Continuing on the tour of non-Disneyland theme and amusement parks of the 1960s, here are three slides of Universal Studios and the backlot in 1960. Universal Studios is almost one of the forgotten parks as far as collectors go. Not many theme park collectors actively purchase items from this tourist attraction and the other collectors who love the park are the Monster collectors. There was some great souvenirs produced with the famous Universal Monstersb and they had a wonderful stage and photo spot called the Monsters Laboratory. I know I have some snapshots of the Monster Laboratory and I promise to drag them out and show them one day.
The shot of the Roman temple and the advertising for Spartacus is rather nice. I do not think the temple lasted for very long. Also the filming shot on the street scene is rather cool as well. Most tourists when coming to visit Hollywood want to see what Universal offers, the backstage and filming of Movies and TV shows. The addition of rides was welcome, but I feel that the tram ride suffered. I am not sure about the addition of Whoopi as the tour guide to the backstage tour, has anyone ridden that and has an opinion?
I wish I could find more Universal Studios slides....the ones that I have are (for the most part) rather dull. But I sure have some great memories of going there as a kid, before Jaws and Kong! There were props from the TV show "Land of the Giants" (a big telephone, etc), as well as H.R. Puffnstuff. And the Munsters house always looked wrong (and tiny!) somehow. We got dirty throwing giant foam boulders at each other (they were still pretty heavy).
ReplyDeleteWe were always thrilled by the room full of mummified people (I think from an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that took place in catacombs), and the pond that now holds Bruce the shark held the PT boat from McHale's Navy!
Thanks for sharing these neat early slides, Matterhorn.
Just a helpful comment... The top photo (looking down on the town square scene) is incorrectly reversed horizontally. If you switch it back the right way, you'll see the correct line-up of the Warner Bros. Studios and Disney Studios lots behind the Universal back lot.
ReplyDeletei was gonna say the same thing about that valley shot. that's barham blvd running through the shot. amazing how undeveloped that land is there. patrick-would you say these date from 59-60?
ReplyDeleteduh! Universal Studios Backlot 1960!
ReplyDeletegreat shots...i'll try to pull some i have of the munster stage set.
Whoopi Goldberg is an "okay" addition to the Studio Tour. With her and the two from Access Hollywood, it just feels fake to me. I miss the old tour.
ReplyDeleteThese are awesome photos. :) Thanks so much!
I thought the middle one may have been reversed (and probably the bottom one also.) I think the original person put the slides in the holder backwords. When I get home I will fix them. Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteGreat obscure stuff! Jordan - I'd love to see the Munsters stage set....
ReplyDeleteIn a previous post over at Castle Famous, I uploaded three 1967 postcards of the Monster Laboratory at Universal Studios. If I'm not mistaken, it's the actual set of the Munsters lab? Should anyone be intersted in seeing these, just click on the archive for the month of June.
ReplyDeleteBest, Terry.
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