In order to film “The Thief of Bagdad” Douglas Fairbanks bought several acres of land behind the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios south of Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, which he co-owned with his wife, Mary Pickford. They needed that land for the spectacular set that we can see in this photo. And no wonder, too, as it required 700,000 feet of lumber. Back in 1923, when this photo was taken (by Captain A.W. Stevens for the US Navy) much of West Hollywood would have still been undeveloped, so this mammoth set would have REALLY visible from all directions.
That land is still home movie studios. It’s had a number of incarnations since the days that Fairbanks and Pickford owned it. Current it goes by the (rather unremarkable) name of “The Lot Studios.”
Wow, I just saw this film on YouTube and wondered at the fabulous sets. It was a tour de force for Fairbanks, a fantastic production in many respects. And he was at his athletic/artistic best. The photo is a great view of those sets, really puts into perspective the dedication of the mammoth effort behind the film. He and Mary Pickford actually bought the property for the production! Imagine there was a time when one could do such a thing without being a corporate multibillionaire.
Thanks for your thorough research into the Hollywood and Los Angeles area. It is entertaining and thought provoking. Keep it up!
Riding by there, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to see these gigantic sets like this one. I’m curious about that ramp/road like structure in the lower right of the photograph. In a 2019 post you made with a different perspective of this area, that structure is either half-finished or being torn down and there’s a large cylindrical building on the right that I’ve always wondered what it was.
I wondered about that too. Ramps for cameras and equipment for an elevated long shot of the set? But they’re still a distance from the set. And in the other photo you mentioned, the other half is gone, and the part that’s left has been altered with a fanned out bottom and added little tower-like thing, as if it was used in a shot.
Fabulous history of Old Hollywood! Thank you sharing this
Thanks, Martin. THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924) is perhaps the most shown silent film of them all, also at revivals. Douglas Fairbanks was the heroic swashbuckler of the 20s, what Errol Flynn was in the 40s. A smart businessman in his own right, going into the movie business with Chaplin and DW Griffith, forming United Artists.
You could only imagine the incredibly cheap price he and Pickford paid for that land back in the 20s. Worth a million dollars an acre today, if not more. Fairbanks followed that with DON Q, SON OF ZORRO. His grave at Hollywood Forever cemetery is magnificent. He even was buried in style! That’s the way you do it! By comparison, Rudolph Valentino’s grave (in the mosoleum) is very modest.