S Echoes of Epics in I Demille's Paradise

L.A. Then and Now / Cecilia Rasmussen

Los Angeles Times i Filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille in 1914. s Echoes of Epics in i DeMille's Paradise

'9 IV T est'e(^ amid the arid, rugged wilder- ;9 I^U ness °f Little Tujunga Canyon are ;s -L. ^ some of Hollywood's greatest trea- |; sures, movie set leftovers that have survived i the same real-life disasters—fires, floods and earthquakes—that they have posed for in their creators' biblical epics. ^Angele s Times These relics from award-winning produc- Gates from 1927 film "King of Kings" at what is now the Hathaway Children's Village. studios churned out films with gargantuan cottage for himself with a mirror over the DeMille's great-granddaughter to have it. sets that matched moguls' aspirations—a bed, planted peach and apricot trees, and dug Often DeMille enthralled his guests with a heavy iron gate from "King of Kings," a a swimming pool that he filled with the game he called "Paradise Tray." He placed lavish 1927 Cecil B. DeMille film about Christ, numbingly cold water of a brook he dammed valuables—including diamonds, gold coins and a desert boulder that God emblazoned up. His ranch was a sanctuary for wildlife as and silk scarves—on a tray. They served as with his laws for Moses' people in the 1923 well as people. Except for snakes, no shooting the prizes for the winners of games of pool. film "The Ten Commandments." was allowed. Actor Yul Brynner, who was on DeMille insisted on dressing up for dinner Along with a granite tombstone and a his way to becoming an accomplished photog- and always suggested to male guests that ranch house that became a mecca for actors rapher, snapped many photos of wild crea- they bring a pair of black pants, but no jacket. and movie makers, these are all that remain tures there, including foxes, coyotes, an After a vigorous day of hiking, clearing brush of legendary filmmaker DeMille's 310-acre occasional mountain lion and a deer eating an or chopping wood with some of his chums, ranch, the one he called Paradise. apple out of DeMille's hand. including Charlton Heston, Charlie Chaplin, In 1923, DeMille shipped a $25,000 Wurlitz- Gary Cooper and H.G. Wells, DeMille and the walk down the long road to the former er pipe organ to the ranch so his composer, men all donned colorful silk Russian blouses Aranch is a journey back into its heyday, creating the scores for upcoming films, could and cummerbunds instead of dinner jackets. beginning in 1916, when DeMille bought his work in solitude. Screenwriter Jeannie Mac- There was never a dress code for the women. piece of paradise. pherson also locked herself up in a cabin for Three years before, DeMille had arrived in weeks at a time as she wrote and collaborated oward the end of his life, DeMille tried to Hollywood to begin his first directorial job on on 90% of DeMille's films. Trevive his childhood faith and erected a "The Squaw Man." It was then that he Not everyone enjoyed the rugged beauty of large bronze cross at the foot of a giant oak invented the stereotype that would follow Paradise, and DeMille's wife, Constance, was tree. He placed it near the tombstone of him for decades. Out at Paradise, his trade- one of those who didn't. Joseph DeMille, an 18th century ancestor. On mark get-up of jodhpurs, riding boots and a When the former actress and philanthro- late afternoons, when the sun slanted through six-shooter on his hip turned out to be as pist, who was several years older than her the tree, DeMille meditated there. necessary as it was showy. The boots boosted husband, locked her bedroom door, DeMille His going was almost as dramatic as his ' his height and helped protect him from made no protest. He recruited his longtime years on earth. Before DeMille died of a heart ' rattlesnakes, and the gun could dispatch the mistress, actress Julia Faye, to travel with attack in 1959 at age 77, he scribbled a note ' creatures if necessary. him and spend weekends at the ranch. that read, "The Lord giveth and the Lord | Anxious to have a hideaway in which to Paradise also had its two-legged party taketh away. Blessed be the Lord. It can only i "recharge his batteries" and to find a retreat animals. In 1928, DeMille hosted a small be a short time . . . until these words are • not far from his Los Feliz home and Para- surprise birthday party for his red-haired spoken over me." In 1963, members of the mount Studios, DeMille had his attorney, Neil actor friend, Charles Bickford. He hired an DeMille family turned Paradise Ranch over to McCarthy, check out an advertised piece of erotic dancer who began her performance the Hathaway Foundation (which has cared property in the Angeles National Forest. covered only in a thin veil, according to for severely emotionally disturbed and McCarthy told DeMille that it was the Hollywood historian Marc Wanamaker. abused children since 1919), along with one of "wildest, most terrible place" he ever saw in Female guests often found oysters seeded the few keys made for the "King of Kings" his life. But DeMille bought it anyway. It was with cultured pearls in front of them at the gate, which now guards the entrance to the exactly what he wanted—secluded, with a dinner table. DeMille's grandson, Joe Harper, Hathaway Children's Village. stream, and only 25 miles from home. recalled that when his daughter was born- Today, the ranch that once rejuvenated Paradise grew as DeMille bought more more than 32 years ago—he received in the DeMille's soul, helping him to create the land—mountainsides and a "Middle Ranch," mail a pearl bracelet with an unsigned note dreams, illusion, romance and entertainment where he stabled his horses on flatter ground. saying that DeMille had given the sender the that captured the imagination of the nation, is He built the main ranch house with a pearls during parties at the ranch. She had the heart and soul of the 120 children who 60-foot-long living room, added a stone them made into a bracelet and wanted live and attend school here.