Stegosaurus — caught in an awkward moment

"Thunder River Feud" (1942)

One pastime that evolved early in my Iverson exploration was finding weird stuff in the old movies, whether it was really there or not. I noticed a lot of what can best be described as tricks of light — images that weren't necessarily formed out of actual objects but had more to do with the way the camera played with the light and shadows. Sometimes it was just because the footage was so bad to begin with that I had to use my imagination to fill in the details — kind of like what made radio so great, according to people who lived through the days before television.

I found myself giving names to these accidents of light and imagination, because you have to name things to have a way to study them. My goal is simply to describe it as accurately as possible, so, for example, the image above from cinematographer Robert Cline's strange masterpiece "Thunder River Feud" became "Stegosaurus Caught in an Awkward Moment" because that's what I see when I look at it — a dinosaur with an embarrassed expression on its face. I eventually shortened the rock name to simply "Stegosaurus."

Stegosaurus: It really exists

When I unexpectedly found Stegosaurus at Iverson, it was one of those peak moments that make exploring the place so much fun. I always assumed that what I had seen in the movie was more imagination than reality. But then there it was in real life. This discovery added a surprise twist to what I thought at the time was pure flight of fancy: Not only did Stegosaurus in fact exist at Iverson, but to my shock, I was able to find it.

It turned out to be a configuration along the face of a familiar rock in the Above Nyoka area, which formed the left side of the Vultura's Temple or Vultura's Palace feature from the Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka," released the same year as Thunder River Feud, 1942. The rock now has a brick wall built onto it, which separates the condominium community on the west side of the wall from the undeveloped area to the east. In the photo above, you can see the top of Hangdog — which formed the right side of Vultura's Palace in "Perils of Nyoka" — sticking up just above the wall.

If you're having trouble spotting the similarities between the two photos, start with the tip of the dinosaur's nose, which is the rounded shape pointing toward the top left corner in either photo. Below it is the mouth — the look of embarrassment being evident only in the screen shot at the top, not so much in the real-life photo above. A bush is growing out of the rock in the same place in both photos, near the dinosaur's eye, even though the pictures are taken more than 65 years apart — the blink of an eye, in dinosaur time.

Vultura's Palace in the classic Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka": Here's where the front of the building once stood

"The Perils of Nyoka" (1942)

The screen shot above shows the front entrance to Vultura's Palace, one of the main sets for the 1942 Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka" (based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs heroine Nyoka, or Jungle Girl). The palace entrance was built between two major rock formations on the Iverson Movie Ranch — Stegosaurus, or Pavlova, on the left and Hangdog on the right. At top center, just above the roofline of the palace, is Cracked Meringue. 

The same rocky area in recent times

In the recent color shot above, Stegosaurus on the left and Hangdog on the right mark the spot where the front entrance to Vultura's Palace stood almost seven decades ago. Cracked Meringue appears above Hangdog's nose, with Sticky Bun to the left of Cracked Meringue. Rubble at the base of Hangdog and Pavlova is probably from movie sets built in the intervening years, not from Vultura's Palace.

Chewbacca

Chewbacca strikes me as eerily similar to the "Star Wars" character. A few of the people I've shown the photo to say they don't see it. Let me know if you have an opinion one way or the other. I also see a little bit of Jabba the Hutt in the figure to the left of Chewie, but that's beside the point.

NBC's "Heroes": A 2008 TV shoot on the former Iverson Movie Ranch

NBC's "Heroes" (2008)

Iverson Movie Ranch may not exist anymore as a business entity, but various sections of the former location ranch are still used occasionally for movie and TV shoots. The NBC TV show "Heroes" taped there as recently as fall 2008, using part of the Lower Iverson as a stand-in for Africa during season three (2008-09). The Africa story line centered on the character Matt Parkman, played by Greg Grunberg. (That's Greg's ear in the above photo.)

In the screen shot above, Matt has just awakened to find himself in Africa, where he sees a painting depicting the future. The painting appears on the side of Woolly Mammoth, an instantly recognizable Iverson figure that showed up in a number of B-Westerns and other movies as far back as the 1930s. The rock is also known as Vultura's Trail Rock, after an appearance in the 1942 Republic serial "The Perils of Nyoka."


This 2008 photo, taken soon after Woolly Mammoth's "Heroes" shoot, shows the creature unadorned, although it still has a splotch of white paint near its "eye" that is apparently left over from "Heroes." At the time this photo was taken, "Heroes" was still shooting in a nearby area, where an African-style hut was built for the show. You can see a photo of that set here, near the bottom of the post.

Here's a toy version of the woolly mammoth. You may or may not see the similarity, but to my eye the shape of the head and a few other elements make it a pretty good match.

Here's another modern-day photo of Woolly Mammoth, from the other side, closer to the typical movie angle. This shot gives some sense of the scale, although from this angle the rock looks nothing like a Woolly Mammoth. It's not one of the larger landmark rocks at Iverson, but it's fairly substantial.

"The Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1955)

Among the many appearances by Woolly Mammoth/Vultura's Trail Rock in old movies and TV shows, the rock was part of an interesting pan shot in the Disney show "The Adventures of Spin and Marty" — featured on "The Mickey Mouse Club" — in 1955. The above screen shot, taken from Kurt Spitzner's essential "Spin and Marty" site Of Cinch and Set (cinchset.com), shows just a portion of the overall shot, which is much wider. While this shot only includes the bottom half of Woolly Mammoth, it offers an interesting view of a section of Chatsworth below, at the left. Not only does the shot give a sense of Woolly's somewhat precarious perch on the edge of a cliff, it also offers a glimpse of the past — when the San Fernando Valley still had some farmland left.

For anyone who has an interest in "Spin and Marty," you really need to check out Of Cinch and Set if you haven't already. Kurt has done some terrific research, including a ton of location work. For his page on Woolly Mammoth/Vultura's Trail Rock, he put together a beautiful, widescreen photo of the pan shot that you will want to see. The full photo is more than twice as wide as what you see here. Click here to go right to the page with the photo.

Elephant Rock — with a monkey on its back

Elephant Rock, on the Iverson Movie Ranch

Here are a couple of characters found in the menagerie that's still in place in the Eucalyptus Grove — an area I called "Rock Wonderland" when I first discovered it, located in the area east of Nyoka Cliff of the Iverson Movie Ranch. It's worth noting that these are actual rocks, formed by natural processes, and are not any kind of manmade sculpture. The elephant is especially lifelike, but I also appreciate what looks like a monkeyhead on its back — even though the two figures aren't to scale.

Find more elephant rocks by clicking here.

Jaunty Sailor, as seen in "The Naked Hills" (1956)

Jaunty Sailor — as seen in "The Naked Hills" (1956), top, and in recent times

Then-and-now shots of the Jaunty Sailor, as it came to be known because of its appearance in "The Naked Hills," with its beret tilted "just so." It was a real treat to discover where this rock was located on the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., partly because it's just such a character but also because it turned out to be the back end of a prominent and widely filmed rock known as GTR. 

Like many other formations at the site, it has completely different personalities when viewed from different angles; the more familiar frontal view of GTR is much more sedate than its flamboyant backside.

The "Jaunty Sailor" name is a reference to images along the lines of this one — although in my mind's eye I pictured something more like those thick blue and white horizontal stripes for the shirt, like guys supposedly wore on the old pirate vessels.

Jaunty Sailor also had an interesting role in a 1951 TV production called Hill Number One, where the rock formed part of the tomb of Jesus. That production is also noteworthy as the first screen appearance of James Dean. Click here to see a blog entry about it.

The many faces of Hangdog

Hangdog, on the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch

One of my favorite characters on the site of the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., is Hangdog, situated in the "Above Nyoka" area of the Lower Iverson. Not unlike many of the Iverson features, Hangdog has a split personality. I see it as sort of a lion on the left, Labrador retriever on the right. 

Hangdog also hosts a few smaller players, including a monkey head that lives in the Lab's eyebrow and a "mini-Hangdog," partially hidden behind a bush in this photo, down below the monkey head. You may be able to see these features better if you click on the photo for a larger view; you can also see "Mini-Hangdog" better in the photo at the bottom of this post.

That house in the background, known as the Old Folks' House, is where the original owners of the Iverson Movie Ranch lived for years. It burned down during the Porter Ranch Fire (also known as the Sesnon Fire) in October 2008. The Ruins, at bottom right, are one of the many mysteries that remained at Iverson well beyond the filming era.

The Ruins, with Hangdog, in 2008 (Bill Rock and Cactus Hill in background)

An estimated 3,500 movies and TV show episodes were shot on the ranch, mostly from the heyday of the B-Western through the early years of the TV Western, from the 1930s through the 1950s. I've been scanning old productions for a few years now trying to find the rocks and buildings of the Iverson Ranch, but it appears that the mysterious stone structure I call the Ruins was never used in the filming.

Hangdog, in recent times

I have a number of other posts on the blog about Hangdog, but I'd like to point you to one in particular, focusing on an especially cool appearance by Hangdog in the 1941 Republic serial "Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc." Please click here to see that entry. Otherwise, check the long index at the right of the page for more about Hangdog, or click here to see a compilation of Hangdog-related entries. 

"Hi-Yo, Silver!" — was the famous opening sequence to the TV show "The Lone Ranger" colorized?

Shot from the opening sequence to "The Lone Ranger" — this color version is from 1956

EDITOR'S NOTE: Had I known then what I know now, I would have taken a different approach with this post. The good news is I've since done a fully updated and much more thoroughly researched post about the evolution of the opening sequence for "The Lone Ranger," and you can go to it by clicking here. Meanwhile, I'm leaving up this older post with a few minor tweaks, as it still tells a part of the story and has some historical merit. Note that this post is all about the 1956 reshoot of the opening. For details on the original 1949 opening, click on the link in this paragraph.

Here are some shots of the well-known "Lone Ranger" opening sequence, usually seen in black and white. The color version of the opening ran with the later color episodes of the TV show, Season 5, which aired from 1956-57. I originally posted that my hunch was that they just colorized the original opening sequence, which dates back to 1949. If so, it would have been a pretty nice job of colorization and a fairly early example. They did have the technology as far back as the 1920s, and I know they colorized some cartoons in the 1950s. But that's different, and this color version of the Lone Ranger opening looks pretty good. So it was a bit of a mystery to me, until a reader named Richard explained that the original opening was replaced by a new color opening for the color season, and that color opening was then "de-colorized" back to black-and-white for DVDs of the black-and-white episodes. Mystery solved.

"The Lone Ranger" title shot — in color

Conventional wisdom held for years that the first part of the opening wasn't shot on the Iverson Movie Ranch but at the neighboring Brandeis Ranch, also in Chatsworth, Calif. However, as is often the case, conventional wisdom turns out to be wrong. That's Pyramid Peak (aka Rocky Peak) in the background, a familiar background feature also seen in plenty of Iverson scenes. Brandeis and Iverson were right next to each other, so it can be hard to distinguish them on screen. One useful clue — albeit not a scientific one — is that Iverson was used a lot more than Brandeis, so when you're seeing this scenery, there's a better chance that it's Iverson. However, the Line of Trees seen in the background here — they look like pines, but I'm no expert — represented the boundary between Iverson and Brandeis, which would place the action shown here on the eastern side of the Line of Trees — the Iverson side.

Here's the "de-colorized" black-and-white title shot. The fact that it's crooked has to do with my camera work; it didn't run that way on TV.


The action shifts from the Upper Iverson to the Lower Iverson for this part of the opening. This shot shows the approach to Lone Ranger Rock on the Lower Iverson, and the rocks in the distant background are a familiar grouping just above the Upper Iverson Gorge: Sticky Bun (partially visible near the top, sticking out from the tree on the left), along with Cracked Meringue (directly above the Lone Ranger's head) and Stegosaurus (above Silver's nose). In the foreground, at the right, is the elusive Sea Leopard. You can find more information about most of these rocks elsewhere in the blog — try the massive alphabetical index along the right side of the page.

Here's a look at the rock cluster consisting mainly of Sticky Bun, Cracked Meringue and Stegosaurus today, hidden behind the condos. Sticky Bun is the one shaped like a sticky bun, kind of obviously. To its right, looking nondescript here, is Cracked Meringue, which angles downward from left to right. Below the two of them, largely hidden behind the condo building, is the larger Stegosaurus, which also looks nondescript here due to the presence of the condos. All three of these rocks are also visible in the Lone Ranger approach shot, above. Also in this recent shot is Lone Ranger Rock itself, almost directly in the center of the photo.


Here's the familiar shot of the Lone Ranger on Silver, rearing up next to Lone Ranger Rock. The rock can still easily be found at the site of the former Iverson Movie Ranch, just off Redmesa Road in Chatsworth.

This is what the rearing-up scene looks like in its familiar black-and-white version. I posted a brief video of the "Lone Ranger" opening in an early blog entry that can still be found here, but what I would now recommend is that you go to a much more thoroughly researched post about the "Lone Ranger" opening sequence, with video clips of five or six different versions of the opening and a full explanation of how it evolved, which you can find by clicking here.

Check out a cool "Lone Ranger" DVD set on Amazon by clicking the link below:

Featured Iverson Movie Ranch "classic rock": GTR

Viewed from its most commonly seen front side (above), GTR is a subtle creature. Even so, it found its way into hundreds of movies simply because of its prominent perch atop a rock wall known as Hole in the Wall, in the Lone Ranger Rock/Nyoka Cliff area, or the the Upper Gorge. Here's one example:

The screen shot above is from the 1944 Roy Rogers/Dale Evans movie "The Yellow Rose of Texas." GTR can be seen in the top right corner.

For a look at GTR's charismatic alter ego (its back side), see the Jaunty Sailor.

Classic Rocks: Jaws — get a load of the choppers on this thing — and GTR

"Jaws": One of the many weird rocks in the Land of Weird Rocks
that is the former Iverson Movie Ranch

Here's something to sink your teeth into: Jaws, also known as Laughing Boy (not seriously — that's just sort of a pet name I have for it), is a cool rock — and it's one that is seen all too rarely in the movies, at least up close.

"Beauty and the Bandit" (Monogram, 1946) 

Above is a rare medium shot of Jaws in a movie, in the Cisco Kid Western "Beauty and the Bandit." Jaws is almost always seen from long range, and is usually unrecognizable in those distant appearances.

I know it's a little hard to spot — here's another version of the shot with Jaws outlined, more or less.

Jaws, from the "T-Rex" angle

I have also referred to the rock as "T-Rex," a designation that's based on its appearance from the angle seen here. I know it doesn't even look like the same rock. But it is. You may or may not see the Tyrannosaurus rex resemblance, which may depend on whether you had a certain toy T-Rex in your dinosaur collection as a kid.

Jaws, on the left, and Jaunty Sailor, on the right, as they appear today

Jaws is a close neighbor of GTR, which, like Jaws, has at least two distinct personalities. GTR is also known as Jaunty Sailor when viewed from its back side, as in the above photo.

The heavily filmed movie rock GTR/Jaunty Sailor, as it appears in recent times

Here's a look at the two main personas of GTR/Jaunty Sailor: as seen from the front, as GTR, on the right; and from the back, as Jaunty Sailor, on the left.

"The Saga of the Viking Women" (1957)

The above shot shows what might be considered a traditional angle on the area known as Hole in the Wall, which includes the features GTR, Jaws and the actual Hole in the Wall — all visible in the background near the top of the shot, as seen from the Upper Gorge. I'll identify these features below.

Here's the same shot with some of the key features pointed out. The shot comes from Roger Corman's great 1957 Iverson showpiece with the full title "The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent." I can strongly recommend the movie if you want to see some terrific Iverson location shots — and it's a cool movie besides. Corman spent a lot of time at Iverson early in his career, honing his skills before going on to become one of the great cult movie directors and producers of all time.  

This post is part of a series on "Classic Rocks" — sandstone giants located on the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., that became a part of not only America's physical landscape but also its cultural heritage, through featured roles in old movies, cliffhanger serials and early TV shows. Other entries in the series can be seen by clicking here.

Check out these Amazon links to find movies featured in this post:

Classic Rock: Hangdog — then and now

This blog entry is part of a series on "Classic Rocks" — sandstone behemoths located on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., that were featured in old movies, cliffhanger serials and early TV shows. The subject this time is Hangdog, a rock formation that, like many of Iverson's quirky rock giants, had multiple personalities — and still does.

"Thunder River Feud" (1942)

In the above screen shot from cinematographer Robert Cline's 1942 Range Busters masterpiece, "Thunder River Feud," the large rock formation behind the rider is Hangdog. This is the "gladiator armor" view of Hangdog, one of its more widely filmed angles.

Hangdog as it appears today, on the former Iverson Movie Ranch

The shot above shows what Hangdog looks like today, from something close to the same angle. It's located on private property in the "Above Nyoka" area of the Iverson Movie Ranch, just northeast of Nyoka Cliff.

"Albuquerque" (1948)

A different "face" of Hangdog is seen above, in the Paramount Western "Albuquerque," starring Randolph Scott. This is the view from the south, more or less, and you can see Cactus Hill in the background. 

Hangdog today, from still another angle

The recent shot seen above is taken from yet another angle, but it may be close enough to the "Albuquerque" screen shot above that you'll be able to spot some of the same features in the two shots.

More posts about Hangdog can be found here. For more entries in the blog series Classic Rocks, please click here.

You can click on the link below if you're interested in buying "Thunder River Feud" off Amazon. I recommend the movie — not for great acting or plot, but for a lot of weird shots of the Iverson Movie Ranch by the mad genius, cinematographer Robert Cline.