The old Desilu Studios

[newpball]

For those interested in seeing some aerial views from the old Desilu Studios in the late fifties here is a promo video from 1958:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HENg1b07FP4[/yt]

The Star Trek pilots were filmed in Desilu-Culver, some outdoor scenes were shot on the 40 acre back lot and the bulk of the episodes was shot at Desilu-Gower.



2026

 

[Mytran]

Thanks for that. Great to see 40 Acres from the air.

 

[Christopher]

I was thinking of how successful I Love Lucy must've been for Arnaz and Ball to be able to afford to buy all those studio properties. And their other early shows like Make Room for Daddy and The Jack Benny Program, I guess.

 

[bbailey861]

The list of shows produced at Desilu, before and after this promo was made is impressive and I'm glad to say I've seen a great many of them. Thanks for the tour.

 

[Maurice]

The soundstages used by Star Trek and Mission Impossible are seen right near the end of the video at 3:24, with the cemetary right behind them.

 

[Push The Button]

This clip is really great, thanks for posting the link. Lucy and Desi really were quite the Hollywood power couple in their day. Embarrassingly, it took a few moments for me to realize that it was Desi doing the voiceover.

 

[Christopher]

Embarrassingly, it took a few moments for me to realize that it was Desi doing the voiceover.

The accent gave it away for me...

 

[Melakon]

This has been posted a few times, but here it is again for anyone who doesn't have it.

http://www.retroweb.com/40acres.html

 

[Push The Button]

This has been posted a few times, but here it is again for anyone who doesn't have it.

http://www.retroweb.com/40acres.html

Thanks for the link, I spent an hour tonight looking at all the great photos on the site. It is amazing that Camp Henderson, Mayberry, and Stalag 13 were all within walking distance of each other.

 

[EnsignHarper]

I was thinking of how successful I Love Lucy must've been for Arnaz and Ball to be able to afford to buy all those studio properties. And their other early shows like Make Room for Daddy and The Jack Benny Program, I guess.

The short version of how the Arnazes were able to buy the old RKO studio:

When they were putting I Love Lucy together, CBS was wanting them to do the show live from New York, with a kinescope for the west coast market. The Arnazes wanted to stay in California, and film the shows in front of audiences, which would have cost CBS a couple of extra thousand bucks, so they told Desi that they would do it only if Desilu would put the extra money up themselves. Desi then countered with the proviso of Desilu owning the shows outright instead of CBS, CBS agreed, as there was no such things as reruns then. Flash forward five years, and Desi was wanting to expan Desilu, but didn't have the room at the little studio they were leasing. (look up General Service Studio) At the time, General Tires, who owned the RKO studios, was looking to unload it, as movies were getting killed by TV. They were asking like $10 million 1956 dollars, so Desi sold the existing - and future Lucy episodes to CBS for like 5 million, and borrowed the rest!

 

[T'Girl]

^ Interesting to know.

")

 

[newpball]

Higher quality upload:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaQeMzlQ_Zg[/yt]

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