Rod Serling arrives to work at the front gate of MGM Studios
Today let’s explore some sets used in the episode Person or Persons Unknown S3/E27. I will take you into David Gurney’s home, his work, and his psychiatrist office. So, let’s go together, in search of an identity, into the deepest, darkest corners…of the Twilight Zone.
The streets used most often for the Twilight Zone is MGM’s residential neighborhood New England St., which we call Maple Street, along with New York Street, which we will visit today. I’ve spent more time on “Maple Street” than David Gurney or even Rod Serling. It was a safe and comfortable place to relax. If a guard sees us and starts coming upstairs, we simply jump from the balcony. The fence to exit is right behind this featured set. I had a fort in Andy Hardy’s house, directly across the street. Decorated with chairs, a carpet and a wall picture. It’s from upstairs in the Hardy home I watched in amazement as King Kong arrived on the backlot for filming. It was like a 747 commandeering an airport. No bigger “prop” or “star” arrived with such fanfare and security. A Kong “convoy” in 1976.
The Gurney home, also featured in “The Shelter” episode offered a hidden balcony for fun in the sun. I used to listen to The Twilight Zone regularly on a radio that picked up TV audio. Taking it one step further, we snuck in a TV to watch black and white reruns on this colorful street. That in itself was like its own episode of The Twilight Zone. The show was cancelled by then but it lived on through us. We went over every backlot scene at every set used by this series. We kept the “Grandfather Clock” ticking like Ed Wynn did in “Ninety Years Without Slumbering” also filmed just down the street.
At the time I was trespassing, this series had already been cancelled but was extremely popular in midafternoon and late night reruns. Being able to go where all exterior scenes were filmed of every episode seamlessly, for us anyway, kept this series alive and well. We relived everything. I did this at Desilu with the Andy Griffith series and Combat, where I died a million dramatic deaths. I lived for this stuff-in my own dimension of imagination. I think Rod would have loved to hear how neighborhood kids kept “kicking the can” years after this series stopped production.
The Vet’s Park scenes, filmed across the street from MGM feature “David Gurney’s” bank where “no one knew” this deranged man. A police car whisks him away. At that time, that building was the Culver City Library. I spent a lot of time in there, back when kids read, I favored sports books. Today, after a modest facelift, it’s now a teen center.
Written and lived by…Donnie Norden.
An aerial shot of MGM Backlot 2 where many of the Twilight Zone episodes were filmed. The arrows show the two locations used in this episode and post. The arrow below is New England Street also used extensively in Stop Over in a Quiet Town. And above, the escape alley on New York Street.
The opening scene from the TZ Episode Person or Persons Unknown and my MGM Art Department Photo of this same set pre-The Twilight Zone on New England Street, Backlot 2.
“And–Who is this strange man?” “That’s me” upstairs, shirt off on a summer day on Mr. Gurney’s balcony. We often hung out upstairs in this set. The stairway upwards is located on the backside of the building. Inside the front door, you’re greeted by a “Wild Wall” that blocks out the interior so you can’t tell this is a set. Usually a carpet, table and picture hanging on the wall creates the illusion this is a complete home. Interiors, such as his “wife in bed’ are shot on stage on the main MGM Lot One.
This view is sitting on the balcony looking upwards at the church steeple. This section burned down in the mid 70’s and will be a story in my upcoming book. After a brief and desolate few months, this entire street would see a massive upgrade for another big feature.
Behind the trees, right of the church- is The Shelter, or David Gurney’s home. I took this picture from New York Street, you can see the wide open spaces we sometimes had to ‘risk” crossing. We waited for the right time to run from one set to another, like some large hand was going to swoop down and get us.
This road sits behind the David Gurney home. A “tug” just passed by and is driving up the road. This transportation vehicle pulls a trailer behind it and is used to move props from one place to another. On the right hand side is the fence that separates the train tracks from the backlot. Across the street, a rock throw away, is Vet’s Park, which was used in this episode. Everything is that close…
The former Culver City Library “doubling’ as a bank for this episode. This is now the “Teen Center.”
A scene from the episode entering the bank and the Teen Center entrance today.
Driving away from the former Culver City Library “, you can see Vets Tower in this scene.
They didn’t have to go far to film the Bank scene in this episode. Above shows MGM Studios Lot 1 & 2 and the arrow pointing to the Bank next to Vets Tower.
The MGM famous alleyway set. A man in need of an “escape”. This set is basically a wall with a window, was built in this alley way for the scene when David decides to exit his forced “observation study” by taking off out a window.
My picture below was taken right after the filming of “Uptown Saturday Night” starring Bill Cosby and Sydney Poitier. The “B” on the Red Sign is Bunky’s Pool Hall. This is set decorations for a Taxi Cab scene in that MGM Feature -1974.
Ed Wynn, Rod Serling, and “Mr Death” on stage. What a moment this is… I will take you on all the sets used in “One for the Angels” in a future post you won’t want to miss, I have all the angles covered that were used in that wonderful tale.
This show will never disappear as long as this clock -“keeps ticking”
Thanks for reading! For more backlot adventures, check out my book on Amazon. Final edits are taking place on my second book, “The Uninvited Visitor.” We hope to have it ready for Christmas. This book will take you on active movie sets that span the decade of the 70’s. Before computers and cell phones, back when special effects were very- real deal. Probably the best era ever in motion picture and television history. Join me on set for these colorful, music influenced backdrops and larger than life stories where money was- no object. No other book on film history takes you where we’re going. Risks are everywhere-but you’re in good hands…follow me, keep low, let’s go!
Phantom of the Backlots Presents: Hole in the Fence https://a.co/d/eYFJDQu
Phantom of the Backlots 