Arizona

Tucson

February 10, 2012

Today our friends Ray and Evelyn joined us in a visit to Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona. 

 

 

Old Tucson was built in 1939 as a filming location for the movie Arizona starring William Holden and Jean Arthur.  After Arizona, Old Tucson lay dormant under the desert sun until it was revived briefly in 1945 for the film, The Bells of St. Mary’s starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.  In the late 1940′s, Old Tucson Studios came to life.  Gene Autry, Jimmy Stewart and Ronald Reagan were a few of the actors who starred in movies filmed there.  The 1950′s found the western movie era in full swing.  Such classics as the Gunfight at Ok Corral starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas; and The Lone Ranger, The Lost City of Gold, and Cimarron starring Glenn Ford were filmed at Old Tucson.

Since 1940, well over 200 movies and television shows have been filmed at Old Tucson including Gunfight at the OK Corral (several different versions over the years), Lone Ranger, the Lost City of Gold, Rio Bravo, Have Gun Will Travel, El Dorado, Death Valley Days, Gunsmoke, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, Mark of Zorro, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Harlem Globetrotters, Little House on the Prairie, The New Mavorick, Buffalo Soldiers, Calamity Jane, Highway to Heaven, Revenge of the Nerds, Cowboy Up, and The Three Amigos just to name a few. 

At Old Tucson Studios we strolled along the dirt streets and wooden boardwalks of Main Street.

 

 

 

You never knew when you might run into saloon girls and cowboys,

 

or some old horse thief,

or make friends with one of the natives,

or have dust kicked in your face by one of those dad-blamed horseless buggies!

or find somebody skipping school again.

There are the usual tourist attractions such as sweets shops, old-style mercantiles selling souvenirs, and old-style bars and saloons.  You can also take a ride on a horse, a train, or a child-size model T car.  We took a ride on the train,

and passed the road to High Chaparral.

Throughout the day, skits are enacted at different locations about the town.  I was very impressed by the talented actors in the skits.  The skits were quite well done.

We listened to the stagecoach driver warning us about the inconveniences of traveling on a stagecoach.

Since February of this year is the centennial of Arizona’s statehood, there was a presentation at the courthouse reliving the speech given by the first Governor of the state. 

The Governor’s speech was interrupted by a parade of women demanding the right to vote and prohibition,

followed by a parade of men protesting against prohibition.

We enjoyed watching a short play solving the mystery of The Secret of Santa Maria.  At some point in this play, every actor fell off the roof!

 

 

 

 

 

After a fun afternoon, we bought some fudge and headed for the gate.

The Old Tucson Studios is worth a visit.  Plan to arrive at opening in order to see all of the skits and talks scheduled throughout the day.

We enjoyed our day and our time with our friends Ray and Evelyn.