Friday, January 8, 2010

Hello, Dolly! tours


The image above is from the 20th Century Fox studio lot sometime in 1970 I presume.
During my early years of collecting any and everything Barbra, I had a habit of cutting out any article or photo I found without necessarily documenting where I got it from. Now thirty years later I sometime only have a vague idea how I aquired an item.
I can tell you that this photo is from either Life or Look around 1970. Barbra was not on the cover. The cover story was about the movie industry. They had articles about the new Hollywood, the new ratings, etc. The caption for this photo probably had something to do with how big budget musicals were now losing money for the studios.
Apparently at one time, you could take a tour of 20th Century Fox- or at least what was left of it after they sold off most of it during the Cleopatra era. But imagine being able to tour the New York Street scene during it's prime! Not much of it is left. A few years ago, Robin and I drove up to the studio and got a quick glimpse of the street. You end up at a gate house located on the actual street. We just played dumb and asked if they have studio tours. The guard says they don't he- he let's you go past and make a u-turn to exit. For those brief seconds you've got a clear view of the parade street- again, what's left of it.
I thought I read somewhere that they were going to remove any remnants of the set and reveal the original studio buildings again. Anybody out in California know?
But the way, you may be wondering why the left hand side of the page is all ripped up. Well, the magazine was from my high school library and bound with some other issues in a book! And you see, well, um. . . .I just couldn't help myself! I mean, um, who's gonna miss it? Nobody will notice. What's the big deal, right?

3 comments:

  1. I just ran across your blog thanks to the posted picture above. Great photo! Thought you might like to check out a post I'll have up on Friday which will show some of the Fox 'Dolly' set in 1968.

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  2. Welcome to the site. Would love to see your photos!

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  3. I toured the Fox lot and the Dolly Street the Sunday before the parade sequence was shot. It was thrilling to see the set almost perfect and dressed. I'll never forget it.

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