In Hollywood's Backyard

Filmmakers (and canyon residents) Alexander and Anne Christine Von Wetter filmed this documentary for German Television in the early 1970s as a revealing close-up of an extraordinary period in America. The camera masters and 16mm negative were consequently lost to a devastating fire. Luckily, a lone VHS copy had been made, which spent the next 30 years on the studio shelf. The VHS was found heavily damaged, but a restoration team managed to salvage a fair grade of quality, which has since been remastered. It is the story of a singular culture, told through interviews, musical celebrations, and theatrics from members of the magical ‘Theatricum Botanicum’, a natural amphitheater created in 1973 by popular actor and social activist Will Geer and his wife Herta Ware. To this day, their cultural open-air venue defines the artistic nature of Topanga. Herta is interviewed here, along with residents Dean Stockwell and Russ Tamblyn.