Introducing…

 

 
In the very early days of filmmaking, a movie was made wherever you could set up a camera. If the script called for a rainstorm or a blizzard, you just had to wait until one came along. The East Coast was the first movie mecca but soon filmmakers moved west to sunny California. Studios were built with gigantic backlots where seasons were created at will and “towns” sprang up that looked a lot like Paris, New York, and Smalltown, USA.

But every once in a while, ingenious directors with an eye for realism, packed up their casts and crews, ventured out beyond the backdrops and false fronts and went wherever the storyline took them. Small towns and big towns across the country hosted movie stars and camera crews and lent their history to eager scriptwriters. Today they still do.

In coming issues, we will attempt to follow their trail.


Our first stop is in …. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania !


Pittsburgh by Day

Pittsburgh by Night

 

The world’s film industry began right here over 100 years ago!


The First Nickelodeon

John Harris and Harry Davis turned an empty storeroom into the world’s first movie theater in June, 1905! On the first day, 450 people paid a nickel to watch “moving pictures” . By the second day, 1500 more stood in line to do the same.

The Pittsburgh Film Distributing Company later became the Metro Film Company and eventually part of…..Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer!

 

 



Pearl White of "Perils of Pauline"

“Perils of Pauline” in 1914 was the first of over 88 movies filmed on location in Pittsburgh. Add to that a host of television dramas and serials.

 


Allegheny County Jail


Ed, Jack and Kate!

The Allegheny County Jail was the location of a scandalous jail break on January 30th, 1902 and provided the screenplay for the movie “Mrs. Soffel” (1984) starring Mel Gibson, Diane Keaton and Matthew Modine. Mel played Ed Biddle, one of the notorious Biddle boys(Matt played Jack) and Diane had the title role of the warden’s wife, Kate Soffel, who helped them escape. The boys were shot and killed in the next county by a posse chasing them in sleighs. Kate was later sent to a sanitarium.

 



The Stanley in the snow!



The Nixon

In the 1940s the Stanley was one of three popular film theaters in town (it is now the Benedum) and the Nixon was home to the Broadway road shows. The Stanley offered a complete stage show plus a feature film and matinees cost only 35 cents with a jumbo popcorn for another nickel! Dick Powell was once the emcee. The Nixon no longer exists.

 

The Pittsburgh mills

Pittsburgh story!

Steel mills in the 1880s was the basis for Marcia Davenport’s award-winning novel “The Valley of Decision” and the 1945 film based on her book starred Gregory Peck and Greer Garson. Interiors were shot in one of the old mansions built by the steel barons of that era and the site is now the campus of a community college. The steel mills are almost gone.

 


Janet Leigh, Paul Douglas and Donna Corcoran


Forbes Field

The original “Angels in the Outfield” (1951) starred Janet Leigh, Paul Douglas and Donna Corcoran and was filmed at Forbes Field with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the supporting cast. Before filming began, Janet was asked to attend the season opener and throw out the first ball. Apparently unfamiliar with a baseball diamond, her high heels caught in the soft turf and Pirate star player Ralph Kiner had to carry her off in his arms. Nice going, Janet! Forbes Field was built in 1909, the first baseball stadium in the U.S.

 


Roberto Clemente Bridge

Bruce Willis and Dennis Farina

In the 1993 film “Striking Distance” Bruce Willis plays a maverick Pittsburgh river cop who creates havoc even in his own department while he tracks a serial killer. Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina and Robert Pastorelli are also in the cast. Most of the action takes place on the three rivers (the Allegheny and Monongahela join at the Point to make the Ohio). The bridge, one of the many Pittsburgh bridges, was named for Pirate baseball player Roberto Clemente who was killed in a plane crash while taking medical supplies to Nicaragua.

 


Carnegie Institute of Technology


Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Institute of Technology was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie and became the first drama school in the U.S. It is now Carnegie Mellon University and also houses the world’s first computer science school and robotics center. Some famous alumni: Albert Brooks…Howard da Silva…Ted Danson…Robert Cummings…Arthur Kennedy…Jack Klugman…William Atherton…Regis Toomey…Robert Middleton…George Peppard…George Romero.

 


Michael Keaton

Dolores Costello
Jeff Goldblum

Gene Kelly

Some of Pittsburgh’s homegrown stars…Gene Kelly…Adolph Menjou…Michael Keaton…Frank McHugh…Scott Glenn…Jeff Goldblum…Anne Jackson…Oscar Levant…Charles Grodin…Fritz Weaver.


James Stewart
Shirley Jones

Sharon Stone

Charles Bronson

and a few from just beyond the borders…James Stewart…Shirley Jones… Sharon Stone …Charles Bronson.

 

Other movies made here include…

“Unconquered” 1947 with Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard

“The Deer Hunter” 1978 with Robert DeNiro

“Night of the Living Dead” 1968 by George Romero

“Gung Ho” 1986 with Michael Keaton

“Tiger Warsaw” 1988 with Patrick Swayze

“The Silence of the Lambs” 1990 with Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.

“Wonder Boys” 1999 with Michael Douglas and Frances McNormand

“Graduation” 2005 with Adam Arkin and Mare Winningham



Don’t worry….

“Ask Arabella” will be back next issue….Send all those questions to me at mamalion27@aol.com