Universal Tour Guide’s Embarrassing Mistake

[flossieskid]

This is just a cute story, which I hope makes you smile. It’s about what happened when a tour guide for Universal Studio Tours didn’t know 2 celebrities were married. When married actors John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan were co- starring in the series “The Virginian”, they had large dressing rooms on the Universal lot next to each other. They happened to be right near where the early tour would stop for guests to get off the tram and see Lana Turner’s dressing room. Yes - they were THAT desperate in the late ‘60’s to show the visitors anything other than the dumb “hanging tree” used in Westerns, the other highlight of the tour!!

I worked on the tour when I was 16-19 years old and decided NOT to be a tour guide since the people in food service got $2.75 an hour as opposed to only $2.00 for the tour guides - plus all the free food I wanted - couldn’t pass up that deal!

But, sometimes before my shift, I would go down to Jen’s dressing room, on the studio lot, to help them with fan mail, publicity requests and whatever they needed. So, one day, I was there when the first tram of the day stopped by around 9am. The window was opened in Jen’s room so I could hear the tour guide trying to impress the guests with all his show biz knowledge. They were given a set script to follow, but the tour guides would sometimes improvise. Jen had left her room earlier to visit John and use his shower since hers wasn’t working.

As the tram slowly came to a stop, the tour guide announced the dressing rooms in front of them were used for the actors on Universal shows. “ Right in front of you is the dressing room of John McIntire, who stars as Clay Grainger on the series, “The Virginian”. Just at that exact moment, Jen came out of John’s door, with her head in a towel. Obviously, the tour guide didn’t recognize Jen and thought, since it was so VERY early in the morning, it was “some woman” leaving John’s dressing room!

The tour guide tried immediately to distract the tour guests from focusing on what he must have assumed was some actress leaving a star’s dressing room. He nearly swallowed his voice, began to stutter and stammer and tried to walk back any further mention of John and the show. His mike went silent for a bit and then he got back to directing everyone’s attention to the OTHER side of the tram with instructions to move out of the tram to visit Lana Turner’s dressing room.

I was laughing so hard as Jen walked in the door of her dressing room and couldn’t wait to tell her of the tour guide’s embarrassing mistake. Jen initially thought it was amusing, but then her deep love for John turned to concern for his reputation! Of course, I agreed with her and I immediately called the head of the tour division who hired me. I told him what happened and said they MUST change their tour script to include Jen’s name, playing John’s wife on the show and to highlight they have side by side dressing rooms. I also called the executive producer of “The Virginian” to tell him the situation and Jen and John’s valid concern. Both Jen and John also talked to the producer and made their case for the script change.

I think 2 days later, when I was back in Jen’s dressing room, I heard the tour guides, throughout the day, definitely make mention of John McIntire and his WIFE, Jeanette Nolan, starring together as a married couple in “The Virginian” and having side by side dressing rooms.

It just goes to show you that embarrassing mistakes even happen even in “Tinseltown” but, hopefully you can always get, “Take 2”!!

[Easton]

I can hear the tour guide now after seeing what he had seen. "Um... er... now, if you'll look on the other side of the bus, you'll see James Drury's footprints in the grass where he walked just a few minutes ago."

I assume you know the story behind the 'Atlanta burning' scene in Gone With the Wind. After Clark Gable jumps off the wagon to guide the horse through the fire, the dynamite explodes and the scene cuts to Clark guiding the horse and wagon in front of a huge wall, engulfed in flames, and collapsing.

Firstly, that was neither Clark Gable nor Vivien Leigh in that short scene. Their roles hadn't even been cast yet. Extras stood in for them. Here's why. When it was decided that some old studio sets were to be destroyed to make way for new sets, it was decided to burn them to the ground and incorporate them into the film before filming even began. The huge wall which collapsed behind the wagon as it passed was actually the set of the original King Kong. That set was the original, full-sized wall and gate used in the movie.

You can see it here in this short clip:

[Kyle]

I never even saw GWTW in its entirety until about 10 years ago. But I remember CBS promos for their annual showings, and they always included that clip of the wall collapsing in flames. Impressive, especially for 1939.

[Easton]

^ As I said above, the Kong wall and gate set was full-sized. I've taken a screen cap of that scene. To the right of the wagon, you can see the vertical logs of the wall and above the wagon you can see the double-doors of the giant gate with the locking crossbeam.

It would have been extremely serendipitous for the wall to collapse just as the wagon was moving past it, and they would never be able to predict when it was going to fall. I believe it is a composite shot:

[flossieskid]

Thanks Easton for the clip. I am so impressed with your ability to post them. I have no clue how to even do a selfie! I am sure it is easy and my kids would show me but I’ve just never had the need. My cousin has sent me almost 90 shows of my parents’ shows (he gets them from You Tube) and I would love to figure out how to take a screen shot from the DVD’s and then print it. I will have to get a consult from you!

The GWTW clip is amazing. I never knew the back story of the fire. I took our daughter to see the movie at the famous Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Sadly, it is shuttered permanently now due to the loss of revenue from the pandemic. This theatre had an incredible “surround sound” feature which made this scene truly “crackle”!

Also, loved your comment about James Drury - very funny!

[Kyle]

Thanks for sharing that great story about The Virginian, which was an excellent show BTW. Filmed in color even in the early 60s, and lots of location shooting. It was a 90 minute series so it never got rerun as much as Bonanza and others from the same period. Jeanette Nolan was a wonderful character actress who wasn’t a household name but worked steadily for decades.

[flossieskid]

Thanks Kyle for your kind words. Of course, since Jen was truly my “second Mom” after my Mom died, I LOVE it when people acknowledge her amazing acting! She was nominated 3 times for an Emmy, but never won. Although, she does have a “star” in Studio City celebrating “Dirty Sally.” There are 3 movie studios within a few miles of Studio City (including Warner Bros. where The Waltons was filmed), so it’s name is most appropriate! I have lived in Studio City for decades and I enjoy seeing her name as I shop along Ventura Blvd.

Sadly, all of Jen’s incredible memorabilia was lost when her house in Laguna Beach was destroyed in the fire of 1993. Even though fires are so prevalent in CA, one really doesn’t expect to know someone whose home is affected. So, so sad!!

[patriciaanne]

Jun 8, 2021 19:05:30 GMT -5 flossieskid said:

Thanks Kyle for your kind words. Of course, since Jen was truly my “second Mom” after my Mom died, I LOVE it when people acknowledge her amazing acting! She was nominated 3 times for an Emmy, but never won. Although, she does have a “star” in Studio City celebrating “Dirty Sally.” There are 3 movie studios within a few miles of Studio City (including Warner Bros. where The Waltons was filmed), so it’s name is most appropriate! I have lived in Studio City for decades and I enjoy seeing her name as I shop along Ventura Blvd.

Sadly, all of Jen’s incredible memorabilia was lost when her house in Laguna Beach was destroyed in the fire of 1993. Even though fires are so prevalent in CA, one really doesn’t expect to know someone whose home is affected. So, so sad!!

I went to CA in 1994 and we drove up in the hills where the fire had ravaged. It was so sad! I remember being struck by the randomness of it all. You would see several plots where just a chimney remained. And then in the middle of it all would be a perfectly pristine home that was fine. (This was a year later so perhaps it did suffer minor damage that had been repaired by then.)

There is nothing that scares me as much as fire.

[carol]

Jun 7, 2021 9:55:29 GMT -5 Easton said:

I can hear the tour guide now after seeing what he had seen. "Um... er... now, if you'll look on the other side of the bus, you'll see James Drury's footprints in the grass where he walked just a few minutes ago."

I assume you know the story behind the 'Atlanta burning' scene in Gone With the Wind. After Clark Gable jumps off the wagon to guide the horse through the fire, the dynamite explodes and the scene cuts to Clark guiding the horse and wagon in front of a huge wall, engulfed in flames, and collapsing.

Firstly, that was neither Clark Gable nor Vivien Leigh in that short scene. Their roles hadn't even been cast yet. Extras stood in for them. Here's why. When it was decided that some old studio sets were to be destroyed to make way for new sets, it was decided to burn them to the ground and incorporate them into the film before filming even began. The huge wall which collapsed behind the wagon as it passed was actually the set of the original King Kong. That set was the original, full-sized wall and gate used in the movie.

You can see it here in this short clip:

From what I read Clark Gable had been cast but Vivian Leigh had not when that scene was filmed. The role of Scarlett O'Hara was the last part to be cast.
A stunt man was put in Gable's place for the scene.


According to legend, Myron Selznick took Leigh and Olivier to the set where the burning of the scene was being filmed and stage-managed an encounter, where he introduced Leigh, derisively addressing his younger brother, "Hey, genius, meet your Scarlett O'Hara."[44] The following day, Leigh read a scene for Selznick, who organized a screen test with director George Cukor and wrote to his wife, "She's the Scarlett dark horse and looks darn good. Not for anyone's ear but your own: it's narrowed down to Paulette Goddard, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh".[45] The director, George Cukor, concurred and praised Leigh's "incredible wildness". She secured the role of Scarlett soon after.[