Corvettes and “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” – Chapter #24
When Ernie Kovacs, who was to play the part of “Melville Crump” in this film, died in a single car crash in Santa Monica in January, 1962 before filming began (Sid Caesar replaced him) his wife Edie Adams (Muriel Cigars) almost didn’t accept the role as “Monica Crump” which the director, Stanley Kramer very much wanted her to have. She was still grieving but at 35 she was beautiful, exciting and a comedienne herself.
As a young person living in Long Beach, California in the early ‘60’s, you couldn’t resist going to “The Pike”, just south of Ocean Blvd. on the water, downtown next to the Municipal Auditorium and the Rainbow Pier. Opened in 1902 as a beach and bath house resort and made immediately accessible by the extension of the “Red Car” electric train line from L A, the site quickly grew into a full scale amusement park and arcade, complete with Ferris wheels, roller coasters, carousels and everything else you’d expect to find at a large carnival…..and you could get in for free. The Park saw many changes and additions over the years and in the ’50s went through a complete face-lift, adding a “Kiddyland” and changing its name to “NU-PIKE”, in an effort to restore its image and compete with Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, both less than 20 miles away.
The Cyclone Racer, maybe the greatest ride of any amusement park ever, was added in 1930….a dual track coaster where two trains ran at the same time….starting together, separating and converging again along the route and then finishing neck-and-neck. Took 5 months to build with a million board-feet of lumber….rising high above the rest of the rides, this gorgeous white structure with graceful curves occupied one whole side of the Park, and could be seen from anywhere in this part of town. And despite all the typical Park noises and aromas, I’ll never forget the sounds of the diesel engines as they arched up to their governed limit to haul the trains to the top of the steep incline before you were launched over the peak and freefalling straight down. I don’t care who you were…this thing would scare the dickens out of you every time.
But at night the place to go in the Park was the Lido Ballroom…to the teen-adult dances….cost a dollar…girls in free. The house band, “The Illusions” played great dance music. Girls came stag and if you were lucky enough to beat out the sailors who always packed the place, you were in for a good time (in “civies” their shoes still gave them away)…and even though The Pike had become a little “seedy” by then, police security kept the hookers and drunken troublemakers out of the ballroom.
In the summer of 1962 the Press Telegram reports that United Artists is filming another segment of MMMMW….a chase scene at the Rainbow Pier (Most of the sequences in the fictional town of Santa Rosita were actually shot in Long Beach near the ocean). I decide to go watch, hoping to see Edie and some of the whacky cast.
So early on Saturday I head the Vette downtown on Ocean Blvd….turn left at Pine …where camera crews are already setting up…..and follow the Rainbow Pier (the pier was actually a breakwater with a one-way street on top) as it arches around and back….and park just south of where it intersects again with Ocean and Linden. As I get out and start walking up to the corner I notice that the cops are barricading both ends of the Rainbow Pier route and both ends of Ocean near those intersections….I’m now trapped. (the scene: two yellow cabs are chasing a black Dodge sedan east on Ocean, turning right down Rainbow Pier…following it around and back up to Ocean, turning right and continuing east)
At both the intersection into and out of the Rainbow Pier there is absolute mayhem as the two yellow cabs careen about….I stand by for at least three separate “takes” at Linden where most of the action is…very funny stuff. But what isn’t so funny is that not a single person loaded into these cars is a member of the cast but instead are stunt drivers and manikins as passengers. No Edie, no Sid, no nuttin’ (not exactly…Stanley Kramer was there using a blue ‘55 Corvette in two scenes on Ocean)….and the cops say I have to stay here until 3 PM before they will let me bring the Vette up to this crazy intersection. So I walk several blocks over to the Pike, stroll its Main Street from end to end, take another ride on the Cyclone Racer and wait for the Lido to open.
My luck has to change. And it did. When the movie was released the following year you can see the back of the Vette parked in the lot next to the route taken by the case cars going around the Rainbow Pier (17th car in the second row), with the Cyclone Racer in the background. Priceless.
The Park….that had multi-millions of visitors over the years….where generations had come first as kids and grandkids and later as parents and grandparents….finally lost its enchantment…and its patrons as rides became antiquated and unsavory elements prowled about prompting concerns over safety. The Cyclone Racer had scared 30 million riders (with 17 deaths) by the time it closed in 1968, giving one last thrill-ride the night of September 15 at 11 PM, with demolition begun the next day. In 1979 the rest of the dilapidating Pike, along with all the Arcade shops, side-shows, movies, eateries, exhibitions and rides was officially closed and demolished. It would be another 20 years before Long Beach would agree on how this property should be further developed.
When Ernie Kovacs, who was to play the part of “Melville Crump” in this film, died in a single car crash in Santa Monica in January, 1962 before filming began (Sid Caesar replaced him) his wife Edie Adams (Muriel Cigars) almost didn’t accept the role as “Monica Crump” which the director, Stanley Kramer very much wanted her to have. She was still grieving but at 35 she was beautiful, exciting and a comedienne herself.
As a young person living in Long Beach, California in the early ‘60’s, you couldn’t resist going to “The Pike”, just south of Ocean Blvd. on the water, downtown next to the Municipal Auditorium and the Rainbow Pier. Opened in 1902 as a beach and bath house resort and made immediately accessible by the extension of the “Red Car” electric train line from L A, the site quickly grew into a full scale amusement park and arcade, complete with Ferris wheels, roller coasters, carousels and everything else you’d expect to find at a large carnival…..and you could get in for free. The Park saw many changes and additions over the years and in the ’50s went through a complete face-lift, adding a “Kiddyland” and changing its name to “NU-PIKE”, in an effort to restore its image and compete with Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, both less than 20 miles away.
The Cyclone Racer, maybe the greatest ride of any amusement park ever, was added in 1930….a dual track coaster where two trains ran at the same time….starting together, separating and converging again along the route and then finishing neck-and-neck. Took 5 months to build with a million board-feet of lumber….rising high above the rest of the rides, this gorgeous white structure with graceful curves occupied one whole side of the Park, and could be seen from anywhere in this part of town. And despite all the typical Park noises and aromas, I’ll never forget the sounds of the diesel engines as they arched up to their governed limit to haul the trains to the top of the steep incline before you were launched over the peak and freefalling straight down. I don’t care who you were…this thing would scare the dickens out of you every time.
But at night the place to go in the Park was the Lido Ballroom…to the teen-adult dances….cost a dollar…girls in free. The house band, “The Illusions” played great dance music. Girls came stag and if you were lucky enough to beat out the sailors who always packed the place, you were in for a good time (in “civies” their shoes still gave them away)…and even though The Pike had become a little “seedy” by then, police security kept the hookers and drunken troublemakers out of the ballroom.
In the summer of 1962 the Press Telegram reports that United Artists is filming another segment of MMMMW….a chase scene at the Rainbow Pier (Most of the sequences in the fictional town of Santa Rosita were actually shot in Long Beach near the ocean). I decide to go watch, hoping to see Edie and some of the whacky cast.
So early on Saturday I head the Vette downtown on Ocean Blvd….turn left at Pine …where camera crews are already setting up…..and follow the Rainbow Pier (the pier was actually a breakwater with a one-way street on top) as it arches around and back….and park just south of where it intersects again with Ocean and Linden. As I get out and start walking up to the corner I notice that the cops are barricading both ends of the Rainbow Pier route and both ends of Ocean near those intersections….I’m now trapped. (the scene: two yellow cabs are chasing a black Dodge sedan east on Ocean, turning right down Rainbow Pier…following it around and back up to Ocean, turning right and continuing east)
At both the intersection into and out of the Rainbow Pier there is absolute mayhem as the two yellow cabs careen about….I stand by for at least three separate “takes” at Linden where most of the action is…very funny stuff. But what isn’t so funny is that not a single person loaded into these cars is a member of the cast but instead are stunt drivers and manikins as passengers. No Edie, no Sid, no nuttin’ (not exactly…Stanley Kramer was there using a blue ‘55 Corvette in two scenes on Ocean)….and the cops say I have to stay here until 3 PM before they will let me bring the Vette up to this crazy intersection. So I walk several blocks over to the Pike, stroll its Main Street from end to end, take another ride on the Cyclone Racer and wait for the Lido to open.
My luck has to change. And it did. When the movie was released the following year you can see the back of the Vette parked in the lot next to the route taken by the case cars going around the Rainbow Pier (17th car in the second row), with the Cyclone Racer in the background. Priceless.
EPILOG
The Park….that had multi-millions of visitors over the years….where generations had come first as kids and grandkids and later as parents and grandparents….finally lost its enchantment…and its patrons as rides became antiquated and unsavory elements prowled about prompting concerns over safety. The Cyclone Racer had scared 30 million riders (with 17 deaths) by the time it closed in 1968, giving one last thrill-ride the night of September 15 at 11 PM, with demolition begun the next day. In 1979 the rest of the dilapidating Pike, along with all the Arcade shops, side-shows, movies, eateries, exhibitions and rides was officially closed and demolished. It would be another 20 years before Long Beach would agree on how this property should be further developed.
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