A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate.
117-616: The Harvey Girls is a 1946 Technicolor American musical film produced by Arthur Freed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . It is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by Samuel Hopkins Adams , about Fred Harvey 's Harvey House waitresses . Directed by George Sidney , the film stars Judy Garland and features John Hodiak , Ray Bolger , and Angela Lansbury , as well as Preston Foster , Virginia O'Brien , Kenny Baker , Marjorie Main and Chill Wills . Future star Cyd Charisse appears in her first speaking role on film. The Harvey Girls won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for " On
234-524: A Radio Picture entitled The Runaround (1931). The new process not only improved the color but also removed specks (that looked like bugs) from the screen, which had previously blurred outlines and lowered visibility. This new improvement along with a reduction in cost (from 8.85 cents to 7 cents per foot) led to a new color revival. Warner Bros. took the lead once again by producing three features (out of an announced plan for six features): Manhattan Parade (1932), Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of
351-424: A beam splitter consisting of a partially reflecting surface inside a split-cube prism , color filters , and three separate rolls of black-and-white film (hence the "three-strip" designation). The beam splitter allowed one-third of the light coming through the camera lens to pass through the reflector and a green filter and form an image on one of the strips, which therefore recorded only the green-dominated third of
468-477: A mordant solution and then brought into contact with each of the three dye-loaded matrix films in turn, building up the complete color image. Each dye was absorbed, or imbibed, by the gelatin coating on the receiving strip rather than simply deposited onto its surface, hence the term "dye imbibition". Strictly speaking, this is a mechanical printing process most closely related to Woodburytype and very loosely comparable to offset printing or lithography , and not
585-540: A 2,700-acre (11 km ) ranch on Medea Creek in the Santa Monica Mountains near Agoura Hills , between Malibu and the Conejo Valley . The studio built numerous large-scale sets on the ranch, including a huge replica of early San Francisco , an Old West town, and a Welsh mining village (built by 20th Century Fox for (1941) How Green Was My Valley , and later redressed (with coal mine tipple removed) as
702-511: A French village for use in (1943) The Song of Bernadette , and again used for (1949) The Inspector General ). Western town sets posed as Tombstone, Arizona, and Dodge City, Kansas, as well as Tom Sawyer's Missouri, 13th-century China, and many other locales and eras around the world. It is now Paramount Ranch Park in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area . The National Park Service took over
819-404: A Technicolor cartoon sequence "Hot Choc-late Soldiers" produced by Walt Disney. On July 28 of that year, Warner Bros. released Service with a Smile , followed by Good Morning, Eve! on September 22, both being comedy short films starring Leon Errol and filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Pioneer Pictures , a movie company formed by Technicolor investors, produced the film usually credited as
936-546: A black-and-white picture again." Although Disney's first 60 or so Technicolor cartoons used the three-strip camera, an improved "successive exposure" ("SE") process was adopted c. 1937 . This variation of the three-strip process was designed primarily for cartoon work: the camera would contain one strip of black-and-white negative film, and each animation cel would be photographed three times, on three sequential frames, behind alternating red, green, and blue filters (the so-called "Technicolor Color Wheel", then an option of
1053-616: A comic actress known for her deadpan style of singing, was pregnant while The Harvey Girls was filmed. Several scenes with Ray Bolger were never filmed due to the difficulty in hiding her pregnancy. This accounts for O'Brien's character disappearing after she sings "Wild Wild West". The Harvey Girls was released in the United States on January 18, 1946. Production credits: The songs in The Harvey Girls were all written by Harry Warren (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics): By far
1170-449: A complete adobe village survived on the northeast section of the ranch. In 1990, after the death of his horse ' Champion ,' which Autry had kept in retirement there, the actor put the remaining 12-acre (4.9 ha) ranch up for sale. It was purchased by Renaud and Andre Veluzat to be developed as an active movie ranch for location shooting . The Veluzats have a 22-acre (8.9 ha) complex of sound stages , western sets , prop shop, and
1287-766: A dramatic western vehicle for Lana Turner , but Roger Edens , of the Arthur Freed unit, decided after seeing the musical Oklahoma! that the story should be reworked as MGM's western musical with Judy Garland as its star. Garland wanted to work with Fred Astaire on Yolanda and the Thief , which was directed by fiancé Vincente Minnelli . Edens convinced her that the part in Yolanda was not large enough for her, and he promised that The Harvey Girls would be specifically created to showcase her talents. Principal photography on The Harvey Girls lasted from January 12 through June 4, 1945,
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#17328519574891404-610: A farmer married to Bessie Iverson, owning the northern half (the Upper Iverson). In the mid-1960s the state of California began construction on the Simi Valley Freeway , which ran east and west, roughly following the dividing line between the Upper Iverson and Lower Iverson, cutting the movie ranch in half. That separated the ranch, and also produced noise, making the property less useful for moviemaking. The waning popularity of
1521-474: A five-year lease on a parcel of land in central Placerita Canyon. The western town constructed there was located just east of what is now the junction of the Route 14 Antelope Valley Freeway and Placerita Canyon Road. Today this is part of Disney 's Golden Oak Ranch (see below) near Placerita Canyon State Park . In 1935, as a result of a Monogram-Republic studio merger, the 'Placerita Canyon Ranch' became owned by
1638-450: A green filter and one behind a red filter. The difference was that the two-component negative was now used to produce a subtractive color print. Because the colors were physically present in the print, no special projection equipment was required and the correct registration of the two images did not depend on the skill of the projectionist. The frames exposed behind the green filter were printed on one strip of black-and-white film, and
1755-464: A handful of the productions that were filmed at the ranch. The rocky terrain and narrow, winding roads frequently turned up in Republic serials of the 1940s and were prominently featured in chases and shootouts throughout the golden era of action B-Westerns in the 1930s and 1940s. For the 1945 Western comedy Along Came Jones , producer and star Gary Cooper had a Western town built at the ranch; this set
1872-476: A larger real estate deal to be completed in 2023 which will see the studio get ownership of The Burbank Studios in time to mark its 100th anniversary. All historic sets and sound stages were demolished during December, 2023. Circa 1937, Ray "Crash" Corrigan invested in property on the western Santa Susana Pass in California's Simi Valley and Santa Susana Mountains , developing his 'Ray Corrigan Ranch' into
1989-637: A long production period. Studio filming was at MGM's Culver City studios, and the locations were in Victorville, California ; at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth (near Los Angeles ); and in Monument Valley . Singer Virginia Rees' voice was dubbed for Angela Lansbury's songs. Cyd Charisse, who had her first speaking role in the film, had her singing dubbed by Marion Doenges. Virginia O'Brien,
2106-445: A photographic one, as the actual printing does not involve a chemical change caused by exposure to light. During the early years of the process, the receiver film was preprinted with a 50% black-and-white image derived from the green strip, the so-called Key, or K, record. This procedure was used largely to cover up fine edges in the picture where colors would mix unrealistically (also known as fringing ). This additional black increased
2223-588: A possible shot-in-the-arm for the ailing industry. In November 1933, Technicolor's Herbert Kalmus and RKO announced plans to produce three-strip Technicolor films in 1934, beginning with Ann Harding starring in a projected film The World Outside . Live-action use of three-strip Technicolor was first seen in a musical number of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature The Cat and the Fiddle , released February 16, 1934. On July 1, MGM released Hollywood Party with
2340-471: A replacement and Em and the dance-hall girls leave town. Susan, thinking that Trent too is leaving, gets on the train, but Em, seeing that Susan loves Trent so much that she is willing to give up everything for him, stops the train and points out Trent, riding toward them on his horse. Ultimately, they wed in the desert, surrounded by the Harvey Girls. Cast notes: The Harvey Girls was conceived by MGM as
2457-464: A rustic western town, Mexican village, western ranch, outlaw hide-out shacks, cavalry fort, Corsican village, English hunting lodge, country schoolhouse, rodeo arena, mine-shaft, wooded lake, and interesting rock formations. This amusement park concept closed in 1966. In spite of Corriganville's weekend tourist trade, production of films continued. The action TV series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin used
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#17328519574892574-468: A special camera (3-strip Technicolor or Process 4) started in the early 1930s and continued through to the mid-1950s, when the 3-strip camera was replaced by a standard camera loaded with single-strip "monopack" color negative film. Technicolor Laboratories were still able to produce Technicolor prints by creating three black-and-white matrices from the Eastmancolor negative (Process 5). Process 4
2691-737: A synchronized score and sound effects. Redskin (1929), with a synchronized score, and The Mysterious Island (1929), a part-talkie, were photographed almost entirely in this process also but included some sequences in black and white. The following talkies were made entirely – or almost entirely – in Technicolor Process 3: On with the Show! (1929) (the first all-talking color feature), Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), The Vagabond King (1930), Follow Thru (1930), Golden Dawn (1930), Hold Everything (1930), The Rogue Song (1930), Song of
2808-486: Is a partial listing of some of the classic Southern California movie ranches from the first half of the 20th century, including some other and newer locations. Located in the town of Apache Junction , Arizona, the Apacheland Movie Ranch and Apacheland Studio was developed from 1959 to 1960 and opened in 1960. Starting in late 1957, movie studios had been contacting Superstition Mountain-area ranchers, including
2925-597: Is good fun in spots. Miss Garland doesn't seem as recklessly happy as she was in St. Louis but she still appears to be having a pretty fine time." According to MGM records the film earned $ 4,112,000 in the US and Canada and $ 1,063,000. "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. In addition, Lennie Hayton 's score
3042-617: Is located near Santa Clarita, California , just north of Newhall Pass . In 1962 a brush fire destroyed most of the western town sets on the ranch, and Autry sold 98-acre (40 ha), most of Melody Ranch. The remaining 22-acre (8.9 ha) property was purchased by the Veluzats in 1990 for the new Melody Ranch Studios movie ranch. From 1926, early silent films were often shot in Placerita Canyon, including silent film westerns featuring Tom Mix . In 1931, Monogram Pictures took out
3159-401: Is the film's bright ... star. Miss Garland is effectively glamorized in get-ups of the (18)90's and sings her songs pleasantly. The Harvey Girls is a perfect demonstration of what Hollywood can do with its vast resources when it wants to be really showy ... pretty girls – period sets and costumes – lilting tunes – super-speedy dance shuffles." The New York Daily News said it
3276-551: Is to be used in The Rose of the Ranch" which has just been started. The new ground is to be used for big scenes and where a large location is needed. A stock farm is to be maintained on the ranch. It is planned to use 500 people in the story. There will be 150 people transported through Southern California for the mission scenes. The studio will be used for the largest scene ever set up, the whole state and ground space being utilized." In 1963,
3393-536: The Ahmanson family 's Home Savings and Loan purchased the property and adjacent land. Home Savings and Loan was the parent company of Ahmanson Land Company , and so the ranch became known as the Ahmanson Ranch. Washington Mutual Bank (WAMU) took over ownership of Home Savings and proceeded with the development plans for the ranch. The public advocacy for undeveloped open space pressure was very strong, and development
3510-541: The Billboard No. 10 position on September 20. The song was also number 1 on Your Hit Parade for eight weeks running. In shooting the number for the film, Garland reportedly did the entire song up to the tempo change in one take, twice, after watching her stand-in do one run-through. Cut from the film were three other songs written for it by Warren and Mercer: "March of the Doagies", "Hayride" and "My Intuition". "Doagies"
3627-557: The Santa Monica Mountains , and the Santa Clarita area of the Greater Los Angeles Area . The natural California landscape proved to be suitable for western locations and other settings. As a result of post-war (WWII) era suburban development, property values and taxes on land increased, even as fewer large parcels were available to the studios. Los Angeles development was widespread, resulting in urban sprawl . Most of
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3744-687: The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy since 1987. The location of the ranch was in the northwest corner of Chatsworth , along the western side of Topanga Canyon Boulevard where it currently intersects with the Simi Valley Freeway. The First Lasky Ranch in the San Fernando Valley was located on the Providencia Ranch. In 1912, Universal purchased the property and named it Oak Crest Ranch. This old Universal ranch
3861-456: The Simi Hills on Santa Susana Pass in what is now Chatsworth , eventually expanding their land holdings to about 500 acres (200 ha). They reportedly allowed a movie to be shot on the property as early as 1912, with the silent movies Man's Genesis (1912), My Official Wife (1914), and The Squaw Man (1914) being some of the productions often cited as among the earliest films shot on
3978-613: The backlots . They call it the 'Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio' and 'Melody Ranch Studios.' The ranch has a museum open year-round. One weekend a year the entire ranch is open to the public during the Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival , held at the end of April. The 22-acre (8.9 ha) Melody Ranch Studio was used in 2012 for filming some scenes for Quentin Tarantino 's Django Unchained . The owners in 2019 were Renaud and Andre Veluzat. In 1927, Paramount Studios purchased
4095-404: The spectrum . The other two-thirds was reflected sideways by the mirror and passed through a magenta filter, which absorbed green light and allowed only the red and blue thirds of the spectrum to pass. Behind this filter were the other two strips of film, their emulsions pressed into contact face to face. The front film was a red-blind orthochromatic type that recorded only the blue light. On
4212-558: The ' Corriganville Movie Ranch .' Most of the Monogram Range Busters film series, which includes Saddle Mountain Roundup (1941) and Bullets and Saddles (1943), were shot here, as well as features such as Fort Apache (1948), The Inspector General (1949), Mysterious Island (1961), and hundreds more . Corrigan opened portions of his vast movie ranch to the public in 1949 on weekends to explore such themed sets as
4329-550: The 110-acre (45 ha) 'Monogram Ranch' property from the Hickson heirs in 1953. He renamed the property 'Melody Ranch' after his 1940 film of the same name , and his following Sunday afternoon CBS radio show (1940–1956) and . A brushfire swept through 'Monogram Ranch' in August 1962, destroying most of the original standing western sets. The devastated landscape was useful for productions such as Combat! . A large Spanish hacienda, and
4446-510: The Acme, Producers Service and Photo-Sonics animation cameras). Three separate dye transfer printing matrices would be created from the red, green, and blue records in their respective complementary colors, cyan, magenta and yellow. Successive exposure was also employed in Disney's "True Life Adventure" live-action series, wherein the original 16mm low-contrast Kodachrome Commercial live action footage
4563-564: The Apacheland Barn, both of which survived the second fire, were donated to the Superstition Mountain Museum. Each structure was partially disassembled at the ranch, moved by truck, and reassembled on the museum grounds, where both stand today. Columbia Pictures , 411 North Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA, purchased the original 40-acre (16 ha) lot in 1934 as additional space to its Sunset Gower studio location, when Columbia
4680-518: The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe ", written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer . In the 1890s, a group of "Harvey Girls" – new waitresses for Fred Harvey 's pioneering chain of Harvey House restaurants – travels on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to the American Southwest town of Sandrock. On the trip they meet Susan Bradley, who is travelling to the same town to marry
4797-1004: The Bell Tolls : Iverson Movie Ranch Movie ranches were developed in the 1920s for location shooting in Southern California to support the making of popular western films. Finding it difficult to recreate the topography of the Old West on sound stages and studio backlots , the Hollywood studios went to the rustic valleys, canyons and foothills of Southern California for filming locations. Other large-scale productions, such as war films, also needed large, undeveloped settings for outdoor scenes, such as battles. To achieve greater scope, productions conducted location shooting in distant parts of California, Arizona , and Nevada . Initially production staff were required to cover their own travel expenses, resulting in disputes between workers and
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4914-742: The Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), The Life of the Party (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Mamba (1930), Whoopee! (1930), King of Jazz (1930), Under a Texas Moon (1930), Bright Lights (1930), Viennese Nights (1930), Woman Hungry (1931), Kiss Me Again (1931) and Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931). In addition, many feature films were released with Technicolor sequences. Numerous short subjects were also photographed in Technicolor Process 3, including
5031-531: The Fort Apache set for many shots from 1954 to 1959. Roy Rogers , Lassie , and Emergency! production units also filmed scenes on the ranch. In 1966, Corriganville became 'Hopetown' when it was purchased by Bob Hope for real estate development. A wildfire destroyed the buildings in 1970. About 200 acres (81 ha) of the original 2,000 acres (810 ha) is part of the Simi Valley Park system, open to
5148-505: The Matter with Helen? . It is commonly believed, though not the case, that Leave It to Beaver was filmed here, ('Beaver' actually filmed (first season) at CBS Studio Center – née Radford Studios and later at Universal Studios ). The Waltons originally filmed on the Warner Bros. main lot where the recognizable house facade was located until it burned down in late 1991. A recreation of
5265-746: The Menace , The Hathaways , The Iron Horse , I Dream of Jeannie (which also used the Father Knows Best house exterior), Bewitched , The Monkees , Apple's Way , and The Partridge Family (which also filmed on ranch sound stages ). A short list of the many classic feature films which filmed scenes on the movie ranch would include; Lost Horizon , Blondie , Melody in Spring , You Were Never Lovelier , Kansas City Confidential , High Noon , The Wild One , Autumn Leaves , 3:10 to Yuma , The Last Hurrah , Cat Ballou , and What's
5382-516: The Pacific Electric railway services, by rail to The Oak Crest Station and then Vehicle by way todays Barham Blvd. ( Mammoth Film Plant : Van Nuys News and the Nuys Call, Nov. 29 1912) On August 4, 1918, Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company began leasing the property. It consisted of 500 acres, with an additional 1,500 acres of adjoining government land which they were allowed to use. The ranch
5499-810: The Quarter Circle U, the Quarter Circle W, and the Barkley Cattle Ranch, for options to use their properties as town sets. One notable production during this time was Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster . Though historically inaccurate, it features the area known as Gold Canyon, with the Superstitions prominent behind the movie's representation of the Clanton ranch. During this time, Victor Panek contacted his neighbors in Apache Junction, Mr. and Mrs. J.K. Hutchens, to suggest
5616-538: The Sentimentalists, and, the most popular, Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers . Mercer's version entered the Billboard charts on July 5, 1945, and stayed on it for 16 weeks, including seven straight weeks as No. 1 between July 28 and September 8. Crosby's entered the charts on July 19 and stayed ten weeks, going as high as No. 4, while Dorsey's entered on August 2 and stayed for six weeks, peaking at No. 6. Garland's hit
5733-629: The Walton house was built on the Warner Bros. Ranch lot, utilizing the woodland mountain set originally utilized by Apple's Way , and later occasionally used by Fantasy Island TV shows. The facade remains and has been used in numerous productions such as NCIS , The Middle , and Pushing Daisies . On April 15, 2019, it was announced that Warner Bros. will sell the property to Worthe Real Estate Group and Stockbridge Real Estate Fund as part of
5850-506: The Wasteland , was released in 1924. Process 2 was also used for color sequences in such major motion pictures as The Ten Commandments (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and Ben-Hur (1925). Douglas Fairbanks ' The Black Pirate (1926) was the third all-color Process 2 feature. Although successful commercially, Process 2 was plagued with technical problems. Because the images on
5967-481: The Wax Museum (1933). Radio Pictures followed by announcing plans to make four more features in the new process. Only one of these, Fanny Foley Herself (1931), was actually produced. Although Paramount Pictures announced plans to make eight features and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer promised two color features, these never materialized. This may have been the result of the lukewarm reception to these new color pictures by
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#17328519574896084-620: The Western genre and the decline of the B-movie coincided with the arrival of the freeway, which opened in 1967, and greater development pressure, signaling the end for Iverson as a successful movie ranch. The last few movies that filmed some scenes here included Support Your Local Sheriff (1968) and Pony Express Rider (1976). In 1982, Joe Iverson sold what remained of the Lower Iverson to Robert G. Sherman, who almost immediately began subdividing
6201-615: The Wind (1939), the film Blue Lagoon (1949), and animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Gulliver's Travels (1939), Pinocchio (1940), and Fantasia (1940). As the technology matured, it was also used for less spectacular dramas and comedies. Occasionally, even a film noir – such as Leave Her to Heaven (1945) or Niagara (1953) – was filmed in Technicolor. The "Tech" in
6318-449: The Wind (Selznick 1939) and They Died with Their Boots On , " Santa Fe Trail " (Warner Bros. 1940), and many others. From The Moving Picture World , October 10, 1914 (page 622 relates to the Lasky ranch and page 1078 to the new Lasky Ranch): "The Lasky company has acquired a 4,000-acre ranch in the great San Fernando valley on which they have built a large two-story Spanish casa which
6435-544: The additive Kinemacolor and Chronochrome processes, Technicolor prints did not require any special projection equipment. Unlike the additive Dufaycolor process, the projected image was not dimmed by a light-absorbing and obtrusive mosaic color filter layer. Very importantly, compared to competing subtractive systems, Technicolor offered the best balance between high image quality and speed of printing. The Technicolor Process 4 camera, manufactured to Technicolor's detailed specifications by Mitchell Camera Corporation, contained
6552-460: The areas corresponding to the clearest, least-exposed areas of the negative. To make each final color print, the matrix films were soaked in dye baths of colors nominally complementary to those of the camera filters: the strip made from red-filtered frames was dyed cyan-green and the strip made from green-filtered frames was dyed orange-red. The thicker the gelatin in each area of a frame, the more dye it absorbed. Subtle scene-to-scene colour control
6669-475: The biggest hit from the score of The Harvey Girls was " On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe ". MGM released the song to record companies even before shooting was finished on the film, and it became an instant hit dominating the airwaves through the summer and fall of 1945, with versions by Bing Crosby with Six Hits and a Miss , Judy Garland and The Merry Macs , the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with
6786-635: The company's name was inspired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where Herbert Kalmus and Daniel Frost Comstock received their undergraduate degrees in 1904 and were later instructors. The term "Technicolor" has been used historically for at least five concepts: Both Kalmus and Comstock went to Switzerland to earn PhD degrees; Kalmus at University of Zurich , and Comstock at Basel in 1906. In 1912, Kalmus, Comstock, and mechanic W. Burton Wescott formed Kalmus, Comstock, and Wescott, an industrial research and development firm. Most of
6903-454: The company, and Technicolor Inc. was chartered in Delaware. Technicolor originally existed in a two-color (red and green) system . In Process 1 (1916), a prism beam-splitter behind the camera lens exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white negative film simultaneously, one behind a red filter, the other behind a green filter. Because two frames were being exposed at
7020-530: The contrast of the final print and concealed any fringing. However, overall colorfulness was compromised as a result. In 1944, Technicolor had improved the process to make up for these shortcomings and the K record was eliminated. Kalmus convinced Walt Disney to shoot one of his Silly Symphony cartoons, Flowers and Trees (1932), in Process 4, the new "three-strip" process. Seeing the potential in full-color Technicolor, Disney negotiated an exclusive contract for
7137-413: The cupped ones could be shipped to their Boston laboratory for flattening, after which they could be put back into service, at least for a while. The presence of image layers on both surfaces made the prints especially vulnerable to scratching, and because the scratches were vividly colored they were very noticeable. Splicing a Process 2 print without special attention to its unusual laminated construction
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#17328519574897254-552: The early patents were taken out by Comstock and Wescott, while Kalmus served primarily as the company's president and chief executive officer. When the firm was hired to analyze an inventor's flicker-free motion picture system, they became intrigued with the art and science of filmmaking, particularly color motion picture processes, leading to the founding of Technicolor in Boston in 1914 and incorporation in Maine in 1915. In 1921, Wescott left
7371-416: The famous "Garden of the Gods" on the west side of Red Mesa, in which many rock formations seen in countless old movies and TV shows are accessible to the public. This includes the area on the east side of Red Mesa that includes the popular Lone Ranger Rock, which appeared beside a rearing Silver, the Lone Ranger's horse, in the opening to each episode of The Lone Ranger TV show. This area has been owned by
7488-429: The feature film industry would soon be turning out color films exclusively. By 1931, however, the Great Depression had taken its toll on the film industry, which began to cut back on expenses. The production of color films had decreased dramatically by 1932, when Burton Wescott and Joseph A. Ball completed work on a new three-color movie camera. Technicolor could now promise studios a full range of colors, as opposed to
7605-411: The film had an extremely slow speed of ASA 5. That, and the bulk of the cameras and a lack of experience with three-color cinematography made for skepticism in the studio boardrooms. An October 1934 article in Fortune magazine stressed that Technicolor, as a corporation, was rather remarkable in that it kept its investors quite happy despite the fact that it had only been in profit twice in all of
7722-412: The first color sound cartoons by producers such as Ub Iwerks and Walter Lantz . Song of the Flame became the first color movie to use a widescreen process (using a system known as Vitascope , which used 65mm film). In 1931, an improvement of Technicolor Process 3 was developed that removed grain from the Technicolor film, resulting in more vivid and vibrant colors. This process was first used on
7839-406: The first live-action short film shot in the three-strip process, La Cucaracha released August 31, 1934. La Cucaracha is a two-reel musical comedy that cost $ 65,000, approximately four times what an equivalent black-and-white two-reeler would cost. Released by RKO , the short was a success in introducing the new Technicolor as a viable medium for live-action films. The three-strip process also
7956-422: The frames exposed behind the red filter were printed on another strip. After development, each print was toned to a color nearly complementary to that of the filter: orange-red for the green-filtered images, cyan-green for the red-filtered ones. Unlike tinting, which adds a uniform veil of color to the entire image, toning chemically replaces the black-and-white silver image with transparent coloring matter, so that
8073-442: The gate, it cooled and the bulge subsided, but not quite completely. It was found that the cemented prints were not only very prone to cupping, but that the direction of cupping would suddenly and randomly change from back to front or vice versa, so that even the most attentive projectionist could not prevent the image from temporarily popping out of focus whenever the cupping direction changed. Technicolor had to supply new prints so
8190-501: The go-to outdoor location for Westerns in particular and also appeared in many adventures, war movies, comedies, science-fiction films, and other productions, standing in for Africa, the Middle East, the South Pacific, and any number of exotic locations. Buster Keaton 's Three Ages (1923), Herman Brix 's Hawk of the Wilderness (1938), Laurel and Hardy 's The Flying Deuces (1939), John Wayne 's The Fighting Seabees (1944), and Richard Burton 's The Robe (1953) are just
8307-474: The highlights remain clear (or nearly so), dark areas are strongly colored, and intermediate tones are colored proportionally. The two prints, made on film stock half the thickness of regular film, were then cemented together back to back to create a projection print. The Toll of the Sea , which debuted on November 26, 1922, used Process 2 and was the first general-release film in Technicolor. The second all-color feature in Process 2 Technicolor, Wanderer of
8424-572: The historic movie ranches have been sold and subdivided. A few have been preserved as open space in regional parks , and are sometimes still used for filming. To support continued use of the remaining ranches in its jurisdiction, the Santa Clarita Municipal Code was amended in 2011 to establish a "Movie Ranch Overlay Zone" which grants operating ranches added zoning benefits, such as helicopter landing permission and 24-hour indoor and outdoor filming where not adjacent to residences. Below
8541-701: The idea of building a dedicated studio in the Superstition area. Hutchens and Panek found a suitable site that was developed into Apacheland, intended to be the "Western Movie Capitol of the World". Construction on the Apacheland Studio soundstage and adjacent "western town" set began on February 12, 1959, by Superstition Mountain Enterprises and associates. By June 1960, Apacheland was available for use by production companies and its first TV western Have Gun, Will Travel
8658-505: The introduction of color did not increase the number of moviegoers to the point where it was economical. This and the Great Depression severely strained the finances of the movie studios and spelled the end of Technicolor's first financial successes. Technicolor envisioned a full-color process as early as 1924, and was actively developing such a process by 1929. Hollywood made so much use of Technicolor in 1929 and 1930 that many believed
8775-480: The large saloon in town. The Harvey Girls also face the animosity of the so-called " dance-hall girls ," led by Em, who is in love with Trent and sees Susan as a rival. Trent visits the Harvey House, sees its value along with the other trappings of civilization, and then tells Purvis to leave them alone. Purvis continues with his campaign of intimidation, finally burning down the restaurant. Trent offers his saloon as
8892-418: The limited red–green spectrum of previous films. The new camera simultaneously exposed three strips of black-and-white film, each of which recorded a different color of the spectrum. The new process would last until the last Technicolor feature film was produced in 1955. Technicolor's advantage over most early natural-color processes was that it was a subtractive synthesis rather than an additive one: unlike
9009-451: The man whose beautiful letters she received when she answered a "lonely-hearts" ad . Unfortunately, when she arrives, her husband-to-be turns out to be an "old coot" who does not at all meet her expectations, and vice versa. They start to argue and list their own personal faults, which they claim not to have mentioned in their letters. With their mutual disinclination to continue with the marital union clear, they jointly decide to call off
9126-629: The materials. Original Technicolor prints that survived into the 1950s were often used to make black-and-white prints for television and simply discarded thereafter. This explains why so many early color films exist today solely in black and white. Warner Bros., which had vaulted from a minor exhibitor to a major studio with its introduction of the talkies , incorporated Technicolor's printing to enhance its films. Other producers followed Warner Bros.' example by making features in color, with either Technicolor, or one of its competitors, such as Brewster Color and Multicolor (later Cinecolor ). Consequently,
9243-438: The newly formed Republic Pictures . In 1936, when the lease expired, the entire western town was relocated a few miles to the north at Russell Hickson's 'Placeritos Ranch' in lower Placerita Canyon, near the junction of Oak Creek Road and Placerita Canyon Road. The property was leased by the newly independent Monogram Pictures , and renamed as 'Monogram Ranch' in 1937. Gene Autry , actor, western singer, and producer, purchased
9360-464: The only movie made in Process 1, The Gulf Between , which had a limited tour of Eastern cities, beginning with Boston and New York on September 13, 1917, primarily to interest motion picture producers and exhibitors in color. The near-constant need for a technician to adjust the projection alignment doomed this additive color process. Only a few frames of The Gulf Between , showing star Grace Darmond , are known to exist today. Convinced that there
9477-432: The projection print made of double-cemented prints in favor of a print created by dye imbibition . The Technicolor camera for Process 3 was identical to that for Process 2, simultaneously photographing two consecutive frames of a black-and-white film behind red and green filters. In the lab, skip-frame printing was used to sort the alternating color-record frames on the camera negative into two series of contiguous frames,
9594-540: The property. It was located across the Los Angeles River from the First National/Warner Bros studios in the area which is now Forest Lawn Cemetery. Hunkins Stables and Gopher Flats are close to Old Universal/Lasky Ranch in the San Fernando Valley. This area is noted for a filming location history of many important movies, including, The Thundering Herd (Famous Players–Lasky Co. 1925), Gone with
9711-540: The property. The former Lower Iverson now contains a mobile-home park, the nondenominational Church at Rocky Peak , and a large condominium development. The Upper Iverson is also no longer open to the public, as it is now a gated community consisting of high-end estates along with additional condominiums and an apartment building. Part of the ranch has been preserved as parkland on both sides of Red Mesa Road, north of Santa Susana Pass Road in Chatsworth. This section includes
9828-545: The public as the Corriganville Regional Park. Though the original movie and TV sets are long gone, many of the building concrete foundations are still extant. Corriganville Regional Park . Parts of the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood were filmed at Corriganville Park, as a stand-in for the Spahn Movie Ranch . In the 1880s, Karl and Augusta Iverson homesteaded a 160-acre (65 ha) family farm in
9945-501: The public. Two independently produced features were also made with this improved Technicolor process: Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1934) and Kliou the Tiger (1935). Very few of the original camera negatives of movies made in Technicolor Process 2 or 3 survive. In the late 1940s, most were discarded from storage at Technicolor in a space-clearing move, after the studios declined to reclaim
10062-467: The ranch during its peak years. The long-running TV Western The Virginian filmed on location at Iverson in the ranch's later period, as did Bonanza and Gunsmoke . By the 1960s, the ownership of the ranch was split between two of Karl and Augusta's sons, with Joe Iverson, an African safari hunter married to Iva Iverson, owning the southern half of the ranch (the Lower Iverson) and Aaron Iverson,
10179-441: The red-filtered frames being printed onto one strip of specially prepared "matrix" film and the green-filtered frames onto another. After processing, the gelatin of the matrix film's emulsion was left proportionally hardened, being hardest and least soluble where it had been most strongly exposed to light. The unhardened fraction was then washed away. The result was two strips of relief images consisting of hardened gelatin, thickest in
10296-560: The same time, the film had to be photographed and projected at twice the normal speed. Exhibition required a special projector with two apertures (one with a red filter and the other with a green filter), two lenses, and an adjustable prism that aligned the two images on the screen. The results were first demonstrated to members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York on February 21, 1917. Technicolor itself produced
10413-572: The site. Many of the earliest citations, though, have turned out to be incorrect. For example, The Squaw Man is now known to have filmed a scene elsewhere in Chatsworth, a short distance southwest of the Iverson property, but did not film on the Iverson Ranch. By the late 1910s, what would become a long and fruitful association developed between Hollywood and the Iverson Movie Ranch, which became
10530-404: The studios. The studios agreed to pay union workers extra if they worked out of town. To solve this problem, many movie studios purchased large tracts of undeveloped rural land, in many cases existing ranches , that were located closer to Hollywood. The ranches were often located just within the 30-mile (48 km) perimeter, specifically in the Simi Hills in the western San Fernando Valley ,
10647-480: The surface of its emulsion was a red-orange coating that prevented blue light from continuing on to the red-sensitive panchromatic emulsion of the film behind it, which therefore recorded only the red-dominated third of the spectrum. Each of the three resulting negatives was printed onto a special matrix film. After processing, each matrix was a nearly invisible representation of the series of film frames as gelatin reliefs, thickest (and most absorbent) where each image
10764-486: The three-strip process. One Silly Symphony , Three Little Pigs (1933), engendered such a positive audience response that it overshadowed the feature films with which it was shown. Hollywood was buzzing about color film again. According to Fortune magazine, " Merian C. Cooper , producer for RKO Radio Pictures and director of King Kong (1933), saw one of the Silly Symphonies and said he never wanted to make
10881-475: The two sides of the print were not in the same plane, both could not be perfectly in focus at the same time. The significance of this depended on the depth of focus of the projection optics. Much more serious was a problem with cupping. Films in general tended to become somewhat cupped after repeated use: every time a film was projected, each frame in turn was heated by the intense light in the projection gate, causing it to bulge slightly; after it had passed through
10998-595: The use of the process in animated films that extended to September 1935. Other animation producers, such as the Fleischer Studios and the Ub Iwerks studio, were shut out – they had to settle for either the two-color Technicolor systems or use a competing process such as Cinecolor . Flowers and Trees was a success with audiences and critics alike, and won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . All subsequent Silly Symphonies from 1933 on were shot with
11115-467: The very large Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve , with various trails to the Lasky Mesa locale. The property was sold to a conservancy in 2003 but some filming was done there afterwards, including some scenes for the 2006 film Mission: Impossible III . More recently, it has been a hiking area. Originally known as 'Placeritos Ranch', the 110-acre (45 ha) ranch in lower Placerita Canyon
11232-471: The wedding. With the marriage safely cancelled, he reveals to Susan that his letters were actually ghost-written as a joke by Ned Trent, the local saloon owner. Susan, rightly furious, confronts Ned to tell him off, in the process endearing herself to him. Susan joins the Harvey Girls and she soon becomes their leader in fighting against the attempts by Trent's business associate, Judge Sam Purvis, to scare them away to maintain his own thriving business running
11349-405: The years of its existence, during the early boom at the turn of the decade. A well-managed company, half of whose stock was controlled by a clique loyal to Kalmus, Technicolor never had to cede any control to its bankers or unfriendly stockholders. In the mid-'30s, all the major studios except MGM were in the financial doldrums, and a color process that truly reproduced the visual spectrum was seen as
11466-467: Was "A nostalgic whiff of the old west. Judy sings several sentimental ballads, as well as On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe number. Her chief support in the way of real entertainment comes from Ray Bolger ." Time wrote "A technicolored musical celebrating the coming of chastity, clean silverware, and crumbless tablecloths to the pioneer Southwest. The bearers of this culture, according to evidence presented here, were waitresses. The Harvey Girls
11583-534: Was a production number featuring Garland; the outtake was included in That's Entertainment! III (1994). "My Intuition" was a duet for Garland and John Hodiak; this was also filmed and still survives in video format. "Hayride", sung by Garland and Ray Bolger, was prerecorded but not filmed. Howard Barnes wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that the film was "A great big animated picture postcard. Judy Garland
11700-658: Was also known as Providencia Flats and the Lasky Ranch. Around the same time that the lease was expiring, Paramount Famous Lasky purchased the Paramount Ranch location in the Agoura area, and moved all of the ranch sets to the new location. The lease then was turned back to the Hollingsworth interests. In 1929, Warner Bros purchased a portion of the ranch from the W. I. Hollingsworth Realty Company. By 1950, Forest Lawn Cemetery owned
11817-412: Was apt to result in a weak splice that would fail as it passed through the projector. Even before these problems became apparent, Technicolor regarded this cemented print approach as a stopgap and was already at work developing an improved process. Based on the same dye-transfer technique first applied to motion pictures in 1916 by Max Handschiegl, Technicolor Process 3 (1928) was developed to eliminate
11934-415: Was built for the production of Universal 101Bison Brand Westerns. In 1912, Universal; purchased and leased land here to create the first Universal City. This Universal ranch was first used to film Universal Brand Bison films. In 1914, Universal City moved to its present location in the valley, The new Universal City was officially opened on March 15, 1925. The studio could be reached from Hollywood by using
12051-426: Was commonly referred to as the 'Monogram Ranch'. Russell Hickson owned the property from 1936 until his death in 1952, and built-reconstructed all original sets on the ranch. A year later in 1937, Monogram Pictures signed a long-term lease with Hickson for 'Placeritos Ranch', with terms that the ranch be renamed 'Monogram Ranch.' After Gene Autry purchased the property in 1953, he renamed it as 'Melody Ranch.' It
12168-412: Was darkest and thinnest where it was lightest. Each matrix was soaked in a dye complementary to the color of light recorded by the negative printed on it: cyan for red, magenta for green, and yellow for blue (see also: CMYK color model for a technical discussion of color printing). A single clear strip of black-and-white film with the soundtrack and frame lines printed in advance was first treated with
12285-523: Was filmed in November 1960, along with its first full-length movie The Purple Hills . Actors such as Elvis Presley , Jason Robards , Stella Stevens , Ronald Reagan , and Audie Murphy filmed many other western television shows and movies in Apacheland and the surrounding area, such as Gambler II , Death Valley Days , Charro! , and The Ballad of Cable Hogue . The last full-length movie to be filmed
12402-638: Was first duplicated onto a 35mm fine-grain SE negative element in one pass of the 16mm element, thereby reducing wear of the 16mm original, and also eliminating registration errors between colors. The live-action SE negative thereafter entered other Technicolor processes and were incorporated with SE animation and three-strip studio live-action, as required, thereby producing the combined result. The studios were willing to adopt three-color Technicolor for live-action feature production, if it could be proved viable. Shooting three-strip Technicolor required very bright lighting, as
12519-454: Was halted further by new groundwater tests showing migrating contamination of the aquifer with toxic substances from the adjacent Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) experimental Nuclear Reactor and Rocket Engine Test Facility . The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the State of California purchased the land for public regional park . The Lasky Movie Ranch is now part of
12636-544: Was in need for more space and a true backlot /movie ranch. Through the years numerous themed sets were constructed across the movie ranch. Formerly known as the Columbia Ranch and now the "Warner Brothers Ranch", this 32-acre (13 ha) movie ranch in Burbank, California , served as the filming location for both obscure and well-known television series, such as Father Knows Best , Hazel , The Flying Nun , Dennis
12753-399: Was managed by partial wash-back of the dyes from each matrix. Each matrix in turn was pressed into contact with a plain gelatin-coated strip of film known as the "blank" and the gelatin "imbibed" the dye from the matrix. A mordant made from deacetylated chitin was applied to the blank before printing, to prevent the dyes from migrating or "bleeding" after they were absorbed. Dye imbibition
12870-433: Was no future in additive color processes, Comstock, Wescott, and Kalmus focused their attention on subtractive color processes. This culminated in what would eventually be known as Process 2 (1922) (often referred to today by the misnomer "two-strip Technicolor"). As before, the special Technicolor camera used a beam-splitter that simultaneously exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white film, one behind
12987-534: Was nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture , but did not win; the Oscar went to Morris Stoloff for The Jolson Story . The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: Technicolor Technicolor is a family of color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and-white films running through
13104-423: Was not suitable for printing optical soundtracks, which required very high resolution, so when making prints for sound-on-film systems the "blank" film was a conventional black-and-white film stock on which the soundtrack, as well as frame lines, had been printed in the ordinary way prior to the dye transfer operation. The first feature made entirely in the Technicolor Process 3 was The Viking (1928), which had
13221-518: Was only used indoors. In 1936, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine became the first color production to have outdoor sequences, with impressive results. The spectacular success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which was released in December 1937 and became the top-grossing film of 1938, attracted the attention of the studios. Film critic Manny Farber on the 1943 Technicolor film For Whom
13338-527: Was subsequently used in many other productions until the town was dismantled in 1957. Hollywood's focus began to shift to the medium of television beginning in the late 1940s, and Iverson became a mainstay of countless early television series, including The Lone Ranger , The Roy Rogers Show , The Gene Autry Show , The Cisco Kid , Buffalo Bill, Jr. , Zorro , and Tombstone Territory . An estimated 3,500 or more productions, about evenly split between movies and television episodes, were filmed at
13455-434: Was the 1994 HBO movie Blind Justice with Armand Assante, Elisabeth Shue, and Jack Black. On May 26, 1969, fire destroyed most of the ranch. Only a few buildings survived, but the sets were soon rebuilt to accommodate ongoing productions. A second fire destroyed most of Apacheland on February 14, 2004. The causes of both fires were never determined. On October 16, 2004, Apacheland was permanently closed. The Elvis Chapel and
13572-724: Was the second major color process, after Britain's Kinemacolor (used between 1909 and 1915), and the most widely used color process in Hollywood during the Golden Age of Hollywood . Technicolor's three-color process became known and celebrated for its highly saturated color, and was initially most commonly used for filming musicals such as The Wizard of Oz (1939), Down Argentine Way (1940), and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), costume pictures such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Gone with
13689-432: Was used in some short sequences filmed for several movies made during 1934, including the final sequences of The House of Rothschild ( Twentieth Century Pictures / United Artists ) with George Arliss and Kid Millions ( Samuel Goldwyn Studios ) with Eddie Cantor . Pioneer/RKO's Becky Sharp (1935) became the first feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor. Initially, three-strip Technicolor
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