piece of property that now contains an upscale estate at the end of a cul de sac on the former Upper Iverson. The above shot, taken from the rocks up above and to the east of the cabin — from an area near a familiar movie rock known as Eagle Beak Rock — shows the cabin from the opposite side of the first shot, revealing that it was in fact a full four-sided cabin and not just a "front."

That's the title character, Meena — played by Ann Prentiss — out in front of the cabin with a rifle, and Little Joe, played by Michael Landon, hurrying to try to keep her from killing somebody. (She happened to be taking aim at Candy, a good friend of the Cartwrights.)

Here's a look at Eagle Beak Rock today, at the top of the frame. You may recognize it from its hundreds of appearances in the backgrounds of chase scenes in B-Westerns, early TV shows and other productions, especially from the 1930s through the 1950s. The location of Meena's Cabin was approximately on that patch of grass near the center of the photo. The house partially visible at the far right is part of the property where the cabin stood, while the fence in the lower right corner belongs to a neighboring property.

Eagle Beak Rock turns up over and over again. Here it is at top left in the 1950 Columbia Western "Calamity Jane and the Texan," starring Evelyn Ankers and Jimmy Ellison.

Another appearance by Eagle Beak Rock, this time in an early "Bonanza" episode — "Desert Justice," which aired during the first season, premiering Feb. 20, 1960.

This is a cool shot from that same early Bonanza episode, "Desert Justice." In this view of the South Rim on the Upper Iverson, part of the concrete bridge is visible in the top left corner, and the white area at the top center of the photo is the creekbed for Fern Ann Creek (sometimes called Iverson Creek), which looks as though it was pretty dry at the time. The creek continues to flow these days, although it is usually little more than a trickle. The prominent rock feature at the far right of the photo, directly to the right of the horses, is sometimes called Gold Raiders Rock. It includes a smaller rock that was cemented on top of a larger rock, and this feature remains in place today.

"Bonanza" shot about 40 of its 430 episodes at Iverson during an impressive 14-season run on NBC (1959-1973). In my experience, when the series did shoot at Iverson it made great use of the place. It was one of the most successful of all television Westerns, and one of the most high-profile shows to shoot at Iverson. So if Meena's Cabin was in fact the last set built for filming at Iverson, it provided a fitting final chapter to the movie ranch's filming era.

Pear Rock, an ugly fake mine ... and two Grove Cabins

2013-01-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

One of the so-called "permanent" buildings on the old Iverson Movie Ranch was a small cabin located in the Eucalyptus Grove, usually called simply Grove Cabin. It's alternately known as Pear Rock Cabin, after a large rock that stood next to the cabin. The above shot from the Roy Rogers movie "Bells of Rosarita" offers a good look at the Grove Cabin in 1945 — along with a pretty spectacular old coupe. Note that the rock behind the cabin is NOT Pear Rock — Pear Rock is out of the picture, off to the left.

Here's a good look at Pear Rock from the same "Bells of Rosarita" sequence, with Roy and the boys sneaking up on the cabin.

Pear Rock is still around — here's what it looks like today. The angle isn't exactly the same, but if you're into that sort of thing, you may be able to spot some of the same markings in the above two photos.

Another shot from the "Bells of Rosarita" sequence shows Pear Rock on the left and Grove Cabin on the right, with a blurry Gabby Hayes in the middle. Note the muffin-shaped rock behind the cabin, which will come up again later in this blog entry.

For a while Grove Cabin had a really ugly fake mine next to it — seen above in the 1947 Charles Starrett movie "Law of the Canyon." This fake mine was unusual because the light-colored fake rock material was combined with an actual rock — the darker angular part to the right of the mine entrance — giving the construction a two-tone effect.

The angular rock that was a part of the mine construction is still in place — here's what it looks like today (near the center of the photo). Also visible in this shot is the tall muffin-shaped boulder that appears behind Grove Cabin in some of the above photos.

Another shot from "Law of the Canyon," this one is included to show the proximity of the fake mine, on the right, to Grove Cabin, on the left.

Grove Cabin stood for a pretty long time by movie set standards, from about 1940-1958, appearing in countless movies and TV shows. But it hasn't been widely documented that a second Grove Cabin existed for a short time near the end of that run. This smaller second cabin stood next to the original cabin, about where the fake mine used to be. The second Grove Cabin is visible above in an episode of the TV series "Circus Boy" called "The Masked Marvel," which premiered Dec. 9, 1956. (TV trivia time: "Circus Boy" starred a young Micky Dolenz, who would go on to greater fame a decade later as a member of the '60s pop band the Monkees.)

Here's another look at the two Grove Cabins, this time in 1957, from the "Gunsmoke" episode "Claustrophobia," which premiered Jan. 25, 1958. This shot also offers a better look at some of the Grove's trademark eucalyptus trees, and that tall muffin-shaped boulder can again be seen in the background. The photo is a little dark but it's more clear than most of the others, so you may want to click on the picture to enlarge it for a better look at the cabins.

Off the beaten path: A visit to Pioneertown turns up a clump of famous movie rocks

2012-12-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

The Western town at Pioneertown, Calif., built around 1946, is one of only a handful of old Western movie sets still standing, but in my eyes the most impressive historical artifacts in the Pioneertown area are the magnificent rock formations surrounding the town.

Just back from my first visit to Pioneertown, I checked my archives and found this beauty — a screen shot from the 1951 Gene Autry feature "Silver Canyon."

This is a shot of the same rock clump today, taken during our road trip over the weekend. This spectacular group of rocks is one of countless similar rock features spread all around the area, mile after mile. They're so plentiful that it feels like a small miracle to be able to match one up from the movies. We found this one after a random decision to hang a right on an obscure dirt road. But in many cases the most spectacular rock features can be found right off the highway.

Here's another beauty in the Pioneertown area — this one is right next to the highway, probably less than two miles north of the Western town. Have you seen this group of rocks in an old movie or TV show? I haven't spotted it yet, but I have a feeling it will turn up. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please leave a comment if you've seen this one or any other noteworthy formations.

Remarkable shots of a partially dismantled — and flooded — Iverson Western street in 1956, as seen in the TV show "Whirlybirds"

2012-12-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

The "Whirlybirds" episode "Ghost Town Flight," which first aired Feb. 15, 1957, and was probably shot in late 1956, offers a rare look at the Iverson Movie Ranch's Western street in a partial state of teardown. The picture quality, at least on the version of the show I have, isn't great, but the unusual views of the town provide clues to the town's final days.

Most of the town — or what was left of it in late 1956 — can be seen in the above shot. Built by Gary Cooper for the 1945 movie "Along Came Jones," the town became known alternately as El Paso Street (for its appearance in glorious Cinecolor in the 1949 movie "El Paso"), Iverson Village or simply Iverson's Western street. In the above shot, the prominent building on the left, with the steep sloped roof, is the hotel, which apparently outlasted some of the other buildings in town, albeit in deteriorated condition. Please click on this and any photos on my blog to get a larger view.

Here's what the town looked like in better days, as seen in the movie "Calamity Jane and the Texan," released in 1950. Take a look at the row of buildings along the right side and compare them with the photo below, from "Whirlybirds."

This screen shot is part of the same sequence seen at the top of this post, presumably shot from a helicopter. The sequence captures the Iverson Western street not only with its dismantling under way, but also with the town flooded — something that apparently happened regularly during the 12 years or so that the town stood, but was only caught on film a few times. This shot focuses on the buildings along the east side of the street, showing that the roofs and other features are in a state of decay. The building at the right, with its four vertical windows, is among the most instantly recognizable structures in town.

Here's a slightly closer view of the same general area, still part of the "Whirlybirds" sequence. Even though these two shots are pretty similar, I posted them both because this one provides a better look at the deterioration of some of the roofs and outer walls, while the previous shot offers a better overview and really captures the flooding.

Still another shot from the "Whirlybirds" sequence, here the focus is on a building near the north end of the street, seen at the top of the frame. I call it the general store, as that's how it first appeared in "Along Came Jones" in 1945, but the building had many incarnations in a string of productions over the years, often appearing as a stagecoach stop. One thing I love in this shot is the building in front of it — at the right of the frame — which is crumbling to the point where it's little more than a pile of lumber.

Here's another look at the general store — again, in better days, from the 1950 movie "Calamity Jane and the Texan," where the building appeared as the stage depot. The building at the right of this shot is the same one that looks like a "crumbling pile of lumber" in the shot above this one.

One other example of a flooded version of the town being used in a production can be seen in this episode of "The Roy Rogers Show" called "Ghost Town Gold." The episode first aired May 25, 1952, so the shoot probably took place after a rain during the winter of 1951/52. That's series regular and Roy Rogers sidekick Pat Brady driving his beloved Jeep, "Nellybelle," through the flooded town, with the show's co-starring German shepherd, Bullet, in the passenger seat. (You'll have to take my word for it, as it's impossible to make them out in the fuzzy screen shot.)

Another shot from the "Roy Rogers" episode "Ghost Town Gold" shows the flooded town. Flooded or not, the Iverson Western street, which always was far less sparkling than rival Western towns found on many of the studio lots, was often presented as a ghost town, especially during its waning years. One reason I picked this shot is because it shows some of the deterioration of the town, which was already starting to fall apart in 1952. The rooftop of the building at the far right really shows it. The town still did get "spruced up" a few times in its remaining few years.

One more shot of Pat Brady and "Nellybelle" on their joy ride down the flooded street. One story I've always heard about this particular "Roy Rogers" episode was that the crew showed up for what was supposed to be a regular shoot in the town, and when they found it flooded they wrote the flooding into the script. True or not, I like the story.

You can find other posts about the Iverson Western street by clicking here or looking up "Iverson Village" in the long index found at the right of this page.

This eight-episode "Whirlybirds" DVD being sold by Amazon.com is one of precious few "Whirlybirds" sets commercially available — possibly the only one. Luckily, the set includes the remarkable episode "Ghost Town Flight," featured in this post. Click on the icon above to check it out on Amazon.

A treasure trove of Iverson Movie Ranch video clips

2012-07-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Iverson Movie Ranch researcher and Western movie expert Jerry England has been loading up his YouTube channel with great clips of old movies that showcase Iverson. It's worth keeping an eye on his channel, and if you're as into it as I am, you'll want to subscribe. Here's a sample of the work Jerry has been doing.

The clip below comes from "Taming of the West," a 1939 Bill Elliott B-Western from Columbia that is in my pantheon of the all-time greatest Iverson productions. See for yourself ...

Next up, a couple of clips from the 1942 Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka" — another member of the pantheon.

The above "Perils of Nyoka" sequence, shot on the old Upper Iverson, features the swinging bridge, whose location was pinpointed within the past few years. The bridge was set up above the creek near Turtle Rock — one of the most prominent landmarks on the Upper Iverson's widely filmed South Rim. Turtle Rock can be seen a number of times in the clip, including around the 12-second mark. The rock was a short distance to the south of the bridge and can still be readily spotted today — if you're lucky enough to gain access to what is now a pretty exclusive gated residential area.

Moving to the Lower Iverson, this second "Nyoka" clip includes another of the movie ranch's most prominent features — Nyoka Cliff, named after this serial. This scene didn't originate the term "cliffhanger," which goes back in the movies at least as far as the silent classic "The Perils of Pauline" in 1914 — and even farther, to the newspaper serials of the 19th century and Thomas Hardy's "A Pair of Blue Eyes." But "Perils of Nyoka," one of the most successful film serials of its day, went a long way toward perpetuating, in a literal sense, the idea of the cliffhanger.

Here's a bit of the 1923 Buster Keaton silent film "Three Ages," where the Iverson Gorge and Garden of the Gods serve as an appropriately rocky background for caveman shenanigans:

Jerry has also been researching the Brandeis Movie Ranch, which was also located in Chatsworth, Calif., immediately to the west of the former Upper Iverson. Because the two movie ranches were adjacent, there's a fair amount of overlap when researching one or the other.

Here are a couple of clips showcasing Brandeis ...

This one is from "Outlaws' Paradise," a low-budget 1939 Western starring Tim McCoy.

Here's another Brandeis clip, from "Roamin' Wild," a 1936 Tom Tyler B-Western from Reliable Pictures Corp. This one features Hickeyville, the Brandeis Western town, which is seen in only a few movies. Brandeis wasn't in operation nearly as long as its neighbor to the east, the Iverson Movie Ranch.

You may also want to check out Jerry's blog, which includes a wealth of material about Iverson.