These photographs were made by Rachel in 1966 in New Orleans on the set of THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED. The man in the top photo is cinematographer James Wong Howe.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Photos copyright Rachel Stewart.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
More clips like the one at the top are on YouTube. In the one above you can see the railcar named MISS ALVA. More on this railcar is below.
Here is a link to good information on this film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061089/
Here is information about this railroad car used in the film. It is called Miss Alva.
http://www.meridian-railroad-museum.org/miss_alva.html
My wife Rachel took some pictures of the filming of the movie This Property Is Condemned in New Orleans in 1966. I went with her down to the set in the French Quarter and there sitting on a doorstep all alone was Natalie Wood. We smiled at her and she smiled at us. It was obvious she was killing time with nothing to do at that moment. She gave us a very inviting smile but for some reason I didn't go over to talk to her. Maybe because I was with my wife or maybe I was uncharacteristically shy that day. All I know is I often think of that and wish I(or we) had spoken to her. If nothing else I could have told her like so many others must have how much I liked Rebel Without A Cause and her role in it. We could have talked with her about James Dean and Sal Mineo.
While driving between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans later that year or next I saw the old train car they had painted that was used in the movie sitting abandoned on a track in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi.
Now many years passed and lo and behold I see that train car is now in Meridian,Mississippi parked on the tracks near the new train station. Someone tried to use it as a restaurant but that idea failed. Now it is just a tourist curiosity.
Here is a link about the movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Property_Is_Condemned
