6

HI-DESERT

PUBLISHING

CO. <> BASIN WIDE SPIRIT

Spring.2011

OCAL COLOR on t e SILVER SCR

Joshua Tree National Park has storied Hollywood and musial connections
By Pamela SIayton-t.a Fosse
Special 10 BasinWide Spirit

oshua Tree National Park and its clw.irons have. a~ays b~n attractive to mUSICIans, artists, actors, those with a creative bent and sometimes to those who are II bit bent themselves. From legendary stars of the past, like James Cagney, who retreated to his billside h~ in Twentymne Palms overlooking Wonder Valley to indulge his talent for painting, 10 modem-day musicians and actors seeking inspiration and privacy, the park has provided a wonderland for cinematographers and a unique backdrop for biographical moments that range from the sublime to the truly bi7MTC. Since there are usually about 50 productions filming in and around the park in any given year, and it's been going on for more than 50 years, there's a good chance even the average viewer will recognize the unique landscape in a rmmber of movies, television shows, and broadcast and print commercials, Taco Ben's ad campaign urging viewers to "run for the border" was filmed in the park and there are endless variations on the theme of shiny new automobiles gliding effortlessly along serpentine roads where modem technology meets the ancient beauty of the Joshua tree.

JOSHUATREE NATIONALPARK

Anita Pal/enberg, Keith Richards and Gram Parsons add a dilJere;rt"ki;;jof~to"" the Joshua Tree National Park landscape in this 1969 Michael Cooper photo. canyoos in Palm Springs comedic slant and a lot of and other desert Iocacreative license, but tions, but his fascinayou just can't argue 15 years young lion with Joshua with the scenery. Joshua Tree Tree National Alas, National Parl< Park would be Parsons was willofficjallyturn immortalized not reduced 75011 Aug. 10, but park officials ha1/e been retein his 1969 to ashes in . blating its diamond anniver experimental his casket sary since January. film, "Hwy: and he isn't for a list of events, visit An American forever in the celebration's official Pastoral," Joshua Tree; website at wwwjtnp15.Ofg. which folthe singer is Toenter the Joshua Tree lowed The buried in National Park Lizard King Metarie, La, Association's anniver and his darkaccording to sary photography contest. like the blue Shelby GT association on facebook. and lhewebsite Mustang on a soulfollowthe link. findagrave.eom. searching, symbolismIn 1969, Parsons drenched trip that began in brought his friends, the park and wound its way Rolling Stones guitarist Keith along highways and freeways to Richards, Richards' girlfriend Anita the coast at Santa Monica. PalJenberg and photographer Michael Cooper to the park for a bit of chemical At the movies indnlgence and UFO hunting, In 1939's comedic Western, "Buck The result was a scrapbook of iconic Benny Rides Again, n the park serves images captured by Cooper that show as the legendary Jack Benny's Nevada the famous trio frozen in time, in a ranch, and for 1970's "There Was a landscape that is literaRy timeless. Crooked Mau," starring Kirk Douglas ill-fitted poet and Doors front man Jim Morrison was known to prowl the and Henry Fonda, the crew built a repIi-

ca of the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in the park's vast Pinto Basin, just as it bad appeared in the 18805. It's said that Mr. Douglas' trailer, positionedjust ontside of the set, sported a green carpet "lawn," tlowerboxes and a mailbox in a creative effort to modify the dusty, barren scenery outside his front door. Other films that have found expression in the surreal and otherworldly landscape that is Joshua Tree National Park include horror films such as Wes Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes Il," "Route 666," starring Lou Diamond Phillips, and the 1965 bio-warfare thriller, "The Satan Bug." For those who get the heebie jeebies watching demonic bugs and mountains that watch yon back:, look for JTNP in the comedies "Nothing to Lose," with Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence, and "Like Falber, Like Son, with the very likeahle Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron.

There are usually about 50 productions filming in and around the park in any given year.

What a strange trip

In the minds of music funs around the world, the park is inextricably entwined with the image of countryrock legend Gram Parsons' sad demise in Room 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn in 1913 and the blazing funeral pyre that his friends IlIlSIlCCCSSfully hoped would consume his mortal remains at Cap Rock, one ofthe park's most popular destinations. It was Parsons' wish to remain forever within his beloved park; so road manager and friend Phil Kaufman wanted to see to it that his wishes were honored. Kaufman and another friend, Mike Martin, actually stole P-dISOOS' coffin from a loading dock at LAX 10 do it and hotfooted it out to the desert. The 2003 film, "Grand Theft Parsons," starring Johnny Knoxville and Gabriel Macht, tells the story 'with a

Pioneer and Disney star? Of all the productions filmed in the park, it is the episode of Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color," titled "Wild Burro oflhe West," that really included a bit of JTNP history. Originally aired Jan. 29, 1960, the episode featured local pioneer and frontiersman Bill Keys, whose adventures at the Desert Queen Ranch and Mine are the stuff of legend. Lesser known is the fact that the ever-resourceful Keys managed to squeeze an acting gig into his unique and colorfullifu. If you're so inclined, dig up a few of these cinematic gems, grab a bag of popcorn and see if you can spot the filming sites on your own tour of one of the most interesting and sought-after filming locations in the desert. Be sure 10 look for the park's landscape in print ads, 100. It literally crops up everywhere.