Monday, June 03, 2013

DeMille In Action! #10

Posted by Buckles at 6/03/2013 05:26:00 AM

10 comments:

Roger Smith said...

The man at Center, in black, ready with a pole and chair, is Pat Anthony. Clearly, the trainers blocked the scene so Pat would be in so strategic a position as to keep Pascha in focus. Beautiful lion work, considering the animals were far from their home setting. Mabel Stark told me the entire set for the cat work was surrounded by sections of steel arena, which remained entirely unseen. This was done in many films with Compound cats, which were basically circus cats. Give them an arena to look at, then add the props during reasonable rehearsal time, and you got your shots without ever seeing the bars. Their home shifting cages were "call boxes" on movie sets, and the cats were cued into them by trainers herding them toward awaiting cuts of meat.

03 June, 2013 16:34
Ole Whitey said...

The RR cars used in the post-wreck scenes certainly look like the real ones.
Does anyone out there know if actual RBBB cars were brought to California for these shots or were these just good copies?

04 June, 2013 11:02
Rick Keller said...

The cars were models.About 1 1/2 inch scale.[bigger than G scale]They have a couple of them at the Ringling museum in Sarasota.

04 June, 2013 17:25
Ole Whitey said...

Rick: You must refer to the wreck itself.

I mean these apparently full-size cars in the post-wreck scenes shown here

04 June, 2013 17:34
4pawfan said...

The models were built by Harold Dunn. He did the train models and also the tents used in the tornado flash. I remember him telling me that when they opened the monkey cages during the wreck scene filming, the monkeys saw all the big cats running around and took off for the upper rigging on the set. He said they got out of the building and were in a near by cemetary. I don't remember if he said if they recovered any of them or not.
I agree with Dave as the post-wreck scenes look like real RBBB rolling stock. p.j.

04 June, 2013 20:27
Roger Smith said...

These were real Union Pacific cars, tediously detailed as RBB's, and the simulated damage left nothing to be desired. The art direction and set decoration is matchless. Look again at the detail given to all parts of the wreck set--this work alone deserved Oscars. As for the Dunn models, seen in footage of night travel, and as the cars approached the collision site, DeMille acknowledged they were models, but defied anyone to deny their authenticity. The wreck set was on Stage 16, and the release of the monkeys, luckily, was printed after one take. They went nuts on the stage, escaped, and took to the foliage in adjacent Hollywood Forever Cemetery. As you look at one gigantic city block, Paramount faces Melrose Avenue, and occupies the southern section. The cemetery faces Santa Monica Blvd., occupying the northern half. Both are bordered by long stretches of Gower Street and Van Ness Ave., and the two entities are back-to-back. DeMille's tomb is at the back of the cemetery, fittingly overlooking the studio, which indeed, had an entrance known as the DeMille Gate. Only a very few of the monkeys were recovered.

04 June, 2013 23:22
4pawfan said...

Thank you Roger for the information on the sleepers used in these scenes, as I could not find any movement of them from Sarasota. Who ever did these scenes, did their homework as none of the former Hagenbeck baggage wagons or cages have their wooden spoke wheels on them. They just placed a few tires and wheels in the wreckage. Looking at these photos now, it does look funny with all the bare front wagon gears without any wheels on them and just the bare spindles. In one photo is a massive baggage wagon front gear, but in other photos are the ones from the cages, but without their springs for some reason?
I have not seen the display of the model train used in the moive since Harold and Barbara had their model circus on the road many years ago. It would be on one end of the display, and he was very proud of it. I knew that Demille also had a few of the models as well, but I think they were just sleepers. A couple of them were sold from Demille's estate on E-bay six or seven years ago and I don't know if these are now at Sarasota or not. p.j.

05 June, 2013 10:56
Bob Cline said...

Our Noted RBBB Historian Dom Yodice is the proud owner of some of the model cars and Howard Tibbals has the rest.
Bob

07 June, 2013 07:26
Chic Silber said...


The cars that Tibbals purchased

spent time being restored down at

Bob MacDougall's place in Venice

Bob was a meticulous craftsman as

well as being competent in all of

show operations & management

07 June, 2013 09:23
Chic Silber said...


In regards to Harold Dunn & of my

good fortune is the building (which

is fortress like) that he built &

used as his shop & storage facility

in Vamo is my overstocked warehouse

since Harold's death many years ago

07 June, 2013 09:29

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