Model behavior by special-effects champs the Lydecker brothers, Republic Pictures' secret weapon in the B-movie wars

Theodore Lydecker, left, and brother Howard Lydecker

Brothers Howard Lydecker and Theodore Lydecker were old-school special-effects wizards who worked together at Republic Pictures for the studio's entire run, from the mid-1930s well into the 1950s, using low-tech artistry to elevate Republic's serials and B-movies beyond what the studio's Poverty Row rivals were capable of pulling off.

"Commando Cody" (1953): A Lydecker brothers mini-space ship "lands" on the Upper Iverson

They were masters of the miniature model, whether it was space ships, buildings, trains, automobiles, stagecoaches — many a car or covered wagon went over a cliff under their watchful eyes. The above example of a Lydecker miniature comes from the Republic serial "Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe," and shows a model space ship "landing" in a setting composed of some actual Upper Iverson footage in the background along with a miniature fence and fake rocks in the foreground.

Lydecker brothers model of the Grove Relay Station, from "Zorro's Black Whip"

On a number of occasions the Lydeckers replicated actual structures at the Iverson Movie Ranch — only to see their creation ultimately destroyed by fire, crushed by avalanche or otherwise mutilated. It was all good fun, and now, through the magic of screen shots and our own low-tech special effects — especially slow-motion and pause — we're able to appreciate their craftsmanship on a whole other level.

The actual Grove Relay Station on the Iverson Movie Ranch, also from "Zorro's Black Whip"

The Lydeckers' work in the 1944 serial "Zorro's Black Whip," where the brothers created a realistic replica of Iverson's Grove Relay Station and then crushed it in an avalanche set off by the bad guys, is a good example of their connection to the Iverson Movie Ranch. It's pretty hard to tell the real relay station from the model, but the best clue comes when the place starts being destroyed by the avalanche — at that point, you know it's the model.

Down comes the mountain ...and the model begins to collapse.

The Lydeckers pretty much trashed the place.

Here's a video clip of the sequence ...

Hugh O'Brian — TV's Wyatt Earp — brings the Wild West's most famous lawman to the Iverson Movie Ranch

Hugh O'Brian

Hugh O'Brian starred as frontier Marshal Wyatt Earp for six seasons on the TV Western "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," from 1955-1961. It was steady work, with the ABC series churning out 229 episodes in that span, and O'Brian spent much of his on-camera time on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif.

"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1960)

Here's a shot of O'Brian in Iverson's Eucalyptus Grove, with Cooper Rock in the background at top left. The shot comes from an episode of the series titled "The Doctor," which first aired Oct. 4, 1960, during the show's final season.

The two key rocks in the previous screen shot are highlighted here. The larger rock is Cooper Rock, named for Gary Cooper after he built Iverson's Western town nearby for Cooper's 1945 feature film "Along Came Jones." Cooper Rock was destroyed in the mid-1960s when the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village was built, but the smaller rock in front of it, which some film location researchers now call the Cooper Locator Rock, survived and remains in place today.

Cooper Locator Rock as it appears today.

(The rock formation in the background is the Pirate Ship.)

Today the Cooper Locator Rock helps pinpoint where Cooper Rock was once located (hence, the name). The locator rock survived because it's just south of the wall marking the southern boundary of the mobile home park, which is visible in the above shot. The locator rock remains in its spot in the surviving portion of the Eucalyptus Grove on the Lower Iverson. The much larger Cooper Rock wasn't so lucky, as it straddled two properties when the land was subdivided and it had to be destroyed so that the property on the north side could be filled with mobile homes.

Indian Hills Mobile Home Park — movie rocks in the swimming pool area

Some sections of what is now the mobile home park, including the swimming pool area, remain populated by once-famous movie rocks, such as those seen in the photo above.

"The Living Bible" (1952)

The rocks seen in the swimming pool shot above can also be seen in the 1952 production "The Living Bible." The above screen shot from the production shows Jesus and his followers walking past those same rocks.

Johnny Crawford Rock, in "The Living Bible"

Incidentally, in my research I refer to the rock noted here as "Johnny Crawford Rock," in honor of the late actor who played Mark McCain on "The Rifleman." You can click here for the backstory on that.

A key marker on Johnny Crawford Rock

In case you're having trouble matching up the recent shot of the swimming pool rocks with the shot from the 1952 Bible movie, the above composite photo identifies a prominent marker appearing in both shots.

Back to Hugh O'Brian and "Wyatt Earp," this angle from the sequence shown at the top of this post reveals what's going on in front of Wyatt at the time — he's at the Grove Relay Station, where he's being kept at bay by a woman holding a rifle on him. The "Wyatt Earp" TV show filmed some nice footage of the Grove Relay Station around this time, which is fortunate for us as historians and Western location fans because the building didn't leave behind the kind of prominent footprint in movies and old TV shows that its cousin the Saddlehorn Relay Station left behind.

"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1960) — Grove Relay Station

Here's another nice look at Grove Relay Station from the TV series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" — in this case from the episode "The Truth About Old Man Clanton," which first aired Sept. 27, 1960. Footage of the relay station in the two episodes featured in this post was almost certainly shot on the same day of production at Iverson.

Another shot of Hugh O'Brian from the "Wyatt Earp" episode "The Doctor" shows Earp with one of the Eucalyptus Grove's many impressive movie rocks in the background, at top right. The Grove was used as a production location fairly regularly during the filming era at Iverson, and while it has been diminished in scope in the intervening years, a good chunk of the Grove still survives.

Here's what that same movie rock looks like in more recent times. The angle is not exactly the same as in the "Wyatt Earp" shot, but readers may spot similarities between the two shots when it comes to the shape of the rock — particularly near the bottom of the rock. Note that many of the Grove's eucalyptus trees continue to flourish.

Hugh O'Brian also worked the Upper Iverson during his tenure as TV's Marshal Wyatt Earp. In this shot from "The Truth About Old Man Clanton," O'Brian appears in front of the Upper Ranch's Prominent Rock, also known as Medicine Rock, visible at top left.

O'Brian was nominated for an Emmy in 1957 for his performance in "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," which is remembered as one of the better Western TV series of its era. The series played a significant role in the evolution of the TV Western from its early days as a format primarily for kids — "The Lone Ranger," "The Cisco Kid" and "Hopalong Cassidy" are among the many examples — into a later, more mature version of the TV Western typified by "Gunsmoke," "The Virginian," "Bonanza," "The Big Valley" and others.

Please try out the Amazon links below if you're interested in locating DVD copies of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp":

Cowboy star Rod Cameron roams the Iverson Movie Ranch in "Yaqui Drums"

Rod Cameron in the Iverson Grove in "Yaqui Drums" (1956)

Actor Rod Cameron was all over the Iverson Movie Ranch during filming for the Allied Artists B-Western "Yaqui Drums." This shot from the movie shows him at work in the Eucalyptus Grove, with a distinctive stacked rock behind him sporting a prominent vertical crack.

That stacked rock is still in place today, as seen in the above shot taken during a visit to the filming site in recent years. You may notice a little stump in front of the rock, from a tree that previously stood in that spot. The tree is seen in the original movie shot (near the left of the frame), but only the stump is to be found in the more recent photo (near the center of the shot).

Here's what I mean, in case you're having trouble matching up the tree and the stump. It's clearly the same tree in both photos as it's located in exactly the same spot.

Cameron's character and his pal Yacqi Jack, played by J. Carrol Naish, defend the Grove Relay Station on the Lower Iverson. Yacqi Jack's name is spelled differently from how "Yaqui" is spelled in the movie's title.

Here's another shot of the Grove Relay Station, with Cameron, standing on the front porch, having just knocked some guy down. (In front of the guy's horse!)

This shot of Cameron in action in the movie was taken in Garden of the Gods. The bulk of the outdoor footage for "Yaqui Drums" was shot on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif.

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."