| August 31, 2003: Heeding
the call from the Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film
History, local Lone Pine resident Joy Anderson last week gave three
swords from her collection of memorabilia from the movies on location.
The swords are interesting because they are wooden. They would not
be good for fighting, but they illustrate that there were so many
extras used in the filming of the extended battle scenes for the
ending of the film, that the metal prop swords simply ran out.
The original shooting schedule, long and arduous during the early
part of the summer in Lone Pine, produced a rough cut that make
the RKO executives very enthusiastic about the picture. They decided
to send the crew and extras back for two weeks to beef up the battle
scenes that end the picture. Wooden swords were added to the existing
prop list to accommodate the additional extras.
Joy Anderson is the daughter of Russ Spainhower, who served as local
contact for the film companies coming on location here for many
years. While two of the swords are meant to represent English weapons,
a third sword is a curved scimitar, also wooden, representing the
Thuggees’ weapons.
Joy has also given copies of the pictures from the family album
documenting the Gunga Din shoot, and has hinted she will eventually
give the museum the album she made for her father one Christmas.
Local resident Mildred Langston, living here when the film was shooting,
also shared her pictures of the day she and some friends visited
the set. They have been copied digitally and added to the Museum
archive. One interesting item in the Langston collection is the
original pass to be on-set, signed by Russ Spainhower himself. All
of these items will be used to create the exhibit in the museum
about this classic film, what the Film Festival personnel have been
calling Lone Pine’s “Hallmark Film” for many years.
The Museum is looking for pictures from family albums that show
behind the scenes or “production” shots of any of the
more than 400 films made here. Family photographs that show local
residents involved with the films are of particular interest.
If you have such items please call 760-876-9103 or e-mail lonepinemovies@aol.com.
The Museum can scan the images for use in the museum and return
the originals to family members if they wish to retain them as part
of their family’s “backyard history.”
The Museum of Lone Pine Film History is a community museum, dedicated
to collecting, preserving and celebrating Lone Pine and Inyo County’s
long and famous film history.
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