The Two Towers of the old Iverson Church and Schoolhouse: A case for the Crime Doctor

I reported a few years back on the 1947 movie "The Millerson Case," part of a series of "Crime Doctor" movies from Poverty Row studio Larry Darmour Productions that starred Warner Baxter and were distributed to theaters by Columbia. Around that time, film historian Bill Sasser tipped me off that the movie had some interesting Iverson content, and wow, was he right.

"Crime Doctor" was originally a CBS radio program, airing from 1940-1947. The franchise expanded into feature films during that run, with 10 "Crime Doctor" movies released from 1943-1949.

Iverson Village as the town of Brook Falls in "The Millerson Case" (1947)

The "Crime Doctor" film series is set in the big city, and so it rarely ventures into rustic Iverson territory. But in "The Millerson Case" the lead character goes on a hunting trip and finds himself in a small country town called Brook Falls — with Iverson's Western street serving as the set for the town. The Iverson town set, often called El Paso Street or Iverson Village, was in place from 1945 until about 1957, appearing in hundreds of movies and early TV productions.

Here's another shot of Iverson Village from "The Millerson Case," which spends a lot of time in Brook Falls and offers a number of good shots of Iverson's Western street. This scene happens to feature a catfight in the middle of the street involving two of the ladies of Brook Falls. The stone building in the background is the Livery Stable.

Iverson Church, part of Iverson Village, as seen in "Check Your Guns" (1948)

This is the typical shot of Iverson Church, with this particular shot coming from the PRC B-Western "Check Your Guns." That's singing cowboy Eddie Dean riding into town on White Cloud. Iverson Church, at the south end of the street, had a much shorter lifespan than the town as a whole, standing only from about 1947-1949.

"The Millerson Case" (1947): Iverson Church in its original configuration, as a schoolhouse

"The Millerson Case" probably marks the earliest film appearance — by about a month — of the building that would become the Iverson Church, with the structure first surfacing here as a schoolhouse. Based on release dates and other details, it appears likely that the church — make that the schoolhouse — was built initially for "The Millerson Case," which came out in May 1947.

"The Marauders" (1947): The schoolhouse resurfaces as a church

One month after the release of "The Millerson Case" the structure appeared again in the Hopalong Cassidy feature "The Marauders," where it was reborn as a church. Both of these film appearances predate by a few months the first of what are probably the structure's most widely seen film roles, in a string of PRC-produced B-Westerns starring Eddie Dean and Lash LaRue.

The schoolhouse in "The Millerson Case"

Here's another shot of the schoolhouse in "The Millerson Case," showing the school building's original turret. The schoolhouse plays a central role in the plot of the movie — as headquarters for treating an outbreak of typhoid fever. The building is featured far more in "The Millerson Case" and "The Marauders" than in any other movie I've seen.

The church bell tower, in "The Marauders"

While the building ended up spending most of its brief movie career as a church, it appears it remained "convertible" — that is, it could be converted from church to schoolhouse, and back again, with only minor modifications.

You may or may not have noticed Hoppy sneaking up onto the roof in that last shot.

"The Marauders" (1947)

The building's conversion from schoolhouse to church involved mainly two cosmetic changes: adding or removing the arches above the two front windows — a procedure that included creating the illusion of stained glass — and reconfiguring the schoolhouse turret into the church steeple

Notice how the windows on the schoolhouse, left, become church windows with simple add-ons.

Here's a closer look at the conversion of the windows, as the process was handled in 1947 for "The Millerson Case," with the schoolhouse setup, and "The Marauders," with the fake arched church windows added. Also, the schoolhouse doors, which contain windows, have been replaced with what appears to be windowless doors for the church configuration.

It's hard to get a good look at the schoolhouse turret, which may have been used just once, in "The Millerson Case." It would have been a lot more trouble to change over the building's tower than it was to slap fake arches over the windows. For this reason I think the tower element of the conversion was done only once: when the building was finished being used as a schoolhouse for "The Millerson Case" and was converted into a church for "The Marauders," with the much taller church bell tower put in place.

"Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" (1949): back to the schoolhouse configuration — but not all the way back

When the building appears again as a schoolhouse two years later in "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass," the old window configuration has been revived but the building is still outfitted with the church's bell tower. It appears to me that this color B-Western from Universal, starring Howard Duff and Yvonne De Carlo, found a way around the costly conversion of the steeple back to a schoolhouse turret: Simply don't include much of the tower in the shot. (Even so, this shot includes enough of the turret that we can see it still includes the bell cutout from the church configuration.)

"The Westward Trail" (1948)

You may have already spotted Church Rock hovering over the building in some of the above shots. The above shot isn't the greatest picture quality, but the church and Church Rock are pointed out as they appear in PRC's Eddie Dean movie "The Westward Trail."

Here's another look at that schoolhouse shot from "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass," with Church Rock identified.

"Stage to Blue River" (1951)

By 1951 the church/schoolhouse was long gone — but of course Church Rock remained in place, as highlighted in the above promo still for the Whip Wilson B-Western "Stage to Blue River." Notice that the buildings of Iverson Village are mostly in pretty good shape here, although the roof of the Livery Stable, just above the shoulder of the stage driver, is showing some signs of wear.

This shot pinpoints the Livery Stable. 1951 and 1952 were peak years for Iverson Village, which began to deteriorate around this time. During the next five years it was seen increasingly as a ghost town.

"The Lone Ranger" TV show, "Ghost Town Fury" (first aired March 28, 1957) 

This image of a rundown Iverson Village was taken a few years later, in late 1956 or early 1957, when the town was soon to be dismantled. The shot comes from an episode of the TV show "The Lone Ranger" aired during the show's fifth and final season — the only season that was filmed in color. This view offers another look at Church Rock at the southwest end of town, along with its smaller neighbor, the important marker rock Gumdrop.

Here's the same shot from "The Lone Ranger," with some of the major features highlighted.

Church Rock in recent times

Church Rock continues to mark the spot today, although the spot now is filled largely with mobile homes. Nothing remains of the church itself, or of Iverson Village. In their place is the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village.

Gumdrop and Church Rock in recent times

Gumdrop can still be seen today too — at least the tip of it can. From this angle Gumdrop is to the left of Church Rock.

This blog entry is a new, hopefully improved version of a post I did back in 2010. If you're interested, you can click here to see my original post on "The Millerson Case" and the discovery that Iverson Church first appeared as a schoolhouse. You'll find that a little bit of the material I've covered here is duplicated in the 2010 post, and that original entry also includes some content that didn't make it into this update.

Below you will find links pointing you to Amazon pages where you can buy DVDs of some of the productions featured in this post.

Face to face with the Head of the Lion — and finally, the truth about the "Dark Side of the Wall"

Head of the Lion, Chatsworth, Calif.

If you have ever been to the Garden of the Gods Park in Chatsworth, Calif., chances are you walked right past the Head of the Lion. It's one of the hundreds of widely filmed movie rocks that still populate the area, from when the site was part of a bustling filming location known as the Iverson Movie Ranch. The face of the rock directly overlooks what is now the main trail into the park.

"Rocky Mountain Rangers" (1940)

The rock's position — and on occasion, its artistic use — can make it easy to miss. An example of the latter is the above shot from a movie that's a full-on Iverson spectacle, Republic's Three Mesquiteers B-Western "Rocky Mountain Rangers." In this shot, you may or may not notice the Head of the Lion at first. Only the snout area is visible, with the rock being used as a framing device for an overview of a portion of the Iverson Gorge. The lion's snout can be seen at the left edge of the frame. I'll highlight it in the next photo.

This is the same shot with Head of the Lion pointed out.

While we're at it, this is the same shot again, with a number of additional features of the Iverson Gorge spotlighted.

Another view of Head of the Lion in modern times

The Head of the Lion looks like this when it's viewed from the west, and if you've been following this blog in recent weeks you may already know where this is headed. This angle does not show the part of the rock that looks like a lion's head, and that fact contributed to some confusion recently in my research. I put up a blog post about seeing this rock in an old movie, the 1934 Beacon Productions B-Western "Cowboy Holiday." But at the time I thought it was something else entirely.

"Cowboy Holiday" (1934)

This is how Head of the Lion Looks in "Cowboy Holiday," and after momentarily losing consciousness because I was so excited over what I thought I was seeing, I wrote a blog entry making a big deal about spotting what I thought was the "Dark Side of The Wall." You can click here to read that post — I'm leaving it up as a reference, but I'm adding a big "mea culpa."

"Cowboy Holiday": Another shot of Head of the Lion

One problem with "Cowboy Holiday" — and one reason I got the sighting wrong — is the movie never does show the face of the lion. The above shot is about as close as it gets, with Head of the Lion being the main rock filling up the middle of the shot. If they would have moved the camera a short distance to the right, they could have captured a much more ... what's the right word, leonine? ... view of the rock.

"Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941)

Another production in which Head of the Lion makes an appearance is the Republic serial "Adventures of Captain Marvel," as seen above. Here again, the rock is hard to see — and that may be one reason it wasn't filmed more often than it was. I'll highlight it in the next shot.

This is the same shot with the Head of the Lion pointed out. Even though the rock has a tendency to blend in with backgrounds, when you do see it here, its leonine — OK, lionlike — qualities are plainly evident.

"Rogue of the Rio Grande" (1930)

Above is what might be the first featured appearance on film by Head of the Lion, in the early sound B-Western "Rogue of the Rio Grande," from Monogram and Atlantic Pictures. The movie is said to be the first talking role for early cinema icon Myrna Loy. You should be able to spot the lion's face right in the middle of the shot.

"Blazing Across the Pecos" (1948)

Here's a shot from the Durango Kid movie "Blazing Across the Pecos," starring Charles Starrett, that shows not only part of the face of the lion, at far right, but also the rock's non-lion-head-like western profile.

Here's one more look at that western profile, and a last look at the rock in its contemporary setting, with Nyoka Cliff, across Iverson Gorge to the east, visible at far right.

Lorna Gray, Bad Girl of the Republic Serials — and the Katniss Everdeen of the 1940s

Lorna Gray, aka Adrian Booth

As a contract player at Columbia early in her career and later as one of Republic Pictures' top stars, actress Lorna Gray was a regular at the Iverson Movie Ranch. She racked up a string of screen credits in serials, B-Westerns and other productions from the late 1930s through the 1940s before retiring from acting back in 1951. Born Virginia Pound, she worked for about a decade as Lorna Gray and then wound down her career under the stage name Adrian Booth.

Lorna Gray as Vultura in "Perils of Nyoka" (1942)

Gray made what was probably her biggest impact at Iverson as the villainous Vultura in the 1942 Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka," leaving behind an unusual legacy of rocks and other features on the movie ranch that now bear informal "Vultura-related" nicknames: Vultura's Pass, Vultura's Trail, Vultura's Trail Rock, Vultura's Stakeout, etc.

Vultura's Palace, as seen in "Perils of Nyoka"

I've posted before about Vultura's Palace, which was a set for "Perils of Nyoka" that was built on the Lower Iverson. You can click here to see "then and now" shots of the area where the palace stood. The structure was a false front built on some high-profile rocks that remain in place in a privately owned section of the former movie ranch.

Lorna Gray takes aim in "Daughter of Don Q" (1946)

Gray earned a reputation as an actress who was "good at being bad," and frequently wound up playing villainous characters. But her versatile chops enabled her to break out of that mold from time to time, something she did with panache in the 1946 Republic serial "Daughter of Don Q."

Gray segues smoothly into the spotlight as the serial's heroine — and she is an action heroine in the purest sense. Much of the action in "Daughter of Don Q" takes place on the Iverson Movie Ranch, including all of the screen shots you see here from the production.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games"

Gray's bow-and-arrow-wielding heroine was a forerunner to — and possibly inspiration for — later heroic female archers such as Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games" ...

... or red-haired Merida of Disney/Pixar's 2012 animated feature "Brave."

Kirk Alyn and Lorna Gray in "Daughter of Don Q"

Gray stars with Kirk Alyn in "Daughter of Don Q." Two years later Alyn would become the first Superman of the movies, starring in the 1948 Columbia serial "Superman" and later in the 1950 sequel "Atom Man vs. Superman."

This shot from behind the actors locks in where the scene takes place — it's in the North Cluster section of the former Iverson Movie Ranch, with the well-known movie landmark Cleft Rock providing a positive ID.

Here's a markup of the previous shot highlighting Cleft Rock. This movie rock is still in place at Iverson, as you'll see below, and you can click here to see a post containing additional photos and other details about Cleft Rock.

Lorna Gray and Charles Starrett in "Bullets for Rustlers" (1940)

In her 20s Lorna Gray was a contract player at Columbia, where she starred opposite movie cowboy Charles Starrett in 1940 in "Bullets for Rustlers," which shot much of its outdoor action at Iverson.

Gray wasn't afraid to mix it up with the boys, and got right in the middle of the action for this shootout among the rocks of Iverson's North Cluster in "Bullets for Rustlers."

 "Bullets for Rustlers" (1940)

Coincidentally, Gray shares the screen here too with Cleft Rock, as she would again later in "Daughter of Don Q," as noted above. This shot contains a number of features that are worth pointing out, which I'll do in the next photo.

This is the same shot from "Bullets for Rustlers," with a number of rock features highlighted — along with Lorna Gray. Notice the large rock in the center foreground, with the major cleft pointed out.

Here's a photo of that same area from a recent visit to Iverson. The rock with the major cleft appears again here, as I'll note in the photo below.

I found it intriguing that both Cleft Rock and a rock that appears to share a common geological ancestry with it — a sort of "melted down" version of Cleft Rock, with a similar "split muffin top" — would wind up in such close proximity to each other.

Another shot from that recent visit offers a better look at Cleft Rock, at top right, along with its geological next-of-kin in their current habitat. The "melted" version of Cleft Rock that fills up much of the left half of this photo is crying out for a name, and from a "scientific" standpoint, Melted Cleft Rock makes sense. So I'll go with that.

Monte Hale and Lorna Gray — billed here as Adrian Booth — in Republic's 1947 B-Western "Under Colorado Skies."

Other movies Lorna Gray — by this time working as Adrian Booth — shot at Iverson included a number of Republic Pictures' Monte Hale titles: "Home on the Range" (1946); "Out California Way" (1946), with Hale, Roy Rogers and a young Robert ("Bobby") Blake; "The Man From Rainbow Valley" (1946); "Under Colorado Skies" (1947); "Last Frontier Uprising" (1947); and "California Firebrand" (1948), to name a few.

Lorna Gray and Don Douglas in "Deadwood Dick"

Gray starred with Don Douglas in Columbia's 1940 serial "Deadwood Dick," another Iverson production, and worked the Iverson Ranch yet again in Republic's "The Gallant Legion" (1948), starring alongside Wild Bill Elliott.

The movies I've mentioned are just a sampling of Gray's Iverson Movie Ranch filmography — of her 69 film credits in the span of a career that lasted just 14 years, it's probably not a stretch to say that most of those movies were shot at Iverson.

Adrian Booth Brian in 2009

Lorna Gray, who now goes by Adrian Booth Brian, is still going strong at 96 and continues to make the rounds of movie conventions and other industry events.