Charlton Heston Saves Rose Bowl

Charlton Heston with wife Lydia at home.

He fought for mankind in Planet of the Apes, he battled zombie, vampire like beings as the last man on earth in The Omega Man, he saved a 747 from disaster in Airport 1975, he saved many of LA's citizens in Earthquake, and in 1994 Charlton Heston saved some Wisconsin ticket holders from missing the Rose Bowl football game.

According to the blog Wisconsinology, 

"Many counterfeit tickets had been sold before the game. The sudden infusion of Wisconsinites into Los Angeles caused two things - one, a city wide beer shortage and two, a hot market for illegal ticket sales. Outraged by the news that ticket sharks were preying on helpless visitors, Charlton Heston graciously opened his home to anyone caught without a seat. There, they could watch the game on Heston's wide screen state-of-the-art home theater."

If I flew cross country to watch the Rose Bowl game only to learn that my tickets were fake, I think watching the game with God (Heston did the voice of God in the film the Ten Commandments) at his modern designed home high atop Beverly Hills, would be a pretty nice alternative.

Heston's wife of fifty years was from Two Rivers, Wisconsin. To read more about other Hollywood, political, musical, and pop-culture significant figures connected with Wisconsin I recommend reading the entertaining blog Wisconsinology.

The #9 Wisconsin Badgers are once again back at the Rose Bowl, this time as the underdog taking on the #6 Oregon Ducks. The game will be on January 2, 2012 at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California.

Visiting Disneyland in 1956

Disneyland Dream (1956)

A friend of mine recently referred me to this incredible documentary film called "Disneyland Dream" and I'm thankful that he did. The video, which documents the Barstow family's 1956 trip from Connecticut to California, is an amazing time capsule from that time period. In 1956, the Barstow family entered a contest presented by Scotch tape in order to win the prize - a fully paid trip to Disneyland. The Barstow family won of course and captured their magical trip on film. Some of the sites that you can see in the video include their 1950s home in Connecticut, the Huntington Shertaton Hotel in Pasadena, Knott's Berry Farm when it actually looked more like a farm than a theme park, Southern California orange groves, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood and Vine, the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Universal Studios Hollywood, Will Rogers's home, Catalina Island and a tour of the Disneyland theme park as it appeared back then.

The video is about 34 minutes long but worth taking the time to watch until the end if your a nostalgia or Disneyland buff. The video uses the film footage from 1956 with an added narration track that Robbins Barstow, the father, created in 1995. Some of my favorite things in the video are seeing the family wearing their Davy Crocket jackets or boarding a TWA airplane that holds 64 people. The family is also quite amusing and with the narration provided by Robbins, you feel like you're right there with him as he retells this memorable experience.

So when you have the time, take a moment to step back to 1956 as you watch Disneyland Dream. If the video doesn't play you can also see the video here: Disneyland Dream

Father of the Bride: Film Location

Father of the Bride home - 843 S. El Molino Dr. Pasadena, CA

As many people know, I'm getting married soon and in the same way I get into the spirit for Christmas or Halloween, I've been watching wedding related movies to get into the wedding spirit. What do you expect from a movie lover? My favorite wedding film is Father of the Bride, the 1991 version, starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton (I was going to say the recent classic as opposed to the old classic but 1991 really isn't that recent anymore!). Last week when driving through Pasadena I decided to stop by the house that was used for the Banks family home and to take some pictures.

Above is a screenshot from the film showing the Banks family home. Below is a photo I took of the actual home a week ago (8/7/2009).

Father of the Bride house in Pasadena

Looks nearly the same doesn't? The only real difference is the flowers on the white picket fence and the fuller foliage on the house.

Steve Martin in the driveway.



A view of the driveway as it appears today (8/7/2009)

One of the touching moments in the film is when Steven Martin is playing basketball with his daughter (played by Kimberly Williams) in the driveway. I've been told that the basketball scenes in the driveway were actually done at another location but I'm not sure where that might have been.

Screenshot of the Father of the Bride House in snow

Above is another screenshot of the Father of the Bride house after it is covered by a surprise snowfall. Now anyone living near Pasadena knows that it doesn't usual snow in this area and I think Steve Martin says something in the film that he was nine years old that last time he remembers it snowing. The above snowfall is pure movie magic. Below is another shot of the house as it appears today.

Father of the Bride house in Pasadena