HOME MOVIES: 1950s

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1946

Format: 16mm

Description: This Kodachrome color 16mm silent home movie features footage of two elderly couples travelling through California, Arizona, and Colorado. They first visit Joshua Tree National Park in California, including Pioneertown and a date farm, then Wickenburg and Casa Grande Native American ruins in Arizona, followed by Parker Dam in Colorado. The footage is mostly of the stunning desert landscape in these places with a focus on mountains and vegetation. 0:08 overview of a desert road and plants by the road side, 0:39 sign point to the Pioneertown Golden Stallion, 0:53 the Buckin Horse Ranch in Pioneertown, 1:00 rocky hills and rock formations as seen from a car window in Joshua Tree National Park, 1:50 overview of different buildings in Pioneertown, 2:15 desert vegetation, 2:27 an older couple leaving the Desert Air Lodge and walking around near a house, 3:51 jagged mountain landscape as seen from a stationary point and a car, 5:30 two older couples leaving Lee Anderson’s Covalda Date Co. Wholesale Retailer in Coachella, California 6:35 views of the sunset from a car, 7:22 the two elderly couples looking at a collection of fruits, 7:52 flowers blooming in the desert, 8:31 an abandoned wooden wagon in Wickenburg, Arizona, 9:07 overview of the reservoir of the Parker Dam, 9:38 Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Arizona, 10:13 sheep on a meadow, 10:41 jagged peaks and desert landscape as seen from a car, 11:11 different types of desert vegetation, 11:23 desert highway footage as seen from a car, 12:14 two men shaking hands in front of a house. Actor Dick Curtis created Pioneertown in 1946. It was built as a film set and tourist attraction featuring an 1880s town. The town was designed to provide a place for production companies and tourists to enjoy. Hundreds of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean. Dick Curtis, Roy Rogers and Russell Hayden were some of the original developers and investors. Gene Autry filmed his weekly show in town for 5 years, using the buildings and businesses as part of the film set. The Mane Street Historic District is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The winding, 4-mile (6.4 km) drive northwest to Pioneertown from Yucca Valley has been designated a California Scenic Drive and the area is now surrounded by privately and federally protected lands.