The Mask at Warner Bros. Studios

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

  We have a copy of The Mask on DVD that we got for free inside a box of cereal.  The movie was also a box office success and starred Jim Carrey as Stanley Ipkiss.  When Stanley finds a special mask he puts it on and is transformed into... well, into Jim Carrey doing his stand-up routine.

  When we visited Warner Bros. Studios, we were lucky to see some of the filming locations from this movie.  The first location is found on Hennessy Street of the backlot.  Stanley lives in the apartment pictured above.  It is the building with Hardware written on it and fire-escapes on the front.  When Stanley first puts on the mask he becomes a green faced cartoon-like character.  He ends up bouncing down a hallway and out the window of this building.  He is flattened when he hits the ground below.  A car honks at him for being in the street.  Stanley pulls out a tiny little horn which lets out one giant-sized windshield shattering " Bahooogahh!"

  Later in the film Stanley is once again wearing the mask.  This time he finds himself face to face with a street filled with police.  The building above played the neon lit Warwick Hotel.

  When faced with this predicament, The Mask breaks into song and the police are surprised to find themselves losing control and dancing along.  The song he sings is Cuban Pete.  This song was previously made famous by Desi Arnaz of I Love Lucy fame.  All of the action takes place just beyond the dumpster you see in the middle of the road above.

  At one point The Mask leaps into the air and slides down a light pole beside this theatre (right hand side of the photo above).  The dance sequence continues and finishes with a conga line before The Mask sneaks off once again.  Our golf cart also snuck off once again as we continued our tour of the studio.

---

See more locations from the Warner Bros. Studio Backlot.

Map of Our World
New York Street , Stanley Ipkiss Apartment

---

Post # 191

Flying Gremlin Attack

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

  In Gremlins 2 there are all sorts of gremlins loose in a science lab.  The poor Futtermans, who surprisingly survived the first movie, are in New York visiting Billy & Kate.  Once again they find themselves in a situation with one of the creatures.  As a result of one gremlin becoming mixed with a bat and some genetic sunblock it flies out into the city.  The Futtermans are standing in front of  the Cathedral of Saint Eva Marie when it swoops down from the sky.  The joke here is that Eva Marie Saint is an Academy Award winning actress for her work in On The Waterfront.

  This scene was filmed on New York Street at Warner Brothers Studios.  The gremlin flies down and attacks Mr. Futterman in front of A Taste Of Greece restaurant.  This was located just to the right of the awning in the photo above.  He struggles with the gremlin as they move down the sidewalk past two big store windows.  He finally manages to get the better of the gremlin and dunks him into some freshly poured concrete.  This happens at the end of the block in front of the entrance to the building below and just behind the pillar on the left.  The gremlin gets covered in concrete but still manages to fly up and land back on the church before the concrete finally hardens and he becomes a permanent gargoyle.  Concrete?  Reviewing our gremlin rules we know that you never want to get them wet or they will multiply.  We also know that concrete is a mixture of water and cement.  This scene could have ended quite differently. 

    The front of this building may already be familiar to fans of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  It served as the Daily Planet newspaper building, but in the picture above it is missing it's giant metal globe.  The stars of the show were a pre-Desperate Housewives Teri Hatcher as Lois and Dean Cain as Superman. 

---

See more locations from the Warner Bros. Studio Backlot.

Map of Our World
Flying Gremlin Attack

---

Post # 56

Deagle / Seaver House

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

  While taking the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour our golf cart stopped right in front of the last house on Midwest Street.  Our guide let us know that this house was featured in the movie Gremlins, as well as on the TV show Growing Pains.  The house has changed a bit through the years as the extended front porch has been removed.  In Gremlins, the house belonged to mean Mrs. Deagle.  Mrs. Deagle was the owner of the Kingston Falls bank and was generally disliked.  Gremlins arrive at her front door and sing her some Christmas carols while one of them sabotages her electric stair chair.  She climbs into her chair and it runs out of control, speeds up the stairs and hurls her out the top floor window.

  According to our Official Collector's Edition Gremlins Magazine, Bob MacDonald Sr. (Special Effects Supervisor) explains the troubles they encountered filming the scene.  "The first time we fired it, the dummy went clear across the street and landed on the porch of the house across the street".  That means the fake Mrs. Deagle ended up in front of this house (below), where a few years later Ross would almost take Rachel to the prom.

  Gremlins hit theatres in June of 1984 and the following year Growing Pains first appeared on TV in September.  So it would have been just over a year from the time Mrs. Deagle abruptly moved out and the Seaver family moved in.  The house was only really featured during the Growing Pains opening credits when the family stands out front for a group shot and then they all turn and head inside.  Alan Thicke stays out front the longest as he enjoys being on camera.

  Anther appearance of this home is in The Lost Boys.  The two Coreys (Haim and Feldman) ride their bikes past as they head to church to get some holy water for their vampire problem.  The little white church is also situated on the Warner Brothers back lot.  The photo below was taken from just outside of what we affectionately refer to as the Deagle / Seaver house.

---

See more locations from the Warner Bros. Studio Backlot.

Map of Our World
Deagle / Seaver House

---

Post # 45

Warner Bros Studio VIP Tour

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

 The Warner Bros. Studio Tour is a must for any TV or movie fan.  Since we are both big TV and movie fans we had to pay the studios a visit.  We went on a Sunday afternoon and not much was happening as far as productions on the lot, but we had the opportunity to see many of the places from productions in the past.

  You go around the studios in small groups riding in a cart like the one pictured above.  The tour guides don't follow any set pattern around the grounds so they can customize the tour based on your group's interests.  Be sure to talk to them and let them know what you like.  The highlights of our tour included a trip around the Backlot, some time to explore the Warner Museum and Picture Car Collection, a visit to the retired Central Perk set from Friends, a drive through The Mill and a visit to The Big Bang Theory and Pretty Little Liars sets.

  You get a glimpse of just how fake everything is, because movies are always just concerned with what you see on screen.   Our guide was telling us how they use pull ties to put branches on the trees depending on what season they need it to be.  It is interesting to see how this all comes together in the finished product.  Even more exciting is knowing that you have been in the same exact spot where your favourite shows and films were created.

To see more of our trip to Warner Brothers, check out this permanent page of
Productions filmed on the Warner Bros. Backlot.

---

Map of Our World
Warner Bros Studio VIP Tour

---

Post # 14