Singing cowboy Dick Foran visits a cabin in "Song of the Saddle" — and we can visit the same spot, in Iverson's Garden of the Gods

Dick Foran was a singing cowboy who starred for Warner Bros. when the studio stepped up production of B-Westerns in the mid-1930s. A number of his movies were filmed on the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif.

"Song of the Saddle" (1936): Small wooden cabin in Central Garden of the Gods

The Dick Foran movie "Song of the Saddle," filmed in 1935 and released in early 1936, featured a small wooden cabin that was situated in the area we now know as Central Garden of the Gods.

Site of the cabin, as it appears today

I was able to find the location where the "Song of the Saddle" cabin stood, thanks to some readily identifiable nearby rocks. I took the above photo of the area on a recent visit to Garden of the Gods.

Several key rock features can be seen in both the recent shot and the movie shot. The two rock areas noted here are probably the best identifiers.

This photo identifies those same rock features as they can be seen in the movie. The camera is aimed more or less toward the east.

Comparing the recent photo and the movie shot, I'd say this diagram is a reasonable approximation of where the cabin stood in 1935.

The movie also presents this view of the cabin area, with the camera repositioned to catch just the corner of the cabin, along with part of a rock wall located immediately to the west of the building.

This is a view of the same rock wall as it appears today. The wall is located on the south side of a huge rock known as the Phantom.

All of the markers noted here, as seen in the movie, can still be found at the site, with one exception — "Rock Slab B" has mysteriously disappeared.

In this photo I've identified the same markers as they appear at the site today. Note that Rock Slab B, which was positioned immediately to the left of Rock Slab A when the movie was filmed, is now missing.

This is probably the best view in the movie of those two rock slabs. Separated by a vertical crack, the slabs can be seen between the two actors, at the center of the frame.

Another angle on the cabin area seen in the movie shows a cluster of low rocks a short distance east of the cabin. The rocks are seen here near the center of the frame, just above the horse's hindquarters.

I call this group of rocks the Harum Scarum Cluster, based on their role in the outtake "tent scene" from the 1965 Elvis Presley movie "Harum Scarum." You can find a detailed examination of that shoot by clicking here.

"Revenge" (1928)

The Harum Scarum Cluster turns up in productions going all the way back to the silent film days. I recently spotted the rocks in a brief sequence in the 1928 silent movie "Revenge."

Here's a look at the Harum Scarum Cluster as it appeared this past spring.

While we're in the area, I wanted to point out the Old Yeller Tree. This tree played a prominent roll in the 1957 tearjerker "Old Yeller," and can be seen in a number of other productions. The tree did not survive.

Dick Foran, left, calls the shots in a gathering on the south side of Phantom, outside the cabin. The group is standing in front of Rock Slabs A and B, which are concealed behind the actors.

Foran sets a plan in motion at the front of the cabin. Before he became an actor, Foran, who stood 6-foot-2 and had red hair, studied music and the arts — and also played football — at Princeton University.

Here's a look at Foran in the corral area adjacent to the cabin. Foran died in 1979 at age 69, following a 35-year career in movies, on TV and on the stage. He's buried in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery — at the other end of the San Fernando Valley from the Iverson Movie Ranch.
 

This recent view of the area where the cabin once stood is taken looking north, toward what would have been the front of the cabin. The Phantom appears at the left, with the Sphinx at the right. Today a large tree occupies a prominent position in the area, blocking the view of the south side of Phantom.

I found it interesting that a large limb has recently broken off from the tree and remains stuck below it. Unusually strong winds have buffeted the area in the past couple of months, and with California in an extended drought, many of the trees are dry and relatively fragile.

I'm hoping the fallen limb and other brush in the area will be removed. If the dead brush is cleared out, visitors may finally get a decent view of the historically significant area on the south side of Phantom.

Here's how to get to the site of the "Song of the Saddle" cabin. Find your way to Redmesa Road in Chatsworth and park on the street, just before the condos. The blue gate on the west side of Redmesa marks the Garden of the Gods Trailhead. Follow the trail to the top and head south between the two giant rocks, then veer right.

New find in a really old "Batman" movie — and in the Crouching Cat area, near the top of Nyoka Cliff

David King, a reader of this blog, made a cool find on a recent visit to Iverson. He was exploring the area around Crouching Cat, near the top of Nyoka Cliff, and snapped this photo of a rock with a distinctive crack in it.

"Batman and Robin" (1949)

David recognized the scene and pinpointed it as the same location seen in this shot from the Columbia serial "Batman and Robin." Readers should be able to spot the same leaning rock, with its upside-down L-shaped crack, toward the left in both shots.

Crouching Cat

The leaning rock is just around the corner from Crouching Cat, which I've blogged about in the past. This was not a high-traffic area for filming, even though back in the day Crouching Cat was situated near the end of a dirt road that climbed toward the top of Nyoka Cliff. Please click here to read my earlier post about Crouching Cat.

Today the area is harder to access than it was in the filming era, and David's discovery of this site demonstrates that even with all the exploration that has already taken place, many of the Iverson Movie Ranch's secrets have yet to be revealed.

"Montana Desperado" (1951)

To add some context to the new find, this shot of Johnny Mack Brown in the Iverson Gorge captures the leaning rock — along with the walkway next to it where the characters are seen in "Batman and Robin."

The setting is way in the background, but the "Montana Desperado" shot captures the perfect angle, showing not only the leaning rock and the walkway, but also an important nearby tree. The large rock feature directly behind Johnny Mack Brown is Nyoka Cliff.

While the eye is drawn to the top right corner of the frame and the familiar tree atop Nyoka Cliff, the top center is where the real action is. This version of the shot identifies the Walkway area and Crouching Cat Tree.

Here's a bird's-eye view of the area in recent times, with some of the main features identified. The shot looks toward the south, with Redmesa Road traversing the right of the frame. Santa Susana Pass Road and the railroad tracks can be seen near the top of the photo.

Zooming in on the same bird's-eye view, this shot identifies key features of the Crouching Cat area. Crouching Cat Tree is of particular interest, because it pops up over the years in footage of the Nyoka Cliff area, and the tree remains in place today.

This recent shot of Nyoka Cliff points out Crouching Cat Tree, along with the walkway area and a tree that blocks the view of the leaning rock.

"Batman and Robin"

Crouching Cat Tree is the same tree seen in the "Batman and Robin" shot back in 1949, although it has filled in quite a bit since then.

"Trailin' West" (1936)

The sparseness of foliage on the tree in "Batman and Robin" is an anomaly. Back in 1936 the tree was far more leafy when it appeared in the Warner Bros. B-Western "Trailin' West," starring Dick Foran.

The leaning rock also turns up in the "Trailin' West" shot.

The usual view of Crouching Cat Tree that we see today consists of the top portion of the tree, with the rest of the tree hidden behind Nyoka Cliff.

"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1959)

Here's a typically low-key appearance by Crouching Cat Tree in the background of an episode of the "Wyatt Earp" TV series where Nyoka Cliff is prominently featured. The shot appears in the episode "Last Stand at Smoky Hill."

The episode premiered Jan. 20, 1959, during the show's fourth season, and would have been shot in 1958. The shot is taken from the west side of the Gorge in Garden of the Gods, looking east.

Here's a good look at Crouching Cat Tree from a recent visit to the site. Note the tree's distinctive "topknot" sticking up above the rest of the tree, toward the right.

The topknot is interesting because it has survived over many decades.

"Trailin' West" — Crouching Cat Tree's topknot already visible

The topknot could already be seen in 1936 in "Trailin' West," almost 80 years ago.

"Fighting Seabees" (1944) — Bulldozer vs. tank in a fight to the death

You may already know that the main tree at the top of Nyoka Cliff — I suppose we can call it the Nyoka Tree — moves around from time to time. In this shot of a famous sequence in John Wayne's "Fighting Seabees," the position of the tree is pinpointed between two of the main boulders near the top of the cliff.

"Man in the Saddle" (1951)

In this color shot several years later from the Randolph Scott Western "Man in the Saddle," Nyoka Tree remains in the same spot where it was seen in "Fighting Seabees." The tree was positioned here throughout the bulk of the filming era.

In modern times, however, the tree is located in a different spot, a little to the southwest. Of course, the tree itself hasn't pulled up its roots and relocated — it's safe to assume it's a different tree.

I want to congratulate David King and give him a well-deserved thumb's-up on his great detective work in the Crouching Cat area. Thanks a lot, David, for sharing your cool find!



Speaking of Dick Foran and "Trailin' West," check out the above link to a cool new DVD set on Amazon — "Dick Foran Western Collection," part of the Warner Bros. Archive Collection. These are remastered versions of 12 Dick Foran Westerns in great picture quality. Besides "Trailin' West," the set includes the Iverson movies "Land Beyond the Law," "Blazing Sixes," "California Mail" and "Guns of the Pecos," and a bunch more.