PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Movies

On June 19, 1968, a representative of Film Service Corporation from Salt Lake City visited the monument to take pictures. In July that year, several representatives of a Los Angeles, California, film production company, Madison Productions, Inc., inspected the Pipe Spring area to consider filming a "Death Valley Days" episode there. They were given permission from Zion officials to film at the monument in late July and were required to file the appropriate application and to post a $2,500 bond. Their contract also required that a 16 mm copy of each episode be provided to the Park Service. In granting permission, officials made one additional request of the production manager:

The historical integrity of Pipe Spring is most important to us; consequently, we hope that your film sequence will depict actual historical facts, not fiction. If possible, we would like for Historian Geerdes to review the script. Too, Mr. Geerdes will be happy to assist you in a realistic approach to any portion of the script. [2103]

As it turned out, Geerdes would have little control over the historical accuracy of the filming. He reported to Gilbert in early September that one of the proposed episodes recreated events at Pipe Spring fort when Luella Stewart was the telegraph operator. Jacob Hamblin (played by Robert Taylor) was portrayed as head of fort operations. "This not only does violence to Anson Perry Winsor but Jacob Hamblin as well, but there apparently is nothing that can be done," wrote Geerdes. [2104] The stories in the other two episodes, while shot at Pipe Spring, had nothing at all to do with the site's history. From September 18 to 27, the company filmed three episodes of "Death Valley Days" at the monument. The first few days of shooting, Allen Malmquist was acting in Geerdes' absence (who was on holiday in Hawaii) and Joe Bolander was there as well. Geerdes returned a few days into the shooting. A crew of about 40 people (including actors, technicians, and directors) worked daily on the production. Park visitors had access to the fort and were able to observe the filming. Geerdes later reported that the crew was very cooperative and no damage was done to the area. [2105] The company had the bedclothes, rugs, and table cloths used in filming professionally cleaned at their expense as well as made a present to the monument of an authentic 35-star flag. The check held as bond was returned to Madison Productions with a letter of commendation from Superintendent Gilbert on the manner of filming which was carried out, "practically [with] no interference to the regular visitor use" of the facility. [2106] Representatives of the company returned to the area on July 12, 1969, to film several opening sequences to the episodes shot in September 1968.