We weren’t the only kids that took advantage of this playground. Todd and Carrie Fisher are seen here with their friends horsing around at MGM Backlot #3.
From the North Pole to the MGM backlot
My pal Stanley makes the perfect head replacement from this oversized prop used in The Brothers Grimm.
Armored vehicles can be seen here where Andy Hardy once filmed
Tanks are always a great place to hide
Here I am on the right, on a train used by How the West Was Won and many other movie and television shows.
I’ll take the train…
This cockpit is the one in The Twilight Zone. It is in the process of being moved as it awaits its fate up by the main gate. The airplane room – its home for decades, has just been disassembled.
I have had many an Odyssey in this cockpit, maybe even better than Flight 33’s crew.
The cockpit that took us all back in time. to a prehistoric world. Anything goes in here. What goes on in the airplane room stays in the airplane room. (See “Twilight Zone Party” in my first book Hole in the Fence)
We even had WW2 Corsairs off of Overland and Sepulveda!
On the left side of this photo, the long hangar stores massive props, the white square building closest to us is attached and provides wardrobe on the backlot. We call it …The Helmet Room.
Helmets of ancient warriors are ready to march on at their beckon call… For a deeper dive into this area, read “The Helmet Room” in my first book “Hole in the Fence”.
This is how this room looked prior to auction. Much still existed even afterwards.
My playmate Maureen holding up her nephew, on the balcony of her home which overlooks MGM backlot 2.
Our cruise ship unfortunately looks more like the debris field from the Titanic.
Wagons are seen here on Lot #2 for the filming of the movie Cimarron in 1960.
Thanks for taking the time to read my stories.
Phantom of the Backlots Presents: Hole in the Fence
https://a.co/d/3ZkUAkd
Phantom of the Backlots Presents: Uninvited Visitor
https://a.co/d/cybQd8j
Phantom of the Backlots Presents MGM “The End of an Era”
https://a.co/d/cS5X35P
One Man’s Trash—
The stuff we see on TV does exist; I see it, I touch it, and if I can climb all over it, I DO!
The buildings on this lot are jam packed and they hardly know what they have. Since it might get reused one day, they keep it. That was old school studio mentality, when MGM ruled the screen. Sadly, no one uses them anymore. It’s like the kid who once lived here grew up and moved away. Well, at least they are captured on film for eternity.
To me, finding them is like stumbling into the world’s largest toy store. And it’s an interesting challenge to match up the puzzle pieces to the shows they were featured in.
First Discovery—
Today I visit yet another specimen in the television menagerie. It is a hangar, or to my eyes, a humongous toy chest. I venture inside and close it up behind me. A fuselage from a Jumbo jet is parked here and has an upstairs and a downstairs. This was a real plane, cut into sections. This plane is a teenage party spot. Comfy chairs recline; food table carts sit waiting for a pretty face to push them.
It Gets Even Better—
When I woke up this morning, I had no idea that I would unearth the airplane cockpit that was used in two Twilight Zone episodes—one with William Shatner, and one with John Carradine. There are so many knobs and levers it’s astonishing to see what pilots must deal with.
Signs, Signs. Everywhere a Sign—
The next department in this Super Store of toys is behind New York Street, in a covered two story, steel structure that can easily double for any Bowery warehouse. I estimate there are 500 large flashing neon Broadway signs stored in here.
If you look really close at the neon signs that flash on your favorite Twilight Zone episodes, you will see them again and again, on all the different building fronts. Like a deck of cards being reshuffled. This card game went on for decades. I would think this is all very valuable and should be saved, but what do I know? I’m just a kid.
More Stuff—
Another drawer in this giant toy chest is the helmet room, located by an ocean liner. (Not a real ocean liner, of course.) There are helmets from Combat, army jackets, and a mountain of ammo clips that snap into place, allowing eight rounds to be fired. The guns are not here though, and it appears that this room has already been picked over.
A clothes hanger that says “Ben-Hur’s head gear” stands forsaken in a closet, missing its iconic helmet. Soylent Green used this room as a makeshift wardrobe in 1972.
But the most impressive assembly I’ve seen is the odds and ends storage facility. Spaceships park alongside Pirate ships, a conning tower from Ice Station Zebra peeks over the top with its periscope. Scattered pieces from some bygone laboratory look like an unfinished science project.
Another rarity can be found looming on this lot. Amazingly, an imposing figure that dwells in a corner is a headless monster. I would later see this creature in the movie, The Brothers Grimm.
Sometimes it takes years to complete a puzzle, but inevitably, I end up seeing the shows this stuff was used in. Is the puzzle complete?
Written and Lived by… Donnie Norden
Phantom of the Backlots 