Taking the "then and now" shot to the next level

"The Fighting Legion" (1930) — Lone Pine, Calif.

I recently discovered the work of film historian and documentary photographer Jerry Condit, whose re-creations of movie location shots elevate the concept of the "then and now" photo to an art form.

Lone Pine, Calif. — photographed in 2009 by Jerry Condit

The above example of Jerry's work showcases one of his favorite filming locations, the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, Calif. His photo re-creates the shot from "The Fighting Legion" so closely it's hard to tell them apart, as even the shadows are virtually identical. The main difference between the two photos is the presence of horses and riders in the movie shot, which also brings out the imposing scale of the rocky landscape. The two shots are taken almost 80 years apart.

Some of Jerry's photos stand alone — that is, they're not movie re-creations, but scenic shots in their own right, such as the above photo he snapped recently of Iverson's Hawk Rock against a dramatic Chatsworth sky. I recommend clicking on any of these photos to see a larger version.

"Old Yeller" (1957) — Garden of the Gods

Did you cry over "Old Yeller"? Who didn't! In a certain age bracket it's the most remembered childhood movie for a lot of us kids. Parts of the Disney tearjerker were shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch, including the above scene in which Yeller runs through Iverson's Garden of the Gods. I love the way this shot projects how formidable those rock formations are.

The same location photographed in 2014 by Jerry Condit

Still formidable — and pretty much unchanged — more than a half-century later.

"Man in the Saddle" (1951)

Here's a shot taken in almost the same spot as the "Old Yeller" shot, but this one is from the Columbia Western "Man in the Saddle." The all-star cast in the above shot includes, from left, Randolph Scott, Ellen Drew and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. The guy with his back to the camera is Cameron Mitchell.

The campfire site in 2014 (photo by Jerry Condit)

This is a recent shot of the site where the "Man in the Saddle" campfire scene took place, again in Garden of the Gods on the former Iverson Movie Ranch. The rock in the top left corner with the prominent crack is Mitchum Rock, named after the Robert Mitchum film noir "The Big Steal," in which Mitchum and Jane Greer take shelter behind the rock during a shootout. You can read more about Mitchum Rock and "The Big Steal" by clicking here.

"Saga of the Viking Women" (1957)

 
The original title of this movie, produced and directed by Roger Corman, is considerably longer: "The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent." The title has been shortened in a variety of ways in connection with various releases of the movie, but under any title, the movie is strongly recommended both for its terrific Iverson location shots and because it's a fun movie.

The Viking whipping sequence takes place in central Garden of the Gods, a short distance from the "Man in the Saddle" campsite. Here's the same spot, Viking Whipping Rock, as it appears today, again photographed by Jerry Condit. I have a couple of earlier blog entries about the "Viking Women" movie — including my own attempt at a "then and now" shot for the whipping sequence — which you can find by clicking here.

"Bonanza" episode "The Dowry" (first aired April 29, 1962)

The Iverson Movie Ranch poses more than its share of challenges when it comes to re-creating movie and TV shots. The place has changed a lot since the filming days, and whether it's a condo or an overgrown bush in the way — or a rock or tree that's simply not there anymore — it's often impossible to get the same angle. For the above "Bonanza" scene, filmed on the South Rim of the Upper Iverson, duplicating the angle would have required a scaffold — or at least a good ladder.

The Slates as they appear today, in a 2014 photo by Jerry Condit

But the site is easily identified, even from a slightly lower angle. Looking at this recent photo I sometimes think I still see that rutted road running straight through the middle of the shot, between the two major rock formations.

The two main rocks seen in the "Bonanza" shot and the recent shot are identified above. You can find out why the Tomb has that name by clicking here. This portion of the South Rim remains relatively intact, but other sections have been drastically altered as the native terrain was replaced by large estates.

Bell Location Ranch, in the hills west of Chatsworth

The shoot for the above lobby card for the 1957 Columbia B-Western "Sierra Stranger" took place at Bell Ranch, west of Chatsworth and south of Santa Susana Pass Road off Box Canyon — a few miles southwest of the Iverson Movie Ranch.

Here's a promo still for the movie that uses the same photo as the lobby card, but in the original black and white.

The same location in 2014

Jerry Condit took this photo on a recent trip to Bell Ranch. You can probably see right away that it's all the exact same rocks seen in the promo shot, along with the same road in the foreground.

"Cripple Creek" (1952) — the Upper Iverson Movie Ranch

The above promo still for the Columbia B-Western "Cripple Creek" comes from the collection of location researcher and Western movie expert Jerry England. The scene is shot on the South Rim of the Upper Iverson, where a water feature was brought into play especially for this production. I've blogged before about this water feature, which I call the Reflecting Pool. You can see a brief video of this sequence — which included a waterfall — and read more about the Reflecting Pool, by clicking here. That blog post also includes another clip from "Cripple Creek."

The same site in 2014, photographed by Jerry Condit

Other than the absence of the water feature, the "Cripple Creek" site remains virtually unchanged, as seen in Jerry Condit's recent photo. Inspired in large part by these "then and now" shots, I was able to nail down a few details about the Reflecting Pool — notably that it had an "extended version" that brought it closer to Wrench Rock, as seen in "Cripple Creek." I previously spotted this extended Reflecting Pool in an episode of the "Annie Oakley" TV show from 1956, as seen in this earlier blog entry, but the "Cripple Creek" sequence adds perspective on the Reflecting Pool, the extended Reflecting Pool and the waterfall.


Above are some links to Amazon.com, where you can find DVD, Blu-ray and streaming versions of a number of the productions featured in this post. I can personally recommend the Roger Corman double feature 'Viking Women and the Sea Serpent" and "Teenage Caveman," with both movies having filmed at Iverson and "Teenage Caveman" featuring the Reflecting Pool. It's the same DVD set I used for my shot of the Viking whipping scene that appears in this post. Also note that the "Bonanza" Season 3 set includes the episode "The Dowry," which is featured above.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: Crouching Cat, Rock Island and the indignities suffered by rocks

"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1958)

When I spotted this shot on the "Wyatt Earp" TV show — in the episode "One-Man Army," which first aired Jan. 7, 1958 — something about it didn't look right. That's Hugh O'Brian as Earp standing on the left and Robert Anderson as the ne'er-do-well Drum Denman on the horse, at right. The boys look OK — it's the rock in the background that bugs me. That sharp-pointed "Alpine" pinnacle at the top doesn't fit in with the rest of the Iverson Movie Ranch landscape.

I knew we were at the Iverson Movie Ranch because of some of the surrounding scenery — including a little bit of Cactus Hill, visible toward the left in the above photo. This shot reveals more of the rock, which is featured prominently during a fistfight between Earp and Denman. I'm pretty familiar with the rocks at the site, and something about this one cried out "Fake!" At first I thought maybe they were trying to hide something in the background.

But the background in general includes some pretty cool stuff. As the scene plays out and an angry Earp beats the living daylights out of Denman, Rock Island pops in and out of camera range. It's one of my favorite Iverson features — it can be seen in the above photo, at the right of the frame, and it's highlighted in the shot below.

Here's the same "Wyatt Earp" shot with Rock Island pointed out. It looks small here, but that's because it's some distance away and well below the elevation of the foreground action. The area where the sequence is shot is up near the top of Nyoka Cliff.

Part of Rock Island as it appears today — held captive in Rock Island Prison

These days Rock Island is mostly buried, and the fraction of it that remains above ground is behind bars — in a location I call Rock Island Prison. It's actually one of the swimming pool areas for the Cal West Townhomes, and the rock serves as a decoration of sorts alongside the driveway into the condos. The "prison bars" kind of dampen its decorative usefulness if you ask me, but no one did. So there it sits — I suppose it's better than being blown up.

"They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) — Rock Island

This is Rock Island in happier times, when armies marched below the mighty cluster of rocks, as seen in Warner Bros.' big-budget feature on the Custer/Little Big Horn story "They Died With Their Boots On," starring Errol Flynn. The massive formation of sandstone boulders was an imposing presence, towering above a detachment of mounted Cavalrymen who had no idea they were about to be on the losing end of one of U.S. history's most famous massacres.

"Fighting Seabees" (1944) — Rock Island at top right

Custer's army wasn't the first or last to have to negotiate Rock Island. With World War II still raging a few years later, another big-budget war movie, John Wayne's "Fighting Seabees," set up shop in the Iverson Gorge and Rock Island became part of the battle in the South Pacific. This shot underscores the massive scale of the rocks, as the men look like toy soldiers beneath the towering boulders. I'll point out some of the key details of this shot in the next photo.

Fake palm trees were put up to make the Iverson Gorge's rocky terrain look more like the South Pacific. The large fuel tank that takes up much of the foreground plays a big role in the battle depicted in "Fighting Seabees." A portion of Crown Rock has survived and remains a neighbor of the remnants of Rock Island in the condo community — just down that same driveway from Rock Island Prison.

"Ride 'em Cowboy" (1942) — Rock Island

Another view of Rock Island more closely matches the angle seen in the Wyatt Earp sequence — and the angle seen in the "Rock Island Prison" view. In this shot from the Abbott and Costello comedy "Ride 'em Cowboy," the car at the center of the frame is about to splash into a manmade pond in the foreground.

In it goes — through the magic of special effects. I used this shot on my business cards for a while.

To get an idea of how much more there is to Rock Island than meets the eye these days, the portion of the rock that can be seen in the contemporary "Rock Island Prison" shot above is marked here. The bulk of Rock Island was buried during grading for the condo development.

Back to the Wyatt Earp fistfight, here again I've marked the portion of Rock Island that remains visible today.

One could make the point that the rock featured in the "Wyatt Earp" sequence suffered its own indignities. I'm baffled as to why the rock in its natural state wasn't deemed adequate for the sequence, but for whatever reasons, someone saw fit to slap fake stuff on it. I have considered whether the "prosthetics" may have been left over from some other production, but this wasn't a rock that saw a lot of screen time, and it's showcased here so prominently that I have to think the "Wyatt Earp" producers were the ones who dressed it up for the occasion.

The same rock as it appears today

The question is why — and I'm afraid I don't know the answer. This is what that same rock looks like in real life, and I can't say I see anything wrong with it. To me the rock looks a bit like a crouching cat. The shot includes a number of the modern annoyances that have pretty much ruined the ambiance of the area, namely condos, water tanks and the 118 Freeway. I would propose that the fake "Alpine peak" was there to conceal the water tank, but the tank hadn't been built yet in 1957, when the "Wyatt Earp" episode was shot.

Seen from a slightly different angle here, the rock as it lives and breathes today is free of the plaster-of-Paris humiliation that it suffered during filming on "Wyatt Earp." More important, the birthright of geography — with the rock's high perch in terrain that wouldn't be cost-effective to develop — allowed it to avoid the fate suffered by Rock Island. The rock stands today on public land, preserved in an unmarked section of Garden of the Gods Park. It has a cave under it, which you can kind of see from this angle. Here you can also see Oat Mountain in the distance, at top left, hiding behind a section of Cactus Hill.

The cave played a key role in the "Wyatt Earp" sequence. After Earp grows weary of hammering his fists into Denman's face, he forces him down into the cave — down past all that plaster of Paris. In this shot it appears as though they didn't even bother to tidy up the crumbs.

The TV version of the cave interior is spacious and well-lit. I've been inside the cave, and this is not what it looks like. As one would expect, the cave sequence is shot in the studio.

The inside of the actual cave looks like this. I know it's a crummy shot, but that's kind of the point. As with most caves, the lighting is really bad inside, which is one reason they're always shot in the studio. An even bigger reason is you'd have a heck of a time squeezing a TV production crew, complete with lighting, sound and camera gear, into these cramped quarters. As it is, a full-sized person has to contort a bit to shinny down into the hole.

The crouching cat rock provides an illustration of what goes into naming these rocks. I'm not trying to name every rock at Iverson, even though sometimes it might seem that way. The problem is we need a way to refer to them — something more efficient than, "You know, that rock in the 'Wyatt Earp' episode." So I did eventually bestow a name on this rock, at least for the purposes of my research.

Christened: Crouching Cat

I was torn between One-Man Army Rock, in honor of the "Wyatt Earp" episode, and Crouching Cat, because that's what the rock looks like to me. I initially tried to go with One-Man Army Rock, and some readers may have seen the rock briefly ID'd that way on the blog. But as the weeks went on I found I couldn't remember the name and I was constantly asking myself, "What was that name I came up with again for the Crouching Cat rock?" I finally accepted that the rock, by virtue of its stubborn insistence on looking like a crouching cat, had named itself: It's Crouching Cat.

"The Purple Monster Strikes" (1945)

Crouching Cat wasn't one of Iverson's most widely filmed features, but it did make an appearance in the Republic Serial "The Purple Monster Strikes."

It may be hard for readers to tell that it's the same rock in some of these shots, so here's a "then and now" comparison pointing out a few details visible in both the "Purple Monster" shot and the recent shot.

Here's another look at Crouching Cat in "The Purple Monster Strikes." Once again, a bit of Rock Island can be seen down below, at the far left edge of the frame — as noted in the next shot.

I'm including links to Amazon, below, for some of the productions discussed in this blog entry ... check 'em out!

"I am Mister Ed" — No, not me ... movie cowboy Rocky Lane; he really WAS Mister Ed, and a new book promises to tell all about it

One of my favorite movie cowboys is Allan "Rocky" Lane, so I'm pretty excited that a new book is coming out about Rocky, and it looks like it'll be a good one: "I Am Mister Ed ... Allan 'Rocky' Lane Revealed," by Linda Alexander. That's the cover above, and you can go to the publisher's website by clicking here. The official release date is July 4, 2014.

Rocky Lane had a strong run in Republic B-Westerns in the 1940s and 1950s, including starring opposite child actor Bobby Blake — you probably know him as grown-up Robert Blake, aka "Baretta" — in a number of Red Ryder movies.

"Code of the Silver Sage" (1950) — Allan "Rocky" Lane on the roof 

of the Grove Relay Station at the Iverson Movie Ranch

Included in Lane's filmography is an impressive list of movies I consider Iverson masterpieces, all of them from Republic: "Sheriff of Sundown" (1944), "Stagecoach to Monterey" (1944), "Corpus Christi Bandits" (1945), "The Topeka Terror" (1945), "Santa Fe Uprising" (1946), "Rustlers of Devil's Canyon" (1947), "Marshal of Cripple Creek" (1947), "Bandits of Dark Canyon" (1947), "The Bold Frontiersman" (1948), "Carson City Raiders" (1948), "The Denver Kid" (1948), "Marshal of Amarillo" (1948), "Oklahoma Badlands" (1948), "Renegades of Sonora" (1948), "Sundown in Santa Fe" (1948), "Sheriff of Wichita" (1949), "The Wyoming Bandit" (1949), "Code of the Silver Sage" (1950), "Fort Dodge Stampede" (1951), "Frisco Tornado" (1950), "Gunmen of Abilene" (1950), "Night Riders of Montana" (1951), "Black Hills Ambush" (1952), "Desperadoes' Outpost" (1952), "Thundering Caravans" (1952), "Marshal of Cedar Rock" (1953), "Savage Frontier" (1953).

Just to be clear, when I say "Iverson masterpiece," I'm talking more about the rocks and other background features than I am about plot, character development, dialogue, acting, direction and the other traditional attributes that define a good movie. But with Rocky Lane's B-Westerns, the general rule is they're a cut above the rest in those attributes as well. Republic had the hang of it by the time Rocky mounted up, and the company seemed to put a little more effort into its Rocky Lane movies than it did the series headlined by some of its other stars. When it came to B-Westerns, Rocky was on Republic's "A-team."

"Night Riders of Montana" (1951) — Rocky Lane in action

It's an almost unbelievable body of work at one notoriously demanding filming location, the Iverson Movie Ranch, where it was always way too hot in the summer and way too cold and miserable in the winter. But the effort paid off: You almost can't go wrong with a Rocky Lane movie if you're looking for interesting Iverson location shots — not to mention good B-movie cowboy action.

Mister Ed — played by Bamboo Harvester

Of course, the thing that ended up being Rocky Lane's claim to fame, even though he toiled anonymously while the show was on TV, was his voice work on "Mister Ed." Rocky was the only person who could truly say — and DID say — "I am Mr. Ed." Never one to yakkity-yak a streak and waste your time of day, Allan "Rocky" Lane nevertheless had something to say as the famous Mr. Ed for six seasons, providing the horse's voice throughout the sitcom's run from 1961-1966, first in syndication and then for five seasons on CBS.

Allan "Rocky" Lane and Black Jack

In my opinion Allan Lane belongs in the top tier of the B-movie cowboy heroes. He had a natural ease on camera and an imposing physical presence that helped make his heroics believable, and his movies rank among the best of the B-Western genre.

Rocky Lane comic book

The following blurb about Rocky Lane and the new book comes from the website of the publisher, BearManor Media:

Allan Lane has been a mystery almost as long as he's been seen on a movie screen. His audiences have been varied over many, many years. Some know him as the never officially recognized voice of TV's famous talking horse, Mister Ed. There are others who better remember him as Red Ryder, the comic book Western hero-come-to-life at the Saturday afternoon matinee. And even more people remember him as Rocky Lane, yet another Western good guy, and a name which became synonymous with his own. Scores of youngsters over the years in the 1940s and 1950s went to the picture show to while away a happy Saturday afternoon, watching in adolescent excitement as Red Ryder or Rocky Lane fought off all the bad guys on the Western range, always winning the day just in the nick of time. Children were Allan Lane's main audience.

Not nearly as many people are aware that Allan Lane also had an earlier movie career, before he became a fast-riding cowboy. He began in films in 1929 as a handsome, suave "drawing room" romantic type, over the years working with such leading ladies as Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, and Joan Fontaine, among others. He went through many character iterations in those early days, almost to the point of having his own revolving door in and out of Hollywood with nearly as many studio contracts. And before that, even prior to his screen careers, Allan started his love/hate relationship with acting at the age of sixteen on the traveling stage, going from city to city to ultimately make his way to Broadway. Playing various sports filled in the blanks, and his pocketbook, in those days.

Allan "Rocky" Lane with Gerry Ganzer in "Powder River Rustlers" (1949)

Then there was Allan Lane, or as often Alan Lane, the businessman. He began working to help support himself and his family at the tender age of six. He became something of a vagabond, moving from place to place, family member to family member, and even sometimes living on his own in a boarding house. This is how he got his education, took care of his own needs and the needs of his family, and ultimately made his way in the world. Allan Lane owned his own successful photography advertising agency when he was only twenty-four. Years later, when his Hollywood career was fading, he went back to what he knew best ... his business background.

The man was an enigma — arguably misunderstood, but without question so much more than history has yet to show. Until now. "I Am Mister Ed ... Allan 'Rocky' Lane Revealed" finally exposes the full scope of the complicated life of Allan "Rocky" Lane.