Hollywood’s Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery will, for the first time ever, unwind the colorful and convoluted threads that make for the tale of one of the most influential and photographed places in the world. And in fact, the lot was only about 28 acres in actual space. RKO backlot "40 Acres" Culver City, California. with this post, location or person. When not in use, the structures are usually stripped of this dressing. Flat Rock Studio in Columbus, Georgia. The backlot (actually measured appr. The map created by people like you! 40 Acres Studio Backlot (Google Maps). Today many studio backlots are gone or nearly gone. By then it was known as Forty Acres and owned by RKO Pictures. History. "Mayberry's" Grand theater from my Google Sketchup "re-construction" of the RKO/Desilu "40 Acres" studio backlot In 1958, it was purchased by Desilu Productions, the studio formed in 1951 by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction Uses. Television shows such as Moonlighting and It's Garry Shandling's Show also broke the fourth wall and gave audiences a peek of life on the other side of the camera. The backlot ranch at this time contained around 32 acres and another eight acres were added along the north bank of La Ballona Creek. anonymously (anonymous users cannot post links). And in fact, the lot was only about 28 acres … M any locals know that the Desilu Studios were an important part of Culver City history. When you have collected a money card, a passport card and a map card for your player, you will learn where there is a sentry off-duty. Some movie studios build a wide variety of sets on the backlot, which can be modified for different purposes as need requires and "dressed" to resemble any time period or look. The "Big Valley" mansion was located on the Radford lot in Encino, and Tara was located on the "40 Acres" backlot in Culver City. The bottom photo is from Google Maps, 2017, relatively the same angle. "40 Acres" was an RKO Pictures "back lot" where many notable films and TV shows were filmed over the years. Rex was in love with David Selznick's 1939 classic film, "Gone With The Wind," and he was determined to visit the Forty Acres backlot where the Atlanta train depot and other sets from the film still stood. Across Ballona Creek this was a small extension to the 40 acres Back Lot. The "40 Acres" back lot was the location where the exterior shots of The Andy Griffith Show were filmed. I'm also sharing maps of the area from 1965 (with sets clearly labeled and for which I take no ownership or credit!) Mar 26, 2016 - 40 Acres - The Lost Studio Backlot of Movie & Television Fame - The Desilu Years. Movie sets almost never survive as long as we would like them to. And in fact, the lot was only about 28 acres in actual space. 1.9K likes. Please log in if you don't want to post A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. It no longer exists, it is now an industrial park. Desilu 40 acres A short bike ride away from Lot 2 was Desilu studios, located off Ince Ave, named after studio pioneer Thomas Ince. 40 Acres in the Mid-1960s. "40 Acres" was an RKO Pictures "back lot" where many notable films and TV shows were filmed over the years. They are just starting to build Andy's house for the Andy Griffith Show. In the late-1930s, producer David O. Selznick bought the land, and used it to build the Atlanta and Tara sets for Gone with the Wind (which was photographed by Ernest Haller). Also visit these RetroWeb sites: TV Studios and Ranches in the 1950's-1970's AND The RKO Encino Ranch - RKO Radio Pictures' Famous Movie Lot AND "The Andy Griffith Show" - A Behind-the-Scenes Gallery: 40 Acres Web Links (all links verified October 24, 2009) Culver City History: 9336 Washington (Thomas Ince's 2nd movie studio) … Forty Acres hotels map is available on the target page linked above. The top photo is of the Desilu 40 Acres Backlot from the mid- to late-1960s. 10ms. As the studio continued to change hands, the "40 Acres" backlot fell out of use and into disrepair in the early 1970s, and in 1976 it was bulldozed and the land sold to industry. and from Google Maps, which I did label, to give you an idea of where, approximately, Stalag 13 was situated. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. Hogan's Heroes: Set location at the 40 Acres Backlot in 1965. It worked as a backdrop for numerous silent films as well as Gone With the Wind. Stanford Libraries' official online search tool for books, media, journals, databases, government documents and more. History of Culver Studios. The primitive special effects technology of the era made it difficult to remove clues, such as chaparral-covered hills at the horizon line. "Hollywood’s Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery" is a new book about the legendary Culver Studios. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "40 Acres" The Lost Backlot Studio of Movie & Television Fame, "Columbia Ranch.net" A website about the former Columbia Studios Ranch in Burbank CA, Backlot space at Pinewood & Shepperton Studios, American Society of Cinematographers Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, List of living actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Backlot&oldid=996101869, Articles lacking in-text citations from February 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 24 December 2020, at 15:10. Originally, its studios were located in Los Angeles, but outgrowing their existing space, they purchased their Culver City location on the RKO "40 Acre" backlot from General Tire and Rubber in late 1957. The box office failure of the 1967 film Camelot was blamed in part on this issue, which in turn marked the end of large-scale backlot production in Southern California.[1]. Some are closed in with a fourth wall. Today, what had been 40 Acres Backlot is now composed of storage units, offices, and housing developments. By 1976 the back lot was in disrepair and bulldozed. South of the existing studio buildings was a 28 acre backlot which stretched all the way to the hills, and was known as ’40 Acres’. Though some studios like MGM and Fox sold vast tracts in the 1960s and 1970s, many historical sets continue to be demolished today, as there seems to be little interest in their preservation. Not all the buildings and houses are shells. Since the late-1990s, the increased use of CGI and blue/green screen effects in big budget movies has further sped up the decline in use of studio backlots, as more and more films are shot completely indoors. The forty acre backlot was separate from its main lot offices and stages.No stages,few people, but corner after corner of historic streets and villages. Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles offers a rare look into the Warner Bros. backlot, with scenes spilling off the Laramie Street set into various stages and eventually out of Gate 3 onto Olive Avenue in Burbank, California. Hollywood's Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery. At the same time, during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s (the period when Hollywood underwent the transition from the Golden Age to New Hollywood), global movie audiences were increasingly annoyed[citation needed] by films that were supposedly set all over the world, but were obviously filmed in California. It’s the old Desilu Culver City 40 acres backlot location. It was actually about 29 acres of land in Culver City, California. Los Angeles, like the rest of the United States, went through an economic boom after World War II. . From the Andy Griffith Museum in Mt. Ladders are usually built into the structure, allowing performers to climb to an upper-floor window or the roof to perform scenes. This caused real estate prices and property taxes linked to fair market value to rise dramatically (the latter problem was curtailed by the enactment of Proposition 13 in 1978). Airy, an Andy Griffith Show call sheet from 1964, including references to "40A-CoaltownStr" for filming of "Mayberry" town exteriors at 40 Acres...revealing that this area of the backlot was named for its appearance as "Coaltown" in the 1948 film, "Miracle of the Bells." sound stages, production suites and backlot 140,000 square feet of open stages 40 offices and 5 meeting rooms 80-acre backlot In the 1940s, the backlot was sold to RKO, who filmed several film and television productions there, inclu… There are streets that comprise an assortment of architectural styles, Victorian to suburban homes, and 19th century-style townhouses that encircle a central park with trees. External Links. By 1930, the backlot was called the RKO-Pathé ”40-Acres” (though, in fact, it was only 29 acres). Sneak your prisoner out under that unguarded fence position and win. The interior is an unfinished space, with no rooms, and from the back of the structure one can see the electrical wires, pipes, beams and scaffolding, which are fully exposed. Garden Of Allah. Your Player must be equipped with money, a passport and a map. You use colors for passports in order to move around the camp. Selznick leased the “40 acres” Thomas Ince backlot of which RKO was the longtime landlord (and which for the record, was actually 28 acres) He burned down most of his standing sets spectacularly on camera for Gone With The Wind (1939) Cannily, he then built his Atlanta sets over the ashes for that picture. When in use, the structures are dressed by adding doors, window treatments and landscaping. cache 5h 1m While watching the False Face episode the other night as part of my tribute to Malachi Throne, I had a chance for the first time to see how the climactic chase at the end of Part 2 really gives us a fascinating view of the Desilu "40 Acres" backlot that played host to many TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s as well as having originally been the RKO lot where "Gone With The Wind" was filmed. It no longer exists, it is now an industrial park. These sets include everything from mountains, forests, ships, to small-town settings from around the world, as well as streets from the Old West, to whole modern-day city blocks from New York City, Paris, Berlin, and London. "40 Acres" is the misnomer that was given to what was actually about 29 acres of land in Culver City, California, first used as a movie studio backlot in 1926 by Cecil DeMille, after he leased the property from Italian immigrate Achille Casserini (on March 22, 1926). 2. On it he constructed the historical City of Jerusalem, which remained for the RKO production of King Kong (1933). Retroweb 40 Acres pages; Culver Studios official website Palm Trees and Power Lines in 1940s Germany. Each available view is indicated with a green arrow, which also indicates the camera orientation of the photo or movie scene. RKO Forty Acres Backlot (site) This "back lot", actually 29 acres in size, was used by various studio companies for filming outdoor and city scenes. The mansion, however, is long gone. Each available view is indicated with a green arrow, which I did label, to give the illusion an. Nearly Gone as Forty Acres in actual space World War II of,! 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