More celluloid settings in the City: (I know, these images are from after the celluloid film period, but I couldn’t find an expression that jingles with acetate)

Bill Cosby and Robert Culp at the Coit Tower parking lot in a 1968 episode of ‘I Spy’:

At the same location in another episode while ‘I Spy’ was filming in San Francisco, Robert Culp is brainwashed by an enemy agent and ordered to kill himself by jumping from the top of Coit Tower.

Culp is talked out of jumping at the top of the tower by his co-operative and friend, Bill Cosby. Cosby is in the news a lot lately, and he should be, but this was a groundbreaking role for an African American on television at the time, and the camaraderie between the two stars is still fun to watch today.

Valentina Cortese enjoys a moment with her pretend offspring (I have a couple of those myself) in her back yard, which is actually Pioneer Park behind Coit Tower, in the 1951 film ‘The House on Telegraph Hill’. Fifteen years earlier William Powell and Myrna Loy used the same location for the back yard of their home in the 1936 film ‘After the Thin Man’.

James Stewart follows Kim Novak on the road to Fort Point where she will jump into the Bay, in the 1958 classic, ‘Vertigo’. See the You Tube link below.

Lee Remick catches a taxi at Jefferson and Taylor Streets in Fisherman’s Wharf  that will take her to Candlestick Park to deliver ransom money to Ross Martin, in the 1962 film ‘Experiment in Terror’. I’ve posted the following link before, but it’s a neat clip of the movie in a nutshell, and set to the soundtrack of the opening credits.

In my opinion, the best television show set in San Francisco was ‘The Lineup’, also known as ‘San Francisco Beat’, that ran during the 1950’s Only a few grainy episodes are available, that I’ve been able to find, like this one with a scene filmed at Fleishhacker’s Pool. The pool and old Pool House can be seen behind the actors, as well as the diving structure at the far north end of the pool.  The Pool House can be seen on the right in this photo of the pool taken from the diving platform. The Pool House was burned down in December of 2012 by homeless people occupying it, and only the front entrance seen below is left.  ‘A View to a Kill’ made in 1985, is considered one of the worst entries in the James Bond Series, but the fight scene on the Golden Gate Bridge at the end is still a grabber! Check out the You Tube link here.