THE OLD MOVIE MAVEN . . . The Website

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A TRIBUTE TO OUR MILITARY
A CAST OF CHARACTERS
A CALENDER OF MOVIES: What to Watch When
A CALENDAR OF MOVIES: Christmas - "The King of Kings" (1927)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
ABBOTT & COSTELLO
AMERICAN CLASSIC MOVIES INTRODUCTIONS
ANIMALS AND THE MOVIES
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Sets
ARCITECTURE: Ancient Egypt
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Bernheimer Residence
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: The Ennis-Brown House
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Evan Thompson's Bottle House
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Greystone Manor
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: The Hearst Castle
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: The Hollywood Sign
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Homes of the Stars
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Jean Harlow
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Maps and Floor Plans
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Pickfair
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: The Rispin Mansion
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Royal Hawaiian Hotel
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Scotty's Castle
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Shelby House
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: West Hollywood Historical Association
ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: Whimsy
ARCHIVES: VOLUME 1
ARCHIVES: VOLUME 2
ARCHIVES: VOLUME 3
ASSORTED SHORT CLIPS
"B" MOVIES
B - MOVIES: Serials
B - MOVIES: Series
B - MOVIES: Television Series
THE BARRYMORE FAMILY
BIOGRAPHIES
BLOOPERS
BOBBY "BORIS" PICKETT
BUSTER KEATON
CARLA LAEMMLE
CARTOONS
CHARLIE CHAN ANNEX
CHARLIE CHAN: Asian Actors in Hollywood
CHARLIE CHAN: Bloopers & Bonus Questions
CHARLIE CHAN: The Books and Their Movies!
CHARLIE CHAN: Chang Apana
CHARLIE CHAN: Charlie's Sons
CHARLIE CHAN: Chemicals
CHARLIE CHAN: Chronology
CHARLIE CHAN: Criminal?!?!*
CHARLIE CHAN: Extras
CHARLIE CHAN: Gilbert Martines and Chang Apana
CHARLIE CHAN: Hawaii Steve
CHARLIE CHAN: Maps
CHARLIE CHAN: Maven and Rush Glick's Interview in . . . "Monster Bash"!
CHARLIE CHAN: Movie Eras
CHARLIE CHAN: Movie Notes
CHARLIE CHAN: Murder Rate
CHARLIE CHAN: On The Town
CHARLIE CHAN: Puzzles and Quizzes
CHARLIE CHAN: Quiz and Puzzle Answers
CHARLIE CHAN: Radio Shows
CHARLIE CHAN: Spookies
CHARLIE CHAN: Transportation
CHARLIE CHAN: Weather
CHILDREN'S CORNER
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Holiday Crafts
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Boats and Planes and More
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Paper Dolls
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Fun Stuff to Read
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Boys' Town
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Colleen Moore's Castle
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Judy Bolton
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Nancy Drew
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Nancy Drew (For Older Fans!)
CHILDREN'S CORNER: Shirley Temple
COMEDIANS
COPPER CAPERS: FBI's and CIA's!
COSTUME DESIGNERS
DASHIELL HAMMETT
ETTA KIT
FASHIONS IN FILM
FILM NOIR
FOOD CENTRAL
FOREIGN FILMS
GENRES
GINGER ROGERS
HALLOWEEN FUN!
HALLOWEEN 2011: Movies to Watch
HALLOWEEN RECIPES
HAROLD LLOYD
HAUNTS: Hollywood and Elsewhere
HAUNTS: Winchester House
HISTORY: Hollywood and Elsewhere
HOLLYWOOD'S SCANDALS AND CRIMES
HOLLYWOOD'S . . . CRIME: Greystone Mansion Murder
HOLLYWOOD'S . . . Crime: Jean Harlow and Paul Bern's Muder?
HOLLYWOOD'S . . . CRIME: Tate/LaBianca Murders
HOLLYWOOD'S . . .CRIME: William Desmond Taylor Murder
HOLLYWOOD'S MARRY-GO-ROUNDS
HORROR - SCIENCE FICTION
HORROR - SCI FI: Annex
HORROR - SCI FI: The Atomic Submarine (1959)
HORROR - SCI FI: Bela Lugosi
HORROR - SCI FI: Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
HORROR - SCI FI: Boris Karloff
HORROR - SCI FI: Dracula (1931)
HORROR - SCI FI: Frankenstein (1931)
HORROR - SCI FI: Gojira (1954) & Godzilla (1957)
HORROR - SCI FI: Invaders from Mars (1954)
HORROR - SCI FI: King Kong
HORROR - SCI FI: Lon Chaney
HORROR - SCI FI: Nifty Fifty's Creature Features
HORROR - SCI FI: Nightmare Theatre with Gorgon
HORROR - SCI FI: Ray Harryhausen
HORROR - SCI FI: Stephen King
HORROR - SCI FI: Universal Studios
HORROR - SCI FI: Universal Monster Genealogy
HORROR - SCI FI: Wes Davis
HORROR - SCI FI: The Witch's Dungeon
HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
HUSTON FAMILY
I LOVE LUCY
INTERVIEWS
JOHN WAYNE
JONATHAN GEFFNER
JOSEPHINE BAKER
KAY LINAKER
LEI MAKING
LOCATIONS
MDs - RNs - RNBs - OH MY!
M.D.S . . . - The Crime Doctor Series
MAGIC IN MOVIES
MAKEUP ARTISTS
MAKEUP ARTISTS: The Westmore Family
MARX BROTHERS
MARY ASTOR
MARY PICKFORD AND DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS
MAVEN'S LIBRARY
MAVEN'S WEBSITES TO CHECK OUT
MUSIC
MUSIC: Dancers
MUSIC: The Lyrics
MYSTERIES
MYSTERIES: A Warning For Those Who Give Away The Endings!
MYSTERIES: Alfred Hitchcock
MYSTERIES: The Bat
MYSTERIES: D. W. Griffith vs. Mary Roberts Rinehart
MYSTERIES: Gum Shoes
MYSTERIES: Old Dark Houses
MYSTERIES: S.S. Van Dine
MYSTERIES: S.S. Van Dine - The Kidnap Murder Case
ORSON WELLES
PERRY MASON
QUIZZES AND PUZZLES
QUIZ ANSWERS
QUOTES From Hollywood
QUOTES From Hollywood Movies
QUOTES From Dorothy Parker
QUOTES Dorothy Parkers' "The Waltz"
RADIO SHOWS: Vintage Series
RECIPES OF THE WEEK
RECIPES OF THE WEEK: More about the Recipes
RECIPES OF THE WEEK: A Rejuvenating Diet
REVIEWS
REVIEWS - Mini Mavens
RONALD REAGAN
RUDOLPH VALENTINO
SEX IN THE CINEMA
SHIRLEY TEMPLE
SILENT MOVIES
TAYLOR SCHULTZ: Hollywood Sculptor
TRANSPORTATION IN THE MOVIES: Aviation
VINCENT PRICE
VINCENT PRICE: Connoisseur
WHAT'S MY LINE?
THE WHISTLER
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
     Movies can make things look so real but frequently they are real!!  These are the places that you either recognize but can't place or have that deja vu feeling to them.  Not to mention the ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD!
     For instance . . . there is a list of locations in and around Hollywood that were used in movies and tv shows at www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/film-locations.htm.  Think from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo to television's Beverly Hills 90210!

"Berkeley Square"
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Is It or Isn't It from CC at the Circus?

40 Acre World - 17 Lands across 2,000 Centuries

Black Camel

Garden of Allah

Sunset Boulevard

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Vertigo

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Photographs in and out of the house and shots of movies filmed there:

John Wayne in True Grit, Then and Now, Extended Video:

 

In 1969 John Wayne starred in

“True Grit” and won an Academy Award

for his performance as

Rooster Cogburn.

 

The film was shot in

 and around Ridgeway, Colorado

 in the San Juan Mountains.

 

[This is the youtube.com clip

that shows the area then

during filming and now . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EUP9rOLf30

and Wayne getting the Academy Award that year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qQhODwivLU&feature=related.]  

The Greystone Mansion
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Site of Murder and Movie-Making?

GREYSTONE

 

Park & Mansion.[1]

 

905 Loma Vista Drive (north of Sunset Blvd.),
Beverly Hills, CA. / (310) 285-6830

The largest home ever built in Beverly Hills, Greystone manor, wasn't built by a movie star, even though many movies have been filmed at this spectacular estate.

Beverly Hills is known for its many grand mansions. Unfortunately, you can only drive past most of these majestic estates. But here is a surprising exception to that rule. At Greystone Park, can drive through the fancy wrought-iron gates of one of the most dramatic estates in Beverly Hills, stroll its lushly landscaped, 16-acre grounds, and admire the 55-room castle up close. And it's all free!

This fortress-like Tudor mansion was built by famed oil-tycoon Edward Doheny in 1928, as a gift to his son. With over 46,000 square feet of living space, it cost more than $4 million to build back then (one might imagine what it would cost today). Many people hail this massive home as one of the grandest mansions on the West coast, second only to William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon (although, to the casual visitor, the mansion may not seem to merit that kind of praise).

Several Hollywood movies have been shot here at Greystone, using the stately mansion and its gardens as backdrop.

In 1993's "Indecent Proposal," real estate agent Demi Moore showed millionaire Robert Redford through the empty living room of the mansion. (He didn't like it.)

Remember the scene in the 1998 "Godfather" spoof, "Mafia!," where Christina Applegate walks into the family dining room and announces "Oh good, Italian food!"? That scene also was shot in the Greystone mansion.

In the Spider-Man movie series, Greystone was the home of Harry Osborne's father: AKA The Green Goblin.  In the X-Men films, Greystone's was courtyard was used as the exterior of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

In the movie "Town and Country" (with Warren Beatty, Dianne Keaton & Goldie Hawn), the home stands in for Charlton Heston's mansion in Sun Valley.

Other films shot here include "What Women Want" (with Mel Gibson), "The Bodyguard" (starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston), "The Phantom" (with Billy Zane), "The Witches of Eastwick" (Jack Nicholson & Cher), "The Big Lebowski" (with Jeff Bridges), "All of Me" (Steve Martin & Lily Tomlin), "Ghostbusters II" (Dan AykroydBill Murray), "Death Becomes Her" (Goldie HawnMeryl Streep), "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (starring Whoopi Goldberg), "The Beautician And The Beast" (with Fran Dresher), "Guilty By Suspicion" (Robert De Niro), "Air Force One" (with Harrison Ford), "Nixon," "Batman & Robin," "Heat,"  "The Loved One," "Forever Amber," "The Winds of War," and "Dynasty, the Movie." They shot an episode of "Alias" here. And back in 1991, they shot episodes of the vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows" here.

On TV's "Gilmore Girls," Greystone was seen as the exterior of Chilton Preparatory Academy, the prestigious private school that Rory (Alexis Bledel) attended.

1994's "Richie Rich" installed special iron gates with "R.R." initials. And it was the Greystone manor bowling alley that was seen in the predictably bloody end to 2007's "There Will Be Blood".

Even the famous marriage of "Luke & Laura" on TV's "General Hospital" was shot in the gardens of Greystone (where it posed as the Port Charles Mayor's mansion.)

Actor James Woods was married - for real - at the estate.

So was Kirk Douglas. In May of 2004, Mr. Douglas and his wife of 50 years, Anne, were re-married at Greystone, at a ceremony with 300 guests in attendance, including Lauren Bacall, Nancy Reagan, Tony Curtis, Karl Malden, Merv Griffin, Sidney Sheldon, Red Buttons, Don Rickles, Angie Dickinson, Jennifer Jones and many more.

In 2001, the Elton John music video "I Want Love," was shot in one seamless take; it shows actor Robert Downey Jr. wandering about inside the Greystone mansion, lip-syncing the words to the song.

In September of 2008, then Presidential candidate Barack Obama held a $28,500-per-plate fundraiser at the Beverly Hills mansion, which drew the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Tobey Maguire, Jodie Foster, Eddie Murphy, Barbara Mandel, Antonio Banderas, Will Ferrell and Jamie Lee Curtis.

The estate has been leased on a semi-permanent basis by the American Film Institute. So don't be surprised if you bump into a film crew shooting yet another movie.

Alas, the home is now empty, and is closed to visitors; there are no regular public tours of the house itself. Most months we are limited to exploring the peaceful, forest-like grounds surrounding the home, with an occasional peep through a dusty window for a brief glimpse of the mansion's vast interior.

However, they DO offer a short series of classical (chamber music) concerts each year, held inside the living room of the mansion. The events include a small reception and a tour of the first floor of the mansion, in addition to the concert. Ticket price is $20, and advance reservations must be made at (310) 550-4796. In 2003, concerts will be held on four weekend days: January 25, February 23, March 23 and April 26.

Despite their incredible wealth (a fortune of over $100 million), the members of the Doheny family had their share of tragedy. Edward Doheny was involved with bribery charges in the infamous Teapot Dome scandal, and his son's life ended in a bizarre murder-suicide at the home. The son's widow lived on at Greystone until 1955. The estate was eventually willed to the city of Beverly Hills, and it is now a public park.

But few people seem to know about it; Greystone is one of L.A.'s better kept secrets.

The park's hilltop parking lot offers a magnificent panoramic view of the city below. You'll also find a bulletin-board nearby, studded with black and white photos which show the Greystone estate during its glory days.

A self-guided tour of the grounds will take you along a maze of winding stone walkways and brick stairways, past sweeping green lawns and wonderful vistas, sculpted hedges, hidden courtyards, and lush landscaping. Keep to your right as you make your way downhill, and you'll eventually find the paths that lead to the mansion itself. (There's a lot of walking and stair-climbing to be done here, if you wish to fully explore the estate, so wear comfortable shoes and be ready for some exercise.)

The mansion resembles a modern castle, with three-foot-thick grey limestone walls, heavy wooden doors, stone courtyards, and a slate roof; it's not hard to figure out why they called it "Greystone"...

There is a tranquil, rarefied atmosphere up here on the hilltop, amid the towering redwoods. There's a pine scent in the air, and every turn seems to reveal a new view of the cityscape below.

Take a peek through the smudged windows of the mansion. A brief look reveals vast marble halls and glorious old ballrooms, replete with parquet floors, crystal chandeliers, massive marble fireplaces, and sweeping stone archways. This is where Robert Redford and Demi Moore walked during their scene in "Indecent Proposal."

Even so, all is not well in paradise.

The house and grounds, for all their former grandeur and current beauty, seem uncommonly vacant and aloof today. Like a giant stone castle abandoned in some tragic fairy tale, the home sits vacant and forlorn, its rooms now empty of both furniture and of the people who once brought the house to life. There is an undeniable sadness to this deserted mansion.

Likewise, the beautiful grounds have been fairly well maintained, but not with the same kind of loving care that a devoted owner would lavish on such a handsome estate. Mr. Doheny must have loved water, because the property is dotted with numerous swimming pools, fountains, reflecting pools, waterfalls and ponds. Yet, almost all of these now stand bone dry and melancholy. Only one tiny lily pond remains filled, but the large koi fish that swim in it seem oddly listless as they drift among the lily pads.

Greystone Park is well worth a visit. After all, how often do you get invited to a millionaire's grand estate in Beverly Hills? But the mansion has such wonderful potential that it seems a crime to let it sit empty and idle. With a little effort, the home could be opened to the public for docent-led tours; the history of the property told to visitors. At least a few of the mansion's 55 rooms could be furnished and restored to their former grandeur, and perhaps rented out for festive occasions...

As it is now, the mansion seems chilly and lifeless.

There were too few visitors to the park when I last visited, on a warm Sunday afternoon; just an occasional family on a picnic, or an out-of-town tourist, which only added to the estate's sense of isolation. Fortunately, there is a park ranger on duty, stationed near the mansion's rear courtyard. And even in its current diminished condition, Greystone is still a sight to be seen.

On April 15, 2000, President Bill Clinton visited the Greystone mansion, the site of a major fundraiser hosted by DreamWorks partners Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. This wasbe the President's second visit to Greystone; a 1999 fundraiser was also held there, and featured opera singer Andrea Bocelli. Among stars on the guest list for the dinner at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills were Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell and Whoopi Goldberg.

The park grounds are open daily: 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.(until 6 p.m.in the summer months); the mansion itself is not open to the public. Parking is in a free hilltop parking lot, within the gates. No admission charge.

Update: As of 2002, the mansion and grounds are undergoing a major renovation. I've heard that the estate's pools & fountains may work again when the job is finished. But in the meantime, the mansion is closed and parts of the grounds may be off-limits to the public.

Getting there: From Hollywood & Vine, go west on Sunset Blvd. (about four miles, to a few blocks past the city limits of Beverly Hills) to where there is a fork in the road with Doheny Road (not to be confused with the major north/south Doheny Drive a few blocks to the east). Here, where Sunset veers off to the southwest, continue straight west on little Doheny Road, for about five short blocks to Loma Vista Drive. Turn right (north) on Loma Vista Drive, and go a short distance to the park entrance on the left (west) side of the street. Turn left into the park's main gate and drive up a steep, winding road to the hilltop parking lot.  



[1] For the entire article, including pictures, go to http://www.seeing-stars.com/live/Greystone.shtml

The Dohenys' Greystone Manor
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Click for the Greystone Mansion's Home Page

Universal Studio's Back Lot
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Including Their European City

How many old horror movies have you seen from Universal Studio?!  Lots, if you're anything like Maven!  Think you could recognized their back lot?!  Check these photographs out to see!

Universal Studio's Back Lot

The Universal Studio Back Lot - Colonial Street

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Freddy Kruger
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From "A Nightmare on Elm Street" Movies

     For A Nightmare on Elm Street Fans, these might be interesting background for the next time you check the movies out!
 

And do you recognize these places from the movies?!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Vertigo

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

The Ennis Brown House, With Part of the Retaining
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Wall That Shows Damage on the Front Retaining Wall
     WRECK OF THE WEEK:*
 
       The house that you see at the beginning of The House on Haunted Hill (1959, with VINCENT PRICE) is the Ennis Brown House in Los Angeles, CA.

       This is the entrance of the house that is on the eleven (11) most endangered buildings on the National Trust.  [The link is no longer available but you can check their site at www.nationaltrust.org.]  The restoration is estimated at $5,000,000 [2006 USD].
        Check out Maven's page at ARCHITECTURE IN HOLLYWOOD: The Ennis-Brown House for more.

Inside the Ennis Brown House (1924)
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A Franklyn Lloyd Wright Design

     And Maven is biased since her hometown has shown up every once in a while!
 

FORT WORTH, TX, MOVIE LOCATIONS

 

166 movies and television shows:  http://www.imdb.com/search/title?locations=Fort%20Worth,%20Texas,%20USA

 

LOGAN’S RUN (1976):

http://blog.ounodesign.com/2009/06/11/architecture-in-the-movies-part-3-logans-run/

(This website has a video with Water Gardens with Peter Ustinov briefly at the end)

 

Hulen Mall - 4800 S Hulen Street – www.hulenmall.com

 

Tandy Center (Now City Place) - 100 Throckmorton St.

            http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/tandy.htm

            The Tandy Subway:  http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/FtWorth/

The Glass Enclosed Elevators:               

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/limebye/3775962564/

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/limebye/3775962312/in/photostream/

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/limebye/3775963636/in/photostream/

 

Water Gardens - Houston & W. Lancaster Streets

            http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/water.htm

            A photograph with Peter Ustinov, Jenny Agutter, Michael York:

                        http://www.flickr.com/photos/ouno/3623081728/in/photostream/

The Fort Worth Water Gardens
fortworthwatergardens.jpg
That Appeared in "Logan's Run" (1976)