Today we're going to visit Universal Studios Hollywood, circa 1969!
First up is this shot from "Courthouse Square" - yes, that is the courthouse with the clock that was made famous in "Back to the Future". It looks pretty different here, but if you do a Google search, you'll see that this structure has received many overlays, adding a bit here, chopping off a bit there... you don't want it to look like Hill Valley in every movie or TV show. OR DO YOU?!?!
Here are a few photos showing how the courthouse has changed in recent years.
I seem to vaguely recall this display which gave a taste of the use of artful miniatures in motion pictures. A 1960's helicopter is buzzing over a Mississippi sternwheeler - kind of an odd juxtaposition, if you ask me. It should have been an alligator flying over the boat. A railroad trestle (complete with a miniature train, apparently) crosses over a rushing waterfall, while pipe cleaner trees grow from the rocks.
Perhaps the color is off, but it seems strange that they did not use a cyclorama to simulate a realistic sky. Other than that, if you have watched lots of old movies, you have probably seen less-convincing miniatures than these!
Tiny people (reduced through the miracle of atomic science) walk the decks of the steamboat. Somewhere in my collection I have a photo of this same miniature, which some genius labeled "Disneyland". How I laughed! Ha! Ha! I almost dropped my monocle in my brandy snifter.
There's George, getting ready to drive a Glamor Tram full of eager, glassy-eyed guests through the Universal backlot. He's driven that route so many times that he can do it in his sleep, and often does.
I still love to take the tram tour, in spite of the many changes to the Studio over the years. In fact, I was going to go to Universal just a few weeks ago, until I discovered that it now costs as much as a ticket to Disneyland.
0 Yorumlar