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"40 Acres"
The Lost Backlot Studio of Movie & Television Fame (circa 1926-1976) "40 Acres" is the misnomer that was given to what was actually about 29 acres of land made into a movie studio backlot circa 1926 by RKO-Pathe studios in Culver City California. Pictured right in a 1963 aerial photograph, the backlot by this year had served as the primary outdoor filming location for Hollywood classics such as King Kong (1933) and Gone With The Wind (1939), and was at the time of this photograph the filming location for the film The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Purchased by Desilu Studios in the late 1950's, the backlot also provided outdoor locales for a number of television series, the most notable of these being The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), for which the streets of Atlanta constructed for Gone With The Wind served as the town of "Mayberry." As the studio continued to change hands, the "40 Acres" backlot fell out of use and into disrepair in the early 1970's, and in 1976 it was bulldozed and the land was sold to industry. |
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Visit the brand new
40 Acres Image Gallery and Virtual Tour
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Other sets detailed on the survey map include the "Mandalay" mansion from Alfred Hitchcock's
first American film, Rebecca (1940).
Also visible in this photograph at the east end of 40 Acres (upper portion of photo)
is what appears to be a European city set (usage unknown).
40 Acres and the Desilu Years - 1957-1967
By 1957, RKO Studios and the 40 Acres backlot had already changed ownership several
times, including ownership by Howard Hughes from 1948 to 1955.
The studio and backlot acreage changed hands again in 1957 when it
was purchased by Desilu Productions, the studio formed in 1951 by Lucille Ball and Desi
Arnaz. For the next eleven years, 40 Acres would provide exterior locations for the
company's television productions, including The Real McCoys,
The Danny Thomas Show, Lassie, Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp,
US Marshal, The Untouchables, The Andy Griffith Show,
My Three Sons, My Favorite Martian, Gomer Pyle, USMC,
I Spy, Hogan's Heroes, Batman, Mission: Impossible
and Star Trek. The backlot would also continue to see occasional use in films
during this period, including in 1963 for the production of The Greatest Story Ever
Told, whose set for the city of Jerusalem had to be reconstructed at 40 Acres after
a series of freak snowstorms halted on-location production in Arizona.
Aerial View 40 Acres Backlot - 1963
This enlarged view of the image featured at the top of this web page includes
several prominent features, including the Jerusalem city set for
the film The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and the sets for television's
The Real McCoys (1957-1963).
40 Acres in 1965
Back in 1967, Andy Griffith commented, "Funny thing about the Mayberry we know at
The small-town feeling cited by Andy Griffith wouldn't last long once one stepped through one of
Aerial View of 40 Acres Backlot - 1965
This remarkable 1965 aerial photograph offers several detailed views of the sets on
the backlot, from Andy Griffith's "Mayberry" in the foreground, to Hogan's Heroes'
"Stalag 13" in the distance. Also visible in this view is the wedge-shaped Tarzan
jungle set across Ballona Creek (upper left).
"Mayberry" Set, The Andy Griffith Show
Aerial photo evidence reveals that many of the "Mayberry" street facades were built
after the filming of Gone With The Wind, including the Courthouse/Sheriff's
Office, the Taylor house, or the angular building in the town center (home to the drugstore),
all of which were constructed later.
Forty Acres - is that even though all the buildings are false fronts, when you're
working there, you get the feeling of being in a small town. You forget that on
the other side of the fence is one of the biggest cities in the world."
(from mrpophistory.com)
Mayberry's doors...one that was real that is. As with nearly all of the structures in 40 Acres,
the buildings and homes that served as
the town of "Mayberry" (for example) were for the most part mere facades, and were almost never
used for filming of interior scenes. With rare exceptions, there were only prop walls behind
doors and windows, which gave the illusion of an actual interior. Instead, interior scenes were
filmed in the Desilu Cahuenga studio facilities about six miles away in Hollywood. Conversely, even
some "outdoor" scenes were filmed in the studio, on partial sets constructed to match the exterior
facades in 40 Acres. For example, many of the scenes which took place on the sidewalk in front
of the Mayberry Courthouse and Floyd's Barbershop were shot in the studio on a duplicate set.
The lighting is usually a giveaway on these scenes, which almost always lack the genuine outdoor
"feel" of those shot on the actual outdoor set.
"Stalag 13" Set, Hogan's Heroes
(note the simulated snow on roofs of barracks)
The Tara mansion in Gone With The Wind stood in this area of
40 Acres for at least two decades. Prior to being home to Hogan's Heroes'
"Stalag 13," this area was used for construction of an ancient city featured in
the 1965 film, The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Camp Henderson Barracks, Gomer Pyle, USMC
This area was also the location for the home and farm of The Real McCoys
television series which ran from 1957-1963.
Gone With The Wind's Railroad Depot Set - Nearly 30 Years Later
Arab Village
Part of the original Jerusalem city for Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings (1927),
this set was also featured (redressed) as an Arab village in David Selznick's
Garden of Allah (1936), and continued over the years to be used as a locale
in a number of films and television series.
Western Street
This western street set adjacent to the Arab village set saw many appearances
in television shows, including Bonanza, which filmed five episodes here in its
later seasons. An earlier western street set was located in the southeastern
area of the backlot.
Visit the brand new
40 Acres Image Gallery and Virtual Tour
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Acknowledgements
The original version of this web page debuted on May 27, 2006.
John Bertram (Culver Studios)
Julie Lugo Cerra (City of Culver City)
Jake Easton (Radok)
Randy Garrett
Jerry Krumm
Allan Newsome (The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club)
Jim Nolt (The Adventure Continues)
Joel Rasmussen
Jerry Schneider
and
Mark Wanamaker (Bison Archives)
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