Years before the TV show "Adventures of Superman" premiered, a different Superman flew all over the Iverson Movie Ranch

Kirk Alyn, the screen's first live-action Superman 
(Columbia promo still for the serial "Superman," 1948)

The first live-action version of "Superman" to appear on film was a delightfully weird oddity. With ballet-trained Kirk Alyn in the title role, Columbia's 1948 serial danced across the rocky terrain of the Iverson Movie Ranch in an unashamed celebration of the kind of gee-whiz goofiness that marked a more innocent era of superheroes.

Kirk Alyn as Clark Kent on the Upper Iverson

The serial provided a showcase for the movie ranch's charismatic rock features. In this shot Kirk Alyn, as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, rolls up on a bit of unpleasantness on the Upper Iverson's South Rim, with the rock formation Smiling Lion lurking in the top right corner.

"Superman" (Columbia serial, 1948)

By all accounts, Kirk Alyn the actor was a "super" nice guy — to the point where the kind of strong-arm work required of his Superman character could be an odd fit. But Alyn proved he was up to the task when it came time to don the Spandex and pull the old double-headlock, or bash two bad guys' heads together.

Here again, Smiling Lion purrs its approval — although at this time of day it's less clear whether the rock is smiling or frowning. A comparison of this photo with the Clark Kent shot above illustrates how the "mood" of the Iverson rocks could be altered by moving the camera a few feet or waiting for the light to change.

The producers of the 1948 "Superman" conjured up an animated version of the superhero as a budget-friendly solution to the problem of flying. The sometimes awkward result found cartoon Superman sharing the frame with rugged Iverson landmarks such as Bigfoot, the rock feature peering in at the left in the above shot.

Back on the South Rim, Clark Kent runs toward the concrete bridge across Fern Ann Creek, also known as Falls Creek. Notice the large metal valve above his shoulder.

As Kent ducks under the bridge to change into his Superman suit, we get a clear look at both the valve and the concrete base of the bridge. I believe the valve was used to cut off the flow of water through the bridge, turning the bridge into a dam and creating a small reservoir on the other side of the bridge.

A moment later, Superman emerges.

As Superman takes flight, he once again becomes a cartoon.

The serial also provides a view of the top of the bridge, as a car approaches. The "low ground" to the left of the bridge filled in with water when the valve was closed, forming the reservoir. The Midway Oaks can be seen behind the car, and above them the top of Oat Mountain looms in the background.

Here's a wider view of the bridge area, filmed from the top of the cliff along the north edge of Cactus Hill. The white area to the right of the bridge is the rocky bed of Fern Ann Creek. The creek itself is rarely more than a trickle, and has been especially dry during California's current drought.

"Ghost Guns" (1944): Johnny Mack Brown and Evelyn Finley at the reservoir

The reservoir was seen in a handful of productions, including providing the background for a burial sequence in the Monogram B-Western "Ghost Guns," starring Johnny Mack Brown.

"Ghost Guns" — the reservoir on Iverson's South Rim

From the proper angle, the small reservoir could be made to appear quite scenic.

"Gunman" (1952) — The reservoir, with the Cliff in the background

A shot of the reservoir several years later, in the Whip Wilson movie "Gunman," is less aesthetically pleasing, but presents a clear view of the cliff and other South Rim features. The shot is taken with the camera pointed south.

A severely decayed version of the concrete bridge and dam remains at the site today, in a rugged, out-of-the-way spot in the midst of a gated community of large estates.

The same space where Clark Kent put on his Superman outfit can still be found, although gaining access to the location poses considerable challenges.

Near the spot where Superman got into character under the bridge, a bunch of crooks set up a diabolical super-weapon in a rocky nook. Most of the rocks surrounding them are still in place today, part of a large rock cluster known as the Totem Rocks or Easter Island.

This is what that same nook — or is it a cranny? — looks like today. You may want to try to match up the rocks in the above two photos before you peek at the labeled versions below.

Here's the "Superman" shot again, with some of the rocks labeled.

And here are those same labeled rocks in the recent photo. Incidentally, there used to be a horse trail up the hill between rocks C and D.

"Border Feud" (PRC, 1947) — Lash and Fuzzy head up the horse trail

In the Lash LaRue B-Western "Border Feud," filmed just a year before "Superman," Lash and Al "Fuzzy" St. John ride up to Cactus Hill in the same spot where we saw the bad guys setting up their super-blaster.

Here's another example of the animated flying spectacle, with a crotch shot of cartoon Superman soaring over the Iverson Gorge. Stoney Point appears at the center of the frame, partially blocked by Superman. Iverson's stagecoach road and Lower Nyoka Cliff are visible at the bottom of the shot.

Cartoon Superman would typically touch down by disappearing behind some landmark. In this shot the animated character makes a landing behind the Hangover Shack on the Lower Iverson.

Here's another landing by cartoon Superman — back in the Fern Ann Creekbed on the Upper Iverson.

A moment later, up pops Kirk Alyn at the same spot. The odd shadow at bottom right belongs to a car door.

Iverson Ranch Road on the Lower Iverson was another focal point of the action in the 1948 serial, with Superman harassing evil doers as they drove around in postwar land yachts that many car lovers would kill to have now.

The familiar profile of Three Kings and a portion of Tower Rock are among the Garden of the Gods features visible in this shot, looking south as the streamlined cruiser travels west on Iverson Ranch Road.

A seemingly unremarkable shot again depicts a vehicle heading west on Iverson Ranch Road. Shots like this, showing a bird's-eye view of a relatively wide area, tend to be rare in old productions, as they required extra setup. But when they do turn up they can be a big help in figuring out the lay of the land.

The shot captures the intersection of Iverson Ranch Road with the west fork of Iverson's so-called "stagecoach road," along with the northwest corner of Rock Island. This part of the stagecoach road is located approximately where Redmesa Road now runs through.

A good deal of misinformation exists about the stagecoach road. Even though it was always just a movie road, the myth that it was an actual stagecoach route has been widely circulated. The above example comes from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy's LAMountains.com website, in its entry on Garden of the Gods.

Here's the same Garden of the Gods blurb minus my editorial comment, so you can read the whole entry — most of which is true. The Conservancy has done a lot of good work in helping to protect the hills above Chatsworth, and is an important ally in the ongoing fight to preserve the land and its legacy.

This shot from recent years, taken among the condos on the Lower Iverson, features some rocks that are pretty distinctive, but are usually overshadowed by a famous neighbor.

They're the same rocks seen in the Kirk Alyn promo still from 1948 that appears at the top of this post. I've posted that photo again here to make it easy to compare the "then and now" shots.

Here's a wider view of the rocks in recent years, revealing that the rocks in the promotional still are part of the same hunk of sandstone that includes Saddlehorn Rock. The promo still is one of only a handful of shots I've seen that focus on the less-famous rocks behind Saddlehorn without featuring Saddlehorn itself.

Another photo from the same promo shoot for "Superman" — probably a more famous photo than the previous promo still — spotlights the Saddlehorn, and hints that it may have been the main reason for shooting promo stills in that spot. Personally, I prefer the more grim-faced Superman in the previous still.

Other shots have also surfaced from the same photo shoot, including this "outtake" promo still that I've posted before. You can read my 2013 report on Kirk Alyn's "Superman" by clicking here.

The 1948 Columbia serial "Superman" was followed two years later by "Atom Man vs. Superman," again starring Kirk Alyn and his cartoon alter-ego, and again filmed heavily at Iverson.  



The Columbia serials featured Alyn as the movies' first live-action Superman, but he wasn't the movies' first Superman. That title went to the cartoon version from Fleischer Studios, which first appeared in 1941. The above video clip is the first Superman cartoon.



Columbia's two "Superman" serials are combined in a reasonably priced DVD set sold on Amazon, which you can find by clicking on the above link. Both serials are filmed on the Iverson Ranch, and the second one, "Atom Man vs. Superman," which I plan to feature in an upcoming post, is on my list of the all-time great Iverson movies.

Elvis Presley promo stills for the 1965 movie "Harum Scarum" — here's where they were shot

Promo Still "A" for "Harum Scarum" (1965): Elvis Presley and Mary Ann Mobley 

on the Iverson Movie Ranch

It took some doing, but we recently figured out the locations for two promotional stills for the Elvis movie "Harum Scarum." Both shots feature Elvis Presley and Mary Ann Mobley riding the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch.

Promo Still "B": Elvis and Mary Ann at Iverson

The photos, which I'm calling "Promo Still A" and "Promo Still B," were shot back-to-back and appear to be taken from the same location. Based on the "Harum Scarum" shooting schedule, which Elvis movie location expert Bill Bram shared with me, the photos would have been taken on Wednesday, March 17, 1965.

Elvis Presley and Fran Jeffries in Garden of the Gods

That's the same day Elvis was at Iverson to shoot the original version of the tent sequence, which I blogged about recently. You can click here to read about this shoot, which took place in Garden of the Gods. Elvis appears to have spent just one day at Iverson during shooting on "Harum Scarum."

Let's look first at Promo Still A, which was apparently taken moments before Promo Still B. In this version of the shot I've highlighted a couple of the main features. The big clump of rocks that dominates the background is a part of Rock Island, seen from an angle that rarely turned up in the movies.

"Trailin' West" (1936) — the same corner of Rock Island

One of the few times that same clump did turn up was in the old Warner Bros. B-Western "Trailin' West," which gave me the clue I needed to find the location of Promo Still A. The big pile of rocks, located at the northwest corner of Rock Island, appears behind the stagecoach in this shot. The angle is slightly different, but readers may be able to see the similarities in the rocks in the above two photos.

"Trailin' West" — wider view

A wider view of the same area, from the same scene in "Trailin' West," helps pinpoint where the scene was filmed, Filling the left half of the screen is the same big rockpile seen in the Elvis photo, but the key to finding the site turns out to be the even larger pile of rocks that fills the right half of the frame.

The two main rock clumps in the "Trailin' West" photo are identified here. I'll go into detail below about the fate of Rock Island, but for now I want to focus on the rocks at the right of the shot — an area I call Batman Corner.

Batman Corner in 2014

This shot of Batman Corner was taken on a visit to the site late last year. Batman Corner — which is essentially the back side of Batman Rock — is located today at the corner of Redmesa Road and Horizon Place.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the shot from "Trailin' West" and the recent shot of Batman Corner, taken almost 80 years apart. I've highlighted the rounded top of the main rock, which is seen in both photos. From this angle it's impossible to tell that the rock is the same one we know as Batman Rock.

Batman Rock, as it appears today — the classic angle

If we were to walk a short distance west from where the preceding shots were taken, we would see this more familiar side of the distinctive rock known as Batman Rock. Some readers may recognize this view of the rock from John Ford's "Stagecoach" and other appearances in the movies and on TV.

"Batman and Robin" (Columbia serial, 1949)

The name "Batman Rock" comes from appearances in Columbia's Batman serials of the 1940s — "Batman" in 1943 and "Batman and Robin" in 1949 — which also inspired the popular "Batman" TV series of the 1960s.

A portion of the Lower Iverson (1952 aerial photo)

The area where Promo Stills A and B were shot is seen in this aerial view of a section of the Lower Iverson Movie Ranch from 1952, which I will show again below with the specific sites identified. The 1952 aerial photo is probably the sharpest aerial to surface so far that shows the Iverson Ranch during the filming days.

One of the most important features of the aerial shot is the access road, which ran from the Iverson Movie Ranch entrance on Santa Susana Pass Road (not pictured) to the Iverson family residence. It was along this road that the Elvis promo shots were taken in 1965.

Taking another look at Promo Still B, I want to call your attention to the rock in the top left corner and the stone buttressing along the bottom of the photo.

"Harum Scarum": Doubles ride north through the Iverson Gorge

The small rock in Promo Still B can be seen again in this shot from "Harum Scarum," which pinpoints the location of the small rock near the northeast corner of Rock Island. It should be noted that unlike the promo stills, the actual movie shot has doubles filling in for the actors, so Elvis does not appear in this shot.

A number of features in the movie shot are noteworthy, and I've highlighted some of them here. You may want to click on these shots to see a larger version. In the movie shot the riders are following the Stagecoach Road, which runs more or less north and south through the Iverson Gorge and eventually meets up with the access road.

The key to pinpointing Promo Still B is the small rock near Rock Island, which appears in both the movie shot and the promo still. I wanted to point out the similarity in shape between Bald Knob and the smaller rock because I found it both intriguing and a little confusing. When I first began studying Promo Still B, I was thrown off because I thought the smaller rock was in fact Bald Knob. That sort of thing happens a lot.

Returning to the 1952 aerial photo, we can now add the Stagecoach Road to the equation.

We can also now zero in on approximately where the riders, played by doubles, appear in the movie shot.

While we're at it, I wanted to nail down where the buttressing area is along the access road. This is the area where the film studio's still photographer would have been positioned when he snapped Promo Stills A and B.

Now we're able to approximate the positions of Elvis Presley and Mary Ann Mobley in the two promotional shots.

Finally, we can translate the positions of Elvis and Mary Ann in the promo shots to the modern configuration of the terrain, which today is filled by the Cal West Townhomes. The location where the promo stills were shot is just north of the condo development's swimming pool area off Redmesa Road.

As for the clump of rocks seen in Promo Still A, which once stood tall at the northwest corner of Rock Island, it appears to remain at least partially intact. However, for a number of reasons it is all but impossible to see.

"Rock Island Prison" — current home to the big clump of rocks

Today the big rock clump is locked behind a fence as part of a swimming pool area for the condos. I've referred to this area in the past as "Rock Island Prison" — a prison of sorts for famous movie rocks.

Not much to see anymore of the big rockpile

This photo gives some idea of where the pile of rocks that graces the Elvis promo shot can be found today. These days it's possible to see just a fragment of the formation at its southern end, marked in blue here. We have no way to get a decent look at the north side of the pile — the part that's showcased in the Elvis shot.

The north end of the rock clump is in there somewhere

Being locked behind a fence and largely buried underground are among the rock clump's problems, but an even bigger problem, when it comes to trying to see the rocks, is that they are now covered with ivy.

Southeast corner of Rock Island — now contained within the walls of "Rock Island Prison"

I've blogged before about how the charismatic Eraserhead, which held down the southeast corner of Rock Island, was largely buried during grading for the condo development. (Please click here for details about that.) Now it also appears that the northwest corner of Rock Island, years after its photo op with Elvis, suffered a similar fate.

Promo Still "B" from 1965

Taking another look at Promo Still B for "Harum Scarum," I want to point out that the stone buttressing seen in the foreground was already at least 30 years old when Elvis rode past it in 1965.

"The Miracle Rider" (1935) — same buttressing seen in Promo Still B

I know that because the same stone buttressing can be found in this shot from the 1935 Mascot serial "The Miracle Rider," starring Tom Mix. In this case the buttressing is seen from a much different angle, from the south.

Another shot from the same sequence in "The Miracle Rider" includes not only a portion of the buttressing, but also the same small rock north of Rock Island that appears in Promo Still B.

In other words, this shot from "The Miracle Rider" depicts the same little valley where Elvis and Mary Ann Mobley would be photographed on horseback 30 years later.

"Undercover Man" (Hopalong Cassidy, 1942)

I find the stone buttressing north of Rock Island to be one of the most fascinating, and least documented, features of the Iverson Gorge. One of the main reasons it's so fascinating is the same reason it's not well-documented — simply because it no longer exists.

"Batman and Robin" (1949)

But as you can see in these photos, the buttressing did make it into its share of productions.

"Batman and Robin" — buttressing area shot from the opposite direction

In the Columbia serial "Batman and Robin," the same stretch of buttressed road was filmed from both directions.

Nyoka Cliff and the Stagecoach Road in recent years, with stone buttressing noted

I wish I could say some relic of that stretch of buttressing north of Rock Island survived the condo development that began in the late 1980s, but I've searched for it, and it's gone. Fortunately, other examples of buttressing lower in the Gorge remain in place today, mainly in the area below Lone Ranger Rock and Nyoka Cliff.

Another example of buttressing along the Stagecoach Road, Lower Gorge

The buttressing seen in this photo, taken on a visit to the Iverson Gorge in 2014, can be found just below Lone Ranger Rock.

Stone buttressing near Garden of the Gods — still in place today

Still another example of stone buttressing from Iverson's filming days turned up late last year near Garden of the Gods on an expedition by Iverson researcher Cliff Roberts. I blogged about this discovery a few months back, and you can read that post — which includes directions to this movie relic — by clicking here.



By the way, if you know who Dick Foran is — his old B-Western "Trailin' West" is mentioned in this post — 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.