The Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History

On our drive up Highway 395 to camp in the Sierras, we made a stop at the Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History.

When we last visited the Museum in 2007, I was only able to take a handful of exterior photos due to camera problems. I was thus happy this year to be able to take a large number of photos to share here on the blog.

This is part of the view when walking in the front door. The stagecoach is believed to have been used in RAWHIDE (1951), looking slightly different than seen here. The museum continues to research the stagecoach's history.

Here are just a few of the cowboy hats on display in the museum. The hats in this group were owned by Sunset Carson, Jennifer Holt, William Holden, and Hugh Farr of the Sons of the Pioneers, among others:

Regular readers here won't be surprised to learn that I was delighted to spot a cowboy hat owned by Robert Taylor:

One room focuses on the "desert" movies filmed in Lone Pine, including THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935), THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936), BAGDAD (1949), KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES (1953), and especially GUNGA DIN (1939), one of the biggest projects ever to film in Lone Pine's Alabama Hills. This knife was signed by the cast, including Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Victor McLaglen, Joan Fontaine, Robert Coote, and Sam Jaffe:

There are extensive artifacts from GUNGA DIN, including these props:

William Wellman's director's chair from YELLOW SKY (1948) was a gift to the museum from the Wellman Family:

A few of the colorful posters advertising films made in Lone Pine:

The museum gift shop:

After visiting the museum, drive north a couple blocks on the 395 and turn left at the first signal, which takes you to:

The museum has maps and books for those who would like to hunt down the locations of various films. On our last visit we spotted locations seen in RAWHIDE, YELLOW SKY, and other films.

This plaque was dedicated by Roy Rogers:

The unique look of the area will likely be familiar to most film fans:

There are numerous YouTube videos about Lone Pine locations, including this and this. The Great Silence is a terrific blog about the High Sierras and movie locations.