This Tarzan movie – “Tarzan and the Golden Lion” from 1927 – was made in the jungles of Chatsworth and Santa Anita by a figure who would loom large in the early days of “Newhallywood,” as we like to call the Santa Clarita Valley. Director J.P. McGowan was evidently fond of the SCV, as he used Newhall, Placerita Canyon and even Metryville as backdrops for many of his pictures in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

As a footnote, this film was distributed by Joseph P. Kennedy’s Film Booking Office. The future political patriarch had only recently come to Hollywood and, realizing the real money was in distribution to theaters, took the helm of FBO and ultimately reorganized several small-time operators (including the producer of this film, Robertson-Cole Pictures Corp.) into RKO Pictures.

ABOUT E.J. STEPHENS

E.J. Stephens is a noted Hollywood historian, author, lecturer and tour guide. An Indiana native, E.J. has lived for 10 years in the Santa Clarita Valley with his wife Kimi and their two children, Mariah and Dylan.

By day, E.J. can be found in Burbank on the Warner Bros. Studios lot where he is a tour guide and an audience coordinator on Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show. When not giving tours at the studio, E.J. and Kimi host tours of their own for their Newhall-based company, Newhallywood Tours.

E.J. has co-written four books on subjects ranging from the history of Warner Bros. and Paramount to Griffith Park and the Santa Clarita Valley (the latter with Kimi and Dr. Alan Pollack). The trio is currently working on another SCV history book titled “Then & Now: The Santa Clarita Valley,” scheduled to hit the shelves in early 2014.

ABOUT BILL WEST
Bill West is a movie nut who serves on the board of Friends of Hart Park, gives tours of the Hart Mansion and maintains the Friends’ website.

In his spare time, Bill writes software for Walt Disney Imagineering, where he has contributed to Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and other attractions. Previously, he wrote software at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Bill enjoys lounge music and he plays the drums for pickup bands. He lives in Santa Clarita with his Realtor (his wife Liliana) and their son Josh. Pets include Maya the Mutt, Luigi the Canary, and a cat whose name he can’t pronounce but is Polish for “kitty.”