This and That – Sunset Boulevard, the Movie!
SUNSET BOULEVARD!! I’ve just returned from watching this great movie on the big screen. This was probably my 15th time seeing it ( I can almost quote the dialogue.), but it was my first time seeing the picture show on the big screen, as it was meant to be seen.
I could only imagine what those glorious sets and costumes looked like in color, but I wouldn’t have had it filmed any other way. Black and white is perfect. Oh! How it adds to the artsy feel of the picture. I can’t help but wonder what happened to all the fabulous set dressings and such . . . and that car!!!
Later ‘Gaters.
P.S. – And yes, Mr. DeMille, I WAS ready for my close-up. Big smile!
(I also included this in my FB post about the exterior of Norman’s house in the movie. It was the abandoned Getty Mansion. When it was torn down, here’s what one local L.A. paper said: This notable house was made famous by the motion picture “Sunset Blvd,” in which William Holden’s body ends up face down in the swimming pool. The home was originally built for $250,000 by US Mexican Consul William O. Jenkins in 1924. It had 14 bedrooms and was built to last…having 13-inch concrete walls. The Jenkins family live in the home for only 1 year.
It sat vacant for 10 years until it was sold to J.P. Getty in 1936. Because the home sat vacant for such a long time, the locals took to calling the empty edifice, “The Phantom House.” The home belonged to one of the many former Mrs. Gettys at the time of the 1950 filming of “Sunset Blvd” by Paramount Studios. As a condition for the rental of the property, Mrs. Getty requested that the studio build her a pool. Which they did. After winning a lawsuit challenge by Windsor Square neighbors, Mrs. Getty successfully sold the site in 1957 to the developers of the white marble high-rise office building now standing at the end of Crenshaw Blvd at Wilshire.
The house was also the one that James Dean, Natalie Woods, and Sal Mineo escape to In “Rebel Without a Cause. The pool is also used in a pivotal scene in this movie. In the movie – if you remember – the three “rebels” explore the interior of the old house. Of course, those scenes were filmed on a sound stage. In the scene where Sal shows the others around the house, he carries a candelabrum to light the way. Interesting tidbit – the candles are fake, lit by tiny gas jets. The gas hose was hidden by running it up Sal’s arm and down his leg. It can be seen if you look closely. And now, Paul Harvey, you know “the rest of the story.” Later ‘Gaters!
(Originally posted March 11, 2015)
