02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 1

Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 2

•This Presentation will document the filming of the 1917 silent movie Jack and the Beanstalk in

today’s Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park (SSPSHP), at the Miranda Homestead in

Chatsworth.

•It encompasses four chapters:

•Promotional photographs and identified filming locations of the movie, courtesy of Iverson

Ranch and Chatsworth movie historian Dennis Liff.

•A 1974 interview with Joe Bannon (son of the Chatsworth Park Quarry homesteader William

Bannon), who played an integral part in the filming of the 1917 movie. He was interviewed

by Jan Hinkston, who in 1970 founded the Santa Susana Mountain Park Association

(SSMPA), which led to our current 670 acre SSPSHP in 1998.

• The recent “rediscovery” of glass lantern slides from the Chatsworth Historical Society,

made by Chatsworth Park School students circa 1917, of Jack and the Beanstalk.

•A recently found 16 minute 4th reel of the previously lost movie, available from the Prelinger

archives, that we will watch at the end of the presentation….

Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth

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•The movie was a big production in 1917.

•The movie included the tallest man in the

world, Jim Tarver, and a cast of children to

represent the townspeople.

•Joe Bannon, who lived in Chatsworth at the

time, recalled that “all of the kids in the

area” turned out for the production.

•The producers put those kids in costumes

and put them all in the movie, later

declaring in ads for the film that the

production included a cast of "1,300

children" —probably a bit of an

exaggeration.

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•The Giant was

played by Jim G.

Tarver, a real-life

giant who stood

anywhere from 7-

foot-3 to 8-foot-6,

depending on

which hype you

choose to believe.

•Tarver had just

one film credit, in

"Jack and the

Beanstalk”.

Promotional shot for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus side show

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•The story starts with a huge find by Dennis Liff, Iverson (and Chatsworth) movie historian, in

August 2017. A stunning promotional still photograph of a 1917 movie set, featuring a

massive walled city with a main castle in back….

The Walled City Filming Location

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•A photograph of the SSPSHP taken in 2017 from the Andora trailhead facing west:

The Walled City Filming Location

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•A photograph of the SSPSHP taken in 2017 from the Andora trailhead facing west:

The Walled City Filming Location

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•The map to the right points you

to the Andora trailhead, which is

on Andora just south of Lassen

Street and the Oakwood

Memorial Park.

•Once you're there, head for the

Miranda Loop Trail.

•Follow the trail marked in yellow.

The "X" marks the vantage point

where Dennis had the most luck

trying to approximate the camera

angle from the 1917 promo shot.

The Walled City Filming Location

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•Promotional still photograph

for "Jack and the Beanstalk,"

1917: The Giant's castle, a

separate set.

•The identification of the site

where the walled city once

stood is not the end of the

story —there's also the

matter of the Giant's castle,

which was a separate set —

and a fairly elaborate one.

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•In the movie the children

sweep up the long staircases

and invade the castle.

•In this screenshot they are

approaching the

staircases….

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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•And in this screenshot they

are storming up the

staircases…..

•The invasion is part of the

movie's climactic sequence,

and the movie's producers

did suit up a lot of kids for the

occasion.

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 12

•The Giant's

castle location

is much harder

to access today

than the Walled

City filming site,

but the rocks

remain intact.

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

courtesy http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com

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The False-Fronted

Giant’s Castle

1917

2017

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 14

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•The site of the Giant's

castle is directly west

of Lassen on a hilltop.

•Today there is a long

driveway just south of

the rocks, leading to

the house commonly

called “Eagles Nest”.

•The driveway is

marked with "no

trespassing signs,"

even though

technically the rocks

may be located on

park property.

Lassen

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 15

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•A 3-Dimensional

view of both sites

from Google Earth.

• The Giant’s Castle

Site in Red, the

Walled City Site in

Blue.

•Notice that the

Giant’s Castle Site

is directly west of

Lassen.

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The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•And finally, the

next time you

are driving west

on Lassen,

notice the rocks

where the

Giant’s Castle

set was built……

•Lassen looking

west before

Shoup

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 17

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•And finally, the

next time you

are driving west

on Lassen,

notice the rocks

where the

Giant’s Castle

set was built……

•Lassen looking

west before

Baden

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 18

The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•And finally, the

next time you

are driving west

on Lassen,

notice the rocks

where the

Giant’s Castle

set was built……

•Lassen looking

west before

Oakwood

Cemetery

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The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•On Sunday 02/25/18,

Join the SSPSHP

volunteers for the

Miranda Loop Hike.

•They will be passing just

north of the Giant’s

Castle rock formation…

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The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•A second look at Baden and

Lassen, from 1917….

•At the 1:59 minute:second

mark of reel 4, Jack’s army

breaks open the Giant’s

castle gates to save the

princess.

•In the upper right hand corner

of this screenshot, notice

Lassen turning south to

Baden, indicating it was the

major route to Chatsworth

Lake and Valley Circle.

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The False-Fronted Giant’s Castle

•A 1928 UCSB aerial

photograph confirms

the previous

identification of the

Lassen and Baden

intersection.

•In 1923, Oakwood

Cemetery

purchased the

eastern portion of

the Miranda

Homestead.

• The Giant’s Castle

site is circle in red.

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• At the 4:48 minute:second mark of Part 4, Jack’s

army begins an assault on the Giant’s Castle with

archers and catapults.

•The long hill in the background seems to be Summit

Ridge (screenshot at right)

•And this next

screenshot

shows the west

edge of Summit

Ridge, with the

reservoir to the

right.

The Catapult Scene Location –

just east of Castle Rocks, south of the road

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 23

•That would place the

Catapult Rocks just

east of the Castle

Rocks, and logically

follows the flow of

the movie, with rocks

being launched at

the Giant’s Castle.

The Catapult Scene Location –

just east of Castle Rocks, south of the road

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 24

Joe Bannon Interview with Jan Hinkston

•Joseph Bannon (1902 –1980) was the son of

homesteader William Bannon (1842-1908), who in 1891

purchased the old adobe Stagecoach Waystation in

today’s SSPSHP. William Bannon was an experienced

quarryman, established the Chatsworth Park Quarry, and

sold dimension stone.

•The family sold the quarry and homestead in 1901 to the

California Construction Company (the contractors on the

San Pedro Breakwater), and moved to Texas.

•Joe Bannon was born one year later in Texas. In his

interview, he mentioned that Southern Pacific Railroad

engaged his father to go to Texas to open up some

quarries for them.

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Joe Bannon Interview with Jan Hinkston

•In 1906, William Bannon was called down to where the

Colorado River had broken through into the Salton Sea.

Southern Pacific hired him to blast rock that went into the

levee used to redirect the runaway Colorado River back into

it’s channel.

•William Bannon returned from Texas in 1906 to direct

quarrying operations for Oliver Charlton near Stoney Point.

Oliver was the son of George Charlton, who homesteaded

the 137 acres that include Stoney Point.

•William Bannon died in 1907 or 1908, and his wife Marie

remarried in 1912 to William Morris, a road builder per the

1920 census.

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Joe Bannon Interview with Jan Hinkston

•Marie and William Morris were living at the adobe Stagecoach

Waystation in 1912-1919 (The old Bannon Homestead). During

this time, her son Joe Bannon went to Chatsworth Park School,

and experienced the filming of Jack and the Beanstalk at the

Miranda’s.

•In 1974, at the age of 72, Joseph Bannon gave an oral history to

Jan Hinkston. One of his remembrances was the 1917 filming

of Jack and the Beanstalk. Joe Bannon was 15 years old at the

time….

•He had an amazing job on the set, which was to haul the giant

up the hill to the Giant’s Castle using a team of horses pulling a

stone-boat.

•Reid Bogert of the Chatsworth Historical Society and SSMPA

shared a copy of the audiotaped 1974 interview with us.

• We will now hear Joe’s remembrances in his own words…..

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Joe Bannon Interview with Jan Hinkston

•To listen to the 2 minute YouTube video of Joe Bannon talking

about Jack and the Beanstalk with Jan Hinkston, go to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUbfbfvvpes&t=4s

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02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 29

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 30

1917 circa Glass Lantern Slides

•In October 2017 we made a presentation on Glass

Lantern Slides from our collections, that were donated

to us by the Chatsworth Park Elementary School.

•Before slide projectors or PowerPoint, in 1865, the first

lantern slide collections at museums and universities

were started in the U.S. These 3¼" x 4" glass slides

project clearly with great detail.

•As of 1922 (and no doubt earlier), The Los Angeles

County School Visual Education Department is sending

out one hundred boxes of lantern slides weekly to

teachers.

•Our collection included some amazing historical

photographs, but also some well preserved hand-

painted slides of the children’s fable Jack and the

Beanstalk.

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•When we opened up the Glass Lantern

Slides box to look at the slides, we

immediately noticed the 19 hand-painted

slides, that told the story of Jack and the

Beanstalk.

• We aren’t sure exactly when they were

made, but we are fairly certain that they

were inspired by the filming of this silent

movie filmed in Chatsworth 100 years ago.

Jack and the Beanstalk hand-painted slides circa 1917

from Chatsworth Park Elementary

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 08

Jack going to the walled city

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•In 1917, Chatsworth Park School was an

elementary and middle school. Upon

graduation, the students went to Canoga

Park High School.

• It’s probable that the teacher(s) asked the

older students to make these slides of their

memories of the movie event.

•We attempted to put the following slides in

order of the well known Fairy Tale

Jack and the Beanstalk. The slides

weren’t numbered or labeled so we did the

best we could….

Jack and the Beanstalk hand-painted slides circa 1917

from Chatsworth Park Elementary

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 08

Jack going to the walled city

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Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 01

mother sending Jack off to sell the cow

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 02

selling the cow

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Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 03

Jack looking at the beans

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 04

Jack planting the beans

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Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 05

Jack sleeping

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 06

Finding the beanstalk

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Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 07

Jack climbing the beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 08

Jack going to the walled city

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 37

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 09

Fairy telling Jack about the Giant and his

Castle on a hill

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 10

Giant sleeping at the table

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 38

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 11

Jack running from the Giant with the hen

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 12

Jack climbs back up the beanstalk

to the Giant’s castle

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Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 13

Jack going to attack the Giant's castle

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 14

Jack running from the beanstalk

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Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 15

Jack chopping the beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 16

Giant starting to fall

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 41

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 17

Giant falling

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 18

Not sure what this one is…..

02/27/2022 Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth 42

Jack and the Beanstalk circa 1917

hand-painted slide 19

Not sure what this one is…..

Sources/Acknowledgements

•Research by Dennis Liff in August 2017 as posted on his blogspot

http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com/2017/08/jack-and-beanstalk-1917-when-children.html

• Bison Archives’ historical motion picture and Los Angeles Area photograph library

•Joseph Bannon audio tape, from Reid Bogert, CHS member. Also partially published in Santa

Susana Pass State Historic Park Cultural Resources Inventory Historic Overview, March 2007,

sspshp historic resources_adb.pdf

•Chatsworth Historical Society archives –Glass Lantern Slides

http://www.chatsworthhistory.com/Presentations.html, Glass Lantern Slides

Prepared by Ann & Ray Vincent, Chatsworth Historical Society, February 2018; revised for other links

in 2022

Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth02/27/2022

44Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth02/27/2022

To conclude this presentation, we will watch a recently

discovered 16 minute 4th reel of the previously lost

movie, available from the Prelinger archives.

1917 Jack and the Beanstalk -- A silent movie

Reel 4 –Part 4

The video has been posted on YouTube at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THmaqTDDA9Q&t=16s

Or search on YouTube for “1917 Jack and the Beanstalk Reel 4 Part 4”

45Chatsworth Historical Society - Jack and the Beanstalk 1917 Silent Movie in Chatsworth02/27/2022

Jack and

the

Beanstalk

1917

silent

movie

previously

lost

The 16

minute

4th reel