The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time ... Part XII: The Harness Maker

"Along Came Jones" (1945) — The Harness Maker, at far left

One of the first buildings that came into view upon arriving at the Iverson Movie Ranch Western street from the south was the Harness Maker, part of the original town set built for "Along Came Jones."

While the much larger Livery Stable dominated the south end of town from its position on the southeast corner of the street, the Harness Maker, distinguished by vertical columns along its south and east faces, held down the southwest corner in the town's original configuration.

Loretta Young drives her horse cart out of town in a hurry in "Along Came Jones," with the Harness Maker and the First Chance Saloon in the background as she heads east.

The name "Harness Maker" comes from the building's role in "Along Came Jones."

"The Millerson Case" (1947) — new buildings at the south end of town

By mid-1947 the Harness Maker no longer occupied the southwest corner of town, as a new building, the Rainbow Mine Co., had been built directly to its south, while the town's new church took over the south end of the street.

The Church — or Schoolhouse, as it appeared in "The Millerson Case" — would remain in place for just a couple of years, but the Rainbow Mine Co. would become a permanent part of the town set. I'll go into detail about these new buildings later in the Western street series.

"Passage West" (1951)

A horse-drawn hearse sits in front of the Harness Maker building in the Paramount movie "Passage West." The building plays a general store in the John Payne Western.

The Harness Maker is closely associated with the Saloon, as the two buildings were immediately adjacent to each other and tend to be thought of as a single structure.

The Harness Maker even appears to bear a sign for the Saloon on its roof in "Passage West." Also note the blank storefront sign on the left, which was presumably used in a previous movie or TV appearance.

"The Millerson Case"

However, the Harness Maker and Saloon were two separate buildings. In fact, the Harness Maker was not positioned perfectly in line with the Saloon, but was angled just slightly back from the straight line of the street.

"Check Your Guns" (1948)

The offset in alignment between the Harness Maker and the Saloon is evident again in this shot of Eddie Dean on the street in front of the Saloon in the PRC movie "Check Your Guns."

In this shot the offsets between the two buildings are highlighted. Also note the presence of the Church and the Rainbow Mine Co. in the background — both buildings were still relatively new at the time.

The "Check Your Guns" shot also reveals that the Harness Maker and Saloon had different types of posts on their front walkways, with the Harness Maker's posts being slightly "fancier." This distinction can be helpful for telling the buildings apart from certain angles.

"Night Raiders" (1952)

Fuzzy Knight stands in front of the Saloon in the Monogram B-Western "Night Raiders." This shot offers what may be the best look at the offset alignment between the Saloon and the Harness Maker.

A close examination of the front deck area in the "Night Raiders" shot highlights the variation in the alignment of the two buildings.

"Ghost Town Renegades (1947)

Here's an unusual shot that illustrates not only the proximity of the Saloon and the Harness Maker, but also the misalignment of the two buildings' front decks.

I try not to point out irony, as it speaks for itself. But I'll make an exception here, because I love the irony that this illustration of the misalignment also catches a guy in the act of doing surveying. "Hey, buddy! Look to your left!"

"Calamity Jane and the Texan" (1950)

The Harness Maker building included a barber shop — identified by its red-striped poles, on the right — in "Calamity Jane and the Texan."

"Gold Raiders" (1951)

The striped barber poles remained on the Harness Maker building in the Three Stooges movie "Gold Raiders," released the following year. The poles may be a little hard to spot here.

The barber poles out in front of the Harness Maker are highlighted in this version of the "Gold Raiders" photo.

This shot of the front of the Saloon in "Gold Raiders" captures a closeup of one of the barber poles on the Harness Maker building next door.

"Along Came Jones" (1945) — the original Barber Shop

The Harness Maker was not the first building in town to feature a barber shop. The town's original Barber Shop, seen in "Along Came Jones," was located near the north end of the street, south of the original Blacksmith Shop. It's easy to confuse this one with the later barber shop at the Harness Maker.

Unlike the Harness Maker, which survived virtually unscathed for the full 13-year lifespan of the Western street, the original Barber Shop was torn down within a year of its construction. You can click here to see a previous entry in this series focused on the Barber Shop and the original north end of town.

"Sky King" TV show (shot in 1955, aired in early 1956)

One of the best things about the Harness Maker from a movie history standpoint is that on occasion shots of the building also catch the old "Wee Willie Winkie" set in the background. In this example from the TV show "Sky King," the camera is looking toward the west and the old set can be seen at the left of the frame.

The shot comes from the "Sky King" episode "The Plastic Ghost," which premiered Jan. 9, 1956, and would have been shot during 1955. The India Fort set was used only occasionally in productions after the early 1940s.

"Along Came Jones" (1945)

A tiny corner of the "Wee Willie Winkie" set snuck into this shot from "Along Came Jones," which also appears near the top of this post. The set is barely noticeable here, unless you know to look for it.

"Silver Raiders" (Monogram, 1950) — The Harness Maker

A shot of the Harness Maker building in the Whip Wilson B-Western "Silver Raiders" offers what may be an unintentionally close look at part of the "Wee Willie Winkie" set.

As this photo points out, a portion of one of the buildings from the 1937 India Fort in "Wee Willie Winkie" can be seen just behind the Harness Maker. 

The shot may also provide a clue to efforts on the set to minimize the impact of other old buildings to the west. I get the impression that it's no accident that a covered wagon was parked in this exact spot, as the wagon blocks the view of a large portion of the old India Fort set.

"Wee Willie Winkie" (1937) — The India Fort

This overview of the "Wee Willie Winkie" filming area gives an idea of what the sprawling India Fort set looked like in 1937. Eight years later, the Iverson Western street would be built in the area seen in the foreground. The India Fort would remain standing until the early 1960s — outlasting the Western street by several years.

"Montana Incident" (1952) — the north end of town

Parts of the India Fort from "Wee Willie Winkie" also on occasion snuck into shots of the north end of the Western street, as discussed in an earlier post on the North and South Adobes. Please click here to read that entry.

Aerial photo (1952)

An aerial photo of a portion of Sheep Flats on the Lower Iverson from 1952 shows the juxtaposition of the Western street, to the east, and the old "Wee Willie Winkie" set, to the west. I've blogged previously about the endlessly fascinating India Fort set, and you can learn more about it by clicking here.

If you would like to dive even deeper into the 1937 "Wee Willie Winkie" sets and the early history of movie construction on Sheep Flats, I recommend clicking on "Wee Willie Winkie" in the long index of LABELS along the right of the page — or just click here for the same link.

"The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time" is a series of posts on the movie and TV history of each of the major structures making up the Iverson Movie Ranch's town set, which stood from 1944 to 1957 and appeared in hundreds of productions.



To see all of the posts in the series on the Iverson Western street, please click on the following links:

Part I: Casa Grande
Part II: The Livery Stable
Part III: The Saloon
Part IV: The Hotel
Part V: The General Store 
Part VI: The Barn
Part VII: The Sheriff's Office
Part VIII: The North and South Adobes
Part IX: The Lost Dutchman
Part X: The original north end of town
Part XI: The North and South Towers
Part XII: The Harness Maker
Part XIII: Rainbow Mine Co. 
Part XIV: The Church/Schoolhouse  
Part XV: The Corral Rocks Shack
Part XVI: The decline and fall of the Western street

The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time ... Part III: The Saloon

"Along Came Jones" (1945): First Chance Saloon

Like most of the buildings along the Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, the Saloon adopted a number of identities over the years. When it first appeared in "Along Came Jones" it was the First Chance Saloon.

"Flaming Feather" (1952): Last Chance Saloon

A few years later it would come full circle with a role as the Last Chance Saloon in the Sterling Hayden-Forrest Tucker Western "Flaming Feather" from Paramount.

Note the curved roofline and the painted glass of beer on the front of the building. The giant glass of beer would turn up again in other productions.

"Treasure of Ruby Hills" (1955)

Filmmakers apparently took a liking to the name "Last Chance Saloon," bringing it back — along with a new sign on the front of the building — for the Allied Artists Western "Treasure of Ruby Hills."

The town was "fixed up" to look like a ghost town in the movie, and the Saloon did its part — including the usual tumbleweeds and loose boards, along with a massive crack in the storefront.

"Treasure of Ruby Hills"

The Iverson Western street appeared in "Treasure of Ruby Hills" as the ghost town of "Silvertown" — the same name that has been widely used for the old Western set at Corriganville in Simi Valley.

"The Millerson Case" (1947)

The Saloon originally had a straight roofline on the front of the building, as seen in this shot from the Crime Doctor movie "The Millerson Case."

"Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" (1949)

The building played a bank in "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass," where the action took viewers around back during a bank heist and gave us a look at the rarely seen back end of the building. Also note the side of the bank building, toward the left of the shot, where a staircase would soon be installed.

"Calamity Jane and the Texan" (1950)

The wooden exterior staircase on the north side of the Saloon building first appeared around 1950. The two shots above — from two different Calamity Jane movies — show this side of the building before and after the staircase was installed. This shot, featuring Evelyn Ankers as Calamity, was also part of an earlier post on Casa Grande, which you can read by clicking here.

"The Hills of Utah" (1951)

In a screen shot from the Gene Autry B-Western "The Hills of Utah," a couple of badmen lurk near the Saloon's new wooden staircase.

"The Nevadan" (1950)

The Saloon's original flattop storefront remained in place into the early 1950s, as in this example from Columbia's Cinecolor Western "The Nevadan," starring Randolph Scott.

"Passage West" (1951)

One of the last appearances of the straight roofline is in Paramount's John Payne Western "Passage West," filmed in Technicolor. Oat Mountain looms in the background, at top center.

"Gold Raiders" (1951)

Later that same year, the building's new storefront and curved roofline surface in the Three Stooges movie "Gold Raiders." You may be able to spot the painted beer glass, already in place on the Saloon's new storefront.

Here's the "Gold Raiders" shot again, this time highlighting the Saloon's new curved roofline and the barely visible painted glass of beer. Please click on any of these photos to see a larger version.

"The Hills of Utah": Gene Autry and the new Saloon storefront

The curved roof reappears with Gene Autry in "The Hills of Utah," released just three weeks after "Gold Raiders." With both movies coming out in September 1951, and with a number of early TV Westerns getting up to speed around the same time, the Iverson Western town set would have been in high demand. The set's body of work suggests that it was a busy place in general during its 13-year lifespan (1944-1957).

Once again, the painted beer glass is visible, although we wouldn't tend to notice it if we weren't looking for it.

"Wagon Team" (1952) 

In another Gene Autry movie, "Wagon Team," released the following year, the Saloon appears again. This shot looks toward the north end of the street, with the Saloon at far left — again with its curved roof and painted beer.

"Night Raiders" (1952)

The Whip Wilson movie "Night Raiders," from Monogram, provided a good look at the window design in the new storefront. The stem of the beer glass is visible midway between the two windows.

"Cripple Creek" (1952) — More special effects than reality

An unusual treatment of the Saloon and other buildings along the Western street is found in the Columbia Western "Cripple Creek," starring George Montgomery. A painted background and other special effects are used to create a rundown version of the town and place it in a make-believe setting.

Here's my attempt to break down elements of the shot. It appears to me that only the buildings on the right side of the shot are real. It seems that much of the artwork on the left was inspired by the look of the Saloon.

"Son of Paleface" (1952)

A more conventional way to make the town appear to be falling apart was to bring in tumbleweeds and pry loose a few boards, as was done yet again for the Bob Hope Western comedy "Son of Paleface," from Paramount. The Saloon can be seen at the far left of the frame.

"Sky King" TV show (shot in 1957, aired in 1958)

Both the Saloon, on the left, and the Hotel, on the right, show signs of real-world wear-and-tear in this shot from late 1957 for the TV series "Sky King." The end was at hand, as the dismantling of the town set had already begun at the time of this shoot for the episode "Dead Man's Will." The episode premiered Feb. 22, 1958.

In another shot from the "Sky King" episode we can see that much of the roofing on both the Saloon and the Livery Stable across the street has either fallen apart or been removed. Casa Grande, which previously spanned the north end of the street, has already been torn down, and the rest of the town set would soon follow.

"The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time" is a series of posts on the movie and TV history of each of the major structures making up Iverson's town set, which stood from 1944 to 1957 and appeared in hundreds of productions.



To see all of the posts in the series on the Iverson Western street, please click on the following links:

Part I: Casa Grande
Part II: The Livery Stable
Part III: The Saloon
Part IV: The Hotel
Part V: The General Store 
Part VI: The Barn
Part VII: The Sheriff's Office
Part VIII: The North and South Adobes
Part IX: The Lost Dutchman
Part X: The original north end of town
Part XI: The North and South Towers
Part XII: The Harness Maker
Part XIII: Rainbow Mine Co. 
Part XIV: The Church/Schoolhouse  
Part XV: The Corral Rocks Shack
Part XVI: The decline and fall of the Western street