Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990)

Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990)

Homina homina homina.

�During Double Indemnity, Fred MacMurray would go to rushes. I remember asking Fred, �How was I?� [He said], �I don�t know about you, but I was wonderful.� Such a true remark. Actors only look at themselves.�

Leading Fred MacMurray straight to hell in Double Indemnity (1944).

�I�m a tough old broad from Brooklyn. I intend to go on acting until I�m ninety, and they won�t need to paste my face with makeup.�

Playing Henry Fonda for a sap in The Lady Eve (1941).

�Put me in the last fifteen minutes of a picture and I don�t care what happened before. I don�t even care if I was in the rest of the damned thing. I�ll take it in those fifteen minutes.�
   

Teaching Gary Cooper some bad habits in Ball of Fire (1941).

�Career is too pompous a word. It was a job and I have always felt priveleged to be paid for doing what I love doing.�

Meet John Doe (1941) - Film Locations

Frank Capra is one of those directors where I can watch just about any one of his films and be entertained. Many of Capra's movies are heavily sentimental, wholesome message pictures which some critics have dismissively referred to as "Capra-corn." Although Capra's filmmaking style may seem a bit old-fashioned, for me personally it's one of the qualities I enjoy about Capra's films, and regardless of Capra's style, the subject matter in his films from the 1930s and 1940s, are just as relevant now as they were then. Whether it be a naive scout leader who thinks by becoming a senator and going to Washington he can help his country in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) or a presidential candidate who struggles to stick by his ideals and not sell out to special interest groups in State of the Union (1948), Capra's films touch on subjects that still strike a chord as a contemporary viewer watching the current political circus taking place.

The film Meet John Doe (1941), starring the always wonderful to watch Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, is another Capra classic portraying a "common man" fighting greed and corruption for the greater good of society. In this story, Stanwyck is a reporter who finds out that she is being laid off. For her last column she publishes a letter from a fictional "John Doe" who threatens to kill himself on Christmas Eve in response to society's inattention to people in need. When the letter is printed it causes a sensation and newspaper sales spike.  Stanwyck is kept on at the newspaper to continue her charade and to exploit the popularity of John Doe to sell more papers. After interviewing several hobos, Stanwyck discovers John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player in need of cash to repair an injured arm, to portray her John Doe.

With Cooper as the face of John Doe, Stanwyck continues to be John Doe's voice through her typewriter, publishing a series of letters from John Doe in the newspaper. With people all over the country stirred by John Doe's philosophy, the newspaper's publisher, D.B. Norton, decides to take things further and hires Cooper to give radio speeches which Stanwyck will write. A grassroots movement begins with John Doe supporters around the country creating John Doe clubs, with the simple philosphy of "Be a better neighbor."Intending to capitalize on John Doe's growing popularity, Norton plans to use John Doe to endorse him as a presidential candidate. Cooper himself begins to believe the John Doe philosophy, realizes he is being used and attempts to make things right with the public by exposing the entire scheme.

There is no real life city mentioned in the film, only a fictional town called "Millville" but the exterior scenes were all filmed in the Los Angeles area, including the Warner Bros. Studio backlot in Burbank. Here are a few of the Meet John Doe filming locations as they appear today.

Looking south down Vine Street just above Yucca Street.

Looking down Vine St. above Yucca St. as it appears today.

When John Doe is going to make his premier on radio, the scene opens with a shot of a guy hammering an advertisment to a pole that is on Vine Street in Hollywood. The camera gives us a view looking south down Vine Street from just above Yucca Street. We get a glimpse of the Broadway Hollywood building on the right. Just behind the bill advertising "Hear John Doe TONIGHT 9 P.M. W.B.N." is where today stands the Capital Records building, which wasn't finished until 1956, fifteen years after Meet John Doe was made.

NBC Studios, corner of Sunset Blvd. and Vine St.

Former site of NBC Studios at Sunset and Vine.

The location where Cooper gives the radio speech as John Doe is NBC Studios in Hollywood, located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street. The art deco NBC building opened in 1938 and was the West Coast headquarters for NBC Radio Networks. In 1962 NBC moved to a new building in Burbank and in 1964 the Hollywood location was demolished. Today the site is the home to a Chase bank.

The "Millville" town square is Midwest Street at Warner Bros.

Midwest Street at Warner Bros. Studio, Burbank, Ca.

Later in the film, after Cooper realizes he is being used and decides to go back to obscurity, he is recognized in a diner in the small town of "Millville." Millville is really part of the Warner Bros. Studio backlot area known as Midwest Street. In the screenshot above the people of Millville frantically run across the town square to get a glimpse of John Doe. Midwest Street has appeared in numerous films including The Hard Way (1943), East of Eden (1955), The Music Man (1962), Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) and The Monster Squad (1987) to name a few.

Millville City Hall

The city hall building on Midwest Street.

Looking across the Millville town square.

Looking across Midwest Street.

Near the end of the film, Cooper is supposed to give a big speech as John Doe endorsing Norton for president. Instead, Cooper plans to expose the whole deceptive scheme. The big speech takes place in a stadium and the stadium that was used for filming was Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The stadium was located on 10 acres between San Pedro Street to the west, Avalon Blvd to the east, E. 41st Place to the north, and E. 42 Place to the south. The stadium opened on September 29, 1925 and for 33 seasons was the home to the Angels and for 11 seasons it was also the home to the rival Hollywood Stars. The stadium was eventually demolished in 1969.

Wrigley Field Los Angeles as seen in Meet John Doe.

Aerial view of Wrigley Field's opening in 1925.

Image from Los Angeles Public Library.

Aerial of the site of Wrigley Field as it looks today.

In the two images above, the first yellow rectangle shows the portion of the stadium that appears in the film and in the second image the yellow rectangle shows where that portion of the stadium would be if the stadium were still standing.

In the two images just below, the first is a screenshot showing the inside of Wrigley Field as seen in the film and the second is a clearer vintage photo from 1937, during a game of Hollywood comedians against Hollywood leading men.

Inside view of Wrigley Field as seen in Meet John Doe.

1937 Comedians vs. Leading Men game.

Image from Los Angeles Public Library.

The end of the film involves Cooper contemplating jumping from City Hall on Christmas Eve. Although Los Angeles is not mentioned as the location of the story, the city hall that is used for the story is the Los Angeles City Hall as seen in the screenshot below. However, it looks like the LA City Hall was recreated in one of the Warner Bros. Studio sound stages. For one, the skyline is different and second, although possible, its not likely to be snowing in downtown Los Angeles.

City Hall as seen in Meet John Doe.

The Los Angeles City Hall.

I highly recommend this film. If you haven't yet seen this classic, ClassicFlix currently has Meet John Doe available on DVD to buy or to rent.

Images (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment, (c) 2013 Google, (c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation Pictometry Bird's Eye (c) 2012 Pictometry International Corp.

Highway Dragnet (1954) - Film Locations

Last week the blog Paradise Leased provided an update on the status of Apple Valley, California's famous Hilltop House, a once gorgeous modern home that unfortunately has been left to deteriorate over the years. Today, this house built for one of Apple Valley's co-founders, Newton T. Bass, is just a skeleton of the structure it used to be, but the house is now for sale and hopefully some buyer can return the home to its original beauty. You can read and see photos of the home on the Paradised Leased blog here.

The update on the Hilltop House reminded me of the film Highway Dragnet (1954), which was partly filmed in Apple Valley, at another area landmark, the Apple Valley Inn located in the valley just below the Hilltop House. Highway Dragnet stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett and Wanda Hendrix. It tells the story of a Korean War vet, played by Conte, who is wrongly accused of killing a woman he was seen with earlier inside a Las Vegas bar. Conte must go on the lam until he can clear his name. He gets out of town by hitching a ride with a female photographer (Bennett) and her model (Hendrix). Although the story has a few holes in the plot, it is still entertaining to watch, particularly for all the excellent location filming.

The film starts with scenes in Las Vegas, including a shot of the Golden Nugget and Binion's Horseshoe casinos on Fremont street.

Looking down Fremont Street in Las Vegas.

Fremont Street today. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

One major change to Fremont Street since the time Highway Dragnet was made is the addition of the Fremont Street Experience, a canopy that produces a colored light show above several blocks of the street.

The Horseshoe casino as seen in Highway Dragnet.

Binion's Gambling Hall formerly The Horseshoe.

After the Vegas scenes, the film shows Conte hitching a ride with Bennett and Hendrix in the desert. The threesome eventually pull over and get a room at the Apple Valley Inn.  The Apple Valley Inn was a hotel developed by Newton T. Bass to help attract land buyers to housing development he created out in the middle of the California desert. During the 1940s and until the 1960s, it was a popular place for many Hollywood celebrities, including Bob Hope, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.

Police set up a barricade in front of the Apple Valley Inn.

The entrance of the Apple Valley Inn as it appears now.

Highway 18 leading up to the Apple Valley Inn driveway.

Looking down Highway 18 from the Apple Valley Inn driveway.

Conte in front of the Apple Valley Inn.

The Apple Valley Inn. Photo from mysewsweetstudio.blogspot.com

Historic postcard view of the Apple Valley Inn.

Conte, Bennett and Hendrix inside a room at Apple Valley Inn.

An agent stands in front of the Apple Valley Inn pool.

Hendrix sits on the pool's diving board.

Bennett stands by the Apple Valley Inn pool.

The Macdonald Carey family visits the pool at Apple Valley Inn. Photo from Paradise Leased.

When it's revealed that Conte, who police believe to be the killer is hiding out at the Apple Valley Inn, he races out of the place, driving a car right through a police barricade.

Conte drives through a police barricade at Apple Valley Inn.

Exiting the driveway at Apple Valley Inn.

The final scenes take place at the Salton Sea. According to the site Lost Resorts, the Salton Sea was once known as the Riviera of the West or "Palm Springs by the Sea." It is the largest lake in California and used to be a major destination in the 1950s and 1960s for tourist and celebrities. The sea was created by accident. In 1900, developers created a series of canals and dikes to divert water from the Colorado River to turn the arid desert into farming land. In 1905 heavy rains caused the Colorado River to rise, a dike was then broken and the Imperial Valley filled with water, becoming the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea as seen in Highway Dragnet.

A present day view of the Salton Sea. Photo from Lost Resorts.