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Date Posted: 14:04:17 05/10/03 Sat
Author: Joe
Author Host/IP: dialup-6-61.tulane.edu / 129.81.213.61
Subject: Re: My Three Sons in Mayberry?
In reply to: Nancy Knechtel 's message, "My Three Sons in Mayberry?" on 01:18:30 04/12/03 Sat

My Three Sons used the facilities of Desilu for its first through seventh seasons, 1960/61 through 1966/67, before moving to CBS Studio Center (former Republic Studios) in Studio City CA (North Hollywood area), beginning with its eighth season (1967/68).

The "Bryant Park" years, whether B&W/ABC (1960-65) or Color/CBS (1965-67) were all filmed at several locations including two of three Desilu facilties. Sometime, they would go "on location", such as the episode "Robbie the Caddy" where they went to a golf course. The front of the Bryant Park house was filmed in two different ways. One was to use an indoor "set piece" was constructed to be associated with the interior set for their house, all at Desilu-Gower (former RKO-Gower) at Melrose and Gower in Hollywood, right next door to Paramount. Today, that old RKO or Desilu facility at Gower is the only one of the former Desilu real estate properties that Paramount was allowed to keep (by the US Federal Government DOJ Antitrust Division) when Lucy sold Desiu to Paramount. (Paramount also inherited syndication rerun rights and production rights to many Desiu programs or originally Desilu programs, including Untouchables, Lucy Show, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Mannix, and others).

As for the Bryant Park house, there is also the real exterior view, in a complete neighberhood. The fictitious Bryant Park address for the Douglas' first seven seasons was 837 Mill Street in Bryant Park but no state was ever mentioned. The real house used for "on location" shots of of the neighberhood is located at 837 (same house number!) on 5th Avenue in Los Angeles, in the Wilshire area.

And the Desilu-Culver (former RKO-Pathe' or RKO-Culver) studio's backlot, which was indeed used for exteriors on Andy Griffith and many other series, was used from time-to-time for the Bryant Park years (1960-67) of My Three Sons.

There are at least two episodes I can think of offhand from the first season (1960/61), one called "Horseless Saddle" which films all over the residential "Mayberry" street of Desilu-Culver as well as the business district blocks of "Mayberry", the other episode is called "Unite or Sink" which had to do with the the Douglas boys trying to earn some extra money by helping out all of the neighbers on the block such as painting a picket fence, etc. this episode also starred "Mille Helper" (Ann Morgan Guilbert) from the Dick van Dyke Show. In "Unite or Sink", you get a long extended view of the residential street of "Mayberry" (Desilu-Culver).

And also in the B&W years is the so called 'Mub' episode, called "Co-incidence", with long-time Hollywood older lady acress Verna Felton of movie, radio and cartoon voice fame as 'Mub'. Mike is driving around town in his jalopy and sees Steve talking to "no-one", but Steve in his car is talking to the dwarf (who Mike can't see) who shows Steve to the house with the three girls and their grandmother 'Mub'. There is a scene of Steve driving around and getting lost, right by the Church (which MacMurray visited in RKO's 1948 Miracle of the Bells!), and also Steve driving around "town" which of course is other scenes of Mayberry.

There are several other episodes where "Mayberry" scenes of RKO/Desilu-Culver can be spotted, all thoughout the first seven "Bryant Park" seasons. But the three above mentioned come to mind quite clearly for me!

I don't know if the front 'mansion' on West Washington Blvd in Culver City was ever filmed for any Bryant Park years episodes though. And I don't think that My Three Sons ever filmed scenes in the 'front' area of Desilu-Culver, nor any scenes at Desilu-Cahuenga.

But as mentioned, they did regularly film at Desilu-Gower (probably all of the interior scenes), and there is a nice greenery area front "courtyard" at Desilu-Gower, which *USED* to have an "arch-way". Sometimes, My Three Sons filmed scenes in this greenery courtyard area, as on occasion did Gomer Pyle, Hogan's Heroes, and later after Paramount took over Desilu and retained the Gower studio next door to its own, there were scenes at times from Brady Bunch filmed in this RKO/Desilu-Gower green-space courtyard, and the archway in this courtyard was used for the entrance to Jefferson High on Paramount's Happy Days.

This green-space courtyard has been dubbed "Lucy Park" by Paramount, since Lucy and Desi would meet there during their RKO film years, and it was always a nice spot during Lucy's years as top-dog at Desilu during the 1960s, to stop and relax there. From the pictures I've seen on the internet of "Lucy Park" in more recent years, the Happy Days Jefferson High 'archway' has been removed. I've also seen pics of this archway on other websites, the pics seem to have been taken back during the RKO years of the 1940s or late 30s!

I mentioned above that Gomer and Hogan did have a few scenes filmed in the greenspace courtyard at Desilu-Gower, this greenspace to later be dubbed "Lucy Park".

But Hogan and Gomer mostly filmed their exteriors at Desilu-Culver's BACKLOT in Culver City. Not too far from the "Mayberry" section (some of which dates back to the 1930s as the GWTW Atlanta backlot) is a section of the backlot which had quanset huts (Gomer Pyle), and also another section with a barbed-wire prison camp (Hogan's Heroes).

Sadly the Desilu-Culver backlot was bulldozed in the mid-1970s to make space for an office tenant park. The front section of warehouses with soundstages and the front "mansion" building still exist, owned now by Sony ColumbiaPictures (who also owns what used to be most of MGM a few blocks away in Culver City), but Sony Entertainment has been trying to sell (what remains of) the old RKO/Desilu-Culver front-area soundstage warehouses and main 'mansion' building too.

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  • Re: My Three Sons in Mayberry? -- Ed, 17:17:53 06/05/03 Thu
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