Planet of the Apes -The Evolution of A Kingdom

I wore that helmet as security had a conniption fit and had me removed. It was Urko’s leather helmet, he was the Alpha Ape, hunting the humans. Ron Harper costar was a regular at this backlot in Garrison’s Gorillas, a series with Nothing to do with Apes! -MGM war TV series in the 60’s.

Whose the old guy with the glasses?

Whose’s the young guy with the Hawk?…A bit of Ape Envy.

Where’s catering located?

Found it! Prosthetics make eating an adventure. Like conversing with a mouthful of Novacaine.

We fixed your hair, but those cigarettes keep messing up your lips.

Roddy McDowell-leaning on subway, smoking, wearing a blue robe. He is going over opening scene. Just exited a prolonged make up session and from here goes to wardrobe. 1974-This upcoming scene is that of a EarthQuake. The sidewalk below will collapse into a subway track.

Two Apes, resting on box-having a smoke also. All these Apes relax by smoking, like a futuristic Marlboro commercial.

I’m hiding upstairs, “No Cameras” rule enforced…I was a guest, but MGM security got involved and called me “The most dangerous boy in Hollywood” Funny thing is -I was wearing Urko’s helmet, hands, and looking over his rifle when MGM freaked out. This is a 20th Century Fox Production. MGM security got their way and escorted me of lot. Actors had taken off some of their wardrobe gear for lunch and I was trying on the stuff left sitting on there chairs when Bronco Bob Coleman of MGM Security arrived and had a conniption fit!

I’m located top floor-this building. Roddy’s cigarette smoke drifted upwards and I inhaled his expulsion “drags”

Train station on left-Brownstone on right. Roddy visited with about 10 kids, standing on crates watching this scene filmed from the train tracks along Lot 2. Ron waved to us but Roddy visited, mimicked ape gestures and reached up with his “hairy hands” to touch our ‘dirty hands” as we all bonded.

A younger Ron Harper…same set-Grand Central Station. Series ran from 1967-68. A West Point Grad, Lt. Garrison, commands a group of convicts behind Nazi lines. Same narrative as The Dirty Dozen

Genius at work…His legend started with American Werewolf in London, where he won his first Academy Award for Make-Up. As this series of films progressed, Rick took over- turning humans into apes.

Transformation -Man to Wolf. Rick won his first Academy Award creating these effects.Scary stuff is his specialty...”Insert hand here to operate”

Rick spent countless hours at the zoo studying Gorillas for this part.1976-Rick was the actor inside the suite.

This kind of make up makes for extremely long days. Costumes and masks in particular get hot inside. His day has just begun as this actor, Bill Corso, contemplates his career. Rick started working with Dick Smith in 1972 on The Excorcist.

Modern make-up session…

Roddy in make up- before Rick Baker took this over. Close by- is a pack of cigarettes. His face is now extremely flammable. 1968

Two MGM Studio icons...Ricardo Montalban and Roddy McDowell on left. Mark Lenard wearing “my helmet”right.

This would become the lovable E.T

1982 E.T

Filmed at Culver City Studios, other classics filmed here include King Kong 1933, Gone With the Wind 1938, and Citizen Kane 1941–add E.T to this list.

Movie making evolution of all things film. This was before CGI took over so much of this industry.

Let’s Roll Cameras...Action

1974- On Location at the MGM Back Lot 2,…We Begin;

Like all other young boys, I loved this show beyond end. Of course I saw the films, starting in the 60’s, but low and behold, that theater box office success bled off to a very expensive T.V series. MGM Backlot 2 became the devastated location for the pilot episode. Broken cement was trucked in as set decor simulating Earth Quake damage.

The prep of the street took approximately a month, then it stood on hold while awaiting the ratings of the first 6 episodes. Sadly, the series was canceled, but many scenes were filmed not just on New York Street but all over the backlot. Tarzan’s lake and Grand Central Station were also used. The star besides Roddy was Ron Harper and he has quite the backlot history himself.

Roddy was one of MGM’s child stars and worked with Elizabeth Taylor on Lassie. Ron filmed at almost every set on this backlot in a series almost entirely filmed on MGM’s backlots. I can tell you – Roddy has a innocent charm that is itself childish.

During filming on the MGM backlot, word spread around my high school that “Apes were on loose” on the backlot. It actually became out of control, kids everywhere, rooftops, windows, and doorways. Things came to a head with “production” when a kid walked out of a doorway while the camera was rolling. Now the line has been crossed, so Roddy to the rescue.

Roddy took charge, he invited every trespasser to stand behind camera, on set. He used his fame and clout to out rank the director and U.P.M, allowing the biggest group of trespassers ever to witness many action scenes to come that afternoon.

Wonderful memories that I shared in my First Book, The one with the Big Green Fence as the cover. Read “Hole in the Fence” for the best stories ever- behind the scenes of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I conclude with a reflection later in life at Universal Studios. Roddy was starring in Tales of the Gold Monkey. A Friday night in a crashed plane in a jungle setting, I had to ask him ” Do you remember the chaos on the Apes set at the MGM backlot in 1974″…He laughed, took a drag off a cigarette, stared deeply in my eyes and after a pause said “Yes I do” “Well Roddy, I was one of those kids!

Written and Lived by…Donnie Norden