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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. |
Learn
how Hollywood saved Kanab!
Famous author Zane Grey wrote his first successful books here
and this attracted a film production crew to Kanab to shoot
the 1924 film "Deadwood Coach". 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.
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.
Hollywood
Speaks
"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."
Guess
how many films have been made in Kanab (23, 40, 67, Over 90)?
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.
What
acting role did the town barber play in films?
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!
Can
you name three actors from films made here?
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!
What
other "Weekend Explorer" destination is famous for
Westerns?
Lone Pine. Featured in our "Eastern Sierras"
episode.
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