Cass Timberlane (1947) - Film Locations

In the film version of Sinclair Lewis's story, Cass Timberlane (1947), Spencer Tracy plays the title character, a judge who falls for a younger woman (Lana Turner) from the "wrong side of the tracks." Although the story for Cass Timberlane is set in a small Minnesotan town, filming actually took place in California, around Los Angeles and the MGM Studios backlot in Culver City. Early in the film, when Tracy first meets Turner, he literally crosses the railroad tracks but they are a long way off from Minnesota. 

In the scene below Tracy sees a baseball roll from underneath a railroad car. Tracy is standing near Myers Street, just north of the 1st Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles. 

Click images to enlarge.

Tracy stands on N. Myers St near the 1st Street bridge.

Looking toward the 1st Street bridge from N. Myers St.

Tracy joins the action of a baseball game taking place in a parcel of land north of the 1st Street Bridge and east of the Los Angeles River. Naturally, being a judge, Tracy acts as the umpire. While Tracy stands next to Turner near the pitching mound, we get a view of the Southern California Gas Company tanks that once stood near Jackson Street and Center Street, just across the LA River. These recognizable structures appeared in quite a few early films before they were razed, and were particularly popular in film noirs.

Tracy and Turner with the The Southern California Gas Company tanks in the background.

Looking across L.A. River towards Jackson Street. The gas tanks have since been razed.

A closer view of the tanks that stood near Jackson St. and Center St.

Spencer Tracy's home in Cass Timberlane was one of the homes originally built for the popular Vincente Minnelli film Meet Me in St. Louis (1945) starring Judy Garland. For Meet Me In St. Louis, Minnelli insisted that MGM construct an entire street of Victorian homes rather than dress an existing set, which would have been much cheaper. The sets remained well after Minnelli's film, getting their fair share of screen time. Tracy would not only work on this St. Louis Street backlot for Cass Timberlane, but also in the film  The Sea of Grass which came out the same year.

Tracy walks home, one of homes on MGM's St. Louis Street backlot.

Cass Timberlane is available on DVD through the Warner Archive Collection, it can be rented through ClassicFlix, and is currently available for streaming on the Warner Archive Instant service.

Love Crazy (1941) - Film Locations

Steve and Susan Ireland are about to celebrate their fourth anniversary, but when Steve runs into an old flame, a meddling mother in-law convinces her daughter that Steve is cheating on her. After some misunderstandings Susan decides to file for divorce. Steve pretends to be crazy in order to delay the divorce and buy some time to win his wife back. That's the premise for the 1941 screwball comedy Love Crazy. 

William Powell and Myrna Loy, famous as a husband and wife team in the Thin Man films, once again play husband and wife in Love Crazy. Although this comedy is a fun watch, it doesn't have the same wit as the Thin Man films and at times the humor seems forced. The best moments come from the supporting cast, particularly Jack Carson, a neighbor who gets in the middle of the Ireland's marriage and Florence Bates who plays the mother in-law.

Most of the action takes place inside the Ireland's apartment building, but of the few exterior scenes, I recognized some sets from the MGM backlot. I was later able to verify the MGM backlot sets using the book, M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot, by Steven Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester, and Michael Troyan. This book makes a great reference book.

William Powell gets pushed into the "Esther Williams Pool"

In one scene, Powell, who is attending a party, takes all of the mens' hats from the hat check and throws them into a swimming pool. Powell is pretending to be crazy by "emancipating" the hats. In the process Powell gets shoved into the "Esther Williams Pool." According to M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot, the pool was built in about 1935. Williams didn't take her first swim in the pool until 1942 but she would go on to use the pool frequently for her many aquatic themed pictures.

Powell is taken into the Dr. Wuthering's Rest Home

After a judge believes Powell to be crazy, he is sent to the Dr. Wuthering's Rest Home, which was really the MGM "Girl's School" backlot set. This set was possibly first constructed for the 1940 film, Forty Little Mothers. Some other movies that have used the Girl's School set included Cynthia (1947) The Cobweb (1955), and The Wheeler Dealers (1963).

Below is a video tour of the MGM backlot showing how some of the outdoor sets appeared in 1963. One of the backlot sets that is seen in the video is the Girl's School set, starting at the 33 second mark.

MGM Studios backlot video tour.

Powell on the Girl's School backlot set.

Jack Carson and William Powell on the Girl's School set.

Unfortunately, these MGM backlot sets have been demolished so the only way we can see them now is in these classic movies.

Love Crazy is available for rent through ClassicFlix and is also available to purchase on DVD.

To learn more about the book M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot, visit the official site here. You can also read my interview with one of the coauthors, Steve Bingen, here.

Flying High (1931) - Film Locations

Flying High (1931)

What you will find in the 1931 film, Flying High, are hypnotic Busby Berkley musical numbers, plenty of gags, and the screen debut of Bert Lahr, eight years before his famous role as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. Anyone who is a fan of Lahr's expressive clowning will enjoy seeing his over-the-top performance as a neurotic inventor. It's even interesting to see in a small role, Hedda Hopper as an actress, before she would go on to be the Queen Bee of Hollywood gossip. However, what you won't find is a plausible, well written storyline, but that shouldn't be a deterrent from seeing some of the charming features this film does have to offer. The film is currently available through the Warner Archive Collection.

The film stars Charlotte Greenwood as Pansy Potts, a single woman desperate to find herself a husband and have kids. Pansy offers $500 for a husband. Businessman and swindler Sport Wardell, played by the fast talking Pat O'Brien, promises Pansy a husband in exchange for the $500. Pansy excepts Wardell's offer after he shows her a photo of the eligible bachelor - a photo of Clark Gable! Instead, the man Wardell has found for Pansy is broke inventor, Rusty Krouse, played by Bert Lahr, who of course is no Clark Gable. Nevertheless, Pansy pursues her man and Rusty amusingly tries to get away.

While watching the film I came to a scene where Pat O'Brien is standing with a group of pilots outside of what is supposed to be an aviation school. Immediately, I thought, "I've seen this building before." I then realized it was because I saw a picture of the building in the new book, M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot. This amazing photo filled book includes images of every area of the former MGM studio and is organized in such a way, that as a reader, it feels like one is getting an intimate tour of the studio during the glory days. This book is a must-have for any classic movie lover. To learn more about the book and read an interview with Steven Bingen, one of the authors, click here. To visit the official site of M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot click here.

Pat O'Brien in front of MGM's "English House" set.

Above is a screenshot of Pat O'Brien in front of the aviation school. This building, according to M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot, is the "English Home" set. Other films that have used this building include David Copperfield (1935), The Canterville Ghost (1944) and Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960).

Pat O'Brien in front of MGM's "English House"

Bert Lahr approaches the "English House."

Pat O'Brien and Bert Lahr on the English House set.

The English Home set is behind Lahr and O'Brien.

Greenwood chases Lahr around the English House set.

Later in the film all the characters find themselves at a small airport for an aviation show. My first instinct was that this airport was either the former Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California or the Western Air College Airport in Alhambra, California. As it turns out, the location is the Alhambra Airport. The first photo below is a screenshot from the film and the following photo is an image of the front side of the Alhambra Airport from the USC Digital Archives. If you look closely at the two images you will notice the same detailing above the windows on the control tower.

Alhambra Airport as seen in the film Flying High

Alhambra Airport - Credit: USC Digital Archives

Lahr recklessly driving his "aerocopter" at Alhambra Airport.

Greenwood on the runway at Alhambra Airport.

Spectators run from Lahr in his aerocopter.

Hedda Hopper at Alhambra Airport in Flying High

Aerial View of Alhambra Airport in the film Flying High

Aerial View of former site of Alhambra Airport

(c) Google 2011

There is nothing left of the Alhambra Airport so watching Flying High is a great way to time travel to the past and visit this location. In the Google Earth aerial view above you can see the former site of the airfield. The Alhambra Airport would have been located in the area between Valley Boulevard to the North, Hellman Avenue to the South, Garfield Avenue on the West and Del Mar Avenue on the East. Today the site is the location of a shopping center, high school and residential area.

Greenwood and Hopper look on at Lahr who 

just made a crash landing.

There is an interesting story to how O'Brien got the part in Flying High. O'Brien had just completed work on the film Consolation Marriage, which also starred screen legend Irene Dunne. After the Hollywood premiere of Consolation Marriage, O'Brien learned that Howard Hughes was dropping his contract. Feeling defeated, O'Brien told his wife Eloise the news and said to pack her things - they were going back to New York. Eloise told O'Brien that he should talk things over first with his agents, Myron Selznick and Frank Coleman Joyce.

According to O'Brien in his autobiography, The Wind at My Back, he went to visit Selznick at his office. When he got there Selznick, who was hungover, looked up from his desk and said, "It looks like you are going to start paying commission to me, kid."

"I hope so," replied O'Brien.

Selznick explained to O'Brien that Joyce was going to take him over to MGM to meet with Irving Thalberg about a part in the film, Flying High, that Bert Lahr was going to be the star in what was to be his film debut and O'Brien was up for the second lead. O'Brien got in Joyce's Rolls-Royce and on the way there Joyce said, "Now, no matter what happens during the Thalberg interview, don't open your mick trap. I'll handle everything. I may drop a couple of bombs, but just stand pat! No pun."

When the two arrived at MGM O'Brien and Joyce were immediately ushered into Thalberg's office. There was no waiting for them. Thalberg told Joyce that MGM was definitely interested in O'Brien for the part and wanted to know his asking price. "Seventeen-fifty a week with a three-week guarantee," exclaimed Joyce. Thalberg was blown away at this asking price as he new O'Brien was only making seven-fifty per week under Hughes. 

O'Brien was shocked too that Joyce had asked Thalberg for so much and began to get nervous, but like Joyce instructed, he didn't say anything. When Joyce and O'Brien got up to leave Thalberg's office, O'Brien felt sad. He thought this would be the end of his Hollywood career and he would end up having to go back to New York for sure.

Before they made it to the door, MGM executive Eddie Mannix told O'Brien, "You're out of your mind, my boy. Passing up a chance like this to work for the biggest studio in the business - and Irving Thalberg. We will give you twelve-fifty a week."

O'Brien told Mannix to talk to his agent, but Joyce said, "Why waste time? Jack Warner is waiting for us. The food's better there, too."

In the end, Pat O'Brien go his $1750 per week, with the three-week guarantee. The film went over to eleven weeks.

Your thoughts?

Wee Kirk of the Heather - Chapel for the Stars

Wee Kirk of The Heather at Forrest Lawn Glendale

Above is a vintage postcard I picked up recently of the Wee Kirk O'The Heather chapel located in the vast Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. The chapel and the grounds around look nearly the same today. This quaint chapel, which is a replica of a European church, has many old Hollywood connections.

Ronald Reagan & Jane Wyman Wedding 1940

The actor turned president, Ronald Reagan, married actress Jane Wyman at this chapel in 1940. The two met while filming the Warner Brothers picture, "Brother Rat."

Clark Gable & Carole Lombard at Jean Harlow Funeral

But there are also funerals at the chapel. Above is a photo from 1937 of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard attending Jean Harlow's funeral. Gable was Harlow's costar on the then unfinished film, Saratoga. Harlow's funeral was a huge event, like one of the big musicals her studio MGM would create. At the funeral MGM stars Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy sang Harlow's favorite song, "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life." Harlow was later buried in the Great Mausoleum also located on the Forrest Lawn grounds.

Five years later Carole Lombard would be back at Forrest Lawn for her own funeral. Her funeral, unlike Harlow's was a small private event. Lombard and Gable are also buried at Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale.

If you haven't been to Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale it is definitely worth visiting. The grounds are beautiful and there are numerous old stars buried here. Some others include Irving Thalberg, Red Skeleton, Walt Disney, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Errol Flynn to name a few. And if you go soon you can still check out the "Fine Art of Marc Davis" exhibit being held at the Forrest Lawn Museum. The exhibit, featuring artwork by Disney animator Marc Davis, runs until July 26, 2009. See me my post on that here.

MGM Stag Party - "Girl 27"

Patricia Douglas, "Girl 27" - photo from Boston.com

Who doesn't like a juicy Hollywood scandal? If you're like me you want to hear the horror stories just as much as the fun and fanciful tales of Hollywood's past. That's why I was intrigued when I came across the documentary, Girl 27 (2007), which tells the story of Patricia Douglas, a young starlet who was raped at an MGM stag party in 1937. I had not heard of this story before and that is because the powerful MGM movie studio did their best to bury it. Then director/writer David Stenn came along, did some sleuthing and reintroduced this scandal to the public.

In 1937, MGM held a huge party in Los Angeles for their top film salesmen. The studio brought them in by train from all over the country. The party started with a ceremony at the famous Ambassador Hotel with a speech by MGM exec Louis B. Mayer, but it wasn't until after the ceremony that the real party would start.

All the salesmen went to an old barn located on property owned by RKO which was used for filming purposes. MGM had loaded the barn with booze and had hired over 100 underage girls for entertainment, one of them being Patricia Douglas who was listed as "Girl 27" in MGM's studio records. Of course the mix of booze, underage girls, and wild salesmen would lead to trouble.

One salesman from Chicago attempted to get Douglas drunk. Douglas didn't drink so a few of the salesmen held the 17 year-old down and forced booze down her mouth. This led up to the Chicago salesman raping the young girl.

Douglas would go public with her story and eventually take her case to court. If you think MGM would have taken the side of the young raped girl you're wrong. MGM couldn't let the public know that one of their top salesman raped an underage girl at a stag party they organized; so, the studio went into overdrive to bury the scandal. They had their Publicity department create other newsworthy stories that were not embarrassing so that the Douglas scandal would not be a cover story, but buried deep into the pages of the newspaper where noone would read it. The MGM publicity department also made attempts to project Douglas as a whore, to discredit her case.

Stenn, the director and writer for Girl 27 tracks down Douglas to see what happened of the young girl from the scandal and to see if he can get her to open up about the case. Douglas eventually left Hollywood and would become a recluse in her old age. Stenn makes several attempts to reach Douglas, and eventually he does, getting her to open up a little at a time.

You can watch this very interesting documentary in its entirety on Youtube by going here. Also, the documentary is available through Netfilx and is one of their InstantWatch titles.

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Buster Keaton Cameraman locations.

Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton's first picture with MGM and my personal favorite of his MGM films is, The Cameraman. MGM also thought this was a pretty good film. They believed it was the perfect comedy and would use it as an example to show all their other directors and producers under contract.

The film is set in New York City and was shot in New York, Hollywood and Venice. Below are some of the locations that were shot in Hollywood.

Southeast corner of Hollywood & Vine

Above is the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. That's the firetruck rounding the corner that Buster Keaton chases and then hops aboard.

Southeast corner of Hollywood & Vine 2009

This is how the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine appears today. The building is pretty much the same. If you look to the right of the image you can see a building under construction. That's a new W hotel being built on the former site of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant. Read my earlier post to learn more about that.

The firetruck then turns up Cahuenga Boulevard. The next two screenshots and the following photo show how the street appears in the film and how it looks today.

1612 Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood


1616 Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood

Cahuenga Boulevard as it appears today.

From Cahuenga the firtruck turns left into a firehouse. The firehouse no longer exists but the building in the background as Buster pulls into the firehouse is still standing. Below is a picture of the building in the background.

If you watch the first 2 minutes of this YouTube video you can see all of these locations as they appear in the film.