Vintage Sunset Boulevard: At the Drive-In

In the 1954 Judy Garland movie, “A Star is Born,” there was a scene where Judy’s character, financially struggling singer Esther, has to take a job as a carhop to make ends meet. The scene was cut after the premiere, and then re-instated when the film was restored (for the most part) in 1983. Below are the costume sketch, wardrobe test shot, and a publicity still taken between takes.



The scene was filmed at Robert’s Drive-In at 6407 Sunset Boulevard (corner of Sunset and Cahuenga). Note the “R” on the side of the building in this frame from the scene:



If you don’t know what a Drive-In restaurant is, it was a place where you parked your car in a space in front, a carhop (aka waiter) came out to take your order, and then the food was brought out to you shortly after that. You never had to leave your car.

From The Judy Garland News:

October 14, 1953: Photos from the third day of filming on A Star Is Born and the first day of location shooting. The production descended on Robert’s Drive-In at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Cahuenga Street in Hollywood to film the carhop scenes. The scene was filmed in the morning, requiring eight takes for the set-up shots and fourteen takes of Judy – medium shot – telling the customer the types of hamburgers they had that day. The numerous takes were required due to the excessive background noises.

Below, Judy enjoys a cup of coffee with husband Sid Luft.





Part of the scene shows Judy calling one of her friends from the band she used to sing for; she attempts to paint a rosy picture of her situation.



This publicity blurb accompanied the photo below:

HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 19 — JUDY GARLAND BACK IN MOVIES — AS A CAR-HOP — Judy Garland, facing movie cameras for the first time in three years, whirls a tray of food up to a car at a Sunset Boulevard drive-in. She was practicing on a few cars just before cameras began to role on her car-hop scenes for the film “A Star is Born.” The star left her studio in 1950 after disagreements and turned to stage appearances.



A publicity still from the movie showing Judy taking the man’s order:



By 1956 Robert’s had changed ownership and was called Scrivner’s; today, there is a Jack in the Box restaurant at that location (the original building was torn down).

Robert’s wasn’t the only Drive-In on Sunset Boulevard; there was also the Dolores Drive-In, at 8801 Sunset Boulevard. Below are actor Bob Hutton and Arlene Dahl, circa 1947.



Note the “D” on the carhop’s hat, and Arlene’s luscious lips in the side view mirror:



The building was naturally torn down (as interesting buildings in LA usually are) and is now a bland box of a building that houses Supreme Clothing, a store that sells streetwear.

Stan’s Drive-In was located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine, across from NBC. Eddie Fisher and Mala Powers are shown in front, March 1954, in a photo credited to Bert Parry and Bob Beerman for Modern Screen Magazine.



Apparently policemen drove Harley-Davidsons at the time:



Anyone miss the old Drive-In restaurants where you could pull your carhop, order your meal, and not leave the comfort of your automobile?
 
See more photos at my main website.

Debbie Gives The Bird!

July 17, 1955, Walt Disney is standing on Main Street, U.S.A., proud as punch that his Park has finally opened and is going gangbusters! Here he takes a moment to chat with Debbie Reynolds. I’m sure Debbie is silently flashing the bird to her husband at the time, crooner Eddie Fisher, while she enjoys a cold bottle of Coca-Cola.

;ooking even closer (beyond the bird), you can actually read her Opening Day ticket!

Here a Keystone Kop stands guard next to the Tobacco store wooden Indian, located next to the Main Street Cinema.

Get a load of that City Police Badge that the Keystone Kop is wearing. I wonder if they were just for show or if the Kops actually handled any altercations at the Park?

Appropriately, playing at the Main Street Cinema is a Keystone Kops comedy, “The Noise Bombs,” 1914, starring Charlie Murray and Edgar Kennedy.

See more vintage Disneyland Opening Day photos at my main website.

Happy 64th Anniversary, Disneyland!

In honor of the 64th Anniversary of Disneyland’s Grand Opening Gala, I will present a few memorable images of that historic day starting off with the christening of the Mark Twain. Art Linkletter mugs while actress Irene Dunne smashes the bottle of water from various American Rivers against the Twain.

Here Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen (aka Davy Crockett & George Russel) ride down Main Street in the Opening Day Parade:



The Mouseketeers, with Annette Funicello in the second row:



Walt Disney himself:



Walt was a busy man that day, running back and forth from Parades, the Disneyland Railroad:



to Town Square for the official opening ceremony:



to the Sleeping Beauty Castle with drawbridge being lowered for the first time to the public:



and hob-nobbing with celebrites Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher on Main Street, U.S.A.:



Congrats on your Anniversary, Disneyland - and thanks to Walt Disney for his creative vision and making this American Institution a reality!

See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.

Debbie and Eddie on Main Street

On Opening Day at Disneyland, July 17, 1955, Walt visits with America's Sweetheart, Debbie Reynolds and then hubby Eddie Fisher.

Note the strategically placed promo for Coca Cola. Yup…even in the 1950's there was product placement.



Debbie seemed to be going for a rustic look with her thatched hat and homemade snack tin. I hope she wasn't bringing snacks INTO the park!



Four years later, Eddie had dumped Debbie for Elizabeth Taylor and returned to the Park. America lost interest in Eddie the snake and so did Liz.



More Disneyland Day One Magic at my main website.

Elizabeth and Eddie

For those of you attempting to get rid of the bad taste you might have experienced from watching Lindsay Lohan's train wreck of a Lifetime TV movie, "Liz and Dick," hopefully a few shots of the real thing on today's post will help do the trick.

I recently upped my Elizabeth Taylor at Disneyland on January 21, 1959 collection by one, acquiring the wire photo seen here.

At the time this was taken, Taylor had been seeing singer Eddie Fisher, who also happened to be married to actress Debbie Reynolds. Fisher had been best friends with Taylor's husband, Mike Todd, who had died the previous year in a plane crash. Are you connecting the dots? I know, it's hard to follow. What better way to counteract the bad publicity of being labeled a husband-stealer than to take "the family" to Disneyland? The publicity obviously did little to help Fisher's career, as NBC canceled his television series a few months after this trip.

Here's the vintage blurb that accompanied this photo:

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 22—LIZ AND EDDIE TAKE KIDS TO DISNEYLAND—Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher lead her two boys by her marriage to actor Michael Wilding through Disneyland as they visited the huge amusement park yesterday. The boys are Christopher (left), 4, and Michael, 6. Behind the actress is Willard Higgins, who told newsmen he is "Mr. Fisher's man."



Fisher would also lose Taylor in the deal. Richard Burton replaced Stephen Boyd as Mark Antony in Twentieth Century-Fox's 1963 epic, "Cleopatra." During filming, Burton and Taylor fell in love and began to carry on an affair that culminated in marriage, once they were able to ditch their current spouses.



Ain't love grand?



See more vintage and current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web pages.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Snow White & Elizabeth Taylor

I just added a third image to my collection from Elizabeth Taylor's January 21, 1959 visit to Disneyland. Unfortunately, those old news wire photos aren't the best quality. Still, it's a chance to see the loading queue for the Snow White attraction. From the vintage publicity blurb:

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 21—LIZ AND EDDIE AT DISNEYLAND WITH KIDS—Elizabeth Taylor and boy friend Eddie Fisher hold her children by her marriage to actor Michael Wilding as they begin one of the fantasy rides during an outing at Disneyland today. The boys are Michael (left), 6, and Christopher, 4.

The other photos I have show Elizabeth enjoying the Alice attraction:



as well as some tasty Disneyland popcorn:



Like her friend Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor never grew tired of Disneyland. Her private bash at Disneyland celebrating her 60th birthday in 1992 made national headline news. Imagine having Disneyland open to only you and your closest friends. Now THAT'S clout. I can only imagine how much that set her back.



From the Los Angeles Times:

Elizabeth Taylor swooped into Disneyland in a horse-drawn white carriage Thursday night as hundreds of her Hollywood friends turned out to salute a "survivor" on her 60th birthday.

The woman who grew up on screen before the rapt eyes of generations of Americans transformed Disneyland's Fantasyland into a movie extravaganza with hundreds of celebrities, extraordinary security and lights that turned night into day.

Trumpet fanfares and flashing strobe lights greeted the celebrities who preceded her to Sleeping Beauty's castle. Disney characters escorted everyone from Henry Winkler to Cheryl Tiegs, Gregory Peck to Tom Selleck. A blond Delta Burke, accompanied by her husband, Gerald McRaney, called Taylor "strong and soft . . . witty and clever, intelligent . . . a fighter."

Disneyland officials barred the press from the event, but beamed their own videotape of the festivities onto satellite for waiting television stations. It gave the public another glimpse of the woman who starred in "National Velvet" at age 12, won two Oscars and married seven men, one of them twice. Along the way she battled a host of illnesses and addictions to painkillers.

"This is a private party and the sky is the limit," said a Disney spokeswoman. No one would say how much it cost to fete the hundreds of invited guests, but the normal $8,000 charge to rent the park after hours clearly was only the starting point. Although corporations have staged parties at Disneyland in the past, Taylor was the first individual to rent it, a park spokesman said.

Songwriter Carol Bayer Sager, one of the party organizers, said she "wanted to just throw a party where Elizabeth could have fun. She has brought a lot of love into my life."

Her longtime friend, Roddy McDowallbeamed as he arrived and said, "It's wonderful to be here to celebrate a survivor."

JonVoight, wearing a white Lakers jacket, said: "I remember her when 'National Velvet' came out and I fell in love with her. She means so much to us."

Rod McKuen said he wrote a song as his gift to Taylor, but wouldn't say more because it's "a very private thing." Actor John Forsythe said the gift from him and his wife was a donation to the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the charity for which Taylor has raised money.

Shirley MacLaine, who arrived with journalist Carl Bernstein, said Taylor has been "the most long-lasting star on the firmament and I know about that cosmic stuff. . . . I'm here in celebration of what has been a fantasy life."

Times columnist Liz Smith, who attended the party, gave this report as events began to unfold:

"Disneyland was just spectacular. Sleeping Beauty's Castle was decorated with columns of lavender and gold balloons. Vintage cars carried the guests. Trumpets sounded as each alighted.

"Security was rigid but the atmosphere was warm, informal and childlike.

"Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky arrived at 9:30. She was wearing sparkling cowboy boots and black quilted jacket with sprays of sequins, and he was wearing a black leather jacket and brown cowboy boots. Mickey Mouse took her arm as she got out and walked with her."

Want to know what happened to her outfit from that celebration?



See more vintage & current Snow White attraction photos on my Snow White web page.

Wednesday WOW: Celebrities @ Disneyland!

For another glimpse into my psyche and how I decide what to post...when I see photos/slides/negatives for sale, even at that point I am thinking how I can use them in this blog. Would they tie into another image and make a fun theme? Is it a unique enough image to stand on its own, or is it something that I should buy, hold onto, and maybe at a later date stumble onto a good companion piece? Two recent images I just purchased are not really that exciting on their own, but combining them with some previous photos give me today’s theme: vintage celebs at Disneyland. And awaaaaay we go. First up, we have Liz Taylor. Even though the focus of this poor quality wire photo is Liz and current hubby Eddie Fisher, by the wild swirls around them, it is obvious that they are about to enjoy the Alice in Wonderland attraction. Previously, I have posted this photo of Eddie and Liz (also from the same January 1959 visit) in Central Plaza with her two boys from previous hubby Mike Todd:



Here’s a previously posted image of the spooky looking character, who did double duty as both Mr. Hyde and The Phantom of the Opera, depending upon what was showing at the Main Street Cinema:





See more Disneyland entrance photos at my website.

Day @ Disneyland, July 1962, the final chapter!

Yup, it’s a slow death for this one today. Apparently our little group wasn’t too fond of Adventureland, for this Jungle Cruise hippo photo is the only one from the bunch. The last one of the series is near Central Plaza; this guy is smoking on a big fat stogie...probably right before he loses all his cares at the INA Carefree Corner (sure wish there was one of those today!).



And for something totally out of left-field, here’s a random one from January 1959 of Liz Taylor with Eddie Fisher (Eddie who?!?!) near Central Plaza. Eddie had just crushed his career by dumping America’s Sweetheart Debbie Reynolds for Liz. Of course, Liz survived the scandal unscathed.



See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.