40 Acres - The Lost Studio Backlot of Movie & Television Fame

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"40 Acres"
The Lost Studio Backlot of Movie & Television Fame
a RetroWeb Studio Backlots website

The Final Years

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"Gone With The Wind's" Atlanta railway depot set, photographed on October 29, 1970 by Rex McGee. This set would stand for a little over another year before succumbing to fire.	The "Mayberry" courthouse and shops, photographed on October 29, 1970 by Rex McGee. The sets at this point were no longer in use, with "Mayberry R.F.D." having moved to the Warner Burbank backlot for its final season.
See all 27 of Rex McGee's remarkable photographs of the Forty Acres backlot shot in October, 1970 in this new gallery.

In 1967, Desilu sold the Culver City studio facilities, including the 40 Acres backlot, to Gulf & Western Industries / Paramount Studios. The studio and backlot changed hands again in 1968 when Paramount sold them to Perfect Film and Chemical, and yet again the following year, when they were purchased by OSF Industries. Television series such as "Mayberry R.F.D." and "Hogan's Heroes" continued to film at 40 Acres until the early 1970's (although Mayberry R.F.D. moved to the Warner/Burbank backlot for its final season in 1970-71). Sporadic film production continued on the lot as well, including "Star!" (1968), which utilized a narrow alley set constructed in the eastern tip of the lot, "Switchblade Sisters" (1975), "Lepke" (a 1975 mob drama starring Tony Curtis), "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" (a Nazi "sexploitation" film which utilized, and destroyed, some of the standing sets from "Hogan's Heroes"), "The Fortune" (an obscure 1975 comedy starring Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson) and finally, "Vigilante Force," a low-budget 1976 action film starring Kris Kristofferson in which the tattered, run-down sets of the 40 Acres main town were backdrop to an explosion-filled battle.

Partial view of 40 Acres from Baldwin Hills - 1971
(with thanks to Javier Mulero - assembled from a filmed pan sequence)

Vertical view of 40 Acres - 1972

scenes from "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" (1975) the sets originally constructed for Hogan's Heroes' "Stalag 13" were featured (and some of them were destroyed) in this Nazi exploitation, porno-violence film.

40 Acres rezoning request photo - late 1974
(courtesy Jacob Shepherd)

scenes from "Switchblade Sisters" (1975) "Switchblade Sisters" was a 1975 action and exploitation film detailing the lives of high school-aged female gang members. A portion of the film was shot in the 40 Acres main town, as well as in the alley set built in the east end of the lot for the 1968 film "Star!" Director Jack Hill recalls, "When I shot there, the owners didn't care in what condition we left the set, as it was due for demo at that time. We crashed cars into buildings and had guys falling through windows..."

Vertical view of 40 Acres - 1975
(courtesy Jerry Krumm)

scenes from "The Fortune" (1975) "The Fortune" was an obscure comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, and was likely the last film for which new sets were constructed on the 40 Acres backlot. For the film, the Hogan's Heroes "Stalag 13" sets were razed, and a Spanish-style courtyard apartment building, along with a street and several other facades, were constructed in this location (see above aerial).

40 Acres in Ruins - from Vigilante Force (1976)

scenes from "Vigilante Force" (1976) In "Vigilante Force," a California community hires a Vietnam veteran and his buddies to clean up a town which has been overtaken by a group of rowdy oilworkers who have no respect for law and order, but after the job is done, the new gang turns out to be just as bad as the first. In an extended scene near the end of the film, the battle moves into the decrepit, decaying and weed-infested 40 Acres backlot, and during the mayhem, several of the standing sets are further damaged.

As the old English proverb tells us, "All good things must come to an end," and in 1976, the historic "40 Acres" backlot property was sold, the sets were demolished, the land was re-graded, and the site was redeveloped as an industrial park. Today, the casual visitor to the property would have little idea they were on the same site where hundreds of Civil War soldiers once laid wounded and dying, where both Tarzan and King Kong once ruled, from where Superman once took to the skies, or where Sheriff Andy Taylor and his trusty deputy once policed a small North Carolina town.

Forty Acres Final Years Filmography known productions which used the backlot from 1968-1976
Film The Dynamite Brothers (1974) Switchblade Sisters (1975) The Fortune (1975) Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975) Lepke (1975) The Four Deuces (1976) Vigilante Force (1976) Television Land of the Giants (TV) (1968, episode "Ghost Town") Lancer (TV) (1968) Mayberry RFD (TV) (1968-1969, seasons 1 and 2 only) The New People (TV) (1969) Hogan's Heroes (TV) (1965-1971) Lassie (TV) (1957-1973)