Warner Bros.: Hollywood’s Ultimate Backlot by Steven Bingen with Marc Wanamaker and Bison Archives (book review).
A long while back, someone recommended that I should look at the book, Warner Bros.: Hollywood’s Ultimate Backlot by Steven Bingen with Marc Wanamaker, Bison Archives for photos of Warner Bros studios and backlot. It starts with an introduction by Doris Day, who remarked that she never realized just how big the place was, even though she worked there.
Moreover, there is a history of the Warner Brothers themselves, all four of them, creating facades that looked bigger than they were, and really being in hock for the land until they started making money. Something I definitely didn’t know was where the name ‘Burbeck’ came from. The land was originally named after dentist David Burbeck, who had bought the land. Good investment. It’s also interesting to note the number of fires the studio had, but when you consider how many of the sets were made of wood, I’m surprised it didn’t happen more frequently, especially since the sets were constantly reused. Mostly, the fires were accidental, although Bingen records at least one arson case.
The book makes a point that antiques were bought and then used to make copies for the films, which ultimately became more valuable, and how the Maltese Falcon could no longer be used as a background prop because too many people recognized it. I spotted it in at least one other film myself.
There’s a lot of goodies here, not all SF, but enough stories to elicit the odd chuckle. Bingen, having worked as a guide on the backlot, met a lot of people, as evidenced by his acknowledgments in the introduction. Oh, the landing vehicle from the original ‘V’ TV series still has its interiors. Later in the book, on page 234, there’s a second ‘V’ landing vehicle keeping the mechanical Free Willy whale company.
Of course, you really ought to read this book for yourself, but Bingen touches on everything. He discusses the stages themselves and where some famous films were shot on the same lots, which will probably give film aficionados pause for thought about what was real and what was not.
Oddly, it isn’t the stages with pools that were of most interest, but Stage 7 (later called Stage 16), where more height was needed. I agree with Bingen that it would have made more sense to remove the roof and add height. But no, Director Lloyd Bacon for the film Cain And Mable (1935) did a Heath Robinson act and had the building raised from the ground and added more walls. Only in Hollywood.
Although studio politics are mentioned from time to time, they aren’t the focus of this book. Even so, there was care with the backlots not to label them for TV use, in case film directors thought them inferior, when in fact they were built as well as any of them.
I know this isn’t a regular book review for SFCrowsnest, but many of us here have a penchant for films, and there aren’t many books of this nature around to show photographs. A lot of SF films, especially exteriors, aren’t made on studio lots, and independent productions can be made at Warner or other studios, even abroad. Bingen, in his final chapter, examines foreign-owned studios. Warner owns the UK’s Teddington Studios, for instance. As far as I can see, there are at least three other books on the other studios’ backlots. Film history needs to be preserved. I knew many films were made in the same studios and lots, and it’s so easy to accept what we see rather than compare how they were used in other films. If you’re into the fine detail, then you’ll feel right at home.
GF Willmetts
January 2024
(pub: Taylor Trade Publishing/Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 274 page illustrated indexed large hardback. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-58979-961-5).
check out website: www.rowman.com
