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Writer/historian Ross Hawkins at signature movie museum in Marietta, GA. Photo, Tyler St. Mark.
In 1919, Harry Culver convinced Thomas Ince to return to Culver City.
He wanted Mr. Ince to build his own studio a few hundred yards east of the studio that he previously had owned with D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett, later Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
When Mr. Ince built his second studio, the first building to go up was the front office building known as The Mansion, it was designed as a replica of George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon. However, it was not used as Tara in “Gone With The Wind,” as had been suggested.
The front door of The Mansion was used as the entrance to the Wilkes's grand home for the barbeque sequence in GWTW. The building on the southeast side of the lot was authorized by David O. Selznick in 1935 when he subleased the lot from RKO.
Mr. Selznick chose not to move into The Mansion. He felt he had a better view of who was driving onto the lot from the side building.
After Mr. Ince's untimely death in 1924, his widow convinced Cecil B. De Mille to take control of the studio. At the Ince Studio, Mr. De Mille produced and directed several important films, including “The Volga Boatman” and “The Road to Yesterday,” starring William Boyd, who later became cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy.
By 1929, Mr. De Mille left the Ince Studio. Two years later, he returned to Paramount to help his old friend Jesse Lasky rescue the studio from bankruptcy.
David O. Selznick took over the Culver Studios in 1935 where he produced “Garden of Allah,””Nothing Sacred,” with Fredric March and Carole Lombard, “A Star Is Born” with Janet Gaynor, “Gone With the Wind,” with Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh, “Intermezzo,” with Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman, and “Duel in the Sun,” with Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck.
Mr. Selznick left the studio in 1950 when it was taken over by Howard Hughes.
Six years later, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz bought the property from General Tire and turned it into Desilu Studios.
Among the films made there were Alfred Hitchcock's “Notorious,” the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals, beginning with “Top Hat” in 1935, Steven Spielberg's “ET,” “Raging Bull,” and “Robo Cop.”
Several structures on the lot, including The Mansion, have been designated historic sites by the Culver City Historical Society and the City of Culver City.
The Scene Dock and one other building on the lot were torn down by the current owners. If these had been designated as historic structures, the owners are subject to fines and a possible lawsuit.
The last time I was on the lot, there were small buildings with historic significance.
1. Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh's dressing room for “Gone With the Wind.”
2. Orson Welles's office.
3, Alfred Hitchcock's office.
4. A small house used as John Wayne's home in “Flying Leathernecks.”
5. The Cecil B. De Mille Theatre.
6. The largest stage on the lot, built by Mr. De Mille for “King of Kings” in 1926.
This would make an excellent tourist attraction.
Welcome to a little-known tradition. As soon as a new studio head is named, the custom is to put up an office building. When Michael Eisner became president at the Walt Disney Studios, there was a charming little turn-of-the-century American Small Town at the back of the lot. As soon as he took over, it vanished, to be supplanted by the Michael Eisner Office Building.
Putting up an office building for studio heads is akin to dogs marking their territory.
For too long, the City Council has ignored the motion picture and television companies in Culver City.
MGM was uprooted by Kirk Kerkorian.
Backlots were converted into condo canyons.
What remained of the studio was sold to Sony Pictures. The only survivor of the Hal Roach Studio is a plaque under a tree on Washington Boulevard.
Sony Pictures' contract expires in 2016.
What do we do then?
Change Culver City’s motto from the Heart of Screenland to the Southern California Shopping Mall Capital.
Mr. Hawkins may be contacted at rjhculvercity@aol.com
