ON LOCATION : Suddenly then and now | BEING THERE: Recollections of Bill Rice, 1954

 

Ever since I first saw Suddenly many years ago, I've always wondered where it was shot. After all, that train station and the small downtown area had to be somewhere....

 
Map Map Map Map

Since the movie twice mentioned "the 66 crossing" I figured it must be near old Route 66, maybe someplace like Victorville, California, northeast of LA. For years I wondered about it.

The advent of the Internet renewed my interest, and one day I ran across a movie location website and found a reference to a Saugus Train Depot. I had finally found the spot.

Located approximately 22 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the Santa Clarita Valley has long been used as a convenient back lot for Hollywood filmmakers. Everything from Gunsmoke to Star Trek has been filmed there. So when the producers of Suddenly were looking for a small, quiet town to stand-in for middle America, what more natural place to choose than Newhall, California, right in the middle of the Santa Clarita Valley?

Exteriors for Suddenly were filmed primarily in two locations around Santa Clarita during the Easter break of 1954. The train station in Saugus, a northern section of town, was used for the depot scenes, and the M&N Market, police station, and various street scenes were all shot along San Fernando Road in Newhall, about two miles south-southeast of the train station. The interiors were shot at the United Artists Studios in downtown LA and the house used for the assassin's nest that supposedly overlooks the train station in the film belonged to Doctor Ross, a Newhall dentist, and is actually located several miles away from where the depot once stood.

Saugus Train DepotThe Saugus Train Station has been featured in a number of motion pictures, television shows, music videos and commercials. Films include The Pilgrim (1919) with Charlie Chaplin, and most recently The Grifters (1989), starring Angelica Houston and John Cusack. The last passenger train stopped at the station in 1971 and the last freight train in 1979. Plans to demolish the station were reconsidered, and in 1980 the entire station was transported about two and a half miles north to Heritage Junction, on the east side of the William S. Hart Regional Park & Museum, 24107 San Fernando Road, in Newhall. The original location of the station was across the street from the Saugus Cafe, 25861 San Fernando Road, which incidentally, is the oldest continually operating restaurant in Los Angeles County. The train station now serves as the headquarters of the Santa Clarita Historical Society and is open to the public.

ON LOCATION : Suddenly, then and now

Downtown Newhall probably hasn't changed that much since the mid-fifties. Here are some more real Newhall Suddenly locations.

THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Slim & Bebop
Sheriff's Office
Slim tries to keep Bebop from breaking the speed limit. The original Sheriff's building (right) was once a private home. Population growth in the 1970s forced this location to be abandoned for larger digs.
KAPLAN'S GARAGE
Kaplan's Garage Newhall Standard Oil
Tod pulls into Kaplan's Garage to secure a limo for the president. The real garage is a Standard Oil Station in Newhall, but not downtown as it's portrayed in the movie. This shot is from sometime in the late 1930s.
THE AMERICAN THEATER
Suddenly Theater
American Theater
Pidge walks in front of the American Theater in the opening moments of Suddenly. It was built by longtime Newhall resident and cowboy star William S. Hart several years before his death. He wanted a place for his friends to see his pictures. The theater no longer shows films and is used by American Legion Post 507.
THE OPENING CREDITS CHURCH
Suddenly Church
First Presbyterian Church
Seen behind the opening credits, the massive First Presbyterian Church, located on 8th street, was built in 1923 and is one of the Newhall's most recognizable landmarks.
THE M&N MARKET & CLYMORE MOTORS
  
M&N Market
Clymore Motors
Two more Newhall landmarks: The M&N Market is now called Tresierras but still sits at the same San Fernando Road location. Clymore Motors, the local Ford dealer, sat right across the street from the American Theater. Now called Magic Ford, it has long since moved to the suburbs.
           

Being There: Recollections of Newhall resident Bill Rice, 1954

Imagine, being right there when they filmed Suddenly. And not only was Bill Rice there, he took pictures! Mr. Rice was living in Newhall during the spring of 1954 and remembers the excitement when Sinatra and the rest of the cast came to town. This is from his email to me which he was kind enough to share.

The movie Suddenly was filmed when I was in the 7th grade at Hart High in Newhall, CA. It was basically shot during Easter Week vacation, so I would go down to watch every day that week. They were shot just a few blocks from my house. Yes, there was trickery in the filming. The shots of Saugus Station were taken from the roof of (a) building across the street. --- and the shots of the house on the hill were shot in Newhall.... about five miles away. They used the home of dentist, Dr. Ross, in Newhall and just shot a scene or two from the bottom of the hill hooking up at the home.

I remember there was a machine gunning, action scene shot behind Frew's welding shop on San Fernando Road. Johnny Beradino played one of the sheriffs and there was a shoot-out ... but it apparently was cut from the final print of the film. (The scene Mr. Rice is referring to was actually in the movie and involved a shootout between Secret Service Agent Wilson, a couple of State Police officers, and Benny Conklin, which took place behind the welding shop. -JT) The interior shots at the market, where Sterling Hayden was talking with Nancy Gates, were shot in the M&N Market on San Fernando Road in "downtown" Newhall. The sheriff's station (a real one, too) was a block up the street. That same sheriff's station was also used weekly in the TV series, Sheriff of Cochise, with John Bromfield.

The actors on Suddenly were very friendly to us kids watching, except for Frank Sinatra. I did get him to sign my autograph book, however, and took a few photos with a small "Brownie" camera. A still have a half-dozen or so of the small drugstore prints.... but no idea what ever happened to negatives. I guess you saw some of the prints on the Newhall Historical Society website. The nicest actors were Sterling Hayden, Johnny Beradino and extra Don (Dan) White. They even let us have some food off the studio lunch truck and we ate lunch with them.

The Saugus train station is now relocated in Newhall, where they are rebuilding some of the original buildings of the 19th/20th century in a "historical" area set aside on the William S. Hart ranch. Hart donated the whole several hundred acres of land, plus his "castle" home on the hilltop to use as a county park. It opened in 1958 and is free to the public, as he requested ....picnicking, sightseeing, home tours, etc. Quite a place. Lots of old Hollywood stuff, and some valuable things like original Charles Russell western artwork. In the 50's and 60's lots of movies were shot in and around Newhall ...long before the thousands of people moved up there and cluttered up the valley. When I was in school, the area was mostly agricultural from Newhall to Saugus... Newhall Land & Farm Co. Now it's houses and golf courses. I saw movies and TV shows being made with Mamie VanDoren, Lee Van Cleef, Frank Lovejoy, John Bromfield, etc. Even Elvis was here when they made "Love Me Tender."

 
For more pictures of Historic Newhall & the Santa Clarita Valley

For more about Bill Rice and his behind-the-scenes pictures of Suddenly
 
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