Midway House: One of the Iverson Movie Ranch's best-kept secrets

"Badman's Country" (1958): The Midway House

One set that has been largely overlooked among the many structures that stood during the filming era on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., is this ranch-style house, which I call the Midway House. Built in 1956, the structure was located in the middle of the Upper Iverson, midway between the North Rim and the South Rim, two of the location ranch's busiest filming areas. The screen shot comes from the Warner Bros. Western "Badman's Country," starring George Montgomery.

"Fury" TV show, circa 1958

This shot puts the Midway House in context, looking at the middle section of the Upper Iverson, as seen from the south. The Fury Barn, the main feature of the Fury Set, appears in the background.

The Fury Barn was built in 1955 for use in the "Fury" TV series, which aired from 1955-1960. Midway House was also built for the show, in summer 1956, and first surfaces as the Newton family home in "Fury" in fall 1956.

"The Gambler Wore a Gun" (1961): The Fury Barn House joins the Fury Set

A later view of the Fury Set, from the United Artists B-Western "The Gambler Wore a Gun," shows that the set eventually included its own house, located adjacent to the barn and known as the Fury Barn House.

Along with the Fury Barn and Fury Barn House, the Fury Set included a cabin and a corral, which are not visible in this shot.

1959 aerial photo of the Fury Set and Midway House area

This aerial photograph of a portion of the Upper Iverson as it appeared in 1959 shows the juxtaposition of the Fury Set and Midway House, along with the Midway Rocks.

The long, rectangular objects that were seen visiting the sets at the time the 1959 aerial photo was taken are probably movie trucks.

"The Gambler Wore a Gun" (1961)

Another shot from "The Gambler Wore a Gun" again has the Fury Set and Midway House in the same shot, but with more of Midway House visible this time, filling up the right half of the frame. Midway House is seen mainly in productions from 1956-1961, but remained standing throughout the 1960s. It is presumed to have burned down in the Newhall-Malibu Fires of 1970, which ravaged much of the Iverson Ranch and the surrounding hills.

"Have Gun — Will Travel" TV series (1958)

Here's a better look at the front of Midway House, as it appears in the episode of the TV show "Have Gun — Will Travel" titled "The Lady," which first aired Nov. 15, 1958.

"Badman's Country" (1958)

The front porch of Midway House offered a great view of the Rocks Across the Way, located a short distance to the northwest, as seen in this shot from "Badman's Country."

"Five Guns to Tombstone" (1960) — the bunkhouse side of Midway House

Like many of the movie sets on the Iverson Ranch, the Midway House served multiple purposes, with its back side designed to look like a bunkhouse. The shot comes from the United Artists Western "Five Guns to Tombstone," starring James Brown and John Wilder.

In this view of the "bunkhouse" side of Midway House from "Five Guns to Tombstone," a portion of Cactus Hill is visible in the top left corner.

I'm including links below to DVDs and streaming videos on Amazon.com in case you're interested in following up on some of the movies or TV shows featured in this post:

Lee Van Cleef and Jim Davis in the Eucalyptus Grove

Lee Van Cleef in "Last Stagecoach West" (1957) 

Lee Van Cleef was in so many Westerns it makes my head spin. And if the old Westerns had an actor who just LOOKED like trouble, whether he was or not (and usually, he was), I can't think of anyone who fits that description better than Lee Van Cleef. In the above screen shot from the Republic B-Western "Last Stagecoach West," a young-ish Van Cleef — he would have been about 32 at the time — is seen in the Eucalyptus Grove on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif.

Lee Van Cleef, left, and Jim Davis in "Last Stagecoach West"

The weaselous Margolies, played by Van Cleef, postures in the Grove with the movie's hero, Bill Cameron, played by Jim Davis. Notice the eucalyptus trees in the background, part of Iverson's famed Grove area, along with the corral fencing, which was pretty elaborate during filming for this movie.

Jim Davis in the Iverson Grove, still chatting it out with Van Cleef. 
That's the Grove Relay Station behind him.

Both Van Cleef and Davis went on to bigger and better things. Van Cleef stepped up to the A-Westerns, including a tour de force performance as Angel Eyes — aka "The Bad" — in the masterpiece "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966), also starring Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach ("The Good" and "The Ugly," respectively). Davis became, among other things, Jock Ewing, patriarch of the Ewing Oil clan on the TV show "Dallas."

Where's the logic? Beloved "Star Trek" figure Leonard Nimoy goes on the warpath

 "Mackenzie's Raiders" (1959) — Leonard Nimoy as Yellow Wolf, right

I believe it's fairly well-known among fans of "Star Trek: The Original Series" that Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played the landmark TV show's iconic and always logical Mr. Spock, worked quite a bit in television before he got that role, including often appearing as Native American characters in early TV Westerns.

Leonard Nimoy, second from left, and other Native American characters on "Mackenzie's Raiders"

I recently ran across a nice example of Nimoy's pre-"Star Trek" work that brought him in full Native American regalia to the Iverson Movie Ranch, where he went on the warpath as the renegade Yellow Wolf in an episode of the TV Western "Mackenzie's Raiders." The episode, titled "Joe Ironhat," first aired in 1959, seven years before Nimoy clocked in as Spock on "Star Trek." In the above shot he appears alongside well-known Chiricahua Apache actor Dehl Berti, at right, playing the title character, Joe Topanga, or "Joe Ironhat."

Dehl Berti, left, and Leonard Nimoy in "Mackenzie's Raiders" 
— with Iverson's Cactus Hill in the background

In "Joe Ironhat," Nimoy's character represents the Native Americans' militant, Cavalry-hating wing while Berti's Joe Topanga is friendly with the white man and is working to make peace. The above shot is taken on the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., with widely filmed movie feature Cactus Hill visible behind the actors.

Tensions build until the episode culminates in the inevitable shootout between the Cavalry and the Native Americans. Here Yellow Wolf leads a small band of warriors as they get in position to do battle. You may notice Berti as Joe Topanga hovering reluctantly in the background. The scene takes place in Iverson's North Cluster, adjacent to Garden of the Gods, with this shot featuring a familiar movie landmark, Cleft Rock.

Here's that same shot with Cleft Rock and Nimoy pointed out. You can read more about Cleft Rock by clicking here.

Nimoy's Yellow Wolf, taking cover behind one of the rocks of the North Cluster, aims to gun down as many Cavalrymen as he can.

Meanwhile, Yellow Wolf also has a beef with his rival Joe Topanga. In the above shot Yellow Wolf is coming after Joe with a knife. Nimoy's Yellow Wolf is a real sourpuss, with one of his most frequent lines in the episode being, "You will die!"

Wonders of the Upper Iverson: Screen shot from the old Whip Wilson movie "Montana Incident" is filled with hidden gems

"Montana Incident" (1952)

At the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., where more movies were filmed than in any other outdoor location, there's almost always more to the picture than meets the eye. The above shot from the Whip Wilson movie "Montana Incident," in which not much appears to be going on, is a case in point.

Here's the same screen shot with some of the main movie rocks and one manmade set noted. Whip Wilson, in the lower left corner, is doing some surveying for the railroad, with the help of a number of armed riders. (It seems the local cattle ranchers don't cotton to railroad folk.) Around the edges of the shot lurk a number of widely filmed Upper Iverson features, which I'll talk about in more detail below.

"Tennessee's Partner" (1955) — Miner's Cabin and mine entrance

The Miner's Cabin, sometimes called the Lone Ranger Cabin, was often featured with a fake mine entrance affixed to the rocks to its left, as seen in the above screen shot from the Ronald Reagan-John Payne Western "Tennessee's Partner." Part of the lore of the cabin is that it's here the Lone Ranger mined silver and forged his trademark silver bullets.

"The Roy Rogers Show" (1952)

At times the Miner's Cabin set included two mines, as seen above in the "Roy Rogers" TV show episode "Ride in the Death Wagon," which first aired April 6, 1952, during the show's first season.

The foundation of Miner's Cabin survives today, on the former Upper Iverson. You can click here to see a previous blog entry about the cabin, with additional photos of the cabin and foundation.

Also still in place near the old Miner's Cabin is a rebar fastener that was used to hold a fake mine entrance in position. One of only a few remaining manmade artifacts from the filming era at Iverson, it's located directly below the rock I call Gorilla. See below for more about Gorilla.

A closer look at the fastener that remains from the old fake mine entrance reveals that it's a two-piece metal device, and you can also see indentations and other markings on the rock that were left over from decades of attaching and removing the fake mines.

"Ghost Town Renegades" (1947) — Smiling Lion

Smiling Lion, usually seen in the background, is still around today, overlooking Fern Ann Creek. It had a fair amount of screen time back in the old B-Western days, and it can reflect a number of different "moods" depending on the camera angle.

"Wild Horse Ambush" (1952)

Still smiling in the Republic B-Western "Wild Horse Ambush," above.

"The Blocked Trail" (1943)

Smiling Lion is a little dark in this shot from Republic's Three Mesquiteers movie "The Blocked Trail," but the rock is right behind the cowboy in the center of the shot. The rock's "smile" gets wider as the camera position shifts — here the head appears slightly more elongate than in the previous photo.

The mood appears darker, even sinister, in this recent photo of Smiling Lion — looking more like "Scowling Lion" here. Notch Hill can be seen at top right in this shot, with the color tones and long shadows indicating the picture was taken late in the day, looking east.

"Boots Malone" (1952) — Whale Rock

Whale Rock is most often associated with its appearance in the horse racing movie "Boots Malone," with the above shot being one of only a scant few times the rock is seen clearly from this angle — its most "whale-like" — in any movie or TV show.

Whale Rock also appears in a less obvious but I think still interesting shot in another scene from the movie "Boots Malone."

Same shot with a couple of notations, as it's possible to miss the partially blocked Whale Rock from this distance. The photo also points out Fern Ann Creek, with its rocky creekbed. Notice the smooth dirt road below Whale Rock, seen here supporting a vehicle towing a horse trailer.

"Man From Cheyenne" (1942)

Whale Rock's "mouth" did make it into other productions on occasion, one being the above appearance in the Roy Rogers movie "Man From Cheyenne." Here again, the dirt road below Whale Rock is getting some use.

Here's a recent shot of Whale Rock. Overgrown and all but gone is the smooth road that once curved just below Whale, although traces of it can still be seen in front of the rock, in the lower right corner of the shot.

"Rawhide Rangers" (1941) — the Slates

I've blogged previously about the Slates, and did a "Classic Rock" segment on the rock that you can find by clicking here. Even so, it's always worth another look at the rock that has been described as the best thing since sliced bread.

Here's the same shot from the Universal B-Western "Rawhide Rangers," with a number of features highlighted — and showing the proximity of the Slates to the Tomb. The Slates and Gorilla are also seen in the "Montana Incident" shot at the top of this post.

"California Firebrand" (1948)

Practically the same shot, in color this time, from a different movie. This one appears in the Monte Hale movie "California Firebrand," from Republic.

A contemporary shot of the Slates from a slightly different angle includes another familiar Upper Iverson landmark, Turtle Rock, in the background at top left.

"Five Guns West" (1955) — Gorilla

The rock known as Gorilla really looks like a gorilla when it's shot from the right angle, but it was apparently a hard angle for film crews to get because only a few productions have captured it. One of the best Gorilla shots is in the above scene from Roger Corman's Western "Five Guns West," where the rock gets in touch with its inner gorilla.

In case you're having trouble seeing it, I've highlighted Gorilla in the "Five Guns West" shot, above. Corman's first movie as a director, "Five Guns West" is an Iverson spectacle — check out this blog entry for more about the master cult film director's terrific Iverson shoot for "Five Guns West," and you can click here for another example of Corman's showcasing of Iverson, in the 1957 release "The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent."

Gorilla's contemporary setting

These days, Gorilla can still be elusive when hunted in the wild.

This may be the rock at its most "gorilla-like," in a recent shot that also features a few of the estates now occupying the former Upper Iverson. The major rock feature to the left of Gorilla is Turtle Rock.

All of the rocks spotlighted above appeared in that single shot at the top of this post, from the Whip Wilson movie "Montana Incident." The movie has terrific Iverson content virtually nonstop from beginning to end, and is on my list of the Great Iverson Movies. The movie is included in a nicely put-together DVD set, "Monogram Cowboy Collection, Vol. 2," which you can find on Amazon by using one of the links below. I'll add links to some of the other volumes as well — the whole series contains a lot of Iverson material, in great picture quality.