When one visits Hollywood, taking the Universal Studios Tram Tour has always been a must! One of the few studios that still has a backlot, Universal saw the value early on in collecting tourist revenue by allowing them to see where the magic is made…all in a controlled manner, of course. Recently, I had the honor of doing the design for the book Stack’s Liberty Ranch Volume 3, which covers Universal Studios and three other nearby theme parks that I had never heard of: Lion Country Safari, Buffalo Ranch, and Jungleland. Anybody interested in the history of theme parks needs to acquire this library! Head over to the Stack’s Liberty Ranch website to get your copy NOW!
Today’s post features images from my collection that a guest took in September 1969, documenting (in chronological order, natch!) their visit to the famed movie studio. Apologies for the blur/low quality of some of these images. Like anything vintage, equipment and skill were not necessarily all that important as these images were just meant to share with loved ones, not be posted on the web or published in a book. I am guessing that the tour started with this presentation by a Guide. I immediately noticed something familiar in the pictures behind the guide.
Looks like a matte painting of Bodega Bay from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (1963), released by Universal.
Sure enough, it’s a match!
How the painting was combined with live action footage for the final film:
Afterwards, the tour proceeded with what was probably a movie/TV set:
A soundstage where guests could see/experience how rear projection works:
A setup that shows how miniatures are used in movies; much more economical than building things full-scale!
Now we reach the tram part of the tour. The person on the right in the large-brimmed hat is the bane of my 1969 existence. Get that hat off and quit blocking the photos!!!
A tour of the backlot:
Anyone know what production featured the Crawford Buttonhole Co., or Joe’s Bar?
Although it doesn’t have the clock tower circa 1969, this building should look very familiar to fans of “Back to the Future.”
It’s the courthouse! Keep in mind, these buildings are used over and over in again in many productions. Some undergo extensive changes to look different to suit the use of the film or show that they are being used in.
Stay tuned for more September 1969 images of Universal Studios!
And don’t forget to pick up your copy of Stack’s Liberty Ranch Volume 3 at the Stack’s Liberty Ranch website.
Another amazing post. I'm a huge fan of Lion Country Safari and for a brief while, say 2017 or so. I was the last living person to know where Frasier the lion had been buried. Some reporters had gone out there looking for him but they couldn't find him. The plaque that is mounted in Orange County points to a location where they say the body is but it's completely wrong. That's fine I wanted to continue to refer to the wrong location. If anybody ever went out there with a shovel to dig them up at least they'd waste their time on the wrong mountain. I have Smoking Gun evidence of where he's at and brought it to the Irvine Company several years ago. They were very pleased. I gave them physical copies and a flash drive and show them the exact GPS of his body. I was told that when I was two or three, and we drove through lion country safari, that Frazier walked up to the window and tried to lick me. I seriously doubt this. I do recall lowering the window as a child in the backseat and listening to my grandparents shriek, but I think it was a female line that approached the car and that Frazier never approached any car for any reason. Still it's been an item a Fascination to me to the point that I drove out looking for his body years ago, in a non-intrusive manner, and without revealing it to the rest of the world. I didn't feel the need to take credit for it, just to determine where he was at so that the Irvine Company would know in the event they had to dig. Great memories of Lion Country Safari, but it was a doomed attraction from the start. Michael Crichton always said that he based Jurassic Park on the San Diego Zoo or the wild animal park but I disagree. It was based on Lion Country safari. All of the reports of things that went wrong at LCS were exactly what went wrong on the island. In the book Jurassic Park Michael Crichton claimed that the Jeeps were painted with the stripe because dinosaur stopped ramming them if they had a stripe. That's exactly what happened at Lion Country Safari and their jeeps. The Rhinos would Ram the gray Jeeps so they painted them white with zebra stripes and the attack stopped. Now you know where that came from. Also the escapes and precariously balanced security was a Hallmark of LCS as well. Sorry to rail on about LCS but that's always been a topic for me, and especially Frasier's missing body, missing no more.
ReplyDeleteBryan - Apologies not necessary. I live for stories like this!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Shows the simple beginnings of the tour. Imagine sitting and waiting for somebody to explain matte paintings while you just stared at a bunch of them hanging on the wall.
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