Posted: 7/15/17 at 12:14pm
And another great posting on that set that burned down,
http://asburyproductiondesignstudiescenter.com/explore/hello-dolly
Posted: 7/15/17 at 12:40pm
I read somewhere that the NY scenes in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid were the Dolly sets in black and white.
Posted: 7/15/17 at 12:43pm
You can also see a lot of the Harmonia Gardens set in the Poseidon Adventure. And the back wall in the Harmonia Gardens set is the wall from the ballroom of the Von Trapps Villa in Sound Of Music.
Updated On: 7/15/17 at 12:43 PM
Posted: 7/15/17 at 5:43pm
I love reading the above details of set re-use in vintage Hollywood. I remember coming to the 20th Century Fox lot for the first time in 1982. Most of Dolly's Main Street facades still marched down that avenue, and the embankment and raised train tracks were still in place on the right, though very dilapidated. The facades all masked a run of office buildings housing studio administration. Nine years later I was back on the lot and most of it was gone. I was told that California building codes had kicked in and no-one could assure the inspectors that the facades would withstand an earthquake of a certain level, so down they came. The front left intersection remained and had been covered in graffiti and contemporary New York detailing to become the backlot set for NYPD Blue. It's still there today.
(Why was I at Fox back in '82? I was working for David Mitchell the Bway set designer and we were presenting a first model of the Bway set design for "Brighton Beach Memoirs" to the original director Herb Ross before he left the production. He held court with Neil Simon at his bungalow on the Fox lot. I'll never forget being Herb and Neil's guest at the executive dining room on the lot as visiting actors paid tribute.)
Updated On: 7/15/17 at 05:43 PM
Posted: 7/15/17 at 6:47pm
I read somewhere that the NY scenes in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid were the Dolly sets in black and white.
1. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID is a color film.
2. And yes, both films were in production at the same time. A request was sent if they could use the HELLO, DOLLY! New York set for a sequence in the film. Permission was denied so director George Roy Hill secretly photographed the lead actors on set sections which can be seen during a New York montage in the film.
Posted: 7/16/17 at 10:36am
SmokeyLady said: "Theres other things that are a little bizarre connected with Dolly. One of them being the whole NYC set that was built on the 20th century studios lot burned down. "
Yes - there was a fire. But it did not burn down the whole set. You would have to burn down the whole studio to demolish that set since it involves a false front on just about every building that existed at the studio in 1968. I drive by the Fox lot on Pico occasionally and I can still see parts of the New York set - so much of it is still there. Unfortunately they don't have tours, but if you can find a reason to visit someone on the lot you can see it for yourself.
And yes - the B&W photos of Butch and Sundance in New York were taken on the Dolly set. They wanted to actually film the sequence, but Dolly's release was held up and Fox didn't want the public's first view of the spectacular set to be in Butch Cassidy instead of Hello, Dolly.
Posted: 8/22/22 at 9:11pm
I was back at the lot today. Made me think of this thread.
Posted: 8/22/22 at 9:37pm
DAME said: "Wow. I had forgotten about this. Of particular interest is his thoughts on the Dollys he played with. R.I.P.
http://www.back2stonewall.com/2017/07/brutal-gay-torture-murder-dollys-barnaby-danny-lockin.html"
That's so terribly sad. I never heard this story before. I remember him from the movie, he was great.
