Robin Svejcara wants us to “tour” her hometown of Tucson, Arizona where over 271 movies and television shows have been filmed since 1914!

Tucson is situated in the Sonorran Desert with a dry, hot climate ideal for filming for most of the year and it is only 500 miles from Hollywood!

Our first stop…The Old Tucson Movie Studio!

The Old Tuscon Movie Studio

"Arizona" 1940

The studio was originally built in 1939 for the movie “ Arizona ” starring Jean Arthur and William Holden and opened to the public in 1960. But in 1995 some dirty dog set it afire destroying many of the sets, wardrobe and prop collections. It was rebuilt and 16 new buildings and is now a studio, a theme park and a lasting tribute to Western history.

A few of the other pictures made there…

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) with Clint  Eastwood

"Rio Bravo" (1959) with John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson

"Tombstone" (1993) with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer & Powers Booth

 Next……Hi Corbett Stadium!

Hi Corbett Field

 Formerly Randolph Field, the stadium was renamed in honor of Hiram (Hi) Stevens Corbett who convinced his golf acquaintance (a major league baseball owner) that Tucson was the ideal place for spring training. All the spring training scenes for “Major League” were shot there.

"Major League" (1989) with Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen

On to the University of Arizona …

….the very first university in the Arizona Territory! Founded in 1885, it wasn’t until 1891 when 32 students and 6 teachers filed through the doors of Old Main. At least 3 films were shot there including “A Kiss Before Dying” (1956) with Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward.

Old Main

A Kiss Before Dying" (1956)

…and finally to the beautiful Mission of San Xavier Del Bac!

The Mission by day

The Mission by moonlight

 After the first mission , built in 1692, was destroyed by Indians, the TohonoO’odham Indians rebuilt the church in 1783. It is called “The White Dove of the Desert” and is served by the Franciscans who also tend to the native community. D. W. Griffith filmed “Renunciation” there in 1910.

 Two other movies that were filmed there…

"The Last Outpost" 1951 with Ronald Reagan and Rhonda Fleming

"The Gay Desperado" with Nino Martini and Ida Lupino

Ask Arabella…..

From Connie LaCarbano, Phoenix City, Alabama….

Judy and Elvis in "Jailhouse Rock"

I am a new Elvis Presley fan (at 15) and I heard that Judy Tyler, his love interest in “Jailhouse Rock” was killed just after she made that movie. I also heard that he was in love with her and couldn’t ever watch that movie.

 Well, Connie, I hadn’t heard that he wouldn’t watch the movie but rumors were that infatuation was ripe on the set. However, Judy was newly married to Greg laFayette when that picture was wrapped so I am inclined put that down to studio hype. The two were going on a belated honeymoon after she was done on the set and, on July 4 th, 1957, both Judy and Greg were killed in an automobile accident. She was only 23. Judy also played Princess Summerfall Winterspring on “The Howdy Doody Show” at 14 and starred in Rogers & Hammerstein’s Broadway hit musical “Pipe Dream”a year before her picture with Presley. She only made two films and died before seeing either one on the screen.

From Douglas Roble, Akron, Ohio…..

Mary Philbin

I watched the new “Phantom of the Opera” and decided to check on how many screen versions there were of that story. I counted 7 from 1916 to 2004. Am I right? Also what do you know about Mary Philbin who played Christine in the 1925 silent version?

I counted 7, also, Doug if you are just counting those titled TPOTO. But there was one film in 1991 based on that same story called “Dance Macabre”. Did you forget that one? If so, that makes 8.

Now as to Mary Philbin, she was often called Universal Studio’s answer to Mary Pickford. She made over 30 films beginning with “The Blazing Trail” in 1921 and ending with “After The Fog” in 1929. Her family were overly strict and she would have never been allowed to make films if it hadn’t been for the friendship between the Philbin family and that of Carl Laemmle, Universal’s studio head. After a long romance and short engagement to Paul Kohner, the studio casting director (the marriage was nixed by her family because he was Jewish) she never married, preferring to live alone in her parents home. Shy, sweet Mary died there of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 89. While Paul later married and had two children, he kept her love letters near him until he died.