The primitive special effects technology of the era made it difficult to remove clues, such as chaparral-covered hills at the horizon line. You use colors for passports in order to move around the camp. It no longer exists, it is now an industrial park. Today, what had been 40 Acres Backlot is now composed of storage units, offices, and housing developments. In the late-1930s, producer David O. Selznick bought the land, and used it to build the Atlanta and Tara sets for Gone with the Wind (which was photographed by Ernest Haller). The backlot ranch at this time contained around 32 acres and another eight acres were added along the north bank of La Ballona Creek. ’40 Acres is the misnomer that was given to what was actually about 29 acres of land in Culver City, California, first used as a movie studio backlot in 1926 by Cecil DeMille, after he leased the property from Italian immigrate Achille Casserini (on March 22, 1926). External Links. Hollywood's Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery. The map created by people like you! Each available view is indicated with a green arrow, which also indicates the camera orientation of the photo or movie scene. In 1958, it was purchased by Desilu Productions, the studio formed in 1951 by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. When you have collected a money card, a passport card and a map card for your player, you will learn where there is a sentry off-duty. Today many studio backlots are gone or nearly gone. RKO Forty Acres Studio Backlot in Google's 3D Warehouse. When in use, the structures are dressed by adding doors, window treatments and landscaping. This caused real estate prices and property taxes linked to fair market value to rise dramatically (the latter problem was curtailed by the enactment of Proposition 13 in 1978). Stanford Libraries' official online search tool for books, media, journals, databases, government documents and more. There are several reasons for this. "40 Acres" was an RKO Pictures "back lot" where many notable films and TV shows were filmed over the years. . RKO Forty Acres Backlot (site) This "back lot", actually 29 acres in size, was used by various studio companies for filming outdoor and city scenes. While watching the False Face episode the other night as part of my tribute to Malachi Throne, I had a chance for the first time to see how the climactic chase at the end of Part 2 really gives us a fascinating view of the Desilu "40 Acres" backlot that played host to many TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s as well as having originally been the RKO lot where "Gone With The Wind" was filmed. Movie sets almost never survive as long as we would like them to. 40 Acres in the Mid-1960s. By the early 1970s, the industry had transitioned to location shooting for the majority of outdoor scenes, and backlots were widely viewed as an obsolete, unwanted capital expenditure and a tax burden on studios. "40 Acres" Studio Backlot Rex McGee's Photographs from 1970. "Hollywood’s Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery" is a new book about the legendary Culver Studios. In 1976 the old 40 acre backlot was demolished when it was sold for development into an industrial park. When not in use, the structures are usually stripped of this dressing. The backlot (actually measured appr. It worked as a backdrop for numerous silent films as well as Gone With the Wind. The "40 Acres" back lot was the location where the exterior shots of The Andy Griffith Show were filmed. In the 1940s, the backlot was sold to RKO, who filmed several film and television productions there, inclu… Garden Of Allah. Palm Trees and Power Lines in 1940s Germany. Television shows such as Moonlighting and It's Garry Shandling's Show also broke the fourth wall and gave audiences a peek of life on the other side of the camera. By 1976 the back lot was in disrepair and bulldozed. On it he constructed the historical City of Jerusalem, which remained for the RKO production of King Kong (1933). The property on which the backlot was located was originally intended to be a lease for Cecil B. DeMille’s production of the film The King of Kings (1927). World Map; Camera Finder; Flickr Blog; Create; Get Pro; Upload; Log In; Sign Up; Explore Trending; Events; The Commons; Flickr Galleries; Flickr Blog; Get Pro ← → Back to photostream. Also visit these RetroWeb sites: TV Studios and Ranches in the 1950's-1970's AND The RKO Encino Ranch - RKO Radio Pictures' Famous Movie Lot AND "The Andy Griffith Show" - A Behind-the-Scenes Gallery: 40 Acres Web Links (all links verified October 24, 2009) Culver City History: 9336 Washington (Thomas Ince's 2nd movie studio) … By then it was known as Forty Acres and owned by RKO Pictures. It no longer exists, it is now an industrial park. When not otherwise in use, they serve as storage facilities for lighting and other production equipment. Your Player must be equipped with money, a passport and a map. An example of this is (the former) Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank, California seen in the title sequence of Friends or, in the case of Universal Studios, the home of Norman Bates from the Hitchcock movie Psycho. See Forty Acres photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Forty Acres in United States. And in fact, the lot was only about 28 acres in actual space. M any locals know that the Desilu Studios were an important part of Culver City history. sound stages, production suites and backlot 140,000 square feet of open stages 40 offices and 5 meeting rooms 80-acre backlot Rex was in love with David Selznick's 1939 classic film, "Gone With The Wind," and he was determined to visit the Forty Acres backlot where the Atlanta train depot and other sets from the film still stood. An explorable 1956 map of the backlot Linked to this 1956 overhead photo of 40 Acres are several images from this general period of the backlot's history. Note: VirtualGlobetrotting is an entertainment website is and is not associated The box office failure of the 1967 film Camelot was blamed in part on this issue, which in turn marked the end of large-scale backlot production in Southern California.[1]. Airy, an Andy Griffith Show call sheet from 1964, including references to "40A-CoaltownStr" for filming of "Mayberry" town exteriors at 40 Acres...revealing that this area of the backlot was named for its appearance as "Coaltown" in the 1948 film, "Miracle of the Bells." The huge backlot was used for classic movies such as King Kong (1933) and Gone with the Wind (1939). Tara was destroyed long ago, and "40 Acres" has been fully redeveloped, but the Radford lot continues to be a working studio lot, owned by CBS. 1.9K likes. All the sets on a studio backlot are built to appear large, as if covering miles of ground on the big or small screen, while actually occupying only a few acres of the backlot. And in fact, the lot was only about 28 acres in actual space. A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction Uses. History. And in fact, the lot was only about 28 acres … This place is situated in Fulton County, Illinois, United States, its geographical coordinates are 40° 40' 46" North, 90° 1' 27" West and its original name (with diacritics) is Forty Acres. The “40 Acres Backlot” was once home to Selznick International Pictures and was where “Gone with the Wind” was filmed. Los Angeles, like the rest of the United States, went through an economic boom after World War II. It’s the old Desilu Culver City 40 acres backlot location. The shells, or façades, on a studio backlot are usually constructed with three sides and a roof, often missing the back wall and/or one of the side walls. Forty Acres hotels map is available on the target page linked above. Saved by Terry Booth. 2. Mar 26, 2016 - 40 Acres - The Lost Studio Backlot of Movie & Television Fame - The Desilu Years. These sets include everything from mountains, forests, ships, to small-town settings from around the world, as well as streets from the Old West, to whole modern-day city blocks from New York City, Paris, Berlin, and London. South of the existing studio buildings was a 28 acre backlot which stretched all the way to the hills, and was known as ’40 Acres’. Don Knotts, Andy Griffith and Jim Nabors on the Mayberry set at 40 Acres. Today. They are just starting to build Andy's house for the Andy Griffith Show. See also. Please log in if you don't want to post 10ms. Not all the buildings and houses are shells. There are streets that comprise an assortment of architectural styles, Victorian to suburban homes, and 19th century-style townhouses that encircle a central park with trees. History of Culver Studios. A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles offers a rare look into the Warner Bros. backlot, with scenes spilling off the Laramie Street set into various stages and eventually out of Gate 3 onto Olive Avenue in Burbank, California. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. Between 1930 and 1935, more sets were built in and around the previous settings of the DeMille days. Retroweb 40 Acres pages; Culver Studios official website "Mayberry's" Grand theater from my Google Sketchup "re-construction" of the RKO/Desilu "40 Acres" studio backlot | The mansion, however, is long gone. cache 5h 1m Since the late-1990s, the increased use of CGI and blue/green screen effects in big budget movies has further sped up the decline in use of studio backlots, as more and more films are shot completely indoors. I'm also sharing maps of the area from 1965 (with sets clearly labeled and for which I take no ownership or credit!) The forty acre backlot was separate from its main lot offices and stages.No stages,few people, but corner after corner of historic streets and villages. The interior is an unfinished space, with no rooms, and from the back of the structure one can see the electrical wires, pipes, beams and scaffolding, which are fully exposed. The "Big Valley" mansion was located on the Radford lot in Encino, and Tara was located on the "40 Acres" backlot in Culver City. 40 Acres Studio Backlot (Google Maps). "40 Acres" is the misnomer that was given to what was actually about 29 acres of land in Culver City, California, first used as a movie studio backlot in 1926 by Cecil DeMille, after he leased the property from Italian immigrate Achille Casserini (on March 22, 1926). It was actually about 29 acres of land in Culver City, California. Originally, its studios were located in Los Angeles, but outgrowing their existing space, they purchased their Culver City location on the RKO "40 Acre" backlot from General Tire and Rubber in late 1957. Some movie studios build a wide variety of sets on the backlot, which can be modified for different purposes as need requires and "dressed" to resemble any time period or look. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "40 Acres" The Lost Backlot Studio of Movie & Television Fame, "Columbia Ranch.net" A website about the former Columbia Studios Ranch in Burbank CA, Backlot space at Pinewood & Shepperton Studios, American Society of Cinematographers Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, List of living actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Backlot&oldid=996101869, Articles lacking in-text citations from February 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 24 December 2020, at 15:10. Back in 1970, Rex McGee was eighteen years old and about to attend film school at the University of Southern California. anonymously (anonymous users cannot post links). Hollywood’s Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery will, for the first time ever, unwind the colorful and convoluted threads that make for the tale of one of the most influential and photographed places in the world. and from Google Maps, which I did label, to give you an idea of where, approximately, Stalag 13 was situated. The bottom photo is from Google Maps, 2017, relatively the same angle. Ladders are usually built into the structure, allowing performers to climb to an upper-floor window or the roof to perform scenes. Though some studios like MGM and Fox sold vast tracts in the 1960s and 1970s, many historical sets continue to be demolished today, as there seems to be little interest in their preservation. 29 acres) was first acquired by Cecil B. DeMille to use as a filming location for his 1927 production of King of Kings. Hogan's Heroes: Set location at the 40 Acres Backlot in 1965. At their peak, some backlots covered hundreds of acres around existing studios, and filmmakers rarely left the lot, as they would intercut the backlot shots with a handful of establishing shots filmed on location by a second unit. "40 Acres" was an RKO Pictures "back lot" where many notable films and TV shows were filmed over the years. 40 acres Tarzan jungle and lake-Historical back lot location ... backlot, interesting place, historical layer / disappeared object. Sneak your prisoner out under that unguarded fence position and win. Many were razed and the land was either sold to developers or repurposed for theme parks or office buildings. Some are closed in with a fourth wall. L-shaped temporary walls are placed inside of doors to give the illusion of an interior. RKO backlot "40 Acres" Culver City, California. As the studio continued to change hands, the "40 Acres" backlot fell out of use and into disrepair in the early 1970s, and in 1976 it was bulldozed and the land sold to industry. Flat Rock Studio in Columbus, Georgia. It no longer exists, it is now an industrial park. At the same time, during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s (the period when Hollywood underwent the transition from the Golden Age to New Hollywood), global movie audiences were increasingly annoyed[citation needed] by films that were supposedly set all over the world, but were obviously filmed in California. By 1930, the backlot was called the RKO-Pathé ”40-Acres” (though, in fact, it was only 29 acres). Desilu 40 acres A short bike ride away from Lot 2 was Desilu studios, located off Ince Ave, named after studio pioneer Thomas Ince. From the Andy Griffith Museum in Mt. Audiences wanted to see actors in locations which were both exotic and authentic, as opposed to Hollywood constructed copies. 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