James Dean's connection to the Iverson Movie Ranch — and the tomb of Jesus

James Dean

This discovery took a fair amount of work and a lot of luck, but I was able to unearth the tantalizing fact that James Dean's first screen credit was in a production that brought him to Iverson. And if that weren't enough, the tomb of Jesus is depicted in the production — and it turns out it's at Iverson too!

The production was an hour TV drama called "Hill Number One." Don't expect to see any sharp, clear screen shots of Jimmy scrambling among the Iverson rocks with a six-shooter. This isn't that kind of discovery. But it's a story I think is pretty fascinating anyway, going back to the early days of television and the early days of Dean's career, which came together in 1951.

The occasion was an episode of a relatively unknown TV anthology series called "Family Theatre," which had a long run on TV in the 1950s. The series was a Christian-oriented production of the Family Rosary Crusade, under the stewardship of Father Patrick Peyton. (Peyton is often credited as the guy who came up with the slogan "The family that prays together stays together," and he delivers it at the end of the episode.) The "Family Theater" series started on radio in 1947 and apparently moved to TV in 1951 — with a minor spelling change, from "Theater" to "Theatre" — and then remained on the air through 1957. According to some accounts, the series produced something like 540 episodes — a total that would rank it among the most prolific TV shows in history.

The bulk of the material in these productions appears to have disappeared, or at least is out of circulation. But a select few episodes — notably the one with James Dean, Iverson and the tomb of Jesus — appear to have made it to DVD. Additionally, some of the radio episodes reportedly still get aired on the EWTN Radio Network. "Hill Number One," probably the most widely distributed of the vintage episodes, has a DVD cover, seen above, that depicts a scene shot at Iverson, with three crosses on a hill representing Calvary, or Golgotha. The key word there is "depicts," as this cover shot is not an actual shot of Iverson.

Here's the equivalent shot from the production itself, showing Calvary soon after the crucifixion. The shot first appears about 22 minutes into the hourlong episode, and this is the first Iverson I was able to identify in the show. The actual hill is a relatively nondescript one at Iverson, just east of Nyoka Cliff. I've begun calling it Mount Calvary in honor of this show.

It gets more interesting when the camera pans right, revealing a familiar rock I call Jaunty Sailor, which I've blogged about before in an entry you can find here. Jaunty Sailor is the large vertical rock just right of center, and while it's a little hard to make out here (you can click on the photo to enlarge it), some movie construction has been attached to its right side — its eastern side at the location. It turns out this is the tomb where the body of Jesus was placed after he was removed from the cross. (In the show, not in real life ... just in case that needs to be said.)

The tomb of Jesus, in "Hill Number One"

Here's a closer look at the tomb of Jesus, as it was constructed for the production, complete with the large round stone meant to ensure that the body stayed put. You can see a little bit of Jaunty Sailor to the left, jutting out next to the tomb entrance.

James Dean as John the Apostle in "Hill Number One"

James Dean plays John the Apostle — a role that has sometimes been reported in error as John the Baptist. It's a small role, but Dean is easy to spot even in a cast that includes a surprising number of familiar names — Roddy McDowall, William Shallert, Michael Ansara and others. Dean's role has sometimes been described as non-speaking, but that's another erroneous report. He has a number of lines, including a brief speech at a meeting of the disciples, seen in the above shot. It's not much, but it's the start of what turned out to be his lasting screen legacy.

The production gives us a good look at a young James Dean — about four years before his breakout and only 19 or 20 years old. (Even though he would play a high school student a few years later in the 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause," Dean was already 24 years old when that movie was being made.)

Here's the first appearance of James Dean at Iverson, second from the right, with Ruth Hussey as Mary, Regis Toomey as Nicodemus, next to Dean, and Nelson Leigh as Joseph of Arimathea on the left. The scene takes place at the tomb of Jesus, located a short distance east of Nyoka Cliff.

Another shot of James Dean at work at Iverson. That's Dean as John the Apostle on the right, with Charles Meredith as Peter on the left. The disciples have just received word of the Resurrection, and John is examining the stone that was supposed to keep the body of Christ in the tomb.

Peter and John look over the empty veil that was previously wrapped around Jesus' head — prompting John to grasp what has happened and go forth to spread the word, announcing: "He has risen as he promised."

Family Theater Productions still exists, and apparently still has some of the vintage productions for sale on its website (familytheater.org). I couldn't find "Hill Number One" on the site, but it's available on Amazon and other sites. (You can find it by clicking on the ad below.)

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.

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.

Welcome to the obsession: The Iverson Movie Ranch

"Silver Treasure" (Fox Film Corp., 1926)

I discovered it in summer 2008 and have been hooked on it ever since — the rugged landscape in Chatsworth, Calif., that marks the site of the former Iverson Movie Ranch. 

Tower Rock, left, and Sphinx in modern times

With its striking sandstone rock formations, this remote corner of the San Fernando Valley on the outskirts of Los Angeles was an important hub of the movie business from the earliest days of Hollywood well into the 1960s, gaining a reputation as the most widely filmed outdoor location in the world.

"20 Million Miles to Earth" (Columbia, 1957)

An ideal setting for Westerns, the 500-acre Iverson Movie Ranch also found its calling in science-fiction movies, war epics and tales of distant lands such as Africa, India, the South Pacific and the Middle East.
 

The Phantom: Located on public land in the Garden of the Gods

It is the site where Republic Pictures made almost all of its serials and B-Westerns, and where countless outdoor action sequences were filmed by crews from Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros., Columbia, 20th Century-Fox, RKO, Monogram and just about every major production company of Hollywood's Golden Age.
 

"Little Big Horn" (Lloyd Bridges and John Ireland, 1951)

An estimated 3,500 films and TV episodes were filmed on the site, dating back to the 1910s.

"Jaunty Sailor"

While B-Westerns and early TV shows provided much of Iverson's business, the sprawling ranch also took a bow in major features such as John Ford's epic Western "Stagecoach" (1939) and his classic Depression saga "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940). 

"Along Came Jones" (RKO, 1945): Gary Cooper and William Demarest
on Cooper's newly minted Iverson Western street

Gary Cooper was a frequent visitor to the Iverson Ranch and built a Western town on the site for the 1945 RKO Western "Along Came Jones," the only movie Cooper produced himself. 

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" (Paramount, 1935): Climactic battle sequence
filmed in the Iverson Gorge

Cooper's "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" was among the major war movies filmed on the Iverson Ranch, along with John Wayne's "The Fighting Seabees" (1944) and Errol Flynn's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936).

"Chewbacca"

All the cowboy movie heroes worked at Iverson — Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Randolph Scott, Tom Mix, William S. Hart and the rest. So did major movie stars from Barbara Stanwyck to James Cagney to Judy Garland to Henry Fonda to Shirley Temple. 

"Three Ages" (Buster Keaton in Bathtub Rock, 1923)

Bob Hope, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges were among the comedy stars to film at Iverson. Pioneering stuntman Yakima Canutt perfected many of his trademark stagecoach stunts on Iverson's well-traveled chase roads, while superheroes including Superman and Batman donned their capes at the ranch. 

Opening to "The Lone Ranger": Clayton Moore on Silver
at the Iverson Ranch's famed "Lone Ranger Rock"

Early TV Westerns such as "The Lone Ranger" and "The Cisco Kid" filmed regularly on the ranch, paving the way for the next generation of bigger, better TV productions — "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," "The Virginian," "The Big Valley" and many others, all of which shot on the Iverson Ranch.

Woolly Mammoth

Iverson's charismatic rock "characters" — Lone Ranger Rock, Batman Rock, Tower Rock and Sphinx, Nyoka Cliff and hundreds of others — coexist today with the condominiums, mobile homes, mansions and apartments that took over the land as the heyday of the B-Western, the cliffhanger serial and early TV faded into history. 

"The Grapes of Wrath" (1940): The Joad family surveys the San Fernando Valley,
including Chatsworth's Stoney Point, from Iverson's Overlook Point

While a number of Iverson's distinctive and widely filmed movie rocks have been bulldozed or blown up to pave the way for progress, most have survived — even if in many cases they now lie forgotten in back yards, hidden behind locked gates or buried under a half-century of natural overgrowth.

Hangover Rock in 2008: African hut in place for the NBC series "Heroes"

Meanwhile, some Iverson landmarks remain at risk of being demolished for future development, opening the door for debate as to whether these silent stars are cultural artifacts that deserve to be protected.

"Chinless Wonder"

On the screen or in person, Iverson's unique giant boulders have so much personality that they seem to be living creatures. The charismatic stone figures that populate this intriguing corner of the world have become almost like family to me.

"Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932): Iverson's lost, lamented rock feature "The Wall"

I'm learning more about the Iverson Movie Ranch all the time, but it is a rich and complicated place, and one reason I love it is I know it holds mysteries I will never solve. 

Material is being added to the blog on a regular basis, as time permits. If you would like to be placed on my mailing list, to be notified about new entries as they're posted, please send me an email at iversonfilmranch@aol.com.

This blog contains a lot of information and photos. If you need help navigating, I suggest using the links along the right side of the page, especially the super-long "LABELS" section that runs much of the length of the page. The LABELS list indexes blog entries by rock name, movie title, TV show title, actors and actresses, directors and other key elements. The blog's word search feature, which you should be able to find in the top left corner on your browser, also works well and might help you find what you're looking for.

Please leave comments, and please feel free to email me for any reason.

Below are links to DVDs of just a few of the many movies filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch. Please support efforts to research and preserve the history of the Iverson Ranch by clicking on the links to shop for these DVDs on Amazon ...