Anyone who loves '60s sitcoms has certainly seen the generic town/neighborhood sets from Columbia's backlot. I wonder if any of these streets and house exteriors were ever used in any Stooges shorts. Can anyone here give us some insight?
Virtually every Ranch location scene the Stooges did can be spotted in Screen Gems (1950s - early 1970s) and WB (1970s - today) productions , in spite of numerous face-lifts over the decades.
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Three Stooges Journal # 117 discusses the Ranch brownstones (with pics) that are seen in scores of BEWITCHED, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, DENNIS THE MENACE, et. al., episodes.
- The Ranch park (SO LONG MR. CHUMPS, FUELIN' AROUND, ALL THE WORLD'S A STOOGE). The park is still used in numerous Warner Bros. productions... WITHOUT A TRACE frequently uses it, WEST WING used it several times during its final season.
- The pond (SOME MORE OF SAMOA) is still in use.
- The downtown firehouse facade (FLAT FOOT STOOGES) was used in a 2-part BEWITCHED Benjamin Franklin episode, and a PARTRIDGE FAMILY episode that guest starred Richard Pryor. *
- The large downtown office building facade (BOOBS IN ARMS) was used several times as the McMann & Tate building. *
Those are only five examples, among scores.
* The downtown section of the backlot was bulldozed in the 1970s, and replaced with soundstages. Since 1934, the Ranch's original 80 acres has been reduced to 34, sold off for condo and retail development, e.g., the western street is now a supermarket.
fyi - MY THREE SONS wasn't a Columbia production. The first six seasons were filmed at Desilu/RKO (Melrose Ave. & Gower St. in Hollywood), and the final six seasons at CBS Studio City (Studio City and N. Hollywood, in the valley).