Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more)

Buster’s Trains – One Week to Speak Easily

Posted on October 4, 2011 by John Bengtson

In honor of Buster Keaton’s birthday today, October 4, 1895, Turner Classic Movies is hosting a Buster Keaton celebration by playing a large selection of his films throughout October. Watching Keaton’s penultimate MGM feature Speak Easily (1932) for the first time, I was surprised to see that the movie employs the same train stations where Keaton filmed some of his greatest silent film triumphs.

Click to enlarge. In One Week (1920), Buster travels up N. Eucalyptus Ave. in Inglewood near the town train station and the C. Ganahl Lumber Co.

In Speak Easily Buster plays a timid classical Greek literature professor who befriends a struggling stage troupe. Buster first meets them beside the Inglewood train station, best known as the setting for the climax of Keaton’s debut silent short One Week (1920), where Buster’s house is demolished by an oncoming train.

Click to enlarge. The Inglewood train station as it appears in One Week, left, and in Speak Easily, right.

A lumber yard shed appears in One Week, left, in Speak Easily, center, as Buster is being dragged aboard a moving train, and in this vintage aerial view, right.

As Buster is dragged aboard a departing Inglewood train in Speak Easily (above), you can see a distinctive shed that stood nearby during the filming of One Week.

Harold Lloyd's Now or Never (1921) left, the Chatsworth station center, and Speak Easily, right.

Later in Speak Easily, Buster and the troupe arrive at the Chatsworth station, and momentarily go their separate ways. As shown below, the Chatsworth train station appears briefly in Sherlock Jr. (1924), and due north of the station is the water tank in Sherlock Jr. where Buster unknowingly broke his neck filming a stunt lowering himself to the ground from the tank water spout.

Click to enlarge. In Sherlock Jr, left, Buster shadows his rival behind the Chatsworth train staion. The back of the station appears in Speak Easily, as Buster and Jimmy Durante rush to catch a moving bus. The oval marks the same spot of ground.

The same water tank appears in Harold Lloyd's Now or Newer, left, in Sherlock Jr. , center, and in Speak Easily.

Buster made only one more feature for MGM after Speak Easily before he was fired. Given Buster’s struggles at MGM, and his despair over losing creative control of his films, you have to wonder what Buster might have been thinking when he re-visited these stations where he had created screen magic a decade earlier. Both the Inglewood and Chatsworth stations are lost to history, but both appear frequently in early film.

Speak Easily is available for instant viewing on the Internet Archive. The train station scenes begin at 6:30 and17:00 into the film.

I explain One Week in full detail in my book Silent Echoes. This map below shows where Buster’s house crossed the still-active rail line at the end of the film. The former Chatsworth station was located on the west side of the tracks, across from the current Chatsworth Amtrak station.

Buster Keaton and Film Noir? – It’s Also True

Posted on September 26, 2011 by John Bengtson

It’s now Buster Keaton’s turn, after Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin (see prior posts), to brush shoulders with film noir.

Buster Keaton in College (1927) to the left, and Van Heflin in Act of Violence (1948) right.

The station is now the Glendale Amtrak Station.

The Glendale Southern Pacific station was barely three years old when Buster Keaton used it to portray the station for Clayton, the fictitious college town where Buster’s character pursues higher learning in the 1927 comedy College. Above to the right, the station was also the setting for the climax to Act of Violence, a 1948 noir drama starring Van Heflin and Robert Ryan, who portray re-united army veterans who were once imprisoned together in a German POW camp during WWII. Act of Violence contains several scenes filmed on Court Hill, near the Hill Street Tunnel, and on Bunker Hill, near Angels Flight. Unfortunately, these nighttime scenes are darkly lit, and tightly framed, so there is not much to see.

Matching views looking north. Glendale is re-named Santa Lisa for the Act of Violence shot. California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California.

Act of Violence does contain a nice view of Clay Street, the narrow alley running between and parallel to Hill Street and Olive Street, and underneath the mid-way point of the Angels Flight elevated tracks. As shown below, Harold Lloyd filmed a runaway bus stunt on Clay Street for his 1926 comedy feature For Heaven’s Sake.

Earlier during Act of Violence, Van Heflin runs south down Clay Street towards Angles Flight. The same Clay Street setting appears during the wild double-decker bus chase in Harold Lloyd’s 1926 comedy For Heaven’s Sake, above left. The same area of Clay Street is marked with a yellow box in each image.

Harold Lloyd filmed many other movies on Bunker Hill, and I will explore more Lloyd/noir connections in further posts.

College frame images reproduced courtesy of The Douris Corporation, David Shepard, Film Preservation Associates, and Kino International Corporation.

Posted in Angels Flight, Bunker Hill, Buster Keaton, College, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged angles flight, bunker hill, Buster Keaton, film noir, film noir locations, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies | 8 Comments

Cameo Squared – Lou Gehrig in Ruth’s Speedy Cameo

Posted on September 23, 2011 by John Bengtson

Eagle-eyed reader Kevin Dale not only recognized the setting of the very first shot of Charlie Chaplin’s career (see prior post), he also notified me of this amazing discovery.

New York cabbie Harold Lloyd delivers Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium in time for the game during this scene from Speedy. At back, the man who followed Ruth in the batting line-up, Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig.

During the concluding scenes from Babe Ruth’s cameo appearance in Speedy (1928), who should appear in the background but the Iron Horse himself, Lou Gehrig! Gehrig, who spent much of his career in Babe Ruth’s shadow, plays a cameo during Ruth’s cameo. This scene was likely filmed September 15, 1927, as Gehrig was completing one of the greatest seasons overall by any batter in history, including 47 home runs, though his accomplishments were eclipsed by Ruth’s record-breaking 60 home runs that same year.

Lou Gehrig at Grand Central Station, before heading out west.

Improbable singing cowboys Smith Ballew and Lou Gehrig

Ruth was no stranger to film, having played himself in the 1920 fictitious biopic Headin’ Home, and several others productions, including the 1942 Gehrig biopic Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. But I was astonished to learn that Gehrig starred in a feature film as well, a B western called Rawhide (1938). Playing “himself,” Gehrig trades in his bat and glove to become a singing cowboy on his sister’s ranch out west. Shooting began in late January 1938, and the completed film premiered just two months later, preceding what would prove to be Gehrig’s final season playing ball. The following year, Gehrig was formally diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on his 36th birthday, and would succumb to the disease in 1941.

During happier times, from HistoryoftheYankees.com

I will be presenting Harold Lloyd’s final silent comedy Speedy (1928) at 3:10 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2012, and at 7:30 pm on Monday, October 22, at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, New York, NY 10014, based on the discoveries in my new Lloyd book Silent Visions. Using animated slides I will lead viewers to dozens of landmarks and forgotten byways across town, in what is the first comprehensive study of New York’s most prominent role in a major silent film.

You can access a tour of Lloyd’s Brooklyn locations in this prior post.

Posted in Harold Lloyd, Manhattan, New York, Speedy | Tagged Babe Ruth, Harold Lloyd, Lou Gehrig, Manhattan, New York, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Speedy | 3 Comments

Silent Era New York – Harold Lloyd’s Speedy – Part 1

Posted on September 17, 2011 by John Bengtson

Click to enlarge – Harold and friends by the Queensboro Bridge

click to enlarge – Relaxing between takes at Sutton Place and E. 58th Street

Instead of relying on stock footage of Manhattan settings, as commonly used in Hollywood productions purporting to take place in New York, Lloyd and company arrived in town in mid-August 1927 for an intended four-week shoot, and ended up filming for twelve weeks instead. With three separate chase sequences appearing in the film, and lengthy scenes staged at Coney Island and Yankee Stadium, the resulting movie presents the Big Apple from top to bottom in loving detail, and captures some of the best photographic documentation of silent-era New York ever recorded.

Alexander Hamilton Square

As we would expect, Times Square and other classic New York landmarks make their requisite appearances, but what gives Speedy such wonderful historical value are the many charming neighborhoods also captured on film. Above, Harold races by Alexander Hamilton Square, on Amsterdam Avenue way up north on W. 143rd Street. In prior posts I discuss the longevity of a Sheridan Square cigar store also appearing in the film, and how Bergdorf Goodman appears both in Speedy and in Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman (1928). There is also a Brooklyn tour here.

click to enlarge – Looking west towards 45 E. 34th Street (ovals).

Bustling city streets also appear on film. Here, above, Harold races east down E 34th Street from near Madison Avenue towards Park Avenue. The prominent light colored building, running the entire length of the block between 5th and Madison, was the former Altman Department Store, which now houses the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and a branch of the New York Public Library. The parapet roof at 45 E. 34th Street evident in the movie frame still appears today (ovals).

If you glance at these Google maps below, you can begin to appreciate the extent of Lloyd’s effort to capture New York on film. I have marked nearly 50 unique settings appearing in the movie. I may some day annotate each spot on the map with photos and text, but for now just gaze at the breadth and scope of Lloyd’s efforts. Lloyd’s valedictory silent film Speedy is one of the most remarkably vivid depictions of early New York ever recorded.

You can access a tour of Lloyd’s Brooklyn locations shown above in this prior post.

Marc Wanamaker – Bison Archives, Beth Goffe, Hooman Mehran, Nick Rumaczyk.

Posted in Brooklyn, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Tour, Manhattan, New York, Speedy | Tagged Brooklyn, Harold Lloyd, Manhattan, New York, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Speedy | 10 Comments

Stan, Ollie, and Harold – a Drive Through Bunker Hill

Posted on September 9, 2011 by John Bengtson

Click to enlarge. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Duck Soup (1927) and matching footage at 1:36

The Prelinger Archives has just posted some amazingly sharp movie footage of Bunker Hill and downtown Los Angeles taken in the late 1940s. The stock footage was intended to be projected behind actors filming a traveling car scene within an indoor studio, but apparently was never used. The footage not only provides a wonderful glimpse of post-WWII Bunker Hill, now lost to civic redevelopment, but illuminates Los Angeles during the silent film era as well. You can access the video here. [UPDATE – Jim Dawson reports that this footage appears briefly during Shockproof, the 1949 Columbia Pictures release, in a scene where Cornel Wilde picks up Patricia Knight at her place at 507 Second Street (the Koster house)]. [UPDATE – you can download a PowerPoint Presentation showing how Harold Lloyd filmed Girl Shy on Bunker Hill at this newer post].

As I explain in my book Silent Visions, Harold Lloyd filmed scenes for seven different movies at the intersection of 3rd and Grand, on Bunker Hill, more scenes than at any other location in Los Angeles. As we will see, it was a popular place for Laurel and Hardy, and other Hal Roach Studio stars to film as well. The Prelinger film drives twice by Lloyd’s intersection of 3rd and Grand, providing razor sharp images of where Lloyd and other silent stars filmed.

Harold Lloyd’s An Eastern Westerner (1921) and frame 1:21

The corner of 3rd and Grand – the Angels Flight Pharmacy at the near corner, the Lovejoy Apartments at the far corner.

This brief scene from Harold Lloyd’s An Eastern Westerner (1921) (above) looks up Grand, past the Angels Flight Pharmacy on the near right corner of 3rd, and the Lovejoy Apartments on the far corner of 3rd, way back to the onion dome of the Winnewaska Apartments on the corner of 2nd and Grand. (oval, above).

The Non-Skid Kid (1922) and frame 1:08

The Winnewaska Apartment on the corner of 2nd and Grand

Ernie “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison appears in this scene from Hal Roach production The Non-Skid Kid (1922). Ernie is standing on Grand north of the 3rd Street intersection, and the onion dome of the Winnewaska Apartments on Second and Grand appears behind him up the street.

Captivated by the youth’s charm and mega-watt smile, Hal Roach signed Ernie to a two-year contract in 1919, before he had turned seven, making him reportedly the first black performer in history to be awarded a long-term Hollywood contract. Ernie appeared in three Lloyd pictures and numerous other Roach productions before becoming the first cast member of the original Our Gang.

Harold Lloyd’s Girl Shy (1924) and frame 1:21

North up Grand towards 3rd.

Harold returned to 3rd and Grand to film several scenes for his first independently produced feature film Girl Shy (1924). Above, Harold is racing a commandeered horse wagon north up Grand towards 3rd.

Girl Shy and frame 2:47

The Lovejoy Apartments

Later in Girl Shy, Harold races his wagon west down 3rd towards the corner of Grand, past the Lovejoy Apartments. The same corner apartment building appears in the Prelinger film at 2:47 into the film.

Harold Lloyd’s For Heaven’s Sake (1926) and frame 1:36. The fire escape of the Zelda Apartments (discussed below) appears to the left between the lamppost and the vertical garage sign.

During Harold Lloyd’s later feature comedy For Heaven’s Sake (1926), a double-decker bus commandeered by a quintet of drunken groomsmen races up Grand from the corner of 4th Street towards the 4th and Grand Service Garage, identified with a red oval on the sidewalk. In the Prelinger film, looking the opposite direction north up Grand, the garage appears to the left, also marked with a red oval.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Duck Soup (1927) and frame 1:36

Although Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had briefly appeared together years earlier in The Lucky Dog (cir. 1919), the short film Duck Soup (1927) marks the first time the two comedic actors worked together at the Hal Roach Studios, though not yet paired as a “team.” During the film Oliver gives Stan a ride on his bicycle, including several scenes of them traveling south down Grand Avenue. During these scenes the camera either points north up Grand, so that we can see the actors, or down Grand, providing the audience with a point of view shot of the duo’s downhill ride. Above, Stan and Ollie ride south down Grand past the corner of 4th, with the 4th and Grand Service Garage visible behind them to the left.

Duck Soup and frame 2:00 showing the Zelda Apartments on the SW corner of 4th and Grand.

A bit further during Stan and Ollie’s ride down Grand from 4th Street, we can see the Zelda Apartments (red oval) in both the movie, and at frame 2:00 during the Prelinger film.

Duck Soup and frame 3:32, showing the Biltmore Garage.

As Stan and Ollie continue down Grand from 4th, they pass by the Biltmore Garage on the SE corner of 5th and Grand. The red box above matches the doors and windows in the Prelinger frame.

The Prelinger film continues south down Grand, turning right (west) at 5th, past the Biltmore Theater, the Biltmore Hotel, and the Los Angeles Public Library, then turning right (north) at Flower, and continuing north to 1st Street, where it turns right (east) onto 1st Street, where the film ends. [Note: some blogs regarding the Prelinger film incorrectly state that the last turn of the film is onto 2nd Street, forgetting that the drop-off of the west end of the 2nd Street tunnel would appear in the background during the turn if this was correct.]

Route in Prelinger Bunker Hill Stock Footage

Stock footage – The Internet Archive – Rick Prelinger, Prelinger Archives.

California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California; Security Pacific National Bank Photograph Collection/Los Angeles Public Library.

Posted in Bunker Hill, Duck Soup, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Girl Shy, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Lloyd Studio, Los Angeles Historic Core, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel | Tagged bunker hill, film noir, film noir locations, Girl Shy, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Oliver Hardy, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Stan Laurel, then and now | 25 Comments

Charlie Chaplin and Film Noir? – It’s Also True

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Bengtson

In Modern Times (1936) a policeman chases Charlie around the NE corner of Center Street (left) onto Jackson Street (right).

Charlie Chaplin and and film noir? It’s also true. As with my prior post about Harold Lloyd, Chaplin also has a connection to The Turning Point (1952), a noir crime drama where William Holden plays a cynical reporter investigating a corrupt cop. And given how the great silent comedians often crossed paths, Harold make a cameo appearance here too.

In Modern Times (1936), factory worker Charlie tightens bolts on an ever-accelerating assembly line, eventually suffering a nervous breakdown. After attempting to tighten the buttons on this matron’s dress (below left), he is carted off to a sanatorium (below right). These scenes were filmed on Jackson Street beside the Southern California Gas Company gas manufacturing plant.

This view from Harold Lloyd’s feature For Heaven’s Sake (1926) also looks west down Jackson towards the same gas tank appearing in the Modern Times frames above.

Looking north up Center Street, the red box marks the gas tank appearing in Modern Times above, while the purple box marks the tallest gas tank, on Ducommon Street and Center, appearing in The Kid, below. The taxi is turning east on to Banning.

Before pipeline technology allowed for the importation of natural gas over long distances, these plants manufactured gas locally by burning coal, and storing the resulting gas in large holding tanks. These tanks once stood east of City Hall. At 378 feet, the tallest of the three tanks stood more than twice as tall as the 150 height restriction for downtown commercial buildings.

In The Turning Point, reporter William Holden arrives by taxi (at left) to pay a visit to the mob boss played by Ed Begley, who runs a trucking company. The trucking company building stood at the NE corner of Center and Banning Streets. The gas storage tanks appearing in the movie frame once stood on blocks to the NW, NE, and SW of the intersection of Center and Ducommun Streets. The tallest of the three tanks (marked with a purple box) appears prominently during scenes from Chaplin’s early masterpiece The Kid (1921).

Looking east down Ducommon to the left, this view from The Kid shows the tallest gas storage tank (purple box) located on Center and Ducommon Streets. The school at the right horizon appears below closer up.

My book Silent Traces has an entire chapter devoted to Charlie Chaplin filming the factory sequences from Modern Times at the two gas plants located just east of City Hall. Look for future posts of Charlie filming at classic noir settings.

Click to enlarge. Looking east down (or near) Jackson Street, this production shot of a deleted scene from Harold Lloyd’s feature comedy For Heaven’s Sake shows the same three gas tanks. The red box marks the tank appearing above in Modern Times and in The Turning Point.

All images from Chaplin films made from 1918 onwards, copyright © Roy Export Company Establishment. CHARLES CHAPLIN, CHAPLIN, and the LITTLE TRAMP, photographs from and the names of Mr. Chaplin’s films are trademarks and/or service marks of Bubbles Incorporated SA and/or Roy Export Company Establishment. Used with permission.

The Turning Point (C) Paramount Pictures Corporation.

Vintage aerial (C) Google.

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Chinatown, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Harold Lloyd, Modern Times, The Turning Point | Tagged angles flight, Charlie Chaplin, film noir, film noir locations, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core, Modern Times, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies | 13 Comments

Harold Lloyd and Film Noir? – It’s True

Posted on August 19, 2011 by John Bengtson

Above, Harold Lloyd in Hot Water (1924). Beneath, The Turning Point (1952).

Harold Lloyd and film noir? It’s true. Lloyd filmed frequently on Bunker Hill and at other downtown locations, far more so than did Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. After decades of accumulated grime and neglect, the benign settings appearing in Lloyd’s early silent films became the stark and gritty landscapes favored by the post WWII urban dramas. Ironically then, Lloyd, one of the silent era’s sunniest comedians, will forever be tied to the noir genre.

In the top image from Hot Water (1924), Lloyd watches his family car run away down Olive Street from the corner of 3rd Street. The shadow of the Angels Flight observation tower appears on the street at the left foreground. In The Turning Point (1952), a cynical investigative reporter played by William Holden trails a suspected corrupt cop up Olive Street towards the corner of 3rd.

Click to enlarge. In this closer view the sign for the Olive Inn has been circled in yellow. The red oval on the street is the shadow of the former Angels Flight observation tower (see below).

Both scenes were filmed looking south down Olive Street from Third Street, near the top entrance to Angels Flight, just off camera to the left. The more famous of Los Angeles’ two funicular railroads originally stood next to the Third Street Tunnel. Today Angels Flight has been relocated a half block further west. The Olive Inn and The Ems Apartments loom prominently in the center of each shot.

The top entrance to Angels Flight, adjacent to the BPOE Building at 3rd Street and Olive. Harold’s cameraman stood to the left of the observation tower (pictured to the left) when filming, as it casts a shadow on the street in the movie frames from Hot Water (above). The cameraman for The Turning Point likely stood near the right edge of the BPOE Building when filming. Los Angeles Public Library SPNB Collection.

Today the corner of 3rd and Olive no longer really exists, as a mall extends over Olive Street. The hill on Olive drops down beneath the mall pictured here. Photo Jeffrey Castel De Oro.

Bunker Hill was scraped clean and completely rebuilt during the civic redevelopment boom beginning in the 1960s. With the redevelopment’s resulting elevated streets and pedestrian malls, certain intersections such as 3rd and Olive no longer exist.

My book Silent Visions has an entire chapter devoted to Harold Lloyd filming on Bunker Hill. Look for future posts of Harold filming at noir classic settings.

The Turning Point (C) Paramount Pictures Corporation.

Posted in Angels Flight, Bunker Hill, Film Noir, Harold Lloyd, Hot Water, Los Angeles Historic Core, The Turning Point | Tagged angles flight, bunker hill, film noir, film noir locations, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Studio, Los Angeles Historic Core, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies | 15 Comments

Buster and the Three Stooges at the Columbia Ranch – Part 2

Posted on August 6, 2011 by John Bengtson

As discussed in a prior post, Buster Keaton and the Three Stooges nearly crossed paths early in their respective film careers, and did cross paths (see second post) with Keaton’s General Nuisance (1941) and the Stooge’s Boobs in Arms(1940), two Columbia short subjects filmed on the back lot called the Columbia Ranch located in Burbank at the corner of Oak Street and Hollywood Way. The ranch remains in use today as the Warner Ranch. For this post we’ll compare matching shots from Keaton’s So You Won’t Squawk? (1941) with the Stooge’s Flat Foot Stooges (1938). (You can view my third post about Buster and the Stooges at the Columbia Ranch HERE).

The matching views above from So You Won’t Squawk? and Flat Foot Stooges look south along the park in the direction of the arrow in the map below, towards the corner of the two story brick facade set (circled on map below). The ranch film vault stood behind this two story set facing the park. Further west, the set also had a curved portico supported by Ionic columns, as shown in this truncated panorama from Flat Foot Stooges (above), and in this vertical pan from their earlier Tassels in the Air (1938). Jim Pauley reports that this palatial set was called the Deeds Home, as it was built for Frank Capra’s 1936 classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The formal structure would later be replaced by two suburban home sets, the western-most of which portrayed the Griswold family home in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), and the home in American Beauty (1999).

The so-called Friends fountain (in blue) has been a fixture at the ranch since its earliest days. The film vault stood south of the two story set (red circle).

This aerial view from Life Magazine (below) shows the point of view (arrow) looking south towards the two-story corner building set. A road following the direction of the arrow would later cut the central lawn/park area into two sections.

The so-called Friends fountain near the north corner of the ranch park also appears in both So You Won’t Squawk? and Flat Foot Stooges.

The Friends fountain, still a prominent fixture of the Warner Ranch.

The Keaton bungalow in General Nuisance (1941) – appears behind the Stooges (right) in Flat Foot Stooges.

The same bungalow in Boobs in Arms.

As discussed in my prior post, both Keaton and the Stooges appeared before the same Columbia Ranch bungalow in their respective films General Nuisance (1941) and Boobs in Arms (1940). This bungalow stood just east of the two story set described above, and appears in the background during Flat Foot Stooges. The oval in the Stooges frame (left) marks the water tower on the Warner Bros. main lot. The bungalow pictured here in these three films no longer stands, but its twin to the east still remains.

Buster’s So You Won’t Squawk? made use of other Columbia Ranch sets appearing in Stooges films. The corner building set just north of the park (see below) appears in Buster’s film, and in the Stooges’ Mutts to You (1938).

Buster readies himself to make a business call at left. This view looks south towards the north end of the ranch park. To the right, Moe and Larry’s stunt doubles knock down a couple with a rolling laundry basket in Mutts to You (1938). Click to enlarge.

The arrow on the map below shows the camera point of view towards the corner building set north of the park.

This corner (box) appears above in Keaton’s So You Won’t Squawk? and above in the Stooges’ Mutts to You.

The Island Inn Cafe portrayed in Keaton’s So You Won’t Squawk? was the Columbia Ranch commissary building.

The ranch commissary is dressed to appear as the Island Inn Cafe for Keaton’s So You Won’t Squawk? Click to enlarge.

This modern aerial view below shows the relation of the commissary (oval) to the corner building set north of the park (box).

So You Won’t Squawk? also provides this view north up Hollywood Way, from Oak Street, showing the corner entrance to the Columbia Ranch. You can see the small guard house by the gate.

In So You Won’t Squawk?, Buster’s races out of the Columbia Ranch gate at the NW corner of Oak and Hollywood Way. Click to enlarge.

This aerial view below shows the path of Keaton’s car from the ranch gate.

Buster’s route east down Oak crossing Hollywood Way. (C) Life Magazine

Here is a view from Oak Street north up Hollywood Way today.

Google Street View (C) Google Inc.

Flat Foot Stooges contains a few other scenes filmed on the ranch. The fire alarm from the film was phoned in from in front of this suburban home set, standing due west of the two story brick set discussed above. The same home set appears in the opening to the Stooges’ 1941 short Some More of Samoa.

Flat Foot Stooges at the upper left, Some More of Samoa (1941) at the lower left, modern view at right.

This photo below was taken after the park area was split in two (see arrow below). The top oval marks the commissary, the top box marks the corner set north of the park, the lower oval marks the two story brick facade building, the lower yellow box marks the Some More of Samoa house, and the red box marks the two bungalows next to the corner entrance and guard house.

Commissary top oval, corner building set top box, Some More of Samoa set yellow box, two story brick set lower oval, twin bungalows next to corner gate, lower red box. From the Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark Burbank history website.

My special thanks to Steve Bingen, author of the amazing book MGM-Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot, and Janet Hoffmann. For more information on the Columbia Ranch, I highly recommend the unofficial ranch website here.

Jim Pauley’s new book The Three Stooges: Hollywood Filming Locations has dozens and dozens of photos of the Columbia Ranch backlot and the various sets.

The Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark Burbank history website Burbankia can be found here.

Movie frame images copyright Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Posted in Buster Keaton, Columbia, Three Stooges | Tagged Buster Keaton, Columbia Movie Ranch, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Three Stooges, Warner Ranch | 11 Comments

As discussed in a prior post, Buster Keaton and the Three Stooges nearly crossed paths early in their respective film careers. But they definitely crossed paths during the early 1940s when they both made short subjects for Columbia Pictures on the backlot called Columbia Ranch.

Looking towards the gate house at the SE corner entrance to the Columbia Ranch (box), and the eastern-most (and still extant) of twin studio bungalows near the entrance. Buster appears in General Nuisance to the left, the Stooges in Boobs in Arms to the right. (c) Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Columbia operated from studios located at Sunset and Gower in Hollywood, but lacked backlot facilities to film outdoor scenes. To remedy this, in 1934 Columbia acquired a large parcel in Burbank at the corner of Oak Street and Hollywood Way, that became known as the Columbia Ranch. It was here the studio built massive outdoor sets for productions such as Lost Horizon (1937). Over time other sets were added, and at its peak the Columbia Ranch contained large New York, Colonial, and Western sets, as well as a large lagoon, and a water tank flanked by a 50 foot tall skywall. A good portion of the original ranch remains in use today, now called the Warner Ranch.

The second of the twin bungalows appears here behind Buster and the Stooges. Even the tent appears to be similar. In Buster’s frame you can look beyond the ranch south down Screenland Drive. The oval marks the water tower on the Warner Bros. Studio lot due south of the Columbia Ranch.

After filming a series of two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures from 1934-1937, Keaton signed to a series at Columbia in 1939. His next to final Columbia short, General Nuisance (1941), loosely reprises his early MGM talkie comedy Doughboys (1930). The outdoor scenes were filmed in the SE corner of the ranch, and on the adjacent streets. The Three Stooges filmed their army boot camp comedy, Boobs in Arms (1940), in the same corner of the ranch.

A view north of the Columbia Ranch, from the Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark Burbank history website. The box marks the twin bungalows appearing with Buster and the Stooges.

The bungalow appearing behind Buster and the Stooges still stands beside the SE corner entrance to the Columbia (Warner) Ranch. It was (still is?) used for the studio watchman and for storage. A fire map explains that the other bungalow to the west, now demolished, was used for wardrobe.

Looking south at the Warner (formerly Columbia) Ranch today. The red oval marks the bungalow appearing with Buster and the Stooges. The red box marks the Stevens residence from the 1960s sitcom Bewitched, while the yellow oval marks the fountain that appears during the opening credits of the Friends. Bing Maps Bird’s Eye – (c) 2010 NAVTEQ, Pictometry Bird’s Eye (c) 2010 Pictometry International Corp., (c) 2010 Microsoft Corporation.

Though beyond the scope of this post, fans of the Three Stooges will find that a great many exterior scenes from their films, in particular those starring Curly, were filmed at the Columbia Ranch, especially around the park area in the SE corner of the lot.

The extant Keaton/Stooge bungalow appears in the background of this scene from the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family. The Friends fountain has appeared in dozens and movies and television shows.

Aside from a long history of feature film production, the Columbia (now Warner) Ranch was home to dozens of landmark sitcoms, including Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, Bewitched, Gidget, I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, The Partridge Family, Eight is Enough, and Friends.

In Part 2 I show how Buster filmed other scenes on streets adjacent to the ranch, and how these images also appear with the Stooges.

Jim Pauley’s new book The Three Stooges: Hollywood Filming Locations has dozens and dozens of photos of the Columbia Ranch backlot and the various sets.

For more information on the Columbia Ranch, I highly recommend the unofficial ranch website here.

The Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark Burbank history website Burbankia can be found here.

Movie frame images copyright Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

The frame image from The Partridge Family comes from Kipp Teague’s amazing Retroweb website documenting the great movie studios and studio backlots. Kipp’s site has hundreds of photos and frame grabs showing where and how classic movies and TV shows were filmed at the various Hollywood backlots, in particular the various sets at 40 Acres in Culver City used for The Andy Griffith Show. You’ll spend hours exploring this fascinating site.

College Days for Harold and Buster

Posted on June 3, 2011 by John Bengtson

Neither Harold Lloyd nor Buster Keaton attended college (were there any silent stars who did?), yet they each made campus comedy feature films. Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925) was a smash hit, while Keaton made his modest College (1927) as a low-cost follow-up to his epic but financially disappointing masterpiece The General (1926).

Exposition Park across from the USC campus, circa 1925. A formal sunken rose garden occupies most of the image. Los Angeles Public Library – Security Pacific National Bank Collection

At the time the USC campus comprised only a handful of buildings, and the UCLA campus was not yet even built. While each comedian staged sports practice scenes (football for Harold, baseball for Buster) at Bovard Field, the small athletic field behind the no longer extant USC Old College Building, both comedians had to improvise to find collegiate settings for their films. Instead, as shown here, each used the stately grounds of Exposition Park across the street from USC to complete their filming.

The State Building. Lloyd filmed in the left side of the courtyard (see below). Harold and Buster both filmed near the bottom right corner.

Harold attracts a hungry crowd inside the State Building courtyard

Harold and Buster, walking on the same sidewalk, a few steps apart, forming nearly a panoramic view of the SE corner of the State Building. To the right, Zumberge Hall at USC appears in the far distance above the man’s white cap.

In The Freshman an upperclassman abuses Harold’s goodwill by inviting an increasingly larger crowd of students to join them for free sundaes, Harold’s treat. The crowd accumulates alongside the former State Exposition Building (Bowen Hall) at Exposition Park, now the site of the modernistic Museum of Science and Industry, situated due north of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The east wing of the State Building also appears as more people join the crowd. Buster filmed at the SE corner of the State Building for his scene from College. In the background you can see the low wall surrounding the sunken rose garden, and Zumberge Hall in the far distance.

This is the same spot as the prior image of Buster, only looking east, not north. The lawn bowling club house at the park appears behind Buster

Filmed at the same spot, when Buster tells his girl that he made the crew rowing team you can see the lawn bowling club house that once stood as part of Exposition Park in the background.

The stately Los Angeles County Natural History Museum also appears in both films. In College, on his way to rescue the girl, Buster races east past the south side of the museum, as shown above, while in The Freshman, a gang of hungry students walks north towards the front steps of the museum. Keaton returned to the front steps of the museum to film scenes for Spite Marriage (1929), his second MGM feature comedy.

Looking east, USC and environs, circa 1925. The oval marks the no longer extant State Building, the arrows mark Harold and Buster’s paths towards the front, and along the side, of the museum facing the sunken garden, and the box to the lower left marks the Bovard Field locker room discussed below.

Despite filming on the USC campus, neither The Freshman nor College makes use of any USC buildings except for the locker room at Bovard Field appearing in both films (see below).

Football practice for Harold, baseball for Buster, at Bovard Field on the USC campus. The locker room doorway to the right of Buster’s head appears in the left image from The Freshman. Harold and Buster are equally inept at their respective sports.

The same Bovard Field locker room above appears during the second half of the 1927 Johnny Arthur film The Draw-Back, presented by CINEMATEKfilms (see YouTube below). The Draw-Back has many unique views of Bovard Field, where Buster Keaton staged a baseball game in College, and a football game in Three Ages (1923), and where Lloyd filmed the football practice scenes in The Freshman. Moreover, a very young John Wayne appears to be seen at 14:50 and 24:38. At 24:38 you can also see the locker room filmed by Lloyd and Keaton, directly above, as well as the twin domes to the Shrine Auditorium. The opening scenes from The Draw-Back was staged in front of the Natural History Museum, mentioned further above, where Keaton filmed Spite Marriage.

Lloyd’s Safety Last! to the left, Keaton’s Seven Chances to the right, the Bovard Administration Building (box) appears in each film.

Although the USC campus buildings do not appear in Harold and Buster’s respective college movies, except during the sports practice scenes, the USC Bovard Administration Building does appear in other Lloyd and Keaton productions. As shown above, it appears while Harold tries to catch a trolley to work in Safety Last!, and as Buster flees a mob of jilted brides in Seven Chances.

HAROLD LLOYD images and the names of Mr. Lloyd’s films are all trademarks and/or service marks of Harold Lloyd Entertainment Inc. Images and movie frame images reproduced courtesy of The Harold Lloyd Trust and Harold Lloyd Entertainment Inc. College frame images reproduced courtesy of The Douris Corporation, David Shepard, Film Preservation Associates, and Kino International Corporation