Author: Phantom of the Backlot

We gotta start somewhere;

Lets start with ear protection, this is a loud remembrance of typical MGM Lot 3 day in the 60’s. I can’t use protection, I gotta know what’s going on…

The way I approach sets is often through buildings, so this can be a dangerous method on war shows. As I work my way around, I have found myself in proximity of explosives that will be going off, more than once. My problem is I’m not at the safety meetings as a trespasser so I have to figure out what’s safe myself. It starts with what is the Panavision camera is looking at, then how is this set being prepared?

With explosives, many safety precautions are necessary, so kids sneaking through buildings is especially dangerous. Fire extinguishers are always present as well as fire hoses. Depending how big the detonation, the fire department may be there. Loose debris, such as cork, that’s light-weight, gets thrown on top of the charges and wood framing is precut to blow apart easy. Special Effects people build things to look real but break easy, prop building is a prerequisite for this job, along with powder license. Welding is also a key component, for blast muzzles to direct the explosions. Combined, this creates the mass of flying timbers with smoke and flash, and noise for absolute realism.

This Dutch Street is often used with sets on lot 2 -when a quaint european atmosphere is needed. But in the 60’s, these sets were purposely bombed, burned, and riddled with bullets from effects legends such as A.D. Flowers. This effects legend has passed on but we will forever be able to watch his work on not only Combat but also on Tora, Tora, Tora, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and so much more. He was considered the top (Powder Guy) in the business. That is short for –Gun Powder.

I had the pleasure of meeting him at Universal. While running set power on a small shoot I was told see what Special Effects needs, and as we began talking, I found out I was talking to my HERO… It’s Flowers- Combat-it’s him. I quickly realized…

“You’re him, you’re Flowers from Combat?” I exclaim.

I turned into a little kid at that moment, ” I heard every one of your detonations at MGM, I lived right behind the backlot, it was non stop war”

It’s funny when you’re around someone famous what you say or ask when you get your moment, and I chose Combat for my reflections with him. He had no problem reflecting backwards and we shared something …we both grew up loving MGM!

Meeting Vic Morrow was a bucket list experience, especially since he passed on a week later. But this effects legend extraordinaire is who kept these weapons locked and loaded. Real deal professionalism in an extremely dangerous occupation. It was quite apparent-he lived for this stuff. So do I.

This was one of my most cherished memories and connected dots back to my childhood, I’ve been very blessed. I live my lunch-pails as I liked to say.

WW2 on the MGM backlots lasted over a decade, all through the 60’s before disappearing as the 70’s began. The villages wore their battle scars proudly long after. Craters and shell casings appear as if a full fledged retreat just occurred. The battle torn landscape sits silent, just an occasional door or window slamming in the wind…

I feel privileged to have seen this stuff, met these people, and still be alive and well to share these memories that include legends not only found in front of the screen but also…just out of frame!

3,2,1 ACTION!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

This Porcelain has “the look”

Cate Blanchett in a scene from the movie

Same set as above from the film

Spartacus Square is what is on studio maps and it is the first mention off the tour guides lips as the Glamour Tram spins a tight U-turn in this area. The area often has camels and horses scattered about and lies just beyond the studio transportation department. Currently, Eight sound stages are sprouting up nearby, where we used to park our trucks and trailers.

The pictures used in set dressing take you to a place in time of Nazi Germany, 1945. Berlin lays in ruins. This was the most elaborate build I ever saw take place in over 3 decades at Universal’s backlot. It was rebuilt to look bombed-out for the film, The Good German. In an interview with Cate Blanchett, she describes in detail how spectacular it was to walk on this set. Like the Fall of Berlin, this film crashed in the box office, by grossing only 6 million dollars in the theaters against its 32-million-dollar budget.

Not long before Berlin, this was Persia for the movie Scorpion King. The wars most fought here were that of the Roman Empire and Persia. Swords and chariots dominated the landscape. Scorpion King restored this area. It’s amazing just how well all the artists and crafts come together seamlessly, or so it appears, to create anyplace and anything. If you can dream it, we can make it, for a cost mind you.

This is why I love show business. It’s the behind-the-scenes attention to detail and research that goes into setting up the reality attempting to be portrayed like you’re the one living it. These bombed out sets put you smack dab into WW2. My favorite TV series growing up was Combat. At MGM, the European backlot Vic Morrow was used to seeing, looked just like this, all blown up.

Vietnam raised its ugly head here, and Vic Morrow, “Sgt- Saunders” from Combat, graced this set making it official for war. I met Vic Morrow in this same village on Twilight Zone: The Movie. Unfortunately, his next location would be his last location, where the helicopter mishap played out in Indian Dunes.

I didn’t get to meet Mr. Clooney on this shoot, but I did on his next appearance on the lot. A Nespresso commercial that he is the pitch man for was filming bright and early. They had three locations, being set up for this commercial at the Red Sea, Falls Lake and New York Street. Base camp was on New York Street. As I was powering up trailers, I look up and Clooney is pulling into our camp. But everyone was at the other sets and the star did not know exactly where everybody was at this deserted base camp. Since I was servicing all three sets with electric power, I said, “How do you do?”, and took him for a ride around the studio so he could be on the same page with all of us who start work before there is daylight…

Needless to say, there was no shortage of Nespresso on that set…

Spartacus Square

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

We Begin;

MGM lot 3 is its own very special land. Nestled at the base of the Baldwin Hills Oil Fields, MGM uses its natural western looking landscape to frame its movies and TV series’. This lot is best known for war if you grew up in the 60’s- around here. Combat, The Rat Patrol and Garrison’s Gorillas gave us a longer war than WW2 did. The sounds of gunfire ripped through this area adjacent to the studio, scaring birds and critters that go about their business in this adjoining oil field.

First operated by Standard Oil, these oil fields behind the studio can be seen in several Twilight Zones including the episodes Dust and Rance Mcgrew. Combat made sure not to capture these hills since it would not match their location. Oil derricks by the hundred looked down on this backlot. This was a very quiet area when no filming was taking place, often the only sounds were birds and oil wells pumping. Sulphur smells can be detected all about this area.

Lot 3, like Lot 2, had different types of fences around its vast expanse. The views where the hills would be included had chain link so you could not easily tell there was a fence. You could clearly see inside. Except on the main streets that border this lot. They tried to hide the place but how do you hide a wall with a sky painted on it and an ocean that has seen more action the Caribbean, with all its Pirates? The entire lot stood out above and through these fences like a gorilla in a small, tight suit.

I think everyone growing up around here, trespassed here, very easy to access, but security has free range and use of firearms was standard. So, keep that in mind. Plenty of places to hide but, this lot is so big, running requires covering huge sometimes wide-open distances. I can outrun a guard, but not a jeep, or a bullet. The vast expanse worked for us, but also against us.

My pal Jimmy and I rode around this lot on the outside for years, on our sting rays. When we finally got the guts to venture inside, we meet guys who warned us they shoot here. They pointed to a flood control drainage area that works like a bunker. Trains line the south side of the lot, blocking the views of the western street, so we would stare under the train carriages, looking for security. This gun thing is scary, it just is, because it’s true!

It’s the only reason more people did not partake in this game.

My friend Pat was shot at on lot 2 in a chase, we split off in different directions and security fired two shots at Pat. It’s scary enough being chased by an angry guard in a speeding jeep but the sound of shots fired is something you don’t forget –when you’re the target.

The western streets line up back to back but other sets are spread out so it’s dangerous in the daytime and really scary at night. The lot is too big to feel like you mastered it, so expect the unexpected. It feels haunted because I think it is. All these backlots are, but this one takes the cake. No stages exist at Lot 3, it is pure wilderness, with various villages and streets sprinkled in.

It is now the site of Raintree and Tara Hill, it’s laid out nicely, incorporating much more MGM landscape than the Studio Estates “Mistakes” made over on on Lot 2.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

We Begin;

Ok, yes, I did just do a post using Montana and all the connecting streets, but this show popped up later that evening. Exactly 50 years later. The street corners involved in this film hit home. Every day and night you could find me pass by here. Whether it be going to school at St. Augustine’s or just casing the joint, known as MGM. I have my own pictures of all these corners, but this show deserves honorable mention.

I was told by my friend Al Black, the most athletic security guard at MGM, about this show. He said the Bronco is in it. This was 50 years ago, finally this show appeared for me, 5 decades later. I was looking for the Red Bronco and never saw it- until my jaw dropped. The Bronco is not in it, but the license on the Corvette is-FJPP. This was a legal California plate, not a film placard fake.

But what’s better is all the film footage on these streets/corners. A switchblade knife fight begins after the car crashes through the fence. Fact is stranger than fiction, stuff like that kinda happened.

Around 1974, a tractor that was parked inside the studio fence one day, was found crashed through the fence the next. It was left next to the Hole in the Fence it created!

In 1973, Jimmy and I nailed security guard George Barner with lemons from a tree that still lives on Midway. He was hiding on the roof of the watermill house, we were outside the lot, at this very corner. We remained stealth until ready to launch, then we pelted him with lemons. He almost fell down the stairs escaping our onslaught!

Jimmy and I have very good arms, lets just say “we hit the oversized target! “

Montana is the same street the 1967 fire was fought from on New York Street.

Lots of stuff happened on this secluded little side street that framed the North side of MGM’s best backlot…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

I love the MGM, it’s gift that keeps on giving. Internet didn’t exist when I was a young lad inside these fences. Films and TV shows were our link to the past. Books hardly existed on our secret world.

When I saw these pictures from the sky, my heart fluttered. I get to see my home before I lived in it, meaning the studio. The oldest part of MGM lot 2 was the area closest to my house. That explains why so much of what’s located in this section is extremely aged and weathered. Like character wrinkles on an older friends face. We all age, even the sets I play on. But, what I did not know is how lot 2’s NY street was not original, but part of a large expansion.

MGM lot 1, the side with the sound stages, also had sets built on it. A move was made that demolished the sets on lot 1, and more stages were built. Newer, fanciers sets were built brand new on the backlot. This expansion, would see MGM buy up a Culver City street called Wyoming. This section would become the most iconic New York street any backlot would want to have, or dream off. Well thought out and engineered, each angle appears to go on forever. Clever intersections, cut through connecting street after street. It’s a grown ups play set. Add streetlights, newspaper stands, light posts, phone booths, subway portals, cars etc. Next thing you know Gene Kelly will be dancing or skating- down this street..

Even a massive warehouse was constructed on the backlot that could hold both an oceanliner and a rocketship…and everything in between. MGM bragged it has more stars than the heavens, so it needed more real estate to present these actors settings to perform in.

More than any other star, Gene Kelly is attached with this street. American in Paris, Singing in the Rain, It’s Always Fair Weather, and the Black Hand were all done here. Fred Astaire walks down 5th avenue in the classic The Bandwagon.

Red Skelton, The Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton are some of the funny people that would create history on 5th avenue. In the 70’s the street saw Joe Gannon of Medical Center have a clinic on it, Soylent Green became the official food of the neighborhood. Richard Roundtree filmed Shaft, the TV series here. I can dig it!

Laugh- in filmed a special on this street which included the legendary Bettie Davis, Roddy McDowell and Robin Williams, on my birthday-1977. I snuck into the theater during filming of a scene and realized the camera was facing in towards us and they were about to detonate a pyro technique explosive, right where we were positioned. We exited just in time before the blast… their is danger in the fun I have.

The Phantom of Hollywood would use the entire lot, including a murder at a studio party thrown by Peter Lawford on my NY street. Broderick Crawford was given the challenge to capture Jack Cassidy, the notorious Phantom. MGM security called me the Phantom before this show was created. In the script, two kids die falling from where my Boystown fort happened to be, at the time of this filming. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Planet of the Apes would take this street captive only to die off due to poor ratings. Yul Brynner stared me down as the Ultimate Warrior, dead center of this theater district, while taking direction, he looked at me like a robot.

Chips even chased a Phantom cycle-down this street. MGM would blow up a portion in 1979 in John Ritter’s Hero at Large feature.

It’s amazing how a couple pictures can conjure up so many memories…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden...

Mayberry Church-1973

The original church that stood here was originally built for the movie Gone With the Wind

Stained Glass Gone With The Wind Church/Hospital

Gone With the Wind concept of Atlanta. Notice the GWTW Church (Back center) has a steeple on it. The actual church in the movie did not.

A later shot of the church

More of the damaged church

Aunt Pittypat’s House in the 60’s before the fire

Aunt Pittypat’s House after, is seen in the right of the picture after the fire.

Located dead center of the old RKO backlot, it could be viewed clearly by town folks doing their everyday chores, if their endeavors take them down Jefferson Blvd. I remember my parents going to the local Fedco Department Store in pop’s station wagon, I marveled at all the backlots we passed along the way. Just east of MGM lot 3 and its sky background is the Desilu lot, perfectly wedged between a creek and a hillside. It sits at the edge of town. It was always a part of the landscape around here. It stands out like a parish should.

The best set ever built for a backlot backdrop is this complete church. It’s real inside and should count toward credit on Sunday mass. It’s better than many real churches I see about town. I was raised at St. Augustine’s catholic church. After school- often us Catholic boys headed over to Desilu and this church was our sanctuary from the grind of going to school in a church run by nuns. Frank Sinatra seems more forgiving than Sister Sheila. Every kid needs his Father Flanagan. If ever a backlot needed God’s influence, it’s this 40 acre backlot.

Pews stretch out inside from end to end. Most likely, the last mass inside was for The Andy Griffith series. It sat silently, yet stoically, as if on pause, until we breathed life into it again.

Long before Mayberry existed on this lot by name, this area was built as Atlanta in Gone With the Wind. Inside all the buildings are simple reminders of this prestigious past. Curtains, wallpaper, even some signs are inside every doorway. The focal point of this town is its wonderful church. It makes this town very identifiable, “oh I recognize that set”-stuff. When Jimmy and I first approached it, we tuned in all the Andy Griffith shows done here. One reason is that show was on every evening, so we could watch it on TV then-play there…

Well, that’s the buildup, so let’s step inside -follow me through the front door

We Begin;

We walk down a path with a black sign of mass schedules on one side and a flagpole on the other. We come to two wooden doors that hide what’s inside. So we open sesame…

A vast expanse religious space greets you; it takes a few seconds to absorb what’s inside. A four-story high roof creates an airplane hangar effect. It smells old inside here. There is scent in this building that began fermenting back when the church doors first opened back in 1947. Ancient dust kicked up by horses and soldiers and has settled for eternity inside these old buildings.

It’s real church size and a complete covered shelter. A large circular stained-glass window looks east, outward and beyond. At night the moon shines inside through it. This was the place where catholic boys can cut loose, get their uniforms dirty. Instead of myrrh incense, pot fills the air inside here often. It’s kinda where teen-age kids come to experiment. We’ve had deep life discussions in these pews, as deep as 13-year-olds get. Like confession!

Power exists inside, this church is often a hub for production to set up inside. Food tables, copy machines, refrigerators etc. Phone jacks and rolling phones are inside on production shoots. It doubles as an on-lot production office. The inside of this church was captured in the feature-Miracle of the Bells.

Starring Frank Sinatra and Fred MacMurray, this 1948 film captures this church like no other. As we begin to focus inside, we are greeted by silence. Opaque windows look out to the residential neighborhood that includes both Andy Griffith’s house across the street, two houses down from the church reverend.

A set of dual wood doors also provides access on this, the west side of the church. A messed up stand-up piano sits in a back corner, alongside a more messed up old gimbel horse. The horse is so old it’s decayed from termites but still has spooky eyes and a saddle built on to its back to pretend you’re riding off into the sunset.

For all I know Clark Gable sat on this rocker horse before us kids took it over

As we muster around here some more, we end up at the tallest peak this building offers. An imposing shaft towers overhead like the Tower of London. A straight shot ladder built directly into the church siding itself tempts you or…scares you away.

You came this far, let’s do it. Hold on tight to each rung, don’t look down. It’s worth the risk/ reward. Each story has a window to provide the only light to work with. At night, you make the climb by feel, best you practice in daylight. As you reach the summit, your head pops through to a belfry covered with pigeon and owl droppings. Owls leave piles of bones behind, I learned to differentiate up here. It’s like a kid science project. Not just a little, four decades worth, a foot thick. This old movie ranch has creatures of the night on the hunt. Nothing sleeps around here, you just lightly shut your eyes is all. Predators lurk at every turn. Bless the beasts and the children…

Now you’re here, this view is unparalleled, it’s the grandest position on the lot. It looks far beyond Mayberry and the 40-acre lot, Culver City encompasses the outer radius, beyond all parts Mayberry. It’s as if the two cities merge here. Culver City actually had Mayberry charm and innocence, way back when.

You have to factor in something important, you can easily be seen up here. It takes 20 to 30 seconds to climb up here, so if you’re seen and feel a need to escape, the posse after you can cover a lot of ground while you’re stuck in climb mode. As great as this view is- be careful is all. My Mom’s favorite line. Night time is the better time and I have spent many a moonlit night inside this church and up top in this steeple. I would guess I’ve been up here 100 times. It is the set of sets on this iconic lot.

Sadly, it was lit on fire. A small group of vandals has done so much backlot damage, it’s pitiful. Let’s celebrate its long existence, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It’s almost appropriate this lot goes out on fire, it’s what it’s best known for…

Gone With the Wind is how we began, and it’s how we end it. Close the curtains, put the horses back to pasture, and exit in the cloud of dust that blows in from the Ince main gate.

I love this place!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Look what I found! That’s my buddy Stanley peaking out the dragons head.

MGM’s famous Grand Central Station was one of the locations used in the filming of Brothers Grimm. It can be a working train station which actually ties in to Southern Pacific’s tracks where MGM shipped out large props such as stage coaches to arrive at various filming locations. This iconic set, Grand Central Station, was located inside MGM’s fabled Lot 2, and was featured in the closing scenes of this classic tale of The Brothers Grimm in 1962. This set had a small but important role, when Hollywood needed a grand rail depot. In 1972 while roaming this backlot we found the dragon which was missing it’s head, used in Brothers Grimm. At the time we weren’t sure what movie it was from. We searched the area everywhere looking for the head but it was gone! It did not need a stationary head- facial expressions would be needed. It never had a plaster head. Visual effects takes over in the Buddy Hackett/ dragon interactions. That’s a George Pal specialty. He had just completed work on the classic Time Machine film on this very same lot the year before. Below is a picture I took of my friend Stanley peeking out the neck of the dragon.

The Brothers Grimm was filmed here the same time the television show Combat was blowing up these same sets. MGM had a difficult time on the backlots in the early sixties with all the sound issues these battles created. Sound can’t be contained. I could hear it at my house. The sound of gunfire was equivalent to a fire bell or the end-of-day school bell for me. Me and my buddies would go running out of the house and be on set in literally just moments- to see what action was going on today at MGM!

Combat factor exists-Often a big problem, that hit show was a nightmare for other films and TV shows not set in WWII. The Twilight Zone battled Combat, just for quiet. Imagine trying to film the Twilight Zone episode “Stop Over in a Quiet Town” here. This Quiet Town sits next to the loudest village in all of Hollywood. The small town square is deserted, except for the battalion sitting in the shadows with their guns hanging out the windows. These shows that attempted to film quietly would have to be in radio contact with the production of Combat, so quiet scenes could happen while Combat reloads. It’s probably something many folk don’t realize takes place. But, it does…. I’ve personally dealt with sound carry over several times at Universal.

I enjoyed all the gunfire, as a boy. It made my army battles in my yard feel so real. Non-stop gunfire, all day, only stopping to reload or move cameras. What you see on TV was half of what took place gunfire and noise wise. Much gets edited, but when in doubt –fire away.

The movie Phantom of Hollywood, to the T.V. series Planet of the Apes, and of course That’s Entertainment all thrashed it. But the Fortune, Capone, and Young Frankenstein all fixed it up nice before filming began.

This plot of land with it’s wonderful worldly sets is where magic creates itself. I still feel it when I walk my dog down the residential streets that now cover what once was. Magic is real but you must believe in your wishes! In my case an MGM genie was perched on my shoulder and gave me everything I ever dreamed of-and still is ! It was like I was inserted into this world to first live, then share all these special memories from this wonderful real life fairy-tale land.

My big dream now is making a film based of these kid stories, the entire decade of the seventies- relived. This era of color, music, and energy played out full scale, this lot went with a bang. I’ll take you there, in my upcoming book- Hole in the Fence. This time can be recaptured for all through the tiny eyes of little trespassers -that turned into big trespassers on the ultimate E-ticket ride. Buckle-up!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

My picture looking down on this set from a church tower. The bridge is barely visible to the left.

Brothers Grimm- meet Brothers Gibb…they’re here to close out this old station with a very appropriate rock video- Stayin Alive…This was the last scene ever filmed here at this iconic rail destination.-1977. The lot was not only Alive’ but flourishing!

1975 N.Y Central is painted over what was Penn Central for Young Frankenstien.

MGM Backlot 2 Train Station location-bottom left corner is a large green structure that is a working rail station.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Harum Scarum ;

Nobody except the King himself can put you in this movie chase besides me. Something caught my attention watching this Elvis rerun recently. Elvis had a Harum at Desilu studios. Even better, he used my fort to escape from angry tribesmen with little Billy Barty. This Middle Eastern village is located just adjacent to the La Ballona creek. Everyshow that films on this lot uses the dirt road behind this village to get to the heart of the backlot.

In 1965, the year this was filmed, an average day on this historic backlot could include one, if not all the shows I will name now:

Hogan’s Heroes, Andy Griffith, Lassie, Gomer Pyle, This was TV in the 60’s at it’s best. Desilu Studios was a TV factory, so when this feature rolled in, it stood out. MGM equipment, MGM personnel and MGM’s biggest star. Goober’s gas station sits almost connected to this village. Production vehicles would have surely been parked here and on Western street. Fitting equipment in on busy backlots goes unnoticed, unless your crew, and there is an an art to loading 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound box. Somehow, it all gets done. I can only imagine the buzz on the backlot on these other sets and shows knowing Elvis is filming here. It’s safe to say the cast of Hogan’s Heroes probably crossed paths with Elvis, even if it was a quick “Hello.”

I’m guessing this Harum Scarum set had a lot of visitors wanting to see a piece of the legend called- The King. He did not let anyone down. He danced about in this tiny village on a backlot known more for horse rustling than dancing…

Stalag 13 stands within close proximity, close enough for sound to carry to the prison. Can’t hide noise. There was a King here in 1933, named Kong. Elvis is running around in the same footsteps where King Kong once filmed. Those sets were destroyed in Gone with the Wind. The burning of Atlanta cleansed this part of the lot. This village from King of Kings has stood through all this history. It remained as the last set standing until a 1976 fire did it in. Goober’s gas station also burned that night at 10:25 pm, December 29,1975. I was there when this fire broke out, it was a fitting way for it to go, bulldozers were soon to be leveling the few sets still standing. Fire was a fitting way to see it disappear. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, best describes the Desilu backlot. It was cremated.

I was told a story that took place at 20th Century Fox in the late 50’s involving Elvis. He had an office next to Marilyn Monroe in a complex on the studio lot. My friend was a laborer and his job was to deliver a piano to a second story office. It had to go up a flight of stairs. Elvis was playing football in a courtyard when the studio crew arrived. He had other plans, he said “Your on that team”, to the one laborer. Elvis directed “Mike Murphy” into his huddle and said “Your with us.”

15 pass plays later, the group all helped get this piano upstairs to finish the delivery.

We boys know the trouble with girls- they can’t throw a football!

Long Live the King!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Fade in: March 6,1981- continued on from the Waltons Treehouse adventure…

Sitting at the counter at Bob’s Big Boy on Riverside Drive is like being in a studio commissary at certain times. A man with a Wolfman costume sits at the opposite end as if this is his set. Jimmy and I rehash our interlude at TBS earlier today with the Waltons crew, having never before been in a set that became “hot” while we were inside it.

We explored the Burbank Studios lot this morning and now it’s off to Universal for the second part of our afternoon. We take the car from Valley Heart Drive, the public street behind the Waltons house and we pull into the Universal Lot. It is so big that employees get shuttled by a yellow school bus that reminds us of the Partridge Family. Over an hour ago, we walked out of the TBS lot and waved “good by” to security like we will see you again Monday. Now, we are waving “Hello” to Universal security as the magic bus door slaps open, and a teamster tells us “pull the cord when you want off” … “will do sir”

The older we get, the easier this charade has become.

We decide to get off by stage 44 with the rest of the kids. Across the way is Colonial Street. Filming for BJ and the Bear is already in progress on this street that has the Munsters House and The Beaver House. Jimmy and I go inside the Munster house and go upstairs, we see a big rig with a chimp climbing around the cab. Greg Evigan is kissing a blonde girl good-by as he and the Bear climb inside the cab and say “Farewell”

This lot is even busier than the one we just left! We have just gone from Dukes of Hazzard, The Waltons, and Blade Runner at TBS to BJ and the Bear and some other show farther down the street.  Jimmy and I relax and finish the joint that we had to snuff out up in the Waltons’ treehouse. This joint, started up in a treehouse on the Waltons at TBS, and gets finished upstairs- in the Munster’s house. Welcome to my world!

As the smoke clears we appear and walk right out the front door of 1313 Mockingbird Lane. I correctly diagnosed something I was looking down at, Dan Pastorini is on this set. He plays Pro-Football, he is on the Raiders. He is the star I want to meet. I position myself alongside him, he is busy being the object of several women’s attention in between scenes. I just want to talk football, the Raiders are World Champs. He obliges me, I sit in a folding chair next to him. I’m acting like I belong here and am doing a real good job.

I get what I needed, including seeing the advance for Monday, on the call sheets. 7am, Santa Monica Pier. Count me in, I live right by there, see ya at breakfast.

A camera operator shares a story with me, it involves a moving truck shot and the camera is inside this truck POV looking out of the cab while driving. The camera is in the sleeper compartment behind “Stacks, BJ, and the Bear (BJ’s sidekick “the Bear” is actually a chimp named after University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant.) The concern is this- the Bear is infatuated with the red air brake knob that would lock this truck up and send it into a jack-knife if it gets pulled. The entire time this scene is filmed, everyone was looking from the corner of their eye as they delivered their lines- ready to grab the chimp’s arm if he makes one wrong move towards the brakes.

The Bear would have loved the Waltons treehouse we were in earlier today. I’m sure the Waltons kids wouldn’t mind. This show is on the move to stage so we also move to another set, right down the street. Barbara Eden is being hosed down in front of a home by a green water hose, she’s dripping wet as we watch from the Beaver’s porch. Let’s all just pause and take a Barbara Eden moment…

That scene gets finished and we are in the mood to explore, so we walk the length of New York Street and end up at a castle that is better known as The Tower of London. From on top a castle turret, we watch all the activity on this lot and beyond. We can see the church steeple at The Burbank Studios, heck, we were just there. Below this castle is 6 points Texas, and the best gig on the Glamour Tram tour takes place right here-The Runaway Train.

Every couple minutes this train heads straight for the Pink and Whites with the conductor shouting ” I can’t stop!”

The train, having scared the Glamour Tram farther along, backs up by itself and hides next to the barn on this special set of tracks. It’s ready for the next unsuspecting tram.

O.K. we got this, the train parks, like train robbers we climb aboard, we duck behind the conductor, there are three of us up here now. Here we go, there’s a tram, ride em’ cowboy.

We pop our heads up as the train goes face to face with the tram. Pictures are shot from inside the tram as all this takes place by tourists and somewhere, in this world, Jimmy and I are in several. We do this several times, with each one we become bolder, we embellish the “can’t stop- part”

I always wanted to ride in a train engine, and today, we did that. We say, “Good by” to the gray-haired guy in blue coveralls with the three-word vocabulary “I can’t stop.” “We will see you again sir,” with that we walk to the next town.

The depot on Denver street doubles as a jail, inside anyway. Inside it, is a picture of Alias Smith and Jones. That’s a must have picture, The Hole in the Wall Gang meets The Hole in the Fence gang.

Jimmy and I got what this gang was searching for…Amnesty! It’s all Smith and Jones wanted, not to have to look over their shoulder at every turn. Well, the show got cancelled before the Governor came through. But the valley and its marvelous studios have provided Jimmy and I the amnesty those boys were searching for.

We’ve gone being shot at, hunted, and on every most wanted list at every studio gate in Culver City, to a simpler life. Unassuming, willing to work, can drive a train if need be. We got something special out here, we couldn’t get it in Culver City. We got… amnesty!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…