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Kanab's
Film Heritage
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What
do the films "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid",
"How the West Was Won", "Mackenna's Gold",
"The Outlaw Josie Wales", and one of my favorites
as a kid "The Apple Dumpling Gang" have in
common? All right, you already knew the answer was going
to be
Kanab, Utah! Kanab was a hub of filmmaking activity during
the golden era of Western films in the 1940's and 50's. |
Famous
author Zane Grey wrote his first successful books here
and this attracted a film production crew to Kanab in 1922.
Meanwhile, blight had struck the grasslands making cattle
unprofitable. The town of Kanab was dying.
The Parry brothers who had helped make the film decided to
market the town to Hollywood and shot photos by plane and
on horseback of every conceivable shooting location.
1. Guess
how many films have been made in Kanab (23, 40, 67, Over 90)?
Hollywood bit on the idea, and movie making became a huge
boom for the town. Townspeople did everything from drive trucks
to act in bit parts and made in a day what their other jobs
paid in a week. This income allowed townspeople to pay grocery
bills and taxes sometimes years past due. For the first time,
every youngster was able to afford to go to school.
2.
What acting role did the town barber play in films?
"It's
a little Hollywood all on its own," said director William
Wellman, "Every beard and blonde is catalogued in a casting
directory for the convenience of visiting movie makers."
Another director commented, "Any place else, we have
to start from scratch. Here we don't. The people, the stock,
everything we need - all are trained and ready."
3.Can
you name three actors from films made here?
Answers
are below.
Answers
1. Kanab has been the site of over 92 feature length films
as well as several hundred TV shows. Besides the scenery which
hasn't changed much since most of it is protected in the form
of National and State Parks and Monuments, the Lone Ranger's
perch still sits in Kanab Canyon and the Gunsmoke sets as
well as other sets are still lovingly maintained by the people
of Kanab.
2. Lew Applegate, the town barber, doubled in brass as an actor.
He was a natural! City Council Members worked as horse wranglers.
Mayor Verne Lindquist chauffeured movie directors. The Sheriff
George Swapp doubled on screen as a camp cook. Bishops from
the Mormon church even suspended their duties to work as cowboys,
stunt riders, or even Indians!
3.
If you didn't get at least three of these actors names, you
should go out and rent some of the classic westerns and watch
them! John Wayne, Loretta Young, Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck,
Anthony Quinn, Maureeen O'Hara, Don Ameche, Linda Darnell,
John Carradine, Russell Simpson, Chief Thundercloud, Burl
Ives, Audie Murphy, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Katharine
Hepburn, Lloyd Bridges, Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Shelley Winters, Telly
Savalas, James Garner, Jack Nicholson, George Hamilton, George
Peppard, James (Jimmy) Stewart, Raquel Welch, Gregory Peck,
Omar Sharif, Burt Reynolds, Jodie Foster, Clint Eastwood,
Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Richard Burton, Dennis Weaver, Roy
Rogers, Ronald Reagan, and many many more!
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