RKO Forty Acres

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A 1965 aerial view of "the back forty". Other names used were 40 acres and Pathe 40 Acre Ranch. North is to the right

Forty Acres, or "the back forty"^[1], was an industry nickname for a studio backlot that belonged to RKO Pictures and Desilu Productions, located in Culver City, California. For nearly fifty years it was famous for its permanent, full scale sets such as Western Street and Atlanta Street or Main Street and was used in films like Gone with the Wind and King Kong and television shows like Bonanza and Star Trek. It was situated on a triangular parcel of land that measured just under 29 acres, located just blocks from RKO, now The Culver Studios^[2], which was situated to the west. It was bounded by Hiquera Street to the north, West Jefferson Boulevard, Ballona Creek and Baldwin Hills to the south and Lucerne Avenue to the west. In 1976 it was razed to the ground for re-development and is today known as the southern expansion of the Hayden Industrial Tract.

[edit] History

The property on which the backlot was located was originally intended to be a lease for Cecil B. DeMille’s production of the 1927 film The King of Kings. On it he constructed the historical City of Jerusalem, which remained for the RKO production of King Kong in 1933. By then it was known as Forty Acres and owned by RKO Pictures.

In 1935 David O. Selznick leased the property from RKO for his new studio, Selznick International Pictures. For his 1939 production of Gone with the Wind, the plantation Tara, the Atlanta Depot, and other Atlanta buildings were constructed on Forty Acres. The depot and many of the Atlanta buildings became permanent fixtures on the property till its final days. Following years of filming productions like the Tarzan series and a turnover of several owners including Howard Hughes, the backlot was practically deserted as cinematic productions declined. It was purchased in 1957 by Desilu Productions with the intention of filming for the burgeoning television industry.

[edit] Television

Forty Acres' New York Street as seen on Star Trek (1967)

Forty Acres is perhaps best remembered as providing the backdrop of fictional town of Mayberry, NC on the television hit series, The Andy Griffith Show. Many of the street scenes and buildings on the backlot were seen regularly on TV screens across America and became quite familiar with viewers. This was in fact part of the backlot known as Main Street, situated in the very center of the property, and was used regularly on shows like Adventures of Superman, Ozzie and Harriet, Batman, The Green Hornet and Mission: Impossible. Many of the actual buildings were remainders from the Gone with the Wind years. It was also used on Star Trek in three episodes entitled Miri, The Return of the Archons and The City on the Edge of Forever. (In the latter episode, sharp-eyed viewers will note the window sign for "Floyd's Barber Shop" (From the Andy Griffith Show) in the background as Captain Kirk and Edith Keeler stroll by).

Forty Acres was also the backdrop for five episodes of the hit TV series Bonanza where the backlot’s Western Street, next to the Garden of Allah (film) set, served as a trail town. An added feature was the fact that some portions of the backlot were occupied by fields and scrub and provided the ideal conditions for filming a western. The fictional Tara, home to Scarlett O'Hara, was torn down in 1959 to eventually become the set for Hogan's Heroes and Stalag 13. All of the sets, which included Camp Henderson on Gomer Pyle, were situated primarily in the center, south and west end of the property. The narrower east end, with the exception of an original western street that was eventually levelled, was left untouched. Picturesque Sycamore Maple and Willow trees dotted the northern and southern perimeter of the property.

[edit] Trivia

• During the filming of Gone with the Wind and the great fire scene, the actual fire on the backlot caused concern in the Culver City residents who believed that either the entire film studio or Los Angeles was in flames, and caused some to flee. The fire was in fact Selznick's way of "killing two birds with one stone", razing old sets (over which new ones would be built) by setting them on fire in a controlled setting and capturing it all on camera for use later in the picture.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• RKO 40 Acres
• The Andy Griffith Show
• Metroplis and Mayberry
• Bonanza: Scenery of the Ponderosa
• "40 Acres" The Lost Backlot Studio of Movie & Television Fame